Glenda Funk, MA English; NBCT; NEA BL Master Teacher Project
“Blurred Lines: Landscapes of Truth and Fiction in Imaginary and Informational Texts”
NCTE 14: Session: A:09
Email: [email protected] Twitter: @gmfunk
www.evolvingenglishteacher.blogspot.com
1
Contributing a Verse: Digital Storytelling and Research-Based Writing
Part 2
Inking Our Stories
● Free Write: Digital Story Draft
● Story Structure for Digital Story (using a story structure above)
● Writing w/ Style
o Eliminating Being Verbs: Rewriting “It was a dark and stormy night…”
Eliminating Being Verbs: It Was a Dark and Stormy Night
One way to improve writing is to use action verbs rather than linking verbs (state of being
verbs). The most common state of being verbs are as follows: is, are, was, were, am, be, being,
been. Other common linking verbs that function in much the same way as state of being verbs
are as follows: seem, become, grow, sound, taste, feel, look, remain, stand. Omit as many of the
linking verbs from your writing as you can to make your writing more descriptive.
Glenda Funk, MA English; NBCT; NEA BL Master Teacher Project
“Blurred Lines: Landscapes of Truth and Fiction in Imaginary and Informational Texts”
NCTE 14: Session: A:09
Email: [email protected] Twitter: @gmfunk
www.evolvingenglishteacher.blogspot.com
2
In the passage below, the being verbs are in italics. Rewrite the passage, eliminating as many
of the being verbs as possible. This will necessitate changing some of the wording, changing
the form of some words, and changing the order of some of the details. You may also change
other words so that the meaning of the passage is clear and detailed. Just keep the basic
meaning of the passage intact.
It was a dark and stormy night. Outside the wind was blowing, the trees were swaying, and the
lightening was flashing. Inside the dark house, one light was burning in the library. Mathilda was
seated at the couch and staring ahead. She gets up from the couch. She is now pacing the room.
She stops. Her elbow is resting on the mantle, and she is chewing on her fingers. Suddenly, the
door is blown open and Rupert is standing on the balcony. He is covered with rain, but is
obviously happy to be with Mathilda even for just a moment. Each is staring in the other’s eyes as
they run across the room. Now, they are embracing.
“Dark and Stormy Night” Example by Glenda Funk
Example: Torrential rain and howling wind crashed against the rickety old gate as inky
darkness shrouded the night. Trees bowed their poised crowns in defiance as thunderous
bolts of lightning split their heavy branches. Inside the dark house, a solitary candle
illuminated the library. Matilda reclined on the settee, staring straight ahead, her eyes glued to
the bolted door. She gracefully slipped from the davenport and anxiously paced the room,
wringing her eager hands with each stride and gnawing her nails to the quick. Suddenly, the
wind thrust the heavy door open, and Rupert gazed at Mathilda from the balcony. Rain
dropped from his soaked body, forming a puddle at his feet. Overcome with ecstasy at the sight
of his beloved, Rupert raced into Mathilda=s outstretched arms as she flung herself into his
embrace. For one solitary moment, they clinched one another, drinking passionately from one
another’s tenderly parted lips.
o Copy change: Cannery Row by John Steinbeck
Cannery Row by John Steinbeck: Following is the first paragraph of the novel. To
compose a copy change, keep the style of the writing, the syntactical structures, and
substitute the meaning. For example, rather than using Cannery Row, use a different
place, town, and state.
Cannery Row in Monterey in California is a poem, a stink, a grating noise, a
quality of light, a tone, a habit, a nostalgia, a dream. Cannery Row is the gathered and
scattered, tin and iron and rust and splintered wood, chipped pavement and weedy
lots and junk heaps, sardine canneries of corrugated iron, honky tonks, restaurants
and whore houses, and little crowded groceries, and laboratories and flophouses. Its
inhabitants are, as the man once said, “whores, pimps, gamblers, and sons of
b*#&@es,” by which he meant Everybody. Had the man said, “Saints and angels and
martyrs and holy men,” he would have meant the same thing.
