- Created By Alec Patton
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- Description:
Dean adapted this exercise from Neal Pollack's more extended "Bad Writing" exercise, which appears in "Don't Forget To Write", a fantastic book with lots of great writing exercises. - Purpose:
By taking a paragraph of excellent writing and turning it into bad writing, students identify the elements that make "good writing" so good. - Targets: Teacher
- CCSS.LA.11-12.RL.CCR.4
- 11th Grade, 12th Grade
- CCSS.LA.11-12.RL.CCR.5
- 11th Grade, 12th Grade
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More in HTH "We Chose Our Own Adventures" Project
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- Step 1: Journalling
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"We Chose Our Own Adventures" was inspired by "Cho...
- Prompts for Journalling
- Step 2: Real-world writing purposes scavenger hunt
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The next step was to introduce students to "real-w...
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- "Real-world Writing Purposes" scavenger hunt recorder
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- Step 3: 1 Topic = 18 Topics
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At this point, students come up with a topic that ...
- 1 Topic = 18 Topics
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Here are some examples of student work. Their sugg...
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- Step 4: "Quick Writes"
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After students write their "18 topics", they write...
- Model "quick writes" written by the teacher
- Step 5: "Idea Development" Graphic Organizer
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Now is the time for students to decide what they'r...
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- Ideas Development Graphic Organizer - Examples of Student Work
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At this time, students also write down what they w...
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- Step 6: Find a "mentor text" and reverse-engineer an outline from it
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At this point students shift away from their own w...
- Reverse-engineered outline - Examples of Student Work
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I've made collections of possible "mentor texts". ...
- My "Real-world Writing Purposes" Readlists
- Step 7: "Bad Writing"
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All credit for this step goes to my intern, Dean, ...
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Dean May's "Bad Writing" exercise
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By identifying the "good" characteristics that the...
- Checklist - traits of good writing
- Step 8: Hand in the first draft
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Students "hand in" their first drafts by sharing t...
- Step 9: "Scissors" Critique
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This critique session is all about high-level stru...
- Scissors Critique
- Step 10: "Big Picture" Critique
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This critique session is about making sure that re...
- "Big Picture" critique
- Big Picture Critique - Examples of Student Work
- Step 11: Looking closely at beginnings and endings
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Most of the time, the toughest parts of a piece of...
- Graphic Organizer - categorizing awesome beginnings and endings
- Field Guide to Awesome Beginnings and Endings
- Step 12: Hand in the final draft
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Students "hand in" their final drafts by sharing t...
- Guide to formatting your "We Chose Our Own Adventures" piece
- Step 13: Copy-editing the work for publication
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The teacher divides the pieces up between the edit...
- Step 14: Interior and Exterior Design
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The design team compiles all the articles, formatt...
- Step 15: Uploading the book to the publisher
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It's easiest for the teacher to do this, and it wi...
- Step 16: Exhibition (the book launch party)
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At High Tech High, we call the public event at the...
- We Chose Our Own Adventures - photos from the exhibition
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