1. Hatchet Taking our spy glass to one passage. 1

2. What’s up for today?  Reading goals  Meaning and tone of a passage  Word choice in a passage  Structure of a passage  Writing Goals  Organization of ideas  Introducing and summing up information  Citing Evidence 2

3. Diction= Word choice Does it make a difference? 3

4. Hidden Slide Which is scarierDimGloomy GhostZombie Which would you rather beSmartBrilliant PrettyGorgeous Well offFilthy rich Which would you rather haveFord PintoMercedes Benz A-A+ Choose the Best 4

5. Rules for Writing Why 6 th graders should be discouraged from breaking the writing rules: If you are a member of the Writers Club, you have to pay your dues. 5

6. Rules for Writing Narrative writing is different than informational writing and argument writing. HOW? 6

7. Hidden Slide Read the passage aloud to the students as they read along. Discuss the sentence fragments, the one word sentences and paragraphs, the repetition of words. What is the feeling that this gives? Have class choose several words that are repeated often. In partners, highlight, divorce in blue and word in red. In the next two frames, talk about the weight of words (divorce) and the augmentation of words (ugly, breaking word). 7

8. Now Brian sat, looking out the window with the roar thundering through his ears, and tried to catalog what had led up to his taking this flight. The thinking started. Always it started with a single word. Divorce. It was an ugly word, he thought. A tearing ugly word that meant fights and yelling, lawyers – God, the thought, how he hated lawyers who sat with the comfortable smiles and tried to explain to him in legal terms how all that he lived in was coming apart – and the breaking and shattering of all the solid things. His home, his life – all the solid things. Divorce. A breaking word, an ugly breaking word. Divorce. Secrets. No, not secrets so much as just the Secret. What he knew and had not told anybody, what he knew about his mother that had caused the divorce, what he knew, what he knew – the Secret. 8

9. Now Brian sat, looking out the window with the roar thundering through his ears, and tried to catalog what had led up to his taking this flight. The thinking started. Always it started with a single word. Divorce. It was an ugly word, he thought. A tearing ugly word that meant fights and yelling, lawyers – God, the thought, how he hated lawyers who sat with the comfortable smiles and tried to explain to him in legal terms how all that he lived in was coming apart – and the breaking and shattering of all the solid things. His home, his life – all the solid things. Divorce. A breaking word, an ugly breaking word. Divorce. Secrets. No, not secrets so much as just the Secret. What he knew and had not told anybody, what he knew about his mother that had caused the divorce, what he knew, what he knew – the Secret. 9

10. Now Brian sat, looking out the window with the roar thundering through his ears, and tried to catalog what had led up to his taking this flight. The thinking started. Always it started with a single word. Divorce. It was an ugly word, he thought. A tearing ugly word that meant fights and yelling, lawyers – God, the thought, how he hated lawyers who sat with the comfortable smiles and tried to explain to him in legal terms how all that he lived in was coming apart – and the breaking and shattering of all the solid things. His home, his life – all the solid things. Divorce. A breaking word, an ugly breaking word. Divorce. Secrets. No, not secrets so much as just the Secret. What he knew and had not told anybody, what he knew about his mother that had caused the divorce, what he knew, what he knew – the Secret. 10

11. Hidden Slide Again in partners, have the students highlight secrets in green and what he knew in yellow. (This will orange in the ppt so the letters show up.) Give the students time to come up with their own explanations for the repetition. Where do the words fall in the passage? Where in the sentence? Any distinguishing punctuation? Discuss as a class. 11

12. Now Brian sat, looking out the window with the roar thundering through his ears, and tried to catalog what had led up to his taking this flight. The thinking started. Always it started with a single word. Divorce. It was an ugly word, he thought. A tearing ugly word that meant fights and yelling, lawyers – God, the thought, how he hated lawyers who sat with the comfortable smiles and tried to explain to him in legal terms how all that he lived in was coming apart – and the breaking and shattering of all the solid things. His home, his life – all the solid things. Divorce. A breaking word, an ugly breaking word. Divorce. Secrets. No, not secrets so much as just the Secret. What he knew and had not told anybody, what he knew about his mother that had caused the divorce, what he knew, what he knew – the Secret. 12

13. Now Brian sat, looking out the window with the roar thundering through his ears, and tried to catalog what had led up to his taking this flight. The thinking started. Always it started with a single word. Divorce. It was an ugly word, he thought. A tearing ugly word that meant fights and yelling, lawyers – God, the thought, how he hated lawyers who sat with the comfortable smiles and tried to explain to him in legal terms how all that he lived in was coming apart – and the breaking and shattering of all the solid things. His home, his life – all the solid things. Divorce. A breaking word, an ugly breaking word. Divorce. Secrets. No, not secrets so much as just the Secret. What he knew and had not told anybody, what he knew about his mother that had caused the divorce, what he knew, what he knew – the Secret. 13

14. What is Gary Paulsen’s diction and repetition of words helping the reader understand about Brian? How do you think Brian is feeling at this moment? 14

15. What is Gary Paulsen doing with his diction in this passage? 15

16. Hidden Slide This is a question for the teachers! In the next frame, find the sentence or sentence fragment that is the longest in the passage. Why is this particular sentence so long? What does it seem to indicate about Brian feelings toward the subject matter? 16

17. Now Brian sat, looking out the window with the roar thundering through his ears, and tried to catalog what had led up to his taking this flight. The thinking started. Always it started with a single word. Divorce. It was an ugly word, he thought. A tearing ugly word that meant fights and yelling, lawyers – God, the thought, how he hated lawyers who sat with the comfortable smiles and tried to explain to him in legal terms how all that he lived in was coming apart – and the breaking and shattering of all the solid things. His home, his life – all the solid things. Divorce. A breaking word, an ugly breaking word. Divorce. Secrets. No, not secrets so much as just the Secret. What he knew and had not told anybody, what he knew about his mother that had caused the divorce, what he knew, what he knew – the Secret. 17

