If you are an old-time Iowa Citian, think back to 1976 on First Avenue, where the mega Hy-Vee is now. The following is a story I wrote for the students:
The Cool Car
7-11. Soda. Gary. Walk. Car. Point. Yell. Screech. Reverse. Run. Culvert. Breathless. Listening. Conversation. Quiet. Peer. Run. Home. Relief.
From this, try to imagine a possible scenario. Then ask your student what actually happened! It is a true story!
The students have an assignment called "20 Words". They are to write a story using 20 or more words. Each word is a "sentence". We talked about words that work Words that have meaning by themselves or in context. "The" would be a poor choice because by itself it does not conjure up too many images! The word "screech", on the other hand, is quite descriptive!
I also mentioned 20 words minimum. If it is a well-done 19, then good!
Autobiography
In class, we read an excerpt from Jerry Spinelli's autobiography Knots in my Yo-yo String. We discussed what would be in an autobiography.
- Your life! I'm not going to do any fact-checking, but it should be non-fiction!
- Include events that are interesting, important, and entertaining!
- Hand-written this time. 2 pages, No GIGANTIC penmanship!
- Write NEATLY! Your first draft can be however, but what you turn in needs to easy on the eyes!
