1. Taking Stock: Pausing to Assess and Set Goals SESSION 6

2. Connection Writers, let’s not lose sight of our most important goal this year, which is to become better writers. We get better at writing the same way that athletes and musicians get better at playing sports or instruments. By setting goals and working hard to reach them! Today we’re going to look at how we can set some tangible goals.

3. Connection I want you to look back at your writing and ask yourself, “In what ways am I getting better?” and “What is the next thing I can work on improving?” To help you decide, we’re going to look at the Narrative Writing Checklist.

4. Teaching Sometimes you all like to ask me, “Is this good, Mr. Sexton?” or “How am I doing?” I can’t always conference with you right at that moment, so this is a tool you can use to evaluate yourself and your peers. Look at the categories Elaboration and Craft on your checklist. I want you to read these then discuss them with a partner.

5. Teaching I’m going to read “Look Up and Watch the Show” to you all today. This is an example of a strong sixth-grade narrative. This is the type of writing you’ll want to try to be able to do by the end of the year. When you hear the author doing the things you just discussed with your partner, I want you to check them off on your Narrative Writing Checklist.

6. Look Up and Watch the Show I walked up the stairs of the subway. We were almost there! I had been waiting to see this for my whole life! Five years before this I had been asking, “Mom, can I go to the fireworks?” My mom always replied, “No honey, maybe next year.” “Dad, can I go to the fireworks, all my friends have.” “You are too young and it is too late.” This went on for the next five years.

7. Look Up and Watch the Show Finally I asked and they said, “YES.” I jumped up and down and kissed and hugged them eight times. They said I was now old enough. I couldn’t wait to tell my friends. And here we are an hour early, staring eagerly at the start lit sky. I looked at the barges straight ahead of me. They were ready to fire! I imagined streams of color floating out of them in every direction. Like ten hoses with ten different colors of water. For the next hour I asked my parents at least 100 times, “When is it starting?” My parents were giving me dirty looks. They were annoyed, but I really couldn’t help myself.

8. Look Up and Watch the Show Then BOOM crackle, crackle, BOOM, red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple, and white, all seemed to be falling on me screaming, “Hi nice to meet you.” They were saying to most of the other people, “I remember you from last year.” I glanced straight ahead of me and bats were flying away from all the commotion, and noise. It was eerie and exciting. Amazing shapes, colors, and noises were bursting out of the four barges. Large booms from previous fireworks echoed from one building to another behind us.

9. Look Up and Watch the Show Now the time I had been waiting for, to see the grand finale. Smiley face and 100’s of shooting stars shot high in the sky with large booms. Everyone was oohing and aahing. But I knew I oohed and aahed the loudest. I was sure I was more excited than anyone else. It was now over. Silence rang in my ears and a heavy smoke lingered in the sky. The smoke carried away with it all my dreams of this, because now I had seen and I experienced my first ever, up close showing of the fireworks.

10. Look Up and Watch the Show I hope my old dreams of seeing the fireworks for the first time is carried over to someone. And Just like me they can have this great first time experience and tell their friends all about it. Now I have done it. I can tell myself I will never forget the first time I ever saw the fireworks. Now I understand what people mean when they say how magical the fireworks are.

11. Teaching Underline the portions of the story where it meets the craft section of the Narrative Writing Checklist. Circle the portions of the story where it meets the elaboration section of the Narrative Writing Checklist. Compare your outline of the material to mine.

12. Active Engagement I want you to talk to your partner about what you noticed in “Look up and Watch the Show”. Then I want you to reread one of your narratives with your partner. As you reread your works with each other, I want you to look for evidence of elaboration in your drafts.

13. Link Today when you start your writing assignment, I want you to look at your copy of the Narrative Writing Checklist. Look through your latest narrative and assess your writing. Ask yourself which skills are “starting to” and which ones are “not yets” for your writing. When you write your new narrative today, keep the goals you developed from your checklist in mind.

14. Share In our next session, you’re going to reread all of your narratives and pick a seed idea to take through the writing process. You’re going to draft and revise that one story all over again, so make sure that you keep your new writing goals in mind. Right now I want you to share your checklist about your own writing with your partner. Share your goals with your partner and discuss how you’re going to improve your writing.