Transcript Nancy Oswald

Nancy Oswald,
CCIRA 2016




It’s hard getting ideas
Get stuck in the middle and fizzle out
Trouble making their writing exciting (they
know what they want to say in their heads,
but it doesn’t come out that way on paper.)
Can’t write to a prompt
One word:
right now
One word:
One word:
One word:
reason)
that describes how you’re feeling
that describes this room
to describe someone’s nose
that’s interesting to you (for any
Jittery
Bubbly
Bulbous
Munificent
 Stick your notes where they can easily been
seen or read by others and walk around. If
you see a word you like, negotiate a trade.
(Trades must be mutual.)
 When done trading, ask students to write a
sentence using all 4 (or any number) words
correctly.
 Use one or all words as a story starter




Write a description with the four words you
end up with
Vocabulary building
Focus on verbs or other parts of speech. For
example all words must be an adjective to
describe a snowstorm or a verb for ways to
walk or run
Synonyms for various overused words



The sun yawned, washed its face, flossed and
brushed its teeth and hurried over the
horizon.
The boulder shivered like you do on a cold
winter morning when it looks like the school
bus is never going to come.
The air seemed to be dancing to the rhythm
of his hammers.


KERBOOM BLAMMITY-BLAMMITY BLAMMITY
BOOMBOOM BANGBOOMBANG!!!!
RINGGGGG! RINGGGGG!


Ferret Faced Freddy
Frederick the Friendly





(The boulder) was as hard as anger and so
big around, it took half a week for a tall man
to walk from one side to the other.
His voice sounded like bat wings on
tombstones.
The rainbow draped around him like love.
Shone like silver… rang like gold.
(Some of these are crossovers—good for
discussion!)
 Partners,
write out, illustrate and
post figurative language from a
story.
 Create a Figurative Language
Wall
 Thumbs up during read alouds
 Share best simile in own writing




Red as a rose
Blue as the sky
Hungry as a….
The snow looked like…
The boy was sad.
Tears slid down the boy’s cheeks.
 The man was impatient.
The man frowned and thrummed his fingers on
his folded arms.

Try it:
 The mother was worried.
 The child was afraid.




Choose a student (or do in small groups if
you prefer) to demonstrate an emotion.
Freeze the action.
Students have pencil and paper ready to
describe what they see.
Have writers focus on facial expressions and
other body language. (Concrete details, not
she was angry.)






Shy
Unhappy
Worried
Elated
Curious
Surprised




Always indent when the speaker changes
Always indent when the speaker changes
Always indent when the speaker changes
And don’t forget to indent every time the
speaker changes




