We all have unique lives, experiences, and interests, no matter what age we are. These can be springboards for each of us to create stories that no one else can write. Students who comprehend this may write with more confidence and, perhaps, come to see themselves as authors too.

I regularly visit schools and give presentations on my children’s books and writing process. When students have an opportunity to ask questions, one invariably posed is, “Where do you get your ideas for stories?” I love answering this question, because by sharing the “sparks” for my stories, I hope to inspire kids to create their own. Starting points for stories may be found in relationships with family and close friends, personal interests, personal experiences, and even dreams. All of these have jumpstarted my fiction.

Another source of inspiration that I like to discuss in some detail with students is the great big world of ideas, happenings, and information that constitutes current events. These offer boundless opportunities for authors looking for story ideas.

I was browsing the Internet in early 2008 and read an online news article from the Alaska Dispatch about a cease and desist order issued to prevent an Anchorage, Alaska man from building a 25-foot snowman. There was a photograph of Snowzilla (built the year before), and I marveled at his enormity. He dwarfed people and nearby houses. The huge snowman had caused chaos in town; tourists clogged roads, and people claimed he might hurt someone if he collapsed.

So the town issued the order to prevent the second rising of Snowzilla. This struck me as a very sad commentary on our times. Legal action against a snowman? I ruminated for months before writing the first draft of SNOWZILLA, based on the true facts. But I write for children, and this version had an adult protagonist and a not-so-happy ending. After brainstorming with colleagues, playing “what if?” with the facts, and putting myself “in kids’ boots,” I wrote a fictionalized version in rhyme about a little girl and her brother:

It snowed without stopping for week after week.
When it ended, at last, Cami Lou took a peek.
She bundled and booted and zipped up her brother.
“Let’s build a huge snowman, unlike any other!”

Departing from fact to create fiction isn’t always easy, especially if you are basing your story on true facts within your life experience. But a good fiction writer must often depart from the facts to serve his or her story. For example, a character inspired by a cranky uncle might be more memorable if there’s a secret reason for his unhappiness. The same freedom to change and mix things up applies to plot. A good fiction author doesn’t limit him or herself to “how it really happened.”

Since I had only read about Snowzilla and wasn’t wedded to his true story, it wasn’t that hard to turn on the “fiction switch.” How could I ratchet up the humor, the story, the size of this tall tale? I started with a spunky child protagonist who enlists her mom to plow the whole yard and her dad to place Snowzilla’s head using a rig. I thought of funny reasons for people to complain:

“Poochie is scared to go out the front door.”
Another said, “Views were much better before.
A lady warned everyone, “Make no mistake—
when temperatures rise, he’ll turn into a lake!

I changed the town ordinance violation into neighbors bringing lawsuits. And when I ruminated about how to save Snowzilla, my own life experience kicked in with a fact—in my New England town, the flattest, most open space is our community garden. What a perfect spot to move Snowzilla! Major scaffolding, many hands, a trip down Main Street, and marching bands helped complete the joyous move. And when the inevitable happened, Cami was ready for the challenge:

Weeks later, the sun became hotter and bright.
Snowzilla grew smaller and flowed out of sight.
Cami Lou waved, hardly shedding a tear,
because she had much bigger plans for next year.

My completed manuscript had grown into a humorous tall tale far different from the original news story I’d read. My creative journey can be a model for similar journeys in your classrooms. Consider encouraging students to use a news story as a starting point for writing fiction. Such assignments or exercises will introduce or expose them to journal and newspaper articles as a reading option. Interest in current events may be kindled. And opportunities abound for tailoring assignments to particular literacy goals.

For pre- or early literacy students, a teacher might propose a simple fact line drawn from the day’s news, or from the day’s events—“Principal Jones stood on the playground.” The class can brainstorm to invent a story, with the teacher saying, “What if?” or “What might have happened next?” This storytelling exercise, led by teacher prompting, can encourage all students’ creative juices while targeting specific skills. For example, the class story line might include, “Principal Jones ran away.” Students can brainstorm a “best word” for the verb “ran.” (Students might suggest, “He hopped away,” or “He dashed away,” “He hurried away,” or “He zoomed away.”)

For more experienced writers, a teacher might select and read two or three short news articles that would be of interest to kids. Students can write a fictional story, developing a story idea from the article. Teachers might model an example, creating a short fictional story. An article about a giant underground ant colony might lead to a story about a child using all his leftover dinner food to set up a soup kitchen for ants. Students could share their articles and brainstorm together to come up with story ideas.

