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Family
Writing Activities ~ Lesson Ideas
Here
are some lesson ideas to support your creativity as a
teacher. You, of course, know your own class's learning
styles, needs and interests better than anyone, so please
use what is helpful and modify or disregard the rest.
Depending on your teaching style and your students' pace
of learning, each lesson step could last one or several
days. In "Download Options" you can
find a downloadable version of this unit and sample student
handouts.
Part
I: Personal Narratives
This lesson accompanies the personal narrative unit; however, the same steps could be used for other writing genres. (At the end of this page is an example of
how to adapt this lesson for a unit on fiction writing.)
Since most parents have not spent time at Hidden Villa, explain to students that they are going to help their parents write about an experience in nature that
changed them in some way. Make sure your students understand
that we are surrounded by nature and that their parents
do not have to limit their stories to time spent in nature
preserves.
Week #1 |
School: Students finish publishing the final draft of the
personal narratives. Send home a family letter explaining
the project. Home: Parent and child read personal narrative
together. Send
home a
worksheet
that
guides the
parent to comment on positive aspects of the story and to
make connections to the child's experiences. School: Class
discussion about what it was like to share their writing
with their parents. |
Week #2 |
School: Guide a class discussion to help students remember
all of the steps they took to write their personal narratives.
The first step is to choose a memory and make a web of the
story details. Many parents have never created an idea web before, so send home an example. Guide your class in creating a web of all the places "in nature" could refer to (e.g. beach, forest, farm, park...) and listing the kinds of the activities they think their parents may have done in each (e.g. swimming, hiking, having a picnic...). Send home a clean copy of the web, as an example of an organized web and to provide ideas for parents to choose a personal narrative memory. Home: Students coach their parents in finding an appropriate
memory and in creating a web of story details. |
Week #3 |
Share: Students
bring in their parents' webs to share. Guide a class
discussion about the challenges and successes
they are experiencing in their new role of writing coach.
Continue: Have students discuss together the best ways to explain how parents can use their webs to write their story. Home: Students
coach parents in creating a good story beginning and in using their web to write the rough draft. |
Week
#4 |
Share: Students bring in their parents'
rough drafts. Guide a discussion about their discoveries,
triumphs and challenges in being in the teacher role. Continue: Review the processes in your classroom for revision conferences.
Remind students that as coach/teacher it is their responsibililty to support their parents writing by coming to the revision conference prepared with some positive comments on their parents' personal narratives and several specific suggestions that could make the story even more interesting.
Have students work together in pairs to read
over the personal narratives of each other's parents. Give
each student a revision conference planning worksheet so
that they can write down the ideas they want to share with
their parents at home. Home: Students guide their parents
in a revision conference and help them revise their story. |
Week
#5 |
Publishing: Your class can go about publishing their parents' personal narratives in several ways: 1) As teacher, you could type them up and unobtrusively correct any spelling and grammar errors. 2) Students could type up their parents' stories in the computer lab. 3) Make it a home assignment and have students write or type up a final copy on their own time. |
Part II: Celebrate
Whatever
type of writing genre you use for this family-school activity,
make sure to enjoy the wonderful experience of celebrating the project at its conclusion. Have students and parents illustrate their writing pieces together; then post the stories, parent's and child's side-by-side, around the room. Your could photocopy each parent's story side-by-side with their child's writing, compiling them in a class book which students can read during silent reading. If you are able, I recommend making a photocopy of the book as a treasured memento for each family.
After our class finished our personal narrative books,
we celebrated with a family gathering during which students did
simple oral presentations from parts of their stories. Then,
they presented our family writing book to their parents as a
gift. In the following weeks my students' homework was to pick
several stories (student and parent) from our class book to read
and write quick reflections for discussion back in class.
Part III: Fiction Story Adaptation
This same project could be repeated or modified, focusing on fiction writing after students write their Hidden Villa animal stories. Students review together all the steps they tool to write their stories, and then support each other in learning to teach these steps to their parents. Although I require my students to set their Hidden Villa fiction stories in the habitat of Hidden Villa, for the family-writing project I encourage each family to choose the habit and animals they are most familiar with. Here is a suggested schedule:
Week #1 |
Together at home, students read their published fiction
stories with their families. |
Week #2 |
In class, students review how to choose and develop their
main character. Then, at home, students do this in collaboration
with their parents. |
Week #3 |
In class, students review how to plan a good plot outline
and discuss how to best explain these steps to their parents.
At home, students and parents together create the plot for
their story using the plot outline worksheet the students
used in class. |
Week #4 |
In class, students review how to use their plot outline
to write the actual story. They may review writing strong
beginnings or creating dialog. At home, students and parents
together write down their story. |
Week #5 |
In class, students review all the steps to hold a revision
conference in your classroom. Then, in pairs they review
the stories of each other's families and prepare comments
for their revision conference. At home, students guide their
parents in a revision conference and together revise their
story. |
Week #6 |
Find a way to publish the stories. You may also want to
review the steps for illustrating fiction stories, send home
necessary materials and encourage students and parents to
work together to create illustrations for their story. When
the stories are done, don't forget to celebrate the process
and product with your families. |
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