Creating powerful beginnings and satisfying endings

Creating Powerful Beginnings and Satisfying Endings

CHAPTER 5

Mentor texts: Teaching Writing Through Children’s Literature

What is a good story?

• An enticing beginning

• An interesting middle

• A satisfying ending

A typical format beginning, middle, and end

• Elements of story: character, setting, problem/goal, plot, solution/resolution

Facilitating effective writing Short course- JUNE 2012

An example of a good story

• Shortcut by Donald Crews:– Takes place in a matter of minutes

– Uses effective repetitions to help the reader understand the magnitude of the feelings

– Uses a brief description of setting followed by quick, short sentences

– Writes a beginning that is not too far away in time from the most important event of the story

– Keep the reader waiting and not solve the problem too quickly


Some techniques for teaching writing skills

• Have an schema for a story structure

• Help them see that the stories they share have a beginning, middle, and end, just like the stories they hear in the classroom

• Give guided conversation to help them add the important details that make their stories come alive

• Encourage them to tell more by asking: “Then what happened?” and encourage all the students to use this phrase

• Use pictures to plan out a story

• Using books from library, home, and classroom collection, to students work individually to explore beginnings and endingsFacilitating effective writing Short course- JUNE 2012

Goodbeginnings

• DEFINITION

– “It is like receiving an invitation to a party where you expect to have a wonderful time”.

• CHARACTERISTICS

– Establishing the settings

– Information about the main character that reveals his hopes, thoughts, and feelings

– A hint of a problem, goal or direction of the story


Good endings

• DEFINITION– “It is the ending, after all, that will resonate in the ear of

the reader when the piece of writing has been finished” (Ralph Fletcher, 1993)

• CHARACTERISTICS– Be connected to the story in some way and be closed to

its beginning

– Leave the reader satisfied

– Being interesting and memorable

– End with a memory, a thought or feeling, a final action, or a lesson learned


THANK YOU!MAITE FERNANDEZ FERRER- [email protected]


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Creating powerful beginnings and satisfying endings