The Devil's in the Details

the daring diva, Suzanne

The devil's in the details- what does that even mean?!  Well, for our writing game, there is much to be learned in the details.  Where do we learn the subtle nuances that the graders favor?  How do we assess trends to drive instruction?  There is much to be learned from the wording of the state rubric and scoring guide.  

Let me talk first to teachers- (I mean, come on, who else is reading this blog? Hi Mom!)
You owe it to your students to print off, mark up, and grade using the state rubric.  Consider the wording- what is there and what is noticeably absent.  Value these things in your instruction and grading.  Texas teachers- click here for links to the 4th, 7th, English I and English II resources and scoring guides.  

BUT DON'T STOP THERE!  (I'm not yelling- I just really mean it!)  If we know what the state wants, why would we keep this information to ourselves.  Make students masters of the rubric.  Currently in my class, we are wrapping up personal narrative writing and building a foundation for expository writing.  Before we leave narrative writing, I want students to have a strong understanding of the rubric and feel empowered knowing that they have skills and strategies required in the upper end of the rubric.  I created this "student friendly" personal narrative rubric using the 4th grade STAAR rubric.  It uses most of the exact wording from the original but is "friendly" mainly because it fits on one page.  Ha!  

We spent a class period reading and marking key words and phrases for each score point. We talk about and write in strategies that we have to get those points- pitchforks, Ba-Da-Bings, Star Point words, compound and complex sentences... I also like to tie the "wordy" rubric to these house images from Gretchen Bernabei.  I love how it helps students "see" the differences in the types of writing.  A devolved essay is also a quick and easy way for students to apply and use wording from the rubric.

In a second class period, student groups are given a pack of unmarked student essays from the scoring guide.  Students create a T-chart detailing the positives and negatives of the writing.  Based on their conversation and chart, students score the essays and justify using the wording from the rubric.  

It is so important for students to have mastery of the rubric.  They know what is expected, and they know what they have to get there.  It reinforces the idea that you do what your taught- play like you've practiced.  It's that simple!  No devil in those details.  

Small Moment Mapping

your map maker, Suzanne

Raise your hand if you've ever graded a student story that went daylight to dark, breakfast to dinner, sunrise to sunset.  They include all the details- what they ate for breakfast, who rode in the car with them and what they were wearing.  There is also that little part about them riding the roller coaster (A.K.A. the actual story- because isn't it always about a roller coaster?!)  *Camera pans to a sea of raised hands*

In an effort to fight this uphill battle, we talked about how the best stories take place in a matter of minutes, perhaps even seconds.  We read Shortcut by Donald Crews.  Before I read, I asked students to think about the amount of time it takes for this story to take place.  Afterward, we talked about how the events could take place in 15 to 20 minutes, definitely less than an hour.  We used our candy corn to narrow down our own idea about a time when we encouraged someone else.  

We created this foldable by folding the sides of a paper in to the center, creating two "doors".  Once students narrowed down their idea to "this one time" they drew a picture of the scene in the center of their foldable.  After drawing, we separated our side panels into five sections, labeled them, and kerneled our personal narrative.  

I adapted this idea from Ideas by Jivey.  I'm using her mentor sentence units with my 4th graders and I L.O.V.E love them!!  Thanks J. Ivey for your great idea and resources!

The Story of My Life

your storyteller, Suzanne

Contrary to title, this is not an ode to One Direction (although I could be pretty okay with that).  As you may know, I am in the uncharted waters of 4th grade.  We've started our year as writers with the easiest story to write- our own story.

I have unique experiences.  I am the person I am today because of my what I've seen and done.  We spend lots of time valuing our stories.  

Now we are working to narrow down and kernel our stories.  The best stories take place in a tiny window of time.  All of the action can occur in seconds, minutes or, at the most hours.  We narrow our thinking down with a help from our seasonal snack- candy corn.  Check out my example below that goes with this narrative prompt:

White- key words from the prompt
Orange- my BIG idea
Yellow- my narrow idea-
"This one time..."

Now that we have our narrow idea, we are ready to kernel.  A kernel makes me think of popcorn.  It's tiny and hard, definitely not tasty- but it holds all the potential.  The kernel is our plan.  It is five strategic sentences that make our story go somewhere, do something.  








This is the Personal Narrative structure we use to kernel in Room 27.


Check out our prompt pack of 20 STAAR-formatted personal narrative prompts that will keep your writers rocking and rolling.