Writing with Club Chronicle Effective Elaboration Techniques

Cupid and Psyche Using the recent Club Chronicle story published in November, 2006: A lesson on ABSTRACT and CONCRETE nouns. TEKS:4.15A,B,C;18B;19A,B,C

PROCEDURE Have children scan the text for concrete nouns. I usually define these as things I can see, hear, touch, feel or smell. Create a list of these nouns.

Now scan for abstract nouns. These are more difficult for children to find. Model the scanning process. I usually define abstract nouns as things that cannot be detected by the five senses.

What’s the point? In order to teach children to move their writing skills from novices to advanced, we usually tell them to elaborate. This they interpret as ”it’s not long enough.” Then we get strings of adjectives, or several lists of prepositional phrases, designed to produce more words, but not necessarily resulting in more precise writing.

I see this activity as a way to inspire elaboration, by showing the writer what the reader cannot see, hear, smell, touch, feel in his or her writing! It helps to justify WHY we ask children to elaborate.

How to? Now that students know the difference between the two types of nouns, take the list of abstracts from the Club Chronicle story and insert one of the abstracts in this sentence starter: I cannot see_______, but I can see_______.

Examples I cannot see jealousy, but I can see the venom in Venus’s eyes! I cannot see pride, but I can see Venus’s regal stance. I cannot see sorrow, but I can see Psyche’s distraught face.

More examples I cannot see privacy, but I can see their dark bedchamber. I cannot see fear, but I can see Psyche’s trembling hands. I cannot see curiosity, but I can see Psyche peeking in the box.

Extensions If this is successful, try the other four senses: smell, taste, touch, hearing.

CREDITS The sentence starters on abstract nouns are taken from Dr. Keith Polette’s ( UTEP, English Dept) workshop “USING GRAMMMAR TO TEACH WRITING” November 11, 2006,HCDE, Houston, TX.