Reader’s Workshop

1. Reader’s Workshop Minilessons

2. Foreword: Provides information or background about a book. Often it is written by someone other than the author. • Preface: A statement or essay, usually written by the author, to introduce a book or explain its scope or intention. • Prologue: Used to just be for plays- now used for stories, too. Offer prior action or background that is helpful to understanding the story but not actually part of the story. Beginnings: Prefaces, Forewords, Prologues, and Introductions

3. Introductions: Generic term that often describes a preface, foreword, or prologue. • You should always read the introduction It usually makes it easier to understand the rest of the reading. • Sometimes, the introduction is titled something like, “a word to the reader” or “before you start” or something like that. Beginnings: Prefaces, Forewords, Prologues, and Introductions

4. Find a book on my shelf that has introductory material. • What is the title/author? • Does the intro have a title? What is it? • Briefly summarize the introductory material. • What is the purpose of the intro material? • Is the intro material helpful to the reader? Explain. Beginnings: Prefaces, Forewords, Prologues, and Introductions

5. Epilogue: Short concluding section at the end of a story- often tells the future of the characters after the story has ended. • Afterword: Final comment on the story, offers information about the author or explains how the story was written. • Conclusion: Ties together any loose ends after the climax- may or may not be labeled. • Some stories have this end matter, some don’t. Don’t be alarmed if you don’t see an afterword or an epilogue. All stories have conclusions, though most aren’t labeled. Endings: Epilogues, Afterwords, and Conclusions

6. What is the title of your book? • Who is the author? • Does your book have an epilogue or an afterword? • Briefly describe the end matter. • What is the purpose of the end matter? • Is the end matter necessary? Explain. Endings: Epilogues, Afterwords, and Conclusions

7. The lead has 3 main goals: • Grab the reader’s attention and interest • Reveal a problem or conflict (fiction), or introduce the subject (nonfiction) • Carry the reader easily into the body of the story or article LEADS in Fiction and Nonfiction

8. Leads for fiction often reveal a problem or conflict, or hint at a problem to come. • The author may: • Open with action, showing characters trying to solve a problem • Offer clues that a problem is about to happen • Show conflict or hostility • Open in a setting of fear, doom, terror, or impending tragedy • Offer a humorous scene • Begin with dialogue, showing the characters having a conversation about a problem LEADS in Fiction and Nonfiction

9. Leads for nonfiction introduce the subject. • The author may: • State a problem • Ask the reader a question that is tied to a problem • Share a brief story or interesting situation • Put the reader in a familiar situation • Share an interesting or compelling quotation from someone, usually an authority on a subject • Begin with a description of tragedy • State an unusual, frightening, or surprising statistic • Tell a joke • Exaggerate an ordinary situation, usually in a humorous manner LEADS in Fiction and Nonfiction

10. What is the title of your material? • Who is the author? • Briefly describe the lead. • How does the lead attempt to grab the attention of the reader? • In your opinion, might this lead be improved? Why or why not? LEADS in Fiction and Nonfiction

11. The backbone of the story • Includes the following elements: • The lead characters are faced with a problem • Trying to solve it leads to conflict • They encounter complications/setbacks • The complications grow as the tension increases • Climax • The characters either solve the problem or they fail PLOT

12. PLOT

13. Who are the lead characters in your story? • What problem do they face? • Describe the conflict that arises from the problem. • Describe some complications that arise during the story. • What actions do the lead characters take to solve the problem? • Do the lead characters solve the problem? Explain. PLOT

14. The author’s message to his or her readers. • Usually centers around some aspect of life. • The author shares his or her impression of life with the reader. • The theme of many stories has to do with the fight between good and evil. • Theme arises out of the action of a story. The reader draws conclusions based on what he or she reads. The author doesn’t spell it out. • Complex stories often have multiple themes. • Shrek • Be yourself • Trust others and accept love and friendship • Good triumphs over evil • Accept others for who they are THEME

15. Describe the theme(s) of your story. • Describe at least three actions that support the theme. • Do you think the theme is important? Explain. • Do you agree or disagree with the theme? Explain. THEME

16. The moment when the lead characters either solve the problem or fail. All the previous action leads to this moment. • Often the most dramatic, suspenseful, interesting part of the story, • In action movies, this is usually the big car chase. • Shrek: When Shrek realizes that he has been a big dummy and goes to try to stop Fiona from marrying Farquad. CLIMAX

17. Describe the climax of the book you last read. • Describe at least three events that lead up to the climax. • Do the lead characters solve the problem they face or do they fail? Explain. • Were you satisfied with this climax? Explain. CLIMAX

18. Round: The character has many traits • Flat: One trait- usually a supporting role • Static: The character doesn’t change • Dynamic: The character changes throughout the course of the story • Character is revealed through action, thoughts and emotions, or description CHARACTER

