Ideas: Lesson 1

1. Ideas: Lesson 1 Write a one paragraph description of one of these everyday places: Your bedroom 2. Your kitchen 3. Your classroom 4. Your Backyard 5. The scene outside a window you look out of often. 6. A secret place or somewhere you like to hide. 7. Your front yard or front porch 8. The grocery store 9. A favorite restaurant 10. Any other place you see all the time

2. Listen. http://ronischotter.com/90th_files/image001.gif

3. Now…Look at your description. Choose ONE piece of advice from the book: • “All the world’s a stage! Don’t neglect the details.” Use interesting details to make a familiar piece of writing interesting again. • “Find poetry in the pudding. Use old words in new ways.” Use four or five words interestingly to make your familiar place interesting again. • “Stretch and ask WHAT IF? Use your imagination.” Create an imaginary situation to happen in your familiar place. • “A little of this. A little of that. Add action to spice up your soup.” Add some action to your description of your familiar place to spice it up. Follow the advice you chose and re-write your description. This time write at least TWO paragraphs.

4. Now that you’ve taken a second look. Look again. Give yourself a rating for your new piece of writing. Give yourself a 1 (low) to 10 (high) for each idea standard. _____1. My character or person details are of high quality. _____2. My setting or place details are of high quality. _____3. My object or thing details are of high quality. _____4. I used only a few telling sentences. I mostly showed. [A “telling” sentence is something like “It was nice.” We’ll talk more about them later.] _____5. Word choice connection: I slyly slid some alliteration or other poetic wordplay into my details and descriptions.

5. How did you do?