Guiding Question - Section 1: Guiding Question

Shakespeare Makes Us All Great Writers
Lesson 5 of 11
Objective: SWBAT: use a Shakespearean plot to develop their own short story starter.
Big Idea: By showing students that Shakespeare's plots are in stories they already know and love, they will choose one of his plots to develop for their own short story.
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Guiding Question
The Guiding Question is a way for me to sneak in some revision without the students knowing it. I understand that revision can be quite painful for students, especially if we wait until the end--when a piece is almost complete. If we revise throughout, and the students know what I'll be looking for, it seems more authentic.
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Mini Lesson
For the mini-lesson, my students read "The Bully" to themselves. When this occurs, if I have struggling readers in the class, I will pull them into a small group, or my collaborative teacher will pull them.
Afterward, I had a very brief, informal discussion about what makes a short story a short story. I wanted to clear up some myths about short stories that my student have begun to develop--like all short stories are like Ray Bradbury, or "Little Brother," or spooky, or science fiction-y.
By introducing them to this short story, I was able to show them that they can be realistic.
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Work Time
Here's a fun way to teach Shakespeare to students, then have them transfer their knowledge into their own short story starter.
This Story Starter prompt was adapted from SpringBoard, the worktext my district uses. The original lesson was called Changes in Simba's World and seemed like an afterthought. I really wanted to begin exposing my kids to Shakespeare, and though some good stories could derive from these prompts.
Students chose one of the prompts and have about 25 minutes to write as much of story with a plot that they can. I circulate and support those who might be stuck. For example, if a student is working on the prompt about the twins, I might give her the scenario that one of the twins was adopted to the President of the United States!
My job is fantastic when these kids are writing! I get to go around, read interesting stories, and add fun and creative twists to them.
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Wrap Up
By reading and discussing "The Bully," and discussing Shakespearean plots, it left little time for my students to draft their own versions. By using her reflection stems, a student shares her frustration at the lack of work time! Here's her response. I love that I have the kind of relationship with my students that they feel they can be honest with me.
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- UNIT 1: Narrative Writing
- UNIT 2: Short Story
- UNIT 3: Exposition and Expository Writing
- UNIT 4: Research
- UNIT 5: Independent Reading
- UNIT 6: Performance and Fluency
- UNIT 7: End of the Year
- UNIT 8: Extra Credit Book Response to Intervention Unit
- UNIT 9: Flawed Dogs Intervention Unit
- UNIT 10: Changes in Self Perception: Part 1
- UNIT 11: Writing and Revision Mini-Unit
- UNIT 12: Informational Intervention Unit
- UNIT 13: Changes in Self-Perception: Part 2
- UNIT 14: Changes in Self-Perception: Part 3
- LESSON 1: The Subtext of Storytelling
- LESSON 2: Setting as a Character
- LESSON 3: Hitting the (Story) Slot Machine
- LESSON 4: Telling Toy Stories
- LESSON 5: Shakespeare Makes Us All Great Writers
- LESSON 6: Roller Coaster Plots and Story Starter Generator
- LESSON 7: This is the End: Writing a Science Fiction Ending
- LESSON 8: Familiar Scenes: Writing What You Know
- LESSON 9: Mysterious Beginnings Make Magical Stories
- LESSON 10: Using Sentence Stems to Spawn Stories
- LESSON 11: Using Visuals to Stir Stories