“I live and die by your website!” ~ a coordinator in Washington
Students will write sentences that start with the same phrase but include different coordinating conjunctions. Each conjunction will change how they complete their sentence.
Students practice with “and” and “yet”.
Next, it’s “for”, “but”, and “so.”
We conclude with “or” and “nor” – which will probably require a slightly different opening phrase.
Students will string several examples of anadiplosis together across three sentences.
We introduce several examples of triple anadiplosis from Star Wars, Gladiator*, and Shakespeare. Then students complete one that I started.
Students will create their own example of triple anadiplosis using several structures that I share.
I share my own example using one of the structures.
Students will double up a word or phrase with this writing technique.
Students will see examples of anadiplosis in action and then finish some examples that I’ve started.
Now students will create their own examples of anadiplosis.
Students will fix run-on sentences (made of lines from Shakespeare) in three different ways, creating simple sentences, a compound sentence, and a complex sentence.
I demonstrate with a line from Julius Caesar and introduce a line from Macbeth.
I introduce a line from Romeo and Juliet.
Next up is a line from Hamlet.
Then students tackle a line from Twelfth Night.
I show my choices for the final line.
Students will practice writing sentences using a structure with three dependent clauses followed by an independent clause.
Students will practice writing sentences using the structure: “A [noun] is [adjective], but a [noun 2] is [adjective]”.
Students practice writing with the structure “That baby was cute, but…”
Students choose another starting point to practice this technique.
Students will use antonyms to describe one topic in this writing technique.
Students think of a topic and three related adjectives then pick an antonym for each of their adjectives.
Next they think of a noun related to the topic for each of the six adjectives.
Then they use the words they’ve come up with to create a paragraph about their topic.
Students will analyze several sentences, searching for different ways the sentences could be interpreted. Then they will create their own ambiguous sentence.
I model how one sentence can have multiple meanings, then students analyze, “We watched her duck.”
After sharing my answers from the last video, students tackle three more ambiguous sentences.
Finally, students will create their own ambiguous sentence, using a homograph as their starting point.
Punctuation is powerful! Students will create new meanings from sentences just by changing the punctuation.
Students find multiple meanings by adding punctuation to this set of words: your teacher said my dad is a rockstar
Given five options, students choose at least three and try to find at least two meanings for each by adding punctuation.
Finally, students try to create their own set of words that can be re-punctuated OR they can create a tiny story which they can add punctuation to.
Students will learn to go beyond the typical, silly use of alliteration to create interesting examples based on patterns from Shakespeare.
Students work on writing sentences that gently sprinkle in alliteration rather than dump it on every word.
Then we introduce consonance, where the same sound repeats at the beginning, middle, and/or end of words. Alliteration is actually a specific type of consonance.
Students practice improving unclear pronouns… and then create their own confusing sentences!
Students learn about antecedents and attempt to clean up some unclear sentences.
Building on an unclear sentence from step one, students will try to write a whole paragraph with an unclear pronoun.
Students will learn to identify and fix sentences written in the passive voice. They’ll also learn to change active back to passive.
First, students will practice re-writing passive sentences as active sentences.
Then, they’ll go the other way, writing active sentences as passive sentences.
I give them a mix of both styles, and they have to create all active sentences.
We correct the final worksheet.
Students will add variety to the beginning of their sentences.
Start with a gerund.
Start with a participle phrase.
Start with an absolute phrase.
Combine all nine sentence starters!
Students will continue to practice changing the beginning of their sentences to add more variety to their overall writing.
Start with “The Reason” using because, since, or to.
Start with prepositional phrases to show location (or time!).
Start with a simile.
Write a c-c-c-combo paragraph!
Students will add variety to their writing by starting a sentence using three different options.
First, they try starting with a noun.
Then they use a variety of adjectives.
Finally, they see what an adverb would do.
Students will group Shakespeare’s repetition and then re-write their least favorite example.
First, students make two pairs of related examples.
Then, they continue grouping the examples into 3-5 categories.
The transfer their complete groups to a new paper and title each group.
They pick the most powerful and weakest groups, then rewrite the weakest example from the weakest group.
Finally, they write a note to Shakespeare, explaining their changes.
Students will write increasingly specific sentences related to St. Patrick’s Day
Students will make my starter simile increasingly specific.
Students will make my simile about slimy broccoli increasingly specific.
Students add details to “The broccoli was as slimy as a snail that…”
They add another round of details to make that broccoli seem slimier.
They add a final set of details to the simile to make it super specific.
Let’s re-write a simile to show how very quick this baby is.
Students add details to my starting simile, “The baby crawled as quickly as a crab that…”
They add another round of details.
They add a final set of details to make this simile even more specific.
Students will take a simile about a loud truck and make it even more specific.
Students will improve a simile about a room that smells like seaweed.
Students add a detail to my starting simile: “The room was as smelly as seaweed that…”
They add another round of details.
They add one more set of details to make the simile even more specific.
Students will improve their figurative language by starting with an opposite meaning.
Students change a cliché simile into its opposite.
Then they add details to make their figurative language even more specific.
Students will improve their figurative language by starting their sentence with a simile.
Students move the simile in a cliche to the beginning of a sentence rather than the end.
The, they improve their sentences with more specific details.
Students apply techniques of repetition from Shakespeare to their own writing.
Students will repeat a starting word, but not right next to itself: “We few, we happy few, we band of brothers.”
Students will repeat a starting phrase rather than one word: “Is the chair empty? Is the sword unsway’d? Is the king dead?”
Students will improve their figurative language by making a cliché into something very interesting.
Students will begin with a cliché and add a detail to make it more specific.
Students will continue to add more details and make that cliché even more specific.