Slice of Life Story Challenge · SOLSC Classroom Challenge · SOLSC Classroom Challenge

CLASSROOM SOLSC FOR STUDENTS: DAY 25 OF 31

Anna Gratz Cockerille

Slice of Life_classroom image Black

Welcome to Day 25 of the 4th Annual Classroom Slice of Life Story Challenge!

In the book Crafting True Stories by Lucy Calkins and Marjorie Martinelli, part of the Units of Study for Opinion, Information, and Narrative Writing, small moment stories are the topic. What better place to look for inspiration for Slice of Life stories than a book about writing small moments?

One important strategy for a small moment writer is to write in scenes, not summaries. It is so easy to slip into summarizing when recounting a story: First I did this. Then I did that. Then this happened. 

But the most powerful stories put the reader right in the action, telling what happened bit by bit: “Watch out!” Sarah yelled. I looked behind me, and there, barreling toward me at full speed, was my brother. And he looked MAD.

Today as you write your Slice, think – am I summarizing? Or am I storytelling?

WRITE a slice of life story on your own blog.
SHARE a link to your post in the comments section.
GIVE comments to at least three other SOLSC Classroom bloggers.

Happy Slicing!

Reminders:

  1. If you haven’t read the Essential Information post, then please click here to read it now before you post the link to your students’ slice of life stories. Don’t forget to keep your students’ identities anonymous for their protection.
  2.  If your students are slicing from their personal blogs, then you should link their blog posts together using your classroom or personal blog. Then, share the permalink to the location of the “round up” of student slices. (Click here for more information on how to do this.) Individual students CANNOT link here directly. Students who are under 18 must have an adult linking for them. Any student links left without an adult link will be deleted.
  3. Only post the link to your students’ slices of life here. Do not post the link to your personal slice of life stories here. Go to the daily call for individual slice of life stories to post your personal slice.
  4. If this is the first comment you’ve left on Two Writing Teachers, then we will have to moderate your comment. We will be checking throughout the day in order to get your links up for the community as soon as possible. As long as you use the same username/email to log in going forward, your comments should appear instantly in the future.
  5. Any questions, please contact one of us.
      • If your last name begins with the letters A – G, please email questions to Anna, AnnaGCockerilleLiteracy{at}gmail.com.
      • If your last name begins with the letters H – M, please email questions to Deb, DebFrazier4{at}gmail.com.
      • If your last name begins with the letters N – S, please email questions to Kathleen, Mrs.sokolowski{at}gmail.com.
      • If your last name begins with the letters T – Z, please email questions to Tara, elibenoli5{at}gmail.com.

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Published by Anna Gratz Cockerille

Anna is a staff developer, literacy coach, and writer, based in New York City. She taught internationally in places such as Sydney, Australia; San Pedro Sula, Honduras, and Auckland, New Zealand in addition to New York before becoming a staff developer for the Teachers College Reading and Writing Project at Columbia University (TCRWP). She has been an adjunct instructor in the Literacy Specialist Program at Teachers College, and teaches at TCRWP where she helps participants bring strong literacy instruction into their classrooms. Anna recently co-wrote Bringing History to Life with Lucy Calkins, part of the 2013 series Units of Study in Opinion, Information, and Narrative Writing (Heinemann). She has been a researcher for Lucy Calkins, contributing especially to Pathways to the Common Core (Heinemann, 2012) and Navigating Nonfiction (Heinemann, 2010).

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