Lesson of the Week:

Okay, so maybe my job isn't all fun and games. I do actually teach some kick-ass lessons from time to time and I think maybe I should start sharing a few.Teaching writing is always a challenge when it comes to middle school students and so leave it to Miss Fare to get creative. She came up with this lesson as a way to introduce IMAGRY and it seemed to work in my classroom as well. Try it!

Title: Mind Control

Essential Question: Can you control someone’s mind?

Objective: Students will be able to apply a writer’s use of details in a story to create an illustration.

Activity:
• Open up a classroom discussion about the possibility of mind-control
• Students will tell you that you cannot control their minds
• Tell students a good writer can control anyone’s mind and to prove your point you are going to read to them and have them draw what comes to mind
• Read a passage from any classroom novel. Make sure it includes descriptive language
• Have students draw a picture of what he/she sees
• All pictures will turn out alike

Closing: Details and descriptive language should create a vivid picture in the reader’s mind.

My passage was taken from our class novel, Fever 1793, about a girl who lived through the Yellow Fever Epidemic in Philadelphia. Below you will find the passage and some student drawings. Enjoy!

Mother shivered so hard, her teeth rattled. Even with all the blankets in the house on her, she still could not get warm. She lay under the faded bedding like a rag doll losing its stuffing, her hair a wild collection of snakes on her pillow, her cornflower blue eyes poisoned with red and yellow. It hurt to look at her.