For older grades, students themselves could select an article from a print newspaper, or online news source. That article would provide the story idea. A teacher might refine such an assignment to focus on specific traits or mechanics of writing, such as story arc, descriptive passages, hyperbole, active verb choices and tenses, etc. Students should tackle such assignments with enthusiasm—they will be reading and choosing an article that piques their curiosity. Some will be drawn to human interest stories; others may be drawn to science or medical writing. Still others may be fascinated by local, state, national, or international history or current events.

With a bit of guidance, students of almost any age can mine news sources for a story idea. Creating fiction out of real events will help students develop confidence as story tellers and provide myriad opportunities for teachers to present or reinforce numerous language arts concepts and literacy skills. Hopefully, students will soon see stories everywhere in the world around them—as do all good fiction authors.

Janet Lawler is the author of IF KISSES WERE COLORS (a Common Core Curriculum Map-suggested work for kindergarteners), A FATHER'S SONG, and A MAMA BUG'S LOVE. Her latest book, SNOWZILLA, was published this past October. OCEAN COUNTING is slated for a 2013 release by National Geographic. Learn more about Janet and her work at www.JanetLawler.com.



Beyond the Notebook: Start with a Transcript

Beyond the Notebook: It's Only Natural to Write Nonfiction

photo: loco's via photopin cc

With Thanksgiving just around the corner, I find myself making a different sort of list than usual. I live by lists—things to do, things to buy—but now I am making a list of things for which I am thankful. I have, of course, listed my children. I love my job and am grateful for my wonderful colleagues. When I think “big picture,” I think I am most thankful to have been graced with the life I have lived. What luck, to be born in America, to have the freedoms I have. And I am overwhelmingly thankful for those who sacrifice to allow me to continue to live this way.

Thirty years ago, on November 13, 1982, people with similar feelings of gratitude erected a monument to those who made the ultimate sacrifice in Vietnam. In recognition of that occasion, I offer you this lesson. It’s been a student favorite since I started teaching it over eight years ago. I hope your students enjoy it as well.

My literature anthology includes the Walter Dean Meyer’s short story “The Treasure of Lemon Brown.” I augment my instruction of that story with a (highly edited) excerpt from Tim O’Brien’s “The Things They Carried.” There are edited excerpts available “out there,” and I’m sure you can find one that suits your needs. I stray from the traditional edit because I teach eighth graders, and I have no desire to explain that Lieutenant Cross doesn’t really want to touch Martha’s knee all night long. But I digress…

The kids love the O’Brien piece, especially the boys. Read it aloud, and you could hear a pin drop. They are entranced, hanging on every word.

So, the first day of the lesson, I read aloud and let them ask questions, and we process together. We identify the physical things the soldiers carry, and then discuss the heavier emotional burdens. We discuss how the things the soldiers carry reveal their character then I haul out my overstuffed pocketbook and demonstrate how I can use the contents of my purse to reveal details of my character. For example, the comb, brush, nail file, nail polish, and three tubes of lipstick reveal my vanity, while the armless Darth Maul action figure and receipts from Justice make my maternity evident. I use these items to springboard into emotional weight; I carry the love a mother has for her children and the insecurities all women have about their appearance. (Eighth grade girls eat that up.) Then the students go through their own backpacks, compiling a list of physical items they carry with them and matching them to corresponding emotional weight. For homework, they draft a one paragraph “Things I Carry” piece.

In class the next day, I introduce them to the word “syntax”—the purposeful use of language for effect. While I’m sure you could go quite in depth with this lesson in high school, I limit my focus to four devices: asyndeton, polysyndeton, anaphora, and parallelism. With each word and definition I present, I provide a passage from “The Things They Carried.”

Asyndeton is the deliberate omission of conjunctions. So I use the sentence “They carried Sterno, safety pins, trip flares, signal flares, spools of wire, razor blades, chewing tobacco, liberated joss sticks and statuettes of the smiling Buddha, candles, grease pencils, The Stars and Stripes, fingernail clippers, Psych Ops leaflets, bush hats, bolos, and much more.” We read it aloud as written, then again, trying it out with “and” inserted periodically. We discuss the change in rhythm and how the lack of conjunctions makes the list seem longer, more overwhelming, and the effect that has on the reader.

Polysyndeton is the use of multiple conjunctions, especially where some could be omitted. For this, I use “They carried lice and ringworm and leeches and paddy algae and various rots and molds.” Again, we read it aloud as written and then again leaving out the conjunctions. We discuss how the syntax impacts the reader.