18. Now Brian sat, looking out the window with the roar thundering through his ears, and tried to catalog what had led up to his taking this flight. The thinking started. Always it started with a single word. Divorce. It was an ugly word, he thought. A tearing ugly word that meant fights and yelling, lawyers – God, the thought, how he hated lawyers who sat with the comfortable smiles and tried to explain to him in legal terms how all that he lived in was coming apart – and the breaking and shattering of all the solid things. His home, his life – all the solid things. Divorce. A breaking word, an ugly breaking word. Divorce. Secrets. No, not secrets so much as just the Secret. What he knew and had not told anybody, what he knew about his mother that had caused the divorce, what he knew, what he knew – the Secret. 18

19. Hidden Slide Discuss the importance of reading – and then being able to write about it. We have to prove our ideas with evidence. We have to explain WHY that evidence helps to prove our point. Introduce the RACERS template as a way to capture the evidence and explain it so it matches the main idea of our writing. 19

20. R. A. C. E. R. S. R = Read the Prompt A = Answer the Prompt C = Cite Evidence E = Explain Evidence R = Repeat C and E S = Sum It Up 20

21. Hidden Slide R = Read the Prompt – Annotate: Circle the verbs that the student must do. Find the direct objects of those verbs. A = Answer the Prompt – Turn the prompt around and use the words from the prompt to create the topic sentence or thesis statement. C = Cite Evidence – Find specific information from the text to support the answer to the prompt. E = Explain Evidence – Explain why the chosen evidence supports the answer. R = Repeat C and E S = Sum It Up – The So What? Why should the reader care? What are the broader implications for this information? 21

22. R = Read the Prompt – Annotate: Circle the verbs that the student must do. Underline the direct objects of those verbs. 22

23. A = Answer the Prompt – Turn the prompt around and use the words from the prompt to create the topic sentence or thesis statement. 23

24. C = Cite Evidence – Find specific information from the text to support the answer to the prompt. 24

25. E = Explain Evidence – Explain why the chosen evidence supports the answer. 25

26. R = Repeat C and E 26

27. S = Sum It Up – The So What? Why should the reader care? What are the broader implications for this information? 27

28. The Prompt What is the prompt? Circle the verbs that the student must do. Underline the direct objects of those verbs. What is information that could be used in the answer? 1.There’s a lot of noise in the hallway. It must be a fight. Close the door! 2.That man is having a heart attack! Call the doctor! 3.This is a compound sentence. Diagram this sentence in your notebook. 28

29. Annotating a Prompt Dr. Seuss’s stories are filled with strange characters who teach us a lesson. Choose one of his most interesting characters and explain how he teaches his readers a lesson. 29

30. Turn the prompt into an Answer. Dr. Seuss’s stories are filled with strange characters who teach us a lesson. Choose one of his most interesting characters and explain how he teaches his readers a lesson. 30

31. Hidden Slide Pass out the template with the prompt written in the R block. The prompt’s answer will be something like this: In the passage from the novel, Hatchet, Gary Paulsen uses diction and repetition to show Brian’s feelings of ___________. (confusion and anger) 31

32. The Hatchet Prompt Gary Paulsen’s writing style in his exciting novel, Hatchet, breaks all the rules about varying word choice. Analyze Paulsen’s use of diction in the passage and explain how his choice and repetition of words help to show the feelings of his character. 32

33. Turn the prompt into an Answer. Gary Paulsen’s writing style in his exciting novel, Hatchet, breaks all the rules about varying word choice. Analyze Paulsen’s use of diction in the passage and explain how his choice and repetition of words help to show the feelings of his character. 33

34. When you begin to find evidence to prove and support your topic sentence or your thesis statement, imagine that you are filling up buckets. 34

35. Filling up Bucket #1 Cited Example (or bucket) #1: Repetition of Word word ugly word tearing ugly word breaking word ugly breaking word 35

36. Putting the quote into a sentence. Try not to quote an entire sentence from the text. Instead, use the KEY words and put them into your own sentence. Make sure the sentence with the quote in it is complete and has a subject and verb. Paulsen uses “word” five times in the passage, but each time the adjectives get more intense. 36

37. Explaining Bucket #1 The use of “word” gets longer and stronger throughout the passage. The actual “ugly word” that Brian is thinking is “divorce,” but he has a hard time saying divorce because it is “tearing” and “breaking” his family apart. He uses “word” to try to make the idea easier, but it doesn’t. 37

38. Hidden Slide Give the partners time to decide on the second bucket word. They should fill out the Cited Example (or bucket) #2 block on the template. Then decide how they would like to explain their ideas. Give them time to write the ideas, then discuss as a class. 38

39. S = Sum It Up The So What? Why should the reader care? What are the broader implications? Now that we’ve answered the prompt, what difference does it make? Why is it important? The Answer to the Prompt on the RACERS Template: In the passage from the novel, Hatchet, Gary Paulsen uses diction and repetition to show Brian’s feelings of confusion and anger. 39

40. Sum It Up Even though the rules of good writing stress using varied diction, repetition of words can create a strong tone in a passage. Brian’s feelings of confusion and anger are strong. His feelings transfer to the reader. That’s what good story telling is supposed to do. 40

41. Hidden Slide As the final activity, give the students a 5x8 card. The Answer to the prompt becomes the topic sentence. Then put bucket #1 into a sentence. Follow it with the explanation for bucket #1. Repeat with bucket #2. Add the Sum It Up – and Voila! A complete and well-developed paragraph. 41