Creative Writing

Today you will work on a creative writing narrative. Students are required to write their story from this picture prompt and tell the story behind this picture. This picture may represent the beginning, middle, or end of your story. It should include characters, a good plot, and avoid "dead" verbs whenever possible. You may be able to use some suspense strategies, too! Your story should have the proper English heading and be titled "Creative Writing-Invisible" with your own creative title underneath.The story should be 1.5-2 pages in length. 

Editing Checklist/Expository Rubric

 The final book is due on Thursday, February 25th. 

We will have a day in the computer lab to print our books on Tuesday, February 23rd. If you are not ready to print on this day, you will need to find another time/place to print on your own.

We are so close to having our books complete!! I can't wait to see everyone's final product!

This is a link to the Expository Book Checklist that we will use in class today. We will use this checklist  to ensure we have every requirement complete. The checklist I gave to you will need to be turned in with your book on the day it's due. If you misplace the checklist given to you in class, you can print it out from this link.

Expository Book Checklist


This is a link to the rubric that will be used to grade your expository book. I will use this rubric to grade your book when it is submitted. We have gone over each aspect of the requirements together in class. If you have a question about anything on the rubric, let me know.

Expository Book Rubric

Table of Contents

Once you have finished your text features, you can make your Table of Contents. Do not just look at what page the information is listed in your Google document, consider how you want your book set up. For a cleaner look, you may want each chapter to begin on the right-sided page. Also, don't forget that each chapter must have a creative title (beyond just naming the topic) at the beginning of the chapter AND in the Table of Contents. 

**The Table of Contents should be the first page after your cover. Remember, to add a new page press Ctrl + Enter at the end of the page you want in front of your new page. See me if you need help with this!

Below is an example of a Table of Contents for this book. You should have a creative title with each chapter. 

Table of Contents

Introduction……………………………………………………….……………1

Chapter 1 (Creative Title) ……………………………………………………...3

Chapter 2 (Creative Title)…… ……………… …………………………..……5

Chapter 3 (Creative Title)………………………………..………………..……7

Chapter 4 (Creative Title)… …………………………… ………………..……9

Chapter 5 (Creative Title)……………………………….. ………….…………11

Glossary……………………………………………………………….………..13

Works Cited.……………………………………………………………………15

Text Features

Once you have finished revising your chapters, you are ready to add text features to your book!

Remember, text features are more than just pictures that you like. The text feature needs to be related to the chapter where you place it. For example, if you are doing a book on Golden Retrievers, you need to have more than just pictures of cute dogs. In a chapter about grooming a Golden Retriever, you could have pictures of grooming supplies. This is the time to make your research and information "pop" in a visual way.

These are your options for text features:

• Charts
• Graphs
• Maps
• Diagram
• Timeline
• Text box
• Picture with caption

**Note: If you choose to put a picture in your book, you must have a caption to explain the picture.   The picture with caption will only count as one text feature.**

You will need to have at least two text features per chapter. 

Also, there will need to be at least three different text features used in the overall book. 

Cover Page

You will need to create a  cover page for your book. The cover page should be colorful and have a creative title. Be sure to include your name as the author and your class period. 

Turn It In

We will be using TurnItIn.com to evaluate our paraphrasing and check for plagiarism. The first time we use "Turn It In" will be practice. You will use the results to revise your paragraphs and avoid plagiarism. After we are finished with the project, you will upload your paragraphs again to be checked for a grade. Be sure to use this first opportunity to revise any problems areas to ensure you will get a good score when the upload is graded!

Turn It In

Students Directions for creating a Turnitin.com account

1. Click on the link above for TurnItIn.com
2. Click on "Create Account" in the top right corner
3. It look like you need an address; ignore that. Scroll to the bottom and click on "student"
4. Enter the Class ID and password (written on the board). 
5. Enter your Trussville City Schools email address and use the password you use for the chromebook. 
6. Enter a security question you will remember the answer to and click "I agree and Continue"
7. Click on our class name.

Uploading a paper to Turnitin.com

1. After you click on our class name, click "Submit"
2. Click on "Cut & Paste" and change it to "Single File Upload"
3. Submission title: Practice
4. Choose Google Drive
5. Click "Allow"
6. Choose the document "Expository Book + Works Cited" and click "select"
7. Click "upload"
8. Once the paper has uploaded, click confirm
9. Go to "view assignment"
10. Click originality at the top, which will give you your plagiarism percentage and show you the report. 

Use your results to revise your paper

The results will show you areas in your paper that are too close to the original articles. Use this information to revise your paper to avoid plagiarism. 

Glossary, Introductory Paragraph, Cover Page

Glossary

You will need to create a glossary for your book. The glossary should have at least eight words used in your book that are specific to your book topic. You need to choose words that the reader may not know on his/her own. Here are the steps to follow for your glossary:

1. Find eight words that are in your chapters that the reader may not know. If you cannot find eight good glossary words, you may need to revise your chapters and use higher level vocabulary. 
2. Make the eight words you find bold font and underline them in your chapters.
3. List each word in alphabetical order in your glossary with the definition of the word. There is already a page for your glossary on your "Expository Book + Works Cited" Google Doc. 

