Lesson Plan – Gateway to “A Raisin in the Sun”



Lesson Plan: November 16, 2011

Senior Essay Writing – 6-Word Essays

Overview

Students will be writing six-word essays, a project founded by online magazine, Smith Magazine (). This lesson will challenge students to become more creative when working with restrictions, practice word-choice, and practice editing/focus. They will do these things by writing brainstorming a story/issue in 140 characters or less and then by cutting that down into a six-word essay (example from Ernest Hemingway: For Sale: Baby shoes, never worn”).

Standard

Choose words appropriately, when writing, to advance the theme or purpose of a work.

Objectives

- Students will be able to write a short excerpt in 140 characters or less explaining an event or issue. Students will then be able to turn their excerpt into a six-word essay by cutting it down and picking words that help set the tone.

- Students will be able to display courteous behavior during sharing of classmates’ six-word essays by listening to their classmates’ six-word essays, responding respectfully, waiting patiently for their turn, and talking over one another.

Purpose

To encourage creative thinking, to practice editing and focusing skills, to practice picking the right words to help set the tone of their writing, and to help students develop their ideas and organize their thoughts so that they can communicate them to the class by sharing their six-word essays.

Instructional Sequence (2nd Hour - 9:01 PM – 10:11 AM)

1. Introduction

a. Almost all of you have writing college essays. As you know, there is usually a word limit. Also, in this class, we won’t take papers that are over 2 pages. What are the benefits to having a word count or limit when you write?

1. Briefly discuss these benefits (ex: a friend who tells you a story and loses you in the unnecessary details)

b. Have you read a book or watched a movie that could have been much shorter? (Book: Moby Dick; Movie: Forrest Gump or Inception)

2. Segway into Today’s Lesson

a. Everyone has a story…what’s yours?

1. Clip: CHOOSE either 2: 40 of “Six-Word Memoir Video Story” at OR “Six Word Memoirs by Teens”

b. Six-word essays are a project founded by online magazine, Smith Magazine

c. Write example from an Ernest Hemingway short story on board: For Sale: Baby shoes, never worn (the six-word essays were inspired by this six-word essay)

1. Discuss what meaning could be…what story is he trying to tell? What issue is he trying to address?

d. How to write a six-word essay

1. Think about an issue, event, or story going on around you…think about your life

2. Write a short excerpt on it

3. Edit it down to get the same point across in six words

e. Examples of six-word essays from Smith website

1. Mountains of bills obscures life’s meaning.

2. Rescued by knight in shining taxi.

3. My cover doesn’t match my book.

4. Each kid thinks they’re my favorite.

5. Need to relocate…considering fourth dimension

6. Despite doubts, “SuperDad” t-shirt still fits.

7. Cut my hair, lost my power. OR Don’t let “Rex” cut your hair.

3. Modeling

a. On the board, write a 140 character or less excerpt on a story, event, or issue

1. An old lady screamed, “My cat is in the tree!” I climbed a big branch and hugged the cat to my chest, but she was driving away in my truck.”

2. She’s been going out with him and me and would let us know tonight which one of us she’d pick. I never got a call, so I drove by her house and saw another man’s car in her driveway.

b. Go through the process of editing it down to a six-word essay by showing them my thought process as I explore word choice, tone of essay, etc.

1. Cunning old woman stole my truck.

2. Not my car in her driveway.

4. Independent Practice

a. Have students write their own excerpt of a story, event, or issue going on around them or sum up their life in 140 characters or less

b. Have students then edit it down to six words, making a six-word essay

5. Sharing/Discussion

a. Students will share their six-word essays to the class

b. As students are sharing, the rest of the students will be taking notes on a worksheet that allows them to comment on their classmates’ essays

c. When every student has gone, we will have a class discussion/debrief on the six-word essays

1. How did it feel to write an entire essay in six words?

2. What was your process in editing it down to six-words (word choice, etc.)

3. What was your favorite six-word essay and why?

4. Let them bring up any other issues/essays they thought were interesting and want to talk about

6. Wrap-Up

a. Collect their worksheets but let them keep their six-word essay

b. For homework, students will create an 8 ½ x 11 sheet with their six-word essay and a picture to go along with it…Let students know that their six-word essays will be made into a booklet that will be displayed in the classroom for other students to see throughout the rest of the school year

c. Can submit your six-word essay at

d. Example of class project:

Assessment

Walking around and checking excerpts while students work on them

Listening to students’ six-word essays as they read them out loud to the class

Seeing how they participate in and respond to classmates’ six-word essays

Name: _______________________

Six-Word Essays

In 2006, the online magazine Smith () asked its readers and hundreds of professional writers to write their life stories in exactly six words. The form was made famous my Ernest Hemingway, who wrote this after being challenged to write a complete story in six words: “For Sale: baby shoes, never used.” The editors of Smith received more than 10,000 submissions.

Examples:

Facebook ruined my entire life. Wasn’t born a red head…fixed that.

Despite doubts, “SuperDad” t-shirt still fits. Don’t let “Rex” cut your hair.

Instructions:

1. Brainstorm an issue, event, or story going on around you or in your life.

• Example from a guy: dealing with being a second choice to the girl of my dreams

2. Write a short excerpt on it.

• Example: She’s been going out with him and me and would let us know tonight which one of us she’d pick. I never got a call, so I drove by her house and saw another man’s car in her driveway.

3. Edit it down to get the same point across in six words.

• Not my car in her driveway.

**If you choose, you can submit your six-word essay at .**

Six-Word Essay Reflection

Write your final six-word essay here: _______________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________

1. How did it feel to write an entire essay in six words?

2. What was your process in editing it down to six-words (word choice, etc.)

3. What was your favorite six-word essay and why?

Six-Word Essay Reflection

Write your final six-word essay here: _______________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________

4. How did it feel to write an entire essay in six words?

5. What was your process in editing it down to six-words (word choice, etc.)

6. What was your favorite six-word essay and why?

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