I always give the students 20 minutes of self-selected
reading, so just make sure everyone has a book and is focused on it for the
first 20 minutes.
1. Sentence Model and Imitation.
Put up the sentence on the overhead, and see what students
notice about it. Give them a few minutes to look at it and think about it.
Some of the things they might notice:
The parenthetical thought (which
was not often) enclosed in commas.
The parallelism (that they were in
control… , that their problems were soluble, that in time the world….
Ask them how why the sentence writer might have used
anything they noticed.
Now tell the students that they are going to try to imitate
this sentence structure. As an example, put up my imitation. What did I change?
What did I leave the same?
Have them try it on their own on a piece of paper. After
about 4-5 minutes, have them share their results with the class if anyone is
willing.
If there is time left at the end of class, tell them to work
on their vivid introduction assignment from yesterday. Remind them that it is
due on Halloween.
Collect the sentences as exit passes as the students leave.
