Using Dialogue in Narratives

We began class with instruction on how to use dialogue in narratives.  We discussed how dialogue can be quite helpful in narratives: it can move your plot forward, reveal conflict and develop character.  It is important, though, that you punctuate and structure dialogue properly.  I distributed a handout on how to use dialogue properly and students worked through some sample sentences, adding punctuation where it belonged.

The remainder of the class was devoted to writing narratives.  I collected what students had accomplished by the end of class, and I will return it on Tuesday, with some feedback and direction for further progress.

Enjoy your Easter weekend!

And we're back!

Hi there!  I hope you all had a fulfilling, restful Spring Break, and that you are ready to work hard for the remainder of the year.  I apologize for falling down on the updating of this blog: I commit to updating every day, for the rest of the school year!  I promise!

Today, we each reviewed our Spring Break, sharing some of the highlights with our classmates.  Remember that these discussions are a good opportunity for you to try out new vocabulary!

Then, we reviewed our character profiles for Carl, from the movie Up, which we watched before the break. We discussed his background, his positive and negative traits, and his goals and ambitions.  Figuring out these aspects of your character BEFORE you write your story will help you have a better sense of what your character should say, think and do.

Finally, we began filling out character profiles for our own characters, for stories we will write next class.  If you were away, or if you lost your character chart, you can access one at the side here.