Summer SAVY, Session 5 Day 2, Transformations in Writing (3rd -4th)
Greetings!
Our authors were so hard at work today! We focused yesterday on what makes a good story, and today, students were able to bring in or share titles of their favorite stories and show what they liked about them. This was a great way to get our creative juices flowing!
We then investigated different genres of fiction and nonfiction and discussed how some of them can be both categories, but most clearly fall into one of those categories. Students shared examples of their favorite genres, and we talked about how exciting it is as an author to get to choose something that you like as your genre when the inspiration strikes. This would be a great opportunity to talk about your favorite genres and books!
We then studied character development, and we read Where the Wild Things Are and analyzed the character of Max. We broke down the challenges and changes he went through. We talked about how characters are portrayed for a short period and you want to develop a backstory and know the history of the characters you create. We watched a great interview with J.K. Rowling about 10 Writing Tips that she would suggest. She talked about the importance of character development and knowing where your story is going to go. She also talked about how you can cleverly put in red herrings, which would make the reader think one thing is going to happen, but then develop it so that it is different. She stressed that you have to be very intentional and thoughtful about what you write, and not give too much away in the first chapter!
Some of the kids brought their stories/characters home to work on. Please be very positive and encouraging. We are not looking for spelling corrections, etc. because we are not at the submission/editorial stage. However, you can give constructive feedback if they ask for it. I think one of the hardest things about reading something a child writes is to not put too much of your own ideas or change what they are doing. Let them discover as they are writing whether they have done what they wanted to do! Please make sure they bring them back tomorrow!!!! I LOVE that they wanted to continue!
Have a great night!
Dr. Mall