Glenda Funk, MA English; NBCT; NEA BL Master Teacher Project
“Blurred Lines: Landscapes of Truth and Fiction in Imaginary and Informational Texts”
NCTE 14: Session: A:09
Email: [email protected] Twitter: @gmfunk
www.evolvingenglishteacher.blogspot.com
3
*Copy change: To keep the style and syntax (sentence structure) while changing the
meaning of a passage by changing the diction (word choice).
● Composing Digital Stories
o From free write to typed story draft
o Peer Evaluating: Way to Go/Way to Grow
o Revising Stories
● “And First We Make a Plan”: Storyboarding Digital Stories
o Looking at Examples from Educational Uses of Digital Storytelling:
http://digitalstorytelling.coe.uh.edu/
o Show Your Work: Plan in Images and Text and Sound and Movement
Glenda Funk, MA English; NBCT; NEA BL Master Teacher Project
“Blurred Lines: Landscapes of Truth and Fiction in Imaginary and Informational Texts”
NCTE 14: Session: A:09
Email: [email protected] Twitter: @gmfunk
www.evolvingenglishteacher.blogspot.com
4
Glenda Funk, MA English; NBCT; NEA BL Master Teacher Project
“Blurred Lines: Landscapes of Truth and Fiction in Imaginary and Informational Texts”
NCTE 14: Session: A:09
Email: [email protected] Twitter: @gmfunk
www.evolvingenglishteacher.blogspot.com
5
Glenda Funk, MA English; NBCT; NEA BL Master Teacher Project
“Blurred Lines: Landscapes of Truth and Fiction in Imaginary and Informational Texts”
NCTE 14: Session: A:09
Email: [email protected] Twitter: @gmfunk
www.evolvingenglishteacher.blogspot.com
6
● Finding a Platform
o Windows Movie Maker Live
o iMovie and Garage Band
o WeVideo: https://www.wevideo.com/
o Power Point on a Timer (for the low-tech crowd)
o Prezi
o Using Screen-Cast-O-Matic to Capture Stories
Responding to Other’s Stories
o Stories that Changed My Life: Sharing Our Stories
o Letters About Literature: http://read.gov/letters/
o How did this author’s work change you or your view of the world? How do you know
it did? How and why are you different now than you were before you read this work?
Why choose this book and author and not another?
o A Student Writes to John Green After Reading Looking for Alaska
Dear John Green,
I don’t ever pick up a book and say to myself, “this book is going to change my life.” Or at
least that’s what I thought before I read your book, Looking for Alaska. Your book changed my life in
a way that some people might not understand, but to me, it’s something that I won’t ever forget.
Drugs ruined my life. I don’t mean that I got in any trouble with the police and got sent to
rehab or anything like that, but it may as well be. Drugs ruined my life as in, ruined my relationship
with all of my siblings, my dad, and especially my mom. I can’t even bring myself to have a full
conversation with her without yelling because I know, deep down, she wishes that I would have
turned out differently. It breaks my heart, but I too, wish I would have turned out differently.
Glenda Funk, MA English; NBCT; NEA BL Master Teacher Project
“Blurred Lines: Landscapes of Truth and Fiction in Imaginary and Informational Texts”
NCTE 14: Session: A:09
Email: [email protected] Twitter: @gmfunk
www.evolvingenglishteacher.blogspot.com
7
My guilty and messed up conscience, due to abuse of illegal substances, forced me to move to
small town, Potato, Idaho (Pocatello.) I now live with my grandparents and go to a school filled with
people I know nothing about. P.S. I make it sound a lot worse than it really is.