Introductory Paragraph

Now that the paragraphs are written, we need to introduce them in an engaging way. Today, we will write introductory paragraphs for our entire book. A good “formula” for this introductory paragraph is a topic sentence, five sentences describing each chapter individually, and a concluding sentence. This formula would equal to seven sentences. This is just a suggestion.

Your introduction should accomplish the following:

• Grab your reader’s attention in a good lead with a quote, a scene, or a critical thinking question.  
• Give clues about the topic of each chapter (without saying “chapter two will be about…”).

Lead Option 1: Quote  

Begin your introduction with a famous quote if you are writing about a person, or quote a fact from your research that shares something interesting about your topic.

Lead Option 2: Scene  

Set up a scene that helps your reader picture your topic in action.

Lead Option 3: Critical Thinking Question  

 Ask a question that makes your reader wonder about your topic.  Be sure to avoid yes or no questions and questions that talk directly to your reader. Ex/ Do not say, “Have you ever heard of Abraham Lincoln?”

Here is link that has examples for all of the suggestion above. It also have revising tips for individuals that finish early: Introduction Examples and Revising Tips

Cover Page

You will need to create a Title Page for your book. The cover page should be colorful, have a creative title, and have your name as the author.

Writing in Formal Style

The Rules of Formal Writing

• Most sentences should be complex and add specific meaning to the writing.
• Keep a serious tone with literal meanings. 
• Avoid contractions.
• The piece will be written in the third-person perspective.

The following pronouns CAN NOT be used in formal style:

• First Person          I, me, my, mine, we, us, our, ours

• Second Person      you, your, yours, you, (y’all), your , yours

The following pronouns CAN be used in formal style:

• Third Person he, him, his, she, her, hers, it, they, them, their, theirs, its

This will one of the things I look for when grading your Expository Book. If you need help, let me know! 

Transitional Words and Phrases

Why use them?  Transitional words and phrases are used to connect sentences and paragraphs so that the author’s ideas flow smoothly from one thought to the next.

Addition:
also, again, as well as, besides, coupled with, furthermore, in addition, likewise, moreover, similarly

Illustration:
for example, for instance, for one thing, as an illustration, as an example, in this case

Consequence:
accordingly, as a result, consequently, for this reason, for this purpose, hence, otherwise, so then, subsequently, therefore, thus

Comparison (Similarities):
comparatively, correspondingly, identically, likewise, similarly, moreover

Contrast (Differences):
however, on the contrary, in contrast, conversely, instead, on the other hand,  rather, nevertheless

Generalizing:
as a rule, as usual, for the most part, generally, generally speaking, ordinarily, usually

Restatement (Explaining):
in essence, in other words, namely, that is, in short, in brief, to put it differently

Sequence:
at first, first of all, to begin with, in the first place, at the same time, in time, in turn, later on, meanwhile, next, then, soon, in the meantime, later, while, earlier, simultaneously, afterward, in conclusion, with this in mind

Summarizing:
after all, all in all, all things considered, in conclusion, on the whole, in summary, to summarize, finally

*Adapted from http://www.studygs.net/wrtstr6.htm

Stoplight Paragraphs

So far we have gathered and paraphrased a lot of research on our book topics . The research is divided by chapter topic. Now, we can begin creating our chapter paragraphs. It can be tempting to shove all of the paraphrased research together to create a paragraph, but we can write better than that! Remember, each paragraph should flow well and sound cohesive. Be sure to follow the stoplight paragraph above to include a topic sentence, supporting sentences, and a closing sentence. The topic and closing sentences will not have any researched information. These sentences are for introducing the topic and concluding the paragraph only.

Below is a link to a Google Doc that we will use for practice.
Stoplight Paragraph Practice

Expository Book: Works Cited

Directions for Works Cited page:

• At least four citations (from places you researched for your book)
• If you saved the articles to Google Drive, the MLA citation should be on the last page of the saved document.
• Copy and Paste each citation to the "Final Expository Book" document that you retrieved from my Google Classroom. 
• The citations should be listed in alphabetical order
• The citations should go on the last page of your document. 
• The page should be titled "Works Cited" 

Below is an example for the format of a Works Cited page. The "box" is just to demonstrate there the Works Cited begins.

Works Cited "Buffalo, New York Area, Great Lakes, Lake-Effect Snow Impacts: At Least 5 Dead, State of Emergency Declared - Weather.com." The Weather Channel. 19 Nov. 2014. Web. 19 Nov. 2014. <http://www.weather.com/news/commuter-conditions/buffalo-new-york-great-lakes-snow-20141119>. "Lake-Effect Snow Hammers South Buffalo, New York, Great Lakes - Weather.com." The Weather Channel. 19 Nov. 2014. Web. 19 Nov. 2014. <http://www.weather.com/news/lake-effect-snow-buffalo-new-york-great-lakes-photos-20141118>.

Digital Citizenship

Digital Citizenship Game Instructions


Digital Citizenship Game