Contributor
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Strategy
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David Woessner
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For ideas, you could write Quatrain Poems. These are 4 line poems that focus on an object or idea.
- The first line is the thing you are writing about
- The second line is two adjectives
- The third line is three "-ing"words
- The fourth line is the thing you are writing about, renamed (more specific)
An example......
Writing
difficult, fun
challenging, fulfilling, enlightning
Poems
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Joan Matuga
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Guide students through a model, showing how to improve and expand on ideas.
- Start with a main idea: Our school has many activities.
- Add some activities the school has: Our school has many activities. One thing we have is band. It's fun. Another thing we have is art.
- Begin to add details (narrowing the topic): Our school has many activities. One thing we have is band. The fourth grade students begin band by taking recorder lessons. In fifth grade, students can choose an instrument to play. Students may continue with the same instrument in 6th grade. They may also choose to play jazz band or symphony. In junior high, the best jazz musicians stay after school for half an hour and play with the Four O'Clock Jazz Band.
- Begin to add the senses (perhaps narrowing the topic even more): Our school has many activities. One thing we have is band. The fourth grade students begin by taking recorder lessons. In the beginning, they aren't very good. The air in the band room is filled with the squealing sounds of students trying to push air through narrow, plastic mouth pieces. Other students are laughing at the strange noises they produce. Still more have put their hands over their ears to block the noise.
When students learn to add their observations, through all five senses, to the writing, it becomes more precise and more interesting. Students must feel they have something interesting to tell in order to write well.
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