Summer SAVY 2019: Session 1, Day 2 – Tremendous Transformations in Writing (Rising 3rd/4th)
We’ve had a great day exploring transformations in literature and writing. This morning students rolled story dice to obtain creative prompts for characters, conflicts, and resolutions, corresponding to the “Somebody wanted…, But then…, So…” story framework. We used these prompts to write whole stories in just twelve minutes! Then, students reviewed their writing from the past couple days to identify transformations (which some may have incorporated without even realizing it!), which we considered in light of the generalizations students developed yesterday. We are building a giant concept map on the wall, and it is exciting to see our collective conceptual thinking expand with so many creative examples!
Today we read A Tale of Two Beasts and analyzed the relationships among point of view, perspective, and story structure. Students then completed a “book scavenger hunt” to analyze point of view, perspective, transformations, and theme in other books. The highlight of the day for many was our choice activity: some students opted to create a skit that transformed a story they had read by focusing on another character’s perspective; others chose to write their own story inspired by the unique structure of A Tale of Two Beasts. After lunch, we enjoyed being the audience for one other’s presentations and noticing the many ways our writers used transformations to showcase another character’s perspective or just to make stories more interesting.
We took some time to learn from the experts at Pixar about story structure, and we began mapping out our own stories that will transform the characters we have created. We closed the day by sharing writing-in-progress in small groups and offering feedback to help each other move our writing forward. It is interesting to think about the transformative power of good feedback. Anyone who received a particularly helpful piece of feedback (We noticed it often comes in the form of a question!) has made note of it as a starting point for writing tomorrow!
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