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Lesson 4

We will do the final editing of our narratives, including peer and self-reviews to ensure that we have included all requirements of the Culminating Task. We will publish our narratives in a final form.

Lesson Goals

  • Can I revise my fictional stories for the Culminating Task to improve clarity, development, organization, style, diction, and sentence fluency, both within and between sentences?

  • Can I publish my Culminating Task fictional stories for appropriate audiences?

  • Can I compose a fictional story using narrative genre characteristics and craft?

Texts

Core

  • Tradebook
    • Beloved, Toni Morrison, Vintage Books, 2004

Materials

Tools

Reference Guides

Question Sets

Editable Google Docs

Activity 1: Read – Write – Discuss

We will engage in a peer review process to receive feedback on our writing.

With your writer’s workshop partner or small group, review each other’s narrative. Consider the questions below and look for evidence of these elements within the narrative you are reviewing. If you notice anything missing, be sure to make notes for your peer.

  1. Where is sensory language used and how does it enhance the writing? Are there other places it can be incorporated?

  2. How are characters developed so that they are believable?

  3. Where do you see evidence of narrative shifts? How do they enhance the narrative?

  4. How will the pacing keep readers engaged?

  5. How is nonlinear sequencing incorporated? How does it enhance the writing?

  6. Where are strong word choice and effective sentence structures used? How do they enhance the writing? Where are there additional opportunities to revise word choice and sentence structure to make them more effective?

  7. How is the mood established?

  8. What examples within the narrative point to an evident theme?

Based on the feedback from your partner or group, consider how you might improve your draft.

Activity 2: Read – Write

We will review our drafts to determine the effectiveness of our narrative techniques.

Review the Culminating Task Checklist for a final time, as this will be the basis for the evaluation of your narrative. Using these expectations as a checklist, review your draft to determine how well you think you have accomplished each expectation.

Write down editing comments to help improve your draft.

Activity 3: Read – Discuss – Write

We will read our narratives in pairs and continue working to finalize our narratives.

Step 1

Read your final narrative to your writing partner or group, and listen actively while your partner reads to you. Discuss what strikes you as you hear the stories read aloud.

Step 2

Revise and edit your draft narrative a final time, taking into consideration any final feedback given to you by your writing partner or group.

Activity 4: Write

We will prepare the final draft of our work for submission.

Finish the revision and editing of your narrative. Prepare to submit and publish your Culminating Task narrative according to your teacher’s instructions.

Activity 5: Discuss

We will engage in a whole-class discussion to share our understanding of Beloved and consider questions we might further explore. This will help us express our understanding of the themes of the text.

Central Question:

In what ways does a person’s past have power over their present?

  1. How did the texts in this unit help you understand or think about the Central Question?

  2. What avenue of analysis did you take for your Culminating Task and how did it relate to the Central Question?

  3. What about this text or topic do you still want to know?

  4. Was there any particular topic or text that captured your attention? Why?

Activity 6: Discuss

We will examine and discuss possible connections among the unit, other units from the year, and the research we might do in the final Application Unit.

Follow along as your teacher overviews the Application Unit and the collaborative and independent research project you will be doing to complete the year’s learning. Ask questions about what will be expected of you and what options you will have for completing the culminating project.

Individually, reflect on what interested you during this unit and what you want to explore further. Capture these reflections on the Application Unit Potential Topics Tool. Use the following questions to help guide your reflection:

  1. Were there any particular topics or texts that captured your attention? Why?

  2. What about each text or topic do you still want to study? What questions do you still have? Write these down in the Questions or Subtopics to Explore column.

  3. How would you begin to research each text or topic?

As a class or in groups, have a final discussion about what engaged you in this unit as well as what and how you might want to study further for the final Application Unit.