Task 2 – Mini Lessons
DESCRIPTIVE WRITING
Power of Words
Describe the picture that comes to mind when you
read this sentence:
The dog barked outside.
Now write the sentence again to describe it in
more detail. Share it on chat.
The dog barked outside.
Mood and Emotion
In a Bob Dylan song, he described a dog barking:
Way out in the wilderness, a cold coyote calls.
a) What sort of mood or emotion do you think he wanted people to
feel when hearing that line?
b) What are the most important words used to conjure up that feeling?
Mini Task
Write three more sentences about dogs barking.
In each one, try to make your reader feel a different emotion.
For example, you could try to convey loneliness, love for the animal,
terror, annoyance.
Structure for DW Essay: Zoom Method
100% = description of landscape
(Set the scene e.g., the sun is bright in the sky)
75% = describe a building and general comments on people/characters
50% = zoom in on a family/or a building
25% = describe one character/or a part of the building e.g. door
100% = zoom back out to the landscape
(similar ending to your opening e.g. The sun is setting on the horizon)
Descriptive Writing
Sample – Part 1
Descriptive Writing
Sample – Part 2
Sensory Details
Smell, feel, look closely and then taste your ‘food’.
What is it? Describe it to your group members.
Group 1: Group 2: Group 3: Group 4: Group 5:
Mini Task on Sensory Details
Write a descriptive piece about the image you have.
Bronze: Write 1 paragraph describing the image using two of the senses.
Silver: Write 2 paragraphs describing the image using all of the senses.
Gold: Write 3 paragraphs describing the image using the senses and
figurative language
Mini Task on
Sensory Details
Write a descriptive
piece about the
image you want.
Sounds:
Add the sounds you can hear in this image.
Use alliteration or onomatopoeia to describe the
noise.
Sounds in a Restaurant
Firstly, imagine you arrive and are walking in through the door.
What sounds does the door make?
Applying Zoom Method
Paragraph 1 – describe the building - is it an old restaurant? Is it new? Crumbling?
Gleefully, the people rush to the elegant restaurant.
Paragraph 2 – zoom in on the door and people walking in/out of the restaurant – describe the people/people
rushing in
Slowly, the short rotund man wobbled to his table…
Paragraph 3 - zoom in on the bar and the sounds made
Clanking and clinking the bottles…
Paragraph 4 – describe the sounds coming from the kitchen
Slowly sizzling in the deep pan…
Paragraph 5 – zoom out and describe the end of the day
Creating Setting
The cottage was surrounded by tall poplar trees and from the gate, by which you entered
the garden, long winding brick path meandered between flower beds of purple and red.
Walking along it I heard the soft call of a pigeon coming from deep within the foliage
and the harsh cry of a crow overhead. The place was, however, silent save a birdsong. I
knew though that it wasn’t empty; the scent of burning wood gave that away and
looking up I saw the tell-tale sign of almost – blue smoke drifting lazily from the
chimney. It was like being a small boy once again. I seemed to shrink with every step I
took and at the front door, holding the cold steel handle and ready to knock, al my
troubles had already been shed. I was as calm as I had been some fifty years earlier
Mini Task
Sight Hearing Touch Smell Feelings
Your Turn: Describe the Park/Abandoned House/Party
Sight Hearing Touch Smell Feelings
NARRATIVE WRITING
Warm Up Activity
“It's like everyone tells a story about themselves inside their own head. Always. All the time. That
story makes you what you are. We build ourselves out of that story.”
― Patrick Rothfuss
“After nourishment, shelter and companionship, stories are the thing we need most in the world.”
― Philip Pullman
“Artists use lies to tell the truth. Yes, I created a lie. But because you believed it, you found
something true about yourself.”
― Alan Moore
What makes a story interesting?
Take another look at the quotations on the first
slide. What do they tell us about telling tales? Why
do you think stories are important? Share your
responses on chat.
Story Openings
Below are very first sentences from various children’s novels. Look at each example of an opening
sentence and discuss in your groups whether or not it would interest you as a reader. Then think
about what the author has done to ‘hook’ you into his/her book.
‘Yes,’ said Tom bluntly, Not for the first time, an Once, there were four
on opening the front argument had broken out children whose names were
over breakfast at number Peter, Susan, Edmund and
door. ‘What d’you
four, Privet Drive. Lucy.
want?’
Once I was living in an It was a dark, blustery afternoon
in spring, and the city of London
orphanage in the mountains
was chasing a small mining town
and I almost caused a riot. across the dried-out bed of the
North Sea.
Good Beginnings
Talk to the
reader – use
first person
narrative
Make your Shock your
reader laugh reader
Start in the
middle of
Good Create a
tense
something
Beginnings atmosphere
Use direct Create a very
speech clear picture
Start with
something
odd
Mini Task
Choose an appropriate hook from the ‘good
beginnings’ wheel and write the opening of a story.
Student Sample 1:
Student Sample 2:
Student Sample 3:
Story #1: Find Me
Independently, read the short story “Find Me.”
Use a marker pen to highlight features that you
think make an effective short story.
Share Out
INTERNAL MONOLOGUE
Warm Up
• Think back to a time when someone made you feel upset
OR
• A time when you had to give some kind of presentation
OR
• A time when someone was talking too much
What exact thoughts were running through your mind?
What is Internal Monologue?
• Your true self
• Your deepest opinions
• Your uncertainties
• Self-talk
• Gain insight into a character’s immediate thought process
• What is a person’s internal dialogue about other people?
Example of an Internal Monologue
Link of interview:
[Link]
Sample Monologue 1
Woman:
This is mad crazy. Look at all this money. This is going to take care of
everything. I can’t believe it. Oh, well, I better believe it. Looks like this is
my lucky day.
What did you learn about the character/situation?
Sample Monologue 2
Woman:
Ohmygod. Can this be what I think it is? Can this be real? I happen to tell a random stranger about
my problems and like a guardian angel he swoops down to save the day. Oh, um, maybe I should get
him some coffee. Do guardian angels even drink coffee? My God. Lucille is going to be fine. This
kind of money is going to make everything fine. I need to call Dr. Angelo and schedule us in like
now. And when Frank gets in – whenever he bothers to roll out of bed – I’m going to walk into his
office, look him straight in the eye and tell him, “you can take this job and shove it ‘cause I quit!”
And if Lucille gets better – when – when Lucille gets better, I’ll take her to Florida and enroll her in
one of those fancy schools and we’ll go to Disney World everyday. This man – this-this-this this
angel – has no idea that today he saved not one life, but two. Yeah, maybe I should get him some
coffee. He can have all the coffee he wants.
What did you learn about the character/situation?
Sample Monologue 2: Questions
• What is the woman’s job?
• Where does the scene take place?
• Who is the man she refers to? Why does she refer to him as her guardian
angel?
• What does the man give her?
• What might be wrong with Lucille?
• What’s the woman’s relationship to her boss?
What is the purpose of IM?
• Keep internal monologues connected to your
character’s journey
• Internal monologues are focused
• Usually happen during heightened moments of the
story
Think about...
• Name and Age
• Family Situation
• Where do they live? How do they live?
• Significant relationship
• If they are calmly doing something, focus on an
opposing emotion for their inner thoughts
Independent Practice
Independent Practice