Explorer Story
For about two months we met weekly with fourth grade Explorer Elementary students to practice reading comprehension skills and to create a story for them that they can connect with.
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Reading with my buddy Emilia was an amazing experience. I had the opportunity to learn about her passions which included reading, rollerblading and playing with her friends and family, including her westie terrier. I thought it would make the book more special and easier to relate to if I included these interests. When she read the story for the first time out loud her giggles at the references made all of the hard work worth it. When I met with Emilia to read we practiced reading comprehension by summarizing what we read after every chapter. We also worked on identifying similes, metaphors and messages. This project was something new and challenging for me. To write a good story we needed to understand what a good story encompasses and to do that we read many professional examples which included The Great Gatsby, Slaughterhouse Five and other articles on story writing basics which I have linked on my humanities writing page. Getting my ideas down on paper was the hardest part. In the begging I had trouble sticking to a character, setting, problem, etc. I asked for my buddies input on what she liked to read and once I chose my characters it was just a matter of letting my imagination run wild. This project collaborated with math for a portion of exhibition. At the time, we were learning about graph theory in math so from our stories, we took the main themes and characters and made graphs that connected everything that is connected in the story. We created four different graphs to show the progress overtime how the main ideas connected by using vertices and edges to create an open path. On a mathematical level, the open path in our stories are represented from vertex to vertex and they do not pass over the same vertex twice. Our exhibition was a huge success. I got to present my graph theory poster and the four books that I produced and I am very proud of what I have accomplished. After learning so much about creative writing for this project, I hope that my writing will continue to improve.
Overall, how do you feel about your work in the Explorer Stories project?
Overall, I feel great about my work in the Explorer Stories project. Prior to this assignment, I had never written anything more than five pages and never so much creative writing. My explorer story ended up being 18 pages online and 41 pages in the physical book. Today, as my reading buddy was reading it out loud, I felt liked it could have been 20 pages longer! You have taught me that a piece of writing is never done, it can always be improved but I knew when to walk away and be happy with what I was turning in.
What stands out to you most about the work that you did in the course of the Explorer Stories project? What stands out the most about the work that I did in the course of the Explorer Stories project is my dedication to the writing process. In the beginning it was hard to get ideas down on paper because I am very hard on myself and didn't think any of my ideas were good enough or creative enough standing next to my peer's work. However, I did not get defeated and did research on top of reading the Story Basics article. I learned different writing techniques by reading blogs from famous authors and I even watched a video called "How to Improve Your Writing" on YouTube. The multiple drafts and rounds of critique really benefited my work and I am proud of myself for identifying my strengths and weakness as a writer and taking criticism on my second piece of creative writing.
What was the most interesting and/or effective feedback that you received in the course of this project? Copy/paste it below and describe how it influenced your subsequent work.
The most interesting and effective feedback that I received in the course of this project was from Melina Shaw in the first round of critique. I gave her my first draft and asked for lots of feedback. The draft had a beginning and an end but was fuzzy in the middle. Something that she wrote on my paper that stood out to me was that she thought my "characters were bland" and she had a "hard time picturing what the characters looked like" which I predicted would be an issue. After I got that input I imagined my character as someone I know. This made it a lot easier to decide what they looked like and how they reacted to situations. Paul also gave me great feedback about the antagonists in my story. Originally I had two mean girls who bullied my main character but he told me that they needed to have a reason for the way that they acted. I made it so that the "evil twins" were going through a rough patch because their parents were getting a divorce. This gave my writing more purpose and something that my buddy can imagine because divorce is a real situation.
In what ways did your work measure up to professional examples? Copy/paste relevant professional samples of writing and describe how your work compares favorably to the work of professionals. Before starting my writing I read a few chapters of books that my buddy was reading which included Harry Potter: The Chamber of Secrets by J.K. Rowling, No Talking by Andrew Clements and Salamander Spell by E.D. Baker. Their style for writing dialogue inspired me to have humor incorporated into my character's everyday conversations. My buddy mentioned to me that she likes when the animals have personalities so in my story the dog is silly and follows the main character around. This enhanced my writing and I think my work compares favorably to the work of professionals. I have learned to use professional writing as my rubric and it has helped my writing improve so much by setting the standard high.
In what ways did your work fall short of professional examples? Copy/paste relevant professional samples of writing and describe the steps that you can take to continue to improve your work or do better next time. I think fell short of professional examples in the way my sentences flowed. For example, in The Great Gatsby, F. Scoot Fitzgerald used beautiful lyrical sentences such as, " Gatsby believed in the green light, the orgastic future that year by year recedes before us. It eluded us then, but that’s no matter — tomorrow we will run faster, stretch out our arms farther...And one fine morning – So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past." Although we are writing out stories to an elementary school level, I think my buddy could keep up with more difficult writing. The steps that I can take to continue to improve my work for next time is to make my writing more intriguing by replacing boring adjectives, including more similes and metaphors and deeper themes and messages. This story was surface level but for the circumstances I am still proud and think my work could stand next to other children stories.
What questions do you have about your work?
Some questions I have about my work include: Can the reader picture, understand and connect with all of my characters? Does the story flow naturally at a good pace? Is there too much dialogue that is unnecessary? Is the story too predictable about who wins the contest? Have I demonstrated professional writing?
Overall, out of 50 points, what would you award to your work & why?
Overall, out of 50 points, I would award my work a 49/50. I would give myself this grade because I turned everything in on time including my literary influences, multiples drafts, critiques and binding my cover for exhibition. I also challenged myself by writing 18 pages which is something new and difficult for me. Although this should not effect my story grade I think I did a great job with teaching my buddy reading comprehension skills and learning how to be a good reader. I also put a lot of effort into the exhibