Michele Whaley - Ben Slavic

Michele here offers some general clarification to the recent discussion:

Hi Ben,

Kids writing stories: kids get two minutes to write story ideas using required structures on tiny pieces of paper in English or TL and turn them in.

Embedded readings: teacher types up basic plot lines, then adds to them. Kids read the successively more complicated story lines.

The teacher can run with either idea in whatever way is convenient. Embedded readings can follow the kid stories.

Kid stories: use one or five or all the stories. Act them out, re-tell, just as always with stories, except that the basic plot is not negotiable. All the details may be.

Embedded readings: can come from anywhere. If they come from a kid story, keep the kid stories basic and type them up. Ask kid groups to embellish or do it as a class or do it on your own. Otherwise, you can take even a historical text and shave it down to the basics: “Dostoevsky dropped college to write. He was arrested. He lived among murderers for four years. He wrote psychological novels.” For the next version, add in where he was born and where he studied, what he wrote first, why he was arrested, which novels he wrote. The next time, you can add in almost all the details.
Does this make things clearer?
Laurie has done a great job on her blog. Now I understand how to keep adding structures. And I love her idea of “no turning the pages.”
Michele