Punctuation ALWAYS goes inside the “, . ? !”
Keep the description that goes with the
paragraph with the words. Example: Sarah
shouted, “Help!” She looked up at the
avalanche of debris tumbling down the
mountain.
Keep tags simple.
Skip tags if it’s clear who is speaking. “Help!”
Sarah looked up at the avalanche of debris
tumbling down the mountain.
Pa rolled over and his snoring stopped. With nothing to drown out the noise, the scratching
sounded louder.“Pa?” Ruby whispered.No answer.“Pa?” The plea was more urgent. The
clawing became more insistent, too.Ruby decided she’d have to shake Pa awake. Her bare feet
touched the cold floor, and she took one step toward his cot. She glanced at the moonlit window
and shrieked, “Paaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!”A dark hairy face stared at her then vanished. Ruby hollered
again. Pa didn’t need a second shout. He bolted upright, leapt from his bed, and in two long
strides reached Ruby. He gently shook her shoulders. “Are you having a bad dream?”
Ruby waited for her heart to settle, then pointed to the window. “I ss…ss…saw something…”
Ruby stuttered. “I… I… think it was a moo… moo-squatch.”Pa chuckled. “Couldn’t be a
moosequatch. They always stay clear of town.” “It was scruffy.” Ruby didn’t like Pa making
fun of the whole thing. “And its eyes glowed like the devil’s.” Pa laughed again. “I guess we’d
better go see what’s out there, or I’ll never get any sleep.”Pa lit a lamp and pulled on his pants.
Ruby shoved her feet into her boots and pulled a blanket from her bed to throw on over her
nightdress. When Pa flung open the cabin door, Ruby’s donkey, Maude, clopped over as if
surprised and happy to have company in the middle of the night.“There you have it,” Pa said.
“Are you sure it wasn’t Maude peeking in the back window.”Exasperated, Ruby put her hands
on her hips. “Pa, I know the difference between a donkey and a…”A cat sprang out of the
shadows and aimed for the cabin door. Maude started to bray, and Ruby’s eyes grew as round as
apricots. “It’s Trouble!” she said with disbelief. “Trouble’s found her way back home.”
The furry creature slipped between Pa and Ruby, leapt onto the table, and before either of them
could catch her, began lapping at the butter left on the table from the night before. Ruby raced to
save the butter. After days of looking for the cat, and more days giving up on ever seeing her
again, Ruby and Pa had stopped putting away anything a cat might want to eat. Trouble
rrrreowed as Ruby grabbed her off the table and then purred so loud Ruby figured the early
morning deliverymen on Bennett Avenue could hear her. Ruby plunked down in a chair and
folded the cat onto her lap, stroking her from head to tail. If it were possible, Trouble purred
louder.“Well I’ll be,” Pa said. He’d forgotten to close the cabin door and Maude clumped in.
The donkey nosed the scraggly looking cat on Ruby’s lap as if making sure it was the same one
that had come to live with them after the second Cripple Creek fire.
Pa rolled over and his snoring stopped. With nothing to drown out the noise, the
scratching sounded louder.
“Pa?” Ruby whispered.
No answer.
“Pa?” The plea was more urgent. The clawing became more insistent, too.
Ruby decided she’d have to shake Pa awake. Her bare feet touched the cold floor, and she
took one step toward his cot. She glanced at the moonlit window and shrieked,
“Paaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!”
A dark hairy face stared at her then vanished. Ruby hollered again. Pa didn’t need a
second shout. He bolted upright, leapt from his bed, and in two long strides reached Ruby. He
gently shook her shoulders. “Are you having a bad dream?”
Ruby waited for her heart to settle, then pointed to the window. “I ss…ss…saw
something…” Ruby stuttered. “I… I… think it was a moo… moo-squatch.”
Pa chuckled. “Couldn’t be a moosequatch. They always stay clear of town.”
“It was scruffy.” Ruby didn’t like Pa making fun of the whole thing. “And its eyes
glowed like the devil’s.”
Pa laughed again. “I guess we’d better go see what’s out there, or I’ll never get any
sleep.”




Bus ride to school
Eating in the cafeteria
Recess
Entering the classroom first thing in the
morning
 Getting
on the bus.
 The ride to school.
 Arriving at school.
Focus on Specific Nouns and Active Verbs
 Circle 5 nouns and find alternatives.
Example: Hat, bonnet, cap, sunhat, bowler…
 Circle 5 verbs and replace with something
more active.
 Walked: sauntered, strolled, marched,
hiked…
(Acting out ways to walk or move works well
here to illustrate this point.)





Look at nouns and verbs again and add:
Adjectives and Adverbs.
Use adverbs sparingly.
Elaborate with prepositional phrases or
combine sentences for smoothness.
Keep it short and allow students time to share
their improvements.
As before circle five sentences that have passive
verbs in them. (is are, was, were..)
Example: She was tired. Her body ached.
He was happy. A grin spread across his face
and his eyes sparkled.
YOU CAN’T GET RID OF ALL OF THEM.
SOMETIMES USING A PASSIVE VERB IS THE BEST
WAY TO SAY SOMETHING.
1. Close your eyes for a minute and think of a room you know
well.
2. Think of all the details in that room. (A detail can be
anything in that room including memories, or smells.)
3. Open your eyes and write down five quick details about the
room.
4.
Have a partner ask you questions about each detail to make
it more specific.
5. Write down the answers to the questions next to the original
detail on your list.
6. Reverse roles and ask your partner questions about their
details.
7. Revise your original detail to include information.


Revise lower level reader stories to
include more detail and emotion.
Have students write nursery rhymes or
other short pieces from varying points of
view.

Give a grade for risk-taking so that
students are willing to try new things.

Find ways for kids to share their work.




Any of Ralph Fletcher’s Books: A Writer’s
Notebook, How Writers Work, and more…
If You Were a Writer by Joan Lowery Nixon
Barry Lane: Reviser’s Tool Box, and After the
End
Writing Tools: 50 Essential Strategies for
Every Writer
[email protected]
www.nancyoswald.com