Anaphora is the repetition of a phrase at the start of neighboring clauses. That’s easy; simply pick any two or three sentences with multiple uses of “they carried.” Discuss how the reader is reminded over and over again just how burdened the soldiers really were by the repetition of the phrase “they carried.”

Parallelism—giving two or more parts of consecutive sentences the same structure to provide the whole piece with a definite pattern—is also easy: “Mitchell Sanders carried a set of starched tiger fatigues for special occasions. Henry Dobbins carried Black Flag insecticide. Dave Jansen carried sandbags that could be filled at night for added protection. Lee Strunk carried tanning lotion.” (If you’d like a nicely formatted handout to use with your cherubs, email me at mzcotillo@gmail.com, and I’ll send one along.)

After the ideas are defined and exemplified, students revise their original piece, gradually adding in each device. To add another layer, students can then swap drafts with other students for them to identify the syntactic devices in each other’s writing. They can type up a final draft and have a well-written, highly personal piece of writing for their portfolio.

A handy side effect of this lesson: syntax is a helpful to get around the sticky issue of grading personal writing. If you feel you must grade the final product, you can grade for style, not content, and that should help students understand you’re grading the writing, not them.

Oh, and one last word of advice? Have the tissues handy for when you read them.

Mary Cotillo is an 8th grade ELA teacher at Horace Mann Middle School in Franklin, MA. Mother to two children, she enjoys engaging in light saber battles and hanging out on soccer fields. She earned her National Board Certification in 2009.



Beyond the Notebook: Writing a la Poe

Teaching Tips: Grammar Games to Deliver Fun and Confidence

Teaching Tips: Justifying Fun in Haiku Stadium

As a writer, I enjoy creating poetry and fictional stories. But I think that writing nonfiction is one of the most exciting genres because it allows me to delve deeply into a subject in which I’m interested.

Nonfiction is also one of the first genres children are interested in, well before they can understand a fictional concept. Young children want to read about trucks, helicopters, and dinosaurs. As they get older, kids should be encouraged to delve into nonfiction topics for both research and writing purposes. The process of finding answers to questions when writing nonfiction is exciting and interesting. As long as students can explore a topic of personal interest, they’re more likely to be enthusiastic and committed researchers.

Teacher and nonfiction writer Deborah Hodge says, “Children have a keen and innate enthusiasm for the natural world. It is the nonfiction author’s job to observe what you are writing about, be it bears in the wild or butterflies in the backyard. There's no way to be authentic and to convey enthusiasm for a subject unless you've actually felt or witnessed it for yourself.”

Take students on a schoolyard exploration. Form partner teams of two and ask teams to look for interesting things in nature. In an inner city school yard, this might be a spider’s web, leaves changing color, or even weeds growing in the cracks of the pavement.

Writers are curious. Encourage students to ask questions, such as:

• What kinds of bugs do they see?
• What do these bugs eat?
• How long will each bug live?
• How does a bug reproduce?

After observations, taking notes and writing down questions, invite each team to select one question to which they do not know the answer. I noticed ants carrying crumbs and leaves, so my sample question will be “How strong is an ant?”

The next step will be to find answers. Take students to the computer lab and show them how to use a search engine to do research. Type in key words of your question. I might type in my entire question or some key words: strength, insect, ant.

When the endless list of possible sites with answers pops up, I scan the URL first. Show students how to judge this information. I do not accept anything listed on a site like Wikipedia since anyone can post information. Encourage your students to look for sites with “edu” or “gov” in the link, or from trusted sources like National Geographic.

I may need to narrow down my search by adding words like “red ant” or “ant carrying weight.” Look for a minimum of three sites posting the same answer. Record these answers, together with the source.

The next step is to use the information and to retell it in your own words. Have students retell the gathered information to their partner in a fun and interesting way that’s all their own:

Ants are so strong they can carry 10 to 20 times their own weight. That is about the same as you lifting a horse over your head!

Note that I had to do a lot of research, reading, and note taking to end up with just one interesting answer to my question. Deborah Hodge says, “The most important task of a nonfiction author may be deciding what to leave out of a book. You don’t want to clutter a topic with superfluous facts or have it bog down, and end up losing the interest of the reader.”

Have fun researching and writing with your students about any topic in the curriculum!

Margriet Ruurs’ latest nonfiction book is AMAZING ANIMALS (Tundra, 2011), a book of world records for animals. She is currently working on a book about global families.



Anita's Picks: Top Nonfiction (organized by era)

Stacy DeKeyser (SACAGAWEA) Considers Research in the Digital Age