February 4, 2008

February 4, 2008
In your notebook, on page 19, students responded to the picture on the overhead with a poem or a brief story. (My Wife and My Mother-in-law)
If you don't have your notebook, you could write on a sheet of lined paper, bring it and tape it into your notebook.

We practiced the following Prewriting Techniques: (starting on page 10)
1. Freewriting: Just start writing and write for about two minutes about anything that comes into your mind. The point is to not stop writing during those two minutes. You're not writing about anything in particular, just whatever comes to mind. If your mind goes blank, just write blank, blank, or something else. This technique will sometimes free up your mind when you have writers' block, or may generate ideas you could write about.
2. Focused freewriting: Again, you are going to just write for two minutes without stopping. This time, you will focus on one of these words: roads, red, rain. Select one of those words, and write anything that comes to mind about that word during the two minutes. This can help you discover what you know about a subject, or help you think of different ways to look at it.
3. Asking questions: Select a subject you know about, then use the newspaper reporter's question words to generate information about that subject. Here's an example:
Baseball:
who: players, coaches, umpires, fans, . . .
what: play ball! bats, balls, mound, bases, backstop, hot dogs, baseball caps, uniforms, . . .
where: arena, field, Wrigley Field, back lot, school, . . .
why: fun! money for pros, fun to watch, for the hot dogs, The All-American past time, exercise, get outside,
when: summertime, night games, day games, weekends, recess, P.E. . . .


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