HOW TO USE THIS BOOK 1. come on in. Have a look around. Check out the Table of Contents to see if anything catches your eye. 2. all of our workshops are different, so all of our lesson plans are too. Generally, there’s an outline of the lesson for you and sometimes a handout for the students. We’ve tried to make them as user-friendly as possible. 3. to help you plan your class, we’ve headed each lesson plan with a time estimate. Th is is how long the class generally runs. In your classroom it might go slower or faster, but we’ve tried to ballpark it for you. 4. as much as we’ve tried to make things fun, we’ve also tried to keep things simple. A three-ring writing circus with actual trained animals and cotton candy machines would be great fun for your students, but a great big headache for you, so we’ve tried to keep the supplies and prep to a minimum. We’ve headed each lesson plan and activity with the list of materials it requires. Most of the time this will consist of things you already have on hand. Fancier fi xings are optional. 5. we encourage you to adapt these lessons to suit you and your students. Th ese lessons were taught in an after-school environment, with students who were there by choice, so we expect they’ll need some tweaking to work for you. Make them yours. 6. sometimes you might have extra time and want to do something really, really special. When you do, look for the Superteacher bonus activity icon. It looks like this: SUPERTEACHER BONUS ACTIVITIES Superteacher bonus activities are optional additions to the lesson plan that require a little more eff ort, but are guaranteed to dazzle your students. 7. in the appendix you’ll find some other tools we hope will make your life easier: evaluation rubrics to guide grading, student self-assessment checklists, and charts to show you which Core Curriculum guidelines each lesson plan meets. 8. we’d love to hear how it goes. Any suggestions? Comments? You can contact us at [email protected]. Send us your own favorite lesson plan, or samples of your students’ fabulous work. We’d love to see it. DON’T FORGET to WRITE for the SECONDARY GRADES 50 ENTHRALLING and EFFECTIVE WRITING LESSONS AGES 11 AND UP National | Edited by Jennifer Traig Copyright © 2011 by 826 National. All rights reserved. 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English language – Composition and exercises – Study and teaching (Secondary) – United States. I. 826 National (Organization) LB1631 .D59 2011 808'.0420712 – dc23 2011025957 Printed in the United States of America first edition PB Printing 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 TABLE OF CONTENTS FOREWORD XV ACKNOWLEDGMENTS XVII THE AUTHORS XIX THE CONTRIBUTORS XXIII LESSON PLANS 1 DETAILS (GOLDEN), CHARACTER (IMMORTAL), AND SETTING (RURAL INDIA) . 1 by dave eggers In this three-part lesson, students learn to draw details from real life to create unforgettable characters and compelling stories. 2 LITERARY FACEBOOKS . 7 by kathryn riddle Curious what Elizabeth Bennet’s, Harry Potter’s, Bella Swan’s, or Percy Jackson’s Facebook profi le would look like? In this workshop, students create a mock Facebook profi le based on their favorite literary character. 3 SUBURBAN EPICS . 10 by tom perrotta Th e author of Little Children and Election shares his tips for fi nding inspiration in your own neighborhood. 4 BUSTED . 12 by william john bert Writing about the time you didn’t get away with it. v 5 HOW TO WRITE SCIENCE FICTION . 15 by cory doctorow Th e Nebula Award–nominated author shares his tips for crafting fasci- nating science fi ction. 6 WRITING FROM EXPERIENCE . 18 by stephen elliott Students learn to transform their own life events into compelling fi ction from an author who’s mastered the art. 7 TOO MUCH MONEY! AN ETHICAL WRITING EXPERIENCE IN 10 EASY STEPS . 20 by louanne johnson Th is lesson introduces students to the benefi ts of journaling, using an ethical conundrum to keep them invested and involved. 8 THE TALK SHOW CIRCUIT . 23 by ellie kemper Th e Offi ce actor shows how to use the talk show format to practice the elements of good storytelling. 9 THE FIRST DRAFT IS MY ENEMY: REVISIONS . 26 by sarah vowell You spend hours grading papers. You give great feedback. You off er tons of suggestions to improve the piece—and then you never see it again. A favorite essayist shows you how to put all that work to good use. 10 SEE YOU AGAIN YESTERDAY: PLAYING WITH TIME 29 by audrey niffenegger Th e author of Th e Time Traveler’s Wife shares her tips for working with tricky time lines. 11 LOOK SMART FAST: COLLEGE APPLICATION ESSAY BOOT CAMP . 35 by risa nye A college admissions reader outlines the dos and don’ts of great applica- tion essays. vi table of contents 12 WRITING ABOUT PAINFUL THINGS . 39 by phoebe gloeckner Th e author of Diary of a Teenage Girl: An Account in Words and Pictures walks students through the diffi cult but redemptive process of writing about pain. 13 MUTANT SHAKESPEARE . 42 by kyle booten Reading Shakespeare is hard. Lucky for us, we won’t be reading Shakespeare. We will take him apart and put him back together the wrong way. We will lose some of his pieces. Th is class assumes that one good way to understand something is to see how it could be diff erent. 14 HOW TO WRITE A ONE-PERSON SHOW ABOUT A HISTORICAL FIGURE . 45 by kristen schaal Th e Daily Show correspondent and actor shows us how to research and write a great play about a real person. 15 WRITING FOR GAMERS . 47 by tom bissell Th e author of Extra Lives: Why Video Games Matter leads a lesson on narrativity and video games. 16 HUMOR WRITING: AN EXERCISE IN ALCHEMY . 49 by dan kennedy Th is is the lesson plan to engage the bored, disinterested students rolling their eyes in the back row. A humor author shares writing prompts that are pretty much guaranteed to provoke great material. 17 ON PINING: WRITE A VERSE TO MAKE THEM STAY 54 by thao nguyen An indie musician leads a workshop on writing the words that make those you miss come back. table of contents vii 18 ADDING INSULT TO POETRY . 56 by nicholas decoulos Anyone can say, “Same to you, buddy!” In this class students learn why it’s not wise to cross a poet. 19 BAD WRITING . 58 by neal pollack Th is inventive lesson by a noted writer and satirist shows you how to do it right by trying to do it wrong.