Literature often tells the story of Mighty Ducks is the story of ......Mighty Ducks is the story of a rag-tag hockey team that ends up winning the state championship. Cinderella tells

Fig. XV-1 Harrison’s final draft

©2006 by Lucy Calkins and Kathy Collins from Units of Study for Teaching Writing, Grades 3–5(Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann) This page may be reproduced for classroom use only.

Literary Essays: Writing about Reading,

Literature often tells the story ofunderdogs who rise up in the end. TheMighty Ducks is the story of a rag-taghockey team that ends up winning the statechampionship. Cinderella tells the story ofthe rejected youngest sister who ends upmarrying the prince. “The Marble Champ,”by Gary Soto, is also an underdog story. Ittells not only about Lupe winning themarble championship, it also tells that sheovercomes her athletic difficulties throughhard work and family support.

Lupe overcomes her difficulties throughthe support of her family. For example, onedinner, Lupe asks her father to come to themarble competition. Her father drops hisfork and drops into deep thought. He hadfinally planned to spend that very dayplaying racket ball, his favorite activity. Buthe looked into Lupe’s eyes, thought abouthow important it was that she was risking

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entering a sports competition, andannounced he would be there. Lupegrinned. There are other ways in whichLupe’s family showed their support. Herparents let her practice marbles even afterdark, her brother gave tips on how toshoot marbles, and her whole family wasthere to encourage her when she wasworried. Gary Soto shows how importantfamily support was to Lupe. His storycontains a full page description of thefamily dinner. This section was notimportant to the plot of the story but itneeds to be in the story because it showshow supportive Lupe’s family was to her.

Lupe also overcame her difficultiesthrough hard work. Lupe’ decision to workhard and succeed in sports was madewhen she lay in front of her shelf full ofacademic trophies and medals. She wishedthere was at least one trophy that showed




that she could do sports – but there werenone. She decided that she would workhard, day and night, to win a marbletournament. A bit later, she came homefrom school and immediately tossed downher backpack and got out her marbles. Letme point out Lupe usually came homefrom school and did her homework - thatis why she had a shelf full of academictrophies. She put on a determined face,and started to flick her marbles. At fiveo’clock, she hadn’t started homework. It’ssix o’clock, she had flicked 500 times, andshe hadn’t started her homework. Atseven o’clock, she’ll die if she goes on anylonger. Final score—marbles: three hours;homework: zero hours.

Lupe overcomes her difficulties bysqueezing an eraser 100 times for thumbstrength, by doing “fingerups” for fingerstrength, and by practicing after dark even




when she could be tired to improve heroverall marble game.

Gary Soto shows Lupe’s hard work throughrepetition. For example, he says unnecessarylines like “Tried again and again,” and“Practice, practice, practice, squeeze,squeeze, squeeze.” These lines support myidea that Lupe is working hard,

I enjoy underdog stories because theymake me have a feeling of strange successinside. I have experienced being anunderdog, in soccer. But in the end, likeLupe, my soccer team succeeded. Thehidden lessons I learned from this storytaught me that even if you don’t thinkabout it, there is a part inside of you thatsays your parents are there; just rememberwho held you when you learned how toswim.

Fig. XV-5 Max’s final draft



Literary Essay to “Eleven” By Maxwell Some people think that growing up is fun,

or exciting, having birthday parties andblowing out candles. But smart kids knowthat growing up is not all fun. Your oldclothes don’t fit anymore, and you can’t playthe same games, and you need to worryabout new things, like money or work. In thestory, “Eleven,” by Sandra Cisneros, Rachelcomes to an understanding of what beingeleven really feels like.

Rachel comes to understand that when youare eleven, you are also ten, nine, eight,seven, six, five, four, three, two, and one. Inthe story, Rachel sits at her desk, staring atthe nasty red sweater Mrs. Price made herkeep. She was disgusted with it, and wantedto cry like she was three. She tried not to lether three come out though. Why did shewant to cry over a sweater? She thought shewas eleven, old enough not to cry oversomething silly like a sweater. She then

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realizes that she was not just eleven, but ten,nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two,and one. There are other sections of the storywhere Rachel understands that when you areeleven, you’re also all the ages inside. Forexample, she says “when you are scared andneed to sit on your Mama’s lap, that is thepart of you that is still five.” And “When yousay something stupid, that is the part of youthat is still ten.” Another section of the storywhere Rachel sees that she has all the ages is“When you are sad and need to cry, that isthe part of you that is still three.” And onemore place is when she blabbed and stutteredto Mrs. Price when she wanted to saysomething. That was the part of her that wasstill four. Her understanding that when youare eleven you are also all the ages inside isimportant because the way Sandra Cisnerosstretches out “10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, and1” instead of just saying “all the otherages”—she really wants to show that that is




the most important part.Something else that Rachel comes to

understand is that turning eleven can be a letdown I see this in the text here: Rachelexpected to feel eleven on her birthday assoon as she woke up. But she did not. Sheopened her eyes and everything was just likeyesterday but it was today. She went toschool and expected to feel like a big eleven-year-old, cut instead has a terrible day. Mrs.Price forces her to wear a nasty, disgustingsweater. She cries in front of the whole classlike she was three. At the end of the day, shejust wanted it to be gone and forgotten.Other parts in the text where I see that Rachelunderstands being eleven can be a let downare “You don’t feel eleven. Not right away. Ittakes a few days, weeks even, sometimeseven months until you say eleven when theyas you.” And “You are not smart eleven. Notuntil you are almost twelve.” And when sherealizes that she does not know what to do




when Mrs. Prices forces her to wear thesweater. She does not have enough ages yet.I can really tell that Rachel does not feeleleven because Rachel says “I’m eleven” or avariation on that a lot, and that shows thatshe really has to remind herself, because thatis not the way she feels. Also, Sandra Cisnerosmade a list of examples at the end of thestory of things that are far away like “I wish Iwas 102 or anything but eleven” and “faraway like a runaway balloon” or like “a teenytiny little o in the sky.” This really shows howmuch Rachel wants the day to be over with.Because she did not have a happy birthday.She had a let down birthday.

Literature can help you understand thingsbetter. For example, I have come, throughRachel’s thoughts and experiences, to aconclusion that growing up is not all birthdayparties and blowing out candles. And I havelearned that I should appreciate being young,while I am.

Fig. XV-9 Adam’s final draft



Fig. XV-10 Adam’s final draft, page 2



Fig. XV-11 Adam’s final draft, page 3



Fig. XV-12 Judah’s final draft



Fig. XV-13 Judah’s final draft, page 2









Fig. XV-16 Ali’s final draft



Fig. XV-17 Ali’s final draft page 2



Fig. XV-18 Ali’s final draft page 3



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Literature often tells the story of Mighty Ducks is the story of ......Mighty Ducks is the story of a rag-tag hockey team that ends up winning the state championship. Cinderella tells