Now I know this doesn’t sound like I could relate myself to anyone in your book, but when
reading it, I could relate myself to a couple of different people. When I first started reading the book,
I related myself to Miles (Pudge), mainly because he was new to the school, didn’t have any friends,
and just awkward. Like me. Although, I’m usually pretty outgoing, I started my new school and
couldn’t make any friends because I’m just awkward. I mean, I guess it could be a good thing
because it adds to my originality, but it would be nice to make some friends once in a while.
Another reason I related myself to Pudge is because he was always trying new things to fit
in. Smoking, drinking, pranks, anything to make his new friends see him as “cool.” I relate myself in
this way because, I guess, I tried smoking weed so that I could fit in. I just wanted people to think of
me as a free spirit and a “down to do anything” type of person. I didn’t realize at the time that you
don’t need stupid substances to be cool. Don’t get me wrong, I met some of the most wonderful,
trustworthy, friends at this time of my life. It just would have been better if I wasn’t under the
influence of marijuana.
When I got more into the book, I realized that I could relate myself to Alaska as well. She’s
the type of person that no one can understand but still thought she was so interesting. The type of
person that people can’t get enough of but still wants more attention. That was me when I was
doing the dumb things I was doing. I wanted to be noticed while staying mysterious. No one
understood me. I could never explain my feelings to anyone without them looking at me like I should
be in an insane asylum. Maybe, I liked it that way. It kept things interesting.
By the end of the book, when I found out what happened to Alaska, that’s when things really
turned things around in my head. The characters in the book had no idea why Alaska would do the
thing she did. They really had no idea what was going on in her life, but they felt something in their
hearts for her. About a year ago, when I was going through my rough patch, I always asked myself if
it would be better for everyone if I just disappeared. I know, that’s pretty selfish of me to just leave
when one or two things get hard for me. I just thought that maybe people would finally notice me.
That maybe, people would leave flowers at my grave and cry when they heard my name.
When Alaska did what she did, my whole perspective of life changed. Not a lot of the
characters in the book knew her on a personal level or even knew her at all, but they were still sad
for her. They wanted to know her but never got the chance to. I know now that you don’t have to die
to be remembered or to be known. You just need to be known by the right people. Make memories
with people that are worth making memories with. That’s one of the reasons I left my home town to
live with my grandparents. I wanted to start fresh, be happy, and find friends that would stay in my
life for a long time. So far, I have succeeded.
Your book really changed my life on personal level. After reading it, I told myself that I was
going to be a better person, and stop thinking about wanting to be cool. I am going to start acting
Glenda Funk, MA English; NBCT; NEA BL Master Teacher Project
“Blurred Lines: Landscapes of Truth and Fiction in Imaginary and Informational Texts”
NCTE 14: Session: A:09
Email: [email protected] Twitter: @gmfunk
www.evolvingenglishteacher.blogspot.com
8
more like Pudge. Even though he did things that he wouldn’t normally do, he still stuck up for
himself when things got out of hand. I’m going to try new things but for experience reasons only, not
to be known for doing them. I will stick up for myself when I don’t feel right about something. I am
going to be better. Thank you, John Green, for being an amazing writer and for changing my life,
even though you probably weren’t planning on it. I hope this wasn’t too personal. Actually, I didn’t
even mean to make it personal, it just spilled out of my heart.
Sincerely,
Lexi G.
Beyond the Personal: Planning Research Writing
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Generating Ideas for the Senior Project
Researching topics
Framing argument w/ personal narrative
Drafting the argument.
Restructuring the digital story/argument
**As part of the NEA Better Lesson Master Teacher Project, I created a unit on research based
writing(11 lessons) that is complete w/ video tutorials and teaching tips, student handouts and
work samples, multi-genre and traditional research, as well as many other lessons. Additionally,
the unit includes a video showcasing student work and student commentary from our Senior
Project Presentation Night. The complete unit is available on the Better Lesson Website:
“Making Discoveries: Research Based Writing”
http://betterlesson.com/user/327151/61788/150318/glenda-funk/curriculum