19. Character Revealed through Action • Honesty • Finds and returns a lost wallet even though desperate for money • Cowardliness • Runs from a fight, leaving friends behind • ALSO WHAT THEY SAY MAKES A DIFFERENCE • Negativity • Enemies speak highly of him, even grudgingly • Other characters dislike him • The words of other characters describe a character CHARACTER

20. Character Revealed through Thoughts and Emotion • A character who desires wealth= greed, ruthlessness • A character who thinks he is a failure= will act like a failure • A young woman who feels sympathy for a sparrow with a broken wing= will elicit sympathy from the reader • A character’s emotions and thoughts reveal their character traits • A character thinking about another character can reveal things about both- Joe wants to murder Bob because Bob won’t let Joe steal from his clients… CHARACTER

21. Revealing Character through Description • Physical description helps readers visualize • What do the following things say about a character? • Height, weight, strength, body type • Shape of face, facial expressions • Color of eyes, hair, skin • Sound of voice • Gestures, mannerisms • Clothing- how can it reflect the way people live? CHARACTER

22. Character Name • Age • Positive Traits • Negative Traits • Goals • Background • Color eyes/hair • Hairstyle • Height/weight/body type • Special Traits • A one-sentence description of the character CHARACTER

23. People do things for reasons. • These reasons, or MOTIVATIONS, reveal a lot about them. • The actions of characters ALWAYS have motivations. • Motivation is linked to the character’s goals. • All characters have goals • Sometimes the motivation may be unclear- you may have to analyze the character to figure it out • Sometimes the motivation will be clear to you but the character won’t realize why he is doing something. MOTIVATION

24. What is the name of your character? • Briefly describe this character. • What are this character’s goals? • How does the character attempt to achieve his or her goals? • Does he achieve them? Explain. • What do the actions of this character tell you about him or her? MOTIVATION

25. Dialogue makes up a significant part of the action in most stories • It reveals a lot about characters- social status, education, attitude, etc. • It moves the plot forward • It gives the author an opportunity to share information with the reader • It is the conversation of the characters • Authors try very hard to have their characters speak realistically DIALOGUE

26. From the story you are reading, choose a scene that has significant dialogue and answer the following questions. • What scene did you choose? Include the page number. • What characters are involved in the scene? • What are the characters talking about? • Explain whether the dialogue reveals information about the plot, motivation, thoughts, or emotion. • Did you find the dialogue to be realistic? Explain. DIALOGUE

27. Personification: When a thing is given human qualities. “The sun smiled down on the earth.” • Simile: A comparison using “like” or “as” • Quiet as a mouse • Life is like a box of chocolates • Metaphor: A comparison of two unlike things NOT using “like” or “as” • Life is a bowl of cherries • Love is a beautiful flower Literary Terms

28. Symbolism: Anything that stands for or represents something else. • Dove=peace • Statue of Liberty=freedom • Soldiers marching in the streets=the end of a carefree lifestyle • Alliteration: Repetition of the same or similar consonant sounds in words that are next to or close to each other. • She slept silently and soundly. • Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers. Literary Terms

29. Imagery: The author uses description in the story to create a mental picture in the reader’s mind. He/she might use sight, smell, taste, or touch words. • The air seemed charged with a special calm as if someone had waited there, quietly, and only a moment before he came, simply turned to a shadow and let him through. Perhaps his nose detected a faint perfume, perhaps the skin on the backs of his hands, on his face, felt the temperature rise at this one spot where a person’s standing might raise the immediate atmosphere ten degrees for an instant. There was no understanding it. -Fahrenheit 451 Literary Terms

30. Idiom: A phrase that cannot be taken literally, but whose meaning is understood • Has the cat got your tongue? • Do you have a frog in your throat? • I’m so hungry I could eat a horse! • Repetition: • Words are repeated in sequence at least two or three times. • Day after day after day… Literary Terms

31. Hyperbole: An exaggeration usually created by the author to drive home a point. • She was so loud you could hear her a mile away. • Irony: A contrast between what appears to be true and what is really true; between expectation and reality. Literary Terms

32. Onomatopoeia: The sound of an action is spelled the way it sounds. • “Bam!” “Oof!” “Splat!” “Pow!” • Oxymoron: Two words are next to each other and have opposite meanings but put together, they create a new meaning. • Jumbo shrimp • Pretty ugly • Civil War Literary Terms

33. There are 2 different kinds of Conflict: • External Conflict • A conflict that occurs outside of your person. • Internal Conflict • A conflict that occurs within yourself. • 3 Types of External Conflict • Man vs. Man • A struggle between two people or groups of people. • A fight between two people in the hallway • A war between two countries Conflict

34. Man vs. Society • A struggle between a person and what society deems acceptable. • A jury trial • Poor fashion choices • Man vs. Environment • A struggle between man and any component of his environment (the weather, force of nature, animal, technology…) Conflict

35. There is only ONE type of Internal Conflict • Man vs. Self • A struggle with one’s own conscience • Peer pressure • To cheat or not to cheat • Being a “mean girl” – feeling bad about it • Being a bully- feeling bad about it Conflict