Whole Novels for the Whole Class by Sacks Ariel

Author:Sacks, Ariel [Sacks, Ariel]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Wiley
Published: 2013-08-29T14:00:00+00:00

Nearly all of the creative writing in my class connects to our whole novel studies. Following are examples of the types of creative writing my students do in conjunction with the books they read. I generally make decisions about which assignments to use based on the literary focus of the study.

Figure 5.2 Students Writing in a Room of Their Own

Connecting to Characters Through Writing

Three of the creative assignments I might use during a novel study focus on character.

Character Pen Pals

When students are new to whole novel studies, I love to assign them to write a letter to a character in the novel. We do this at the beginning or in the middle of the novel study. They must pretend the character is a real person and just talk to the character about what's happening in his or her life. I encourage students to comment on specific things the character says or does and end with a few questions for the character. When students have finished reading the novel, they pretend to be the character and write a reply letter to themselves.

Common Core Connection

The pen-pal exercise encourages readers to think about the novel creatively as well as analytically and develops CCRA.W.3: “Write narratives to develop real or imagined experiences or events using effective technique, well-chosen details, and well-structured event sequences.”

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.