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Theme 4: Be True to Yourself
Theme Tips:
Mini-Lesson on Leads
The lead is the opening line or lines of a piece of writing-the first words the reader sees. One way writers improve their pieces is by trying different leads. Here's a way to model writing good leads.
- Pick one of your own writings and write 2 or 3 alternate leads for it (see Writer's Corner, p. 15, for suggestions). Copy the original lead and your new ones on a transparency.
- Then share your piece in AUTHOR'S CHAIR, telling the students how you came to write it and why you are not satisfied with the original lead.
- After students respond to your piece, re-read the lead and ask for their ideas about other ways to begin. Chart their suggestions.
- Then share 1 or 2 of your alternate leads. Ask students what they think of the alternate possibilities compared to the original and respond to their suggestions.
- Tell them that during today's writing time you plan to work on a new lead for your piece and that you'll share your next draft with them. Invite interested students to write new leads for a piece of their own and share them in a WRITING CONFERENCE (Theme 2 Writer's Corner, p. 13) or in the AUTHOR'S CHAIR.
- A few days later, share your revised piece with its new lead. Ask the students how they think the piece works now. Talk a little about how you feel about it and what you learned by changing the lead.
- You may have noticed that starting in a different way prompts substantial changes in the rest of the piece to 'fit' the new lead. If you have this experience, be sure to share it with your students.
Reflecting on Growth and Change:
Providing students with time to reflect on their own development as readers and writers is essential for deep learning. A great way to do this is to have students review all their writings, drawings & creations during Theme 4, with students selecting one piece that is most important to them.
Then students write you (or their parents) a letter explaining why they feel that this one piece is really important and staple it to the piece they chose. If they have done this for previous themes, students can compare Theme 4's reflection with earlier ones and write/share about how their ideas of what is "important" have changed since their last reflection.
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