DPI Writing Strategies

Created through a partnership with the N.C. Department of Public Instruction.

Resources created by DPI Writing Strategies

Records 21–35 of 35 displayed: go to page 1, 2

Show, don't tell: Using action words: To strengthen their writing and make it livelier, students will learn to use action words to show how their characters feel.; Format: lesson plan (grade 3–5 English Language Arts); By DPI Writing Strategies.

Slow motion replay: Students will learn to use slow motion replay of a moment in a narrative to make it easier for the reader to feel that he or she is actually experiencing the event.; Format: lesson plan (grade 2–4 English Language Arts); By DPI Writing Strategies.

"So what?" details: Students will learn that adding details to a piece of writing doesn't make it better if the details are "So What?" details. Details and elaboration should be related to the main idea and should move the story along in an interesting manner.; Format: lesson plan (grade 3–5 English Language Arts); By DPI Writing Strategies.

Spider legs: This strategy for peer conferencing helps students learn to use "Spider Legs" to answer revision questions, and then insert the revised information into their drafts.; Format: lesson plan (grade 3–4 English Language Arts); By DPI Writing Strategies.

Stop that run-on!: Run-on sentences inhibit understanding and weaken someone's writing. In this lesson, students will learn to identify run-on sentences and how to fix them. They will then apply those skills to their own writing.; Format: lesson plan (grade 2–4 English Language Arts); By DPI Writing Strategies.

Story surgery: As early as first grade, children can begin to revise their stories using "Story Surgery." In this lesson, students learn how to use scissors to perform "story surgery" by cutting their stories apart at the point where more information can be added.; Format: lesson plan (grade 3–4 English Language Arts); By DPI Writing Strategies.

Stretch it out: Good writers stretch out the important scenes in a story to make them more interesting to their readers. In this lesson, students will learn to stretch out a scene by adding things that they see, hear, think, and say to others.; Format: lesson plan (grade 3–5 English Language Arts); By DPI Writing Strategies.

Synonym word bags: The purpose of Word Bags is to give students a resource for finding synonyms for overused words that they use in their writing on a daily basis. Students will fill Word Bags with synonyms for frequently used words.; Format: lesson plan (grade 3–4 English Language Arts); By DPI Writing Strategies.

The taste of relevance: Students will learn the importance of selecting relevant details by picking the right toppings for an ice cream sundae. This activity gives the students a concrete visual memory of what good details are.; Format: lesson plan (grade 3–4 English Language Arts); By DPI Writing Strategies.

Transition words and phrases: Students will learn to combine sentences using two kinds of transition words: time transitions and thought (logical) transitions. Transition words link related ideas and hold them together. They can help the parts of a narrative to be coherent or work together to tell the story. Coherence means all parts of a narrative link together to move the story along. Think of transition words as the glue that holds a story together. Using transition words helps avoid the "Listing" problem in stories.; Format: lesson plan (grade 4–5 English Language Arts); By DPI Writing Strategies.

Verb tense time warps: When students have inconsistent verb tense, they have a "time warp" in their stories. In this lesson, students learn that verbs tell not only what action takes place, but also when the action takes place. They will learn to identify past, present and future verb tenses and to check sentences and paragraphs for inconsistent verb tense.; Format: lesson plan (grade 3–4 English Language Arts); By DPI Writing Strategies.

Where do I begin?: Picking a good beginning helps you to focus your story on just one main event. In this lesson students will learn how to pick a good beginning for their personal narratives.; Format: lesson plan (grade 3–5 English Language Arts); By DPI Writing Strategies.

Word bank: The Word Bank provides students with a classroom resource for "researching" the correct spelling of words that students want or need to use in their writing on a daily basis.; Format: lesson plan (grade 2 English Language Arts); By DPI Writing Strategies.

Word closet: Word Closets give students an additional classroom resource for “researching” the correct spelling of words to use in their daily writing. Word Closets are particularly focused toward concept words, season words, and favorite words that students like to use in their writing but may need help with spelling.; Format: lesson plan (grade 2–4 English Language Arts); By DPI Writing Strategies.

You can't tell it all!: Narrowing the focus of personal narratives: Students will learn to focus their personal narratives on just one main event by listing events on a topic and identifying one main event to write about. Focusing their personal narratives on one main event helps students to write about only the important things and leave out events and details that are not related to the main event.; Format: lesson plan (grade 3–5 English Language Arts); By DPI Writing Strategies.