Download Teaching Approach - A Taste of Life

Ideas for Teaching Original Writing at KS4
Story with A Twist
Assessment Foci:
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AO3 (i) communicate clearly and imaginatively, adapting forms for different readers and
purposes.
AO3 (ii) organise ideas into sentences, paragraphs and whole texts.
AO3 (iii) use a range of sentence structures effectively with accurate punctuation and
spelling.
Assessment:
Having studied the genre, write a short story with a twist.
Resources:
 ‘A Taste of Life’ by Sara Paretsky (whole text)
 ‘The Hitch-hiker’ by Roald Dahl
 Photocopies of short stories from magazines
 Opening paragraph of ‘A Taste of Life’ OHT
 Sections 2 – 5 of ‘A Taste of Life’
 Final paragraph of ‘A Taste of Life.’ OHT
 Questions on Section 2
 Character Grid: Sylvia Raydor
 Sentence Clarification sheet*
 4 pictures of a rose*
 Story Openings sheet*
 Story Endings sheet*
 Planning formats
Other suggested stories:
‘The Landlady’ by Roald Dahl
‘Lamb to the Slaughter’ by Roald Dahl
* Acknowledgement: resources and ideas courtesy of Debra Myhill, Exeter University
Suggested Approach:
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Either:
 Collect together 5 or 6 short stories from magazines such as Best or Bella.
 Photocopy the stories so that there’s enough for one between two, of each story.
 Cut off the last paragraph of each and keep them separate, in an envelope, to give
out later.
 Each student will need access to glue.
 Arrange class into pairs. Give out short stories. Pairs should read and predict
endings. Take feedback of possible endings.
 Give out envelope with different endings. Students have to identify correct ending
to each story.
 Students explain how authors led them to expect a different ending.
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Or:
Ask students to write the opening of a traditional fairy tale. Give them five
minutes to complete the task.
 Ask for volunteers to read aloud their example.
 Discuss, in pairs, the word/sentence/text level features of this text type.
 Feedback ideas to whole group.
 Examples:
i.
Formula for the genre
ii.
Starts with an adverbial (time or place) e.g. Once upon a time … or A long time
ago …
iii.
Past tense
iv.
Adjectives are simple or stock e.g. wicked
v.
Some repetition of adjectives e.g. far, far away and alliteration e.g. deep, dark
wood draws on oral tradition
vi.
Even balance of compound and complex sentences and some simple sentences.
vii.
Nouns are stock, simple, generalized – tend to polarise positive and negative
features e.g. ugly-beautiful; wicked - good
viii.
Proper nouns are often not ‘every day’ e.g. Cinderella. May have no proper
nouns at all.
ix.
One adjective to one noun
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Title and Opening Paragraph:
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Link this to the idea that all text types/genres have specific features. Students may
be implicitly aware of the style appropriate to a task i.e. that fairy tales are simple in
style, but explicit understanding of what makes the style simple is not so secure.
Therefore before they write their own story this knowledge needs to be made
implicit.
Give students the title of the story ‘A Taste of Life.’
Predict what the story may be about.
Shared reading of opening paragraph on OHT.
Discuss and annotate how the author garbs the reader’s attention.
Look closely at the language and what it may hint at – appetite, insatiable, greedy.
What do we know and think of Daphne at this point?
Section 2:
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Continue reading next section of the story (paragraphs 2-5).
Focus discussion on Daphne and annotate text together, if necessary.
1) Did they get the hint that she was ‘fat’?
2) Why does the writer use the word ‘fat’ (more than once) to describe her size
instead of another term such as obese?
3) How do her colleagues treat her? Why?
4) Why does she hide her eating problem?
5) Why, do you think, food is so important to her?
6) Look closely at the language associated with food.
7) Do we have any idea of what she actually look like? Why not?
8) How do you think the writer wants you think of her? How do you think of her?
Why?
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Section 3:
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Proper Nouns: Look at how the proper nouns used in the text to establish character,
tone, atmosphere e.g. Daphne Raydor, Rapelec Inc., Carlos Francetta.
N.B. Teaching how to use proper nouns effectively is an interesting activity. Look at
the opening of Harry Potter. Use of proper nouns establish an awful lot in the first
few sentences e.g. The Dursleys, Dudley Dursley, Priver Drive, Grunnigs Factory, etc.
Continue reading the next section (paragraphs 6-11) which describes Daphne’s
childhood and her mother.
Did anyone predict the real reason for Daphne’s eating problem?
Focus on how the writer uses language to describe Sylvia and to shape our opinion of
her without actually telling us what to think.
Students complete Character Grid.
Feedback comments.
Section 4:
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Continue reading the next section (paragraphs 12-20) when Daphne meets Jerry and
Sylvia turns up.
Look at how the writer uses direct speech. Up until this point only reported speech
has been used. Why?
Which characters speak and which characters don’t? Why?
What effect does the use of direct speech have on the story?
Students could experiment with adding some direct speech. Does it add anything to
the story?
Look at paragraph 20 (‘Back home …’).
How has the writer used a variety of sentences structures to create tone and
atmosphere? Annotate text together if appropriate.
E.g. subordinate clause to start a sentence, rhetorical questions, complex sentences,
semi-colon to build tension/expectation, one word sentence, etc.
You may wish to recap sentence types using sheet/OHT.
Use pictures to show/demonstrate how students can make choices about the
sentences they write.
“ What I know about grammar is its infinite power. To shift the structure of a
sentence alters the meaning of that sentence, as definitely as the position of a
camera alters the meaning of the object photographed.”
(Joan Didion, cited in Murray 1990)
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Use four pictures e.g.:
i.
A view of a rose bush
ii.
Focus on a bud on the rose bush
iii.
Focus on a blighted leaf on the rose bush
iv.
Focus on a seed head on the rose bush
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The whole view is the standard sentence whereas the others show greater mastery,
complexity or variety in order to create a specific effect.
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Section 5:
Read final section of the story (with the last sentence omitted).
Discuss the content of this section:
a) How does Daphne react?
b) Why does Jerry give in?
c) How does Sylvia change?
d) Etc.
Tell students that the ending has been missed off. Ask them to finish the story as if they
are the writer.
They should know that not much has been missed off but you may not want to tell them in
is only one sentence.
Read aloud examples.
Read them the actual final sentence. Discuss their reactions!
What do they think of it as an ending?
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What makes a successful short story with a twist?
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From their reading of ‘A Taste of Life’ and/or any other short story with a twist,
students must come up with a checklist/success criteria for a short story with a twist.
Share ideas. Create a class checklist which could be kept displayed in the classroom on a
flipchart or interactive whiteboard while they are writing their own.
For weaker students you will need to provide them with this list.
Suggestions:
 a sense of realism
 short time span
 clear characterisation
 no more than three main characters
 realistic dialogue
 varied sentence lengths
 imaginative description
 thoughtful title
 past tense
 effective opening/ending
 etc.
Assessment Task:
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Set coursework task – to write their story with a twist.
Give them the sheet ‘Writers as Designers’ and discuss what it means.
Students must plan their story before beginning. Teachers may want/need to provide
students with planning formats.
Students may want to read other stories, independently, for inspiration. They may wish to
complete the Story Openings/Endings sheets while they do this.
Encourage students to write their opening and then swap with a friend. Improvements may
then be made at this stage.
When they have completed their first draft, they should use the checklist as a means of
self-assessment. Peer assessment as well as teacher marking should also be encouraged
before a final draft is completed for their folder.