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Janice Campbell
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Articles:
Designing a Home School Project - Writing Short Stories Learning to write well always begins with action verbs. I start my students out with a series of exercises in which they must write a short sequence of story using only single action verbs. Most children use unending linking verbs - "he was walking," instead of "he walked." This is the difference between "telling" and "showing." To be a good writer, my daughter must train herself to write with strong and interesting action verbs. She will begin her short story project with a list of action verbs printed off the Internet. She will obtain a copy of Katherine Langreish's Troll Fell, open it anywhere, and start copying word for word. I will have her spend some time doing this, circling the action verbs and underlining the participle phrases. If you want to learn to write well, I suggest you do the same. To learn to write well, practice copying the best writers word for word. Let the flow of their word choices and patterns sink into your subconscious mind. When you write, you will write in your own style. But if you have copied great writers, you will possess something more to draw from than the linking verb drivel of modern speech. I will then assign my daughter to write a short story on any topic she chooses. I will briefly explain what a short story is, but she already knows that, having read many. I require three drafts. She must write the first one herself with little teaching from me. Once it is written, then I will teach her how to write a short story. It is always better to make an attempt at doing something before you learn the finer points of doing it well. Just as you can't steer a parked car, so you can't teach someone who is not already personally involved in the subject. However, I do have rubrics that I will use to show my daughter the exact requirements I want to see for each of her three drafts. Teaching short story includes the history of the short story, and Edgar Allen Poe's explanation of what a short story is. (He invented them, after all.) It includes a study of several great short stories and how they are constructed. It includes the development of character and suspense. Once my daughter has successfully completed the third draft of her short story and published it on the Internet, we will switch the focus to great children's stories. She will copy Beatrix Potter's "Peter Rabbit" word for word at least three times. She will underline all the action verbs. I will pick two or three other great children's stories for her to copy as well. We will look at the principles of writing children's stories as well as the history of stories written for children. Science and math in a short story writing project? Let's just say we have that part on hold. Maybe some small and relevant task or study will come to view before we finish the project. I will also attempt to connect my daughter with a real children's book writer so that she can correspond back and forth about her work. Again, she will write three drafts for her children's story (or more). I will create a rubric for each draft so she will know what is expected. When she has finished her final draft, she will fit it into an Adobe InDesign document, merging her story with the sketches she has also developed. We will publish her illustrated children's book and offer it for sale on the Internet. She will log around 100 hours in her project account book as well as keep a journal of notes on the things she learns about the writing of short stories. My daughter will have both of her "published" stories to keep for years. People she will never meet will read and enjoy them. This is project-led learning. If you need further information about project-led learning, contact us through http://www.YguideAcademy.com/ProjectLedLearning.html We would love to help you develop your project ideas into meaningful learning experiences. Help your child build his or her own business with Micro-Business for HighSchoolers, a nine month course that guides step-by-step in the creation of a real-world business, while learning a whole lot. This course could easily become a central part of your child's high school education. Check it out at http://www.YguideAcademy.com/MicroBusiness.html Copyright 2009 by YGuide Publishing, Inc.. Freely use without changes, including links. Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Daniel_Yordy
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