Craft Lesson-Poetry Content

Materials:
Red Hot Salsa by: Lori Marie Carlson, Students’ Writing Notebooks

Purpose:
Many students think that writing a well-written poem means making sure certain lines rhyme and including tons of literary elements. While these are important aspects of poetry, content is often overlooked. Some of the best poems are the best because of their content, which is rarely pointed out to students. In this lesson students will look at content in the book Red Hot Salsa and work on the content of their own poems.

Script:
Begin by having students share, in groups, their experiences with well-written poetry. What makes a good poem? What do you try to do when writing poetry?

Then explain that a well-written poem does not always rhyme and is not usually overloaded with figurative language. Content is a deciding factor in most good poems. To make sure everyone is on the same page, define content as a class. Then, have students open (or hand out a poem) Red Hot Salsa to a poem of your choosing and as a class decide the content and look at how the author conveyed that content (Invisible Boundaries by Ivette Alvarez on page 24 is a good choice). Do not settle for answers such as being young and Latino (which is on the front of the book), have students really dig deep and see the content the author is writing about.

Afterward, have students pair up and look at a poem from the book (it would be faster to assign poems to each group). After they have discussed the content as a group, have them share with the class. Have them talk about the content and how it affected them while they were reading the poem.

Now, have students go to their writer’s notebooks and find a poem they wrote, or have been working on. Instruct them to look at the content of their poem and make revisions. At the end of class have students share how their poems improved just by looking at the content of what they are writing.

Craft Lesson-Point of View

Materials: Getting Away with Murder: The True Story of Emmett Till By: Chris Crowe

Purpose: Point of view can change the way a reader reacts to and interprets a story. However, young readers sometimes have trouble using point of view in their personal writing. In this lesson students will take a look back (they will have already read the entire book) at the point of views Chris Crowe used to tell Emmett Tills story and how this impacted them as readers.

Script: In the fiction novels we have read the authors mainly told a story from one character’s point of view. In Getting Away with Murder: The True Story of the Emmett Till Case, Chris Crowe uses numerous points of view to tell Emmett’s story. Today we are going to look at these different pints of view, how they added to the story, and analyze how the reader’s reaction could have been different if the story had been told from a different point of view.

First, what is the purpose of point of view? (Allow students to answer then talk about how Crowe used different points of view to tell Emmett’s story.) As a class let’s list the people involved in the murder case.

• Emmett Till
• Mamie Till Bradley
• Emmett’s Uncle, Mose Wright
• Emmett’s Cousins
• The white woman behind the counter
• The killers, Roy Bryant and J.W. Milam
• The Sherriff
• The Attorneys
• African American People
• Southern White/Black People
• The jurors
• The judge

Students may come up with more, but this is a good start.

(To students) What do you think would have happened if the story had been told from a different point of view? What would your reaction have been if Emmett’s mother told the story or the sheriff? (Give students a chance to answer). Now, get into groups and write a portion of the story from different character’s perspectives. (Remind students to keep their writing classroom appropriate) When students are finished have them share their accounts of the story and discuss what it was like to write from different perspectives. Discuss how a story can become completely different depending on who is telling it.

If time permits, you may also want to discuss whether it was easy or hard to write using point of view and how students can use this technique in their own writing.

Craft Lesson-Flashbacks

Materials: Miracle’s Boys by Jacqueline Woodson

Purpose: Many authors use flashbacks in their writing. Flashbacks allow the reader to see an event or action that happened in the past that is significant to the story. However, sometimes it is hard for young writers to work this element into their personal writings. Here students will be able to see many examples of flashbacks from the book and will see how writer’s begin a flashback.

Script: In the book Miracle’s Boys the writer uses flashbacks to show the reader what happened to Lafayette and his brothers in the past. This helps the reader to better understand what is going on in the present. Why else would a writer use a flashback in a story? (Wait for answers and discuss, some additional answers could be character development, unfolding a mystery)

Now, take a look at your book and think back. Where were some flashbacks that you remembered and why were they important to the story? Wait for answers and discuss. If students do not have a lot of answers here are some examples to look at together. Ok, let’s look at some flashbacks together. As we look at the flashbacks as a class let’s discuss why they are important to the story and what the story might be like if you didn’t know this information.

p.17
This is a flashback of Charlie explaining to Lafayette how to pray to St. Francis to protect all of the stray animals.
p. 72
This is Ty’ree having a flashback of the day his father died.
p. 99
The Flashback is the incident when Lafayette was punched in the eye and Charlie told him to just hang on until the pain went away.
p.109
This flashback shows Lafayette’s mother talking to him about freedom and he responds that he isn’t free because he can’t go out like his brothers.

There are many other flashbacks, these are just a few suggestions.

Now let’s look at what all of the flashbacks have in common. Authors use certain words or ways to lead into flashbacks. In this book the author begins most of the flashback with one of Lafayette’s memories. All authors begin flashbacks differently. Let’s brainstorm some words and phrases that might lead into a flashback. Let’s make a list in our writer’s notebook, remembering that these are not the only ways to begin a flashback, but they are something that will get you started when writing.
Examples of flashback transitions: once, long ago, yesterday, looking back, etc.