Slow Way Home: Unit I

Lesson 3Slow Way Home Chapter 3Assertions and Illustrations

Milinda Jay, Ph. D

For teachers only

• Please read notes on slides 9,15,17,18,23,25,26,27,30,31

• Check homework from last night on slide 11. Be prepared to assign and record a formative grade (Check plus, check, check minus, zero)

• Xerox Unit 1 Lesson 3 Word document, “Writing Relay” slide 29

• Have poster board, dry erase boards or giant note pads available for writing relay slide 29

• Homework assignment on slide 32

Retell what happened

• In Chapter 2 of Slow Way Home• Each students take a turn saying one

sentence about what happened in Chapter 2.

Now, predict

• what might happen in Chapter 3.

Read aloud

• Chapter 3, Slow Way Home• Think about your own trip to the

state capitol. How does it compare to Brandon’s?

• Think about who you know who is like Mac? Who do you know like Mary Madonna?

Today’s Writing

• Drafting other people’s stories

Sunshine State Standard

• Subject Area: Reading/Language Arts• Strand: Writing Process• Standard 1: Prewriting• LA.910.3.1.1 The student will

prewrite by making a plan that addresses purpose, audience, a controlling idea, logical sequence, and time frame for completion.

FCAT Writing Objectives

To organize personal life experiences and the life experiences of others into functional evidence

To develop voice

Teacher Component

• To create a unique learning community by writing with your students

• To model the process of writing for students with the understanding that teachers have to write drafts, too!

• To donate to the learning community by sharing your experiences and those of your family/friends through memoir

Pull out the stories

• You gathered from home or family friends

• You shared your story with someone, and then asked if he or she had a similar story. If she didn’t you asked her some questions to get her to tell you a story.

• What did he/she tell?

Get with your partner

• And tell your partner the story you heard last night.

Read Aloud

• Then, read aloud what you’ve written.

• Have your partner suggest what else you might include in your writing based on details you may have included when you told the story that you didn’t include in the writing.

Jot it down!

• Make a note to yourself of the details you need to add.

Three students

• Tell the story you gathered from a relative or family friend to the rest of the class, or read aloud the story you have written to record the story.

• Partners, you can volunteer your partner if you thought his/her story was especially good.

Teacher

• Tell the story you gathered from a relative or family friend to the class. Or, read aloud the story you gathered.

Now that we’ve gathered stories

• And read a couple of chapters from Slow Way Home,

• How can we use them to improve your FCAT writing?

• Any ideas?

Display FCAT Prompt

• (teacher: display the prompt you have chosen for you class to use)

• Ok, here is the prompt

Consider the Possibilities

• Writing Situation: Kids need to have an adult that makes them feel safe.

• Directions for Writing: Think of a time you or someone you know has needed to feel safe and loved.

• Write to explain why kids need to feel safe and loved

Consider the Possibilities

• Writing Situation: • Many times, kids know more than

adults think they do.• Directions for Writing:• Think of a time you or someone you

know has known more than adults think that you know.

• Write to explain why adults think kids know less than they actually do know.

Here is how I might begin

• Thinking about an essay based on this prompt

• 1. First, I need to turn the prompt into an assertion.

• An assertion is a declaration or a statement. It works well in writing because once you make an assertion, you know what you need to prove.

From Prompt to Assertion

• Ok, so let’s take the following prompt:• Write to explain why adults think kids

know less than they actually do know. • To turn it into an assertion, or declaration

as in “I declare this to be true,” • We might state it like this: “Kids often

know more than adults think they do.”

Ok, so

• Now we’ve turned the prompt into an assertion:

• “Kids often know more than adults think they do.”

The next thing

• We need to do is to prove the assertion is true. I believe it’s true, but in order to convince my audience it’s true, I need to give them some illustrations or examples.

Illustrate Assertion

• To illustrate my assertion, “Kids often know more than adults think they do,”

• I would do well to begin with a real story illustrating the truth.

• What story could you use from Slow Way Home to illustrate this assertion?

To take it a step further

• Ok, let’s say we settle on Brandon’s knowing more about his mother’s boyfriends than she does.

• How would we set this up as an example of our assertion

• “Kids often know more than adults think they do.”

“Kids often know more than adults think they do.”

• Brandon, the main character of Slow Way Home, is a ten year old boy who sees his mother’s boyfriends for what they truly are: losers who will hurt rather than help his mother. If Brandon’s mom had taken a moment to listen to Brandon, she could have saved herself and Brandon a good bit of grief.

What about an example from

• The classroom stories?

“Kids often know more than adults think they do.”

• Now, let’s brainstorm together an example from one of the personal stories we have heard here in class

Brainstorm the example here:

Assertion/illustration relay• Rules: • 1. Group spends five minutes writing an assertion.• 2. At the end of five minutes, a timer goes off (bell, whistle,

whatever!) and the relay begins.• 3. First student in group writes an illustration for the

assertion and passes it to the next student. As soon as all students in the group who can do so have written an example or illustration, the group recorder writes the assertion and examples on a large sticky pad or poster board in the front of the classroom.

• 4. Points are awarded for best examples most quickly done. • 5. Teacher must appoint three judges to determine winning

group. • 6. Winning group receives a bonus check plus.

After prizes have been awarded

• Have the winning group read aloud their assertion and illustrations.

Homework

• Call an elderly relative you haven’t talked to in a while.

• Tell her you want to know more about her life and would love to hear stories about her childhood, or when she got married, or her parents.

• If she can’t think of a story, ask her to tell you about the best present she ever got. Write down the story. Bring it to class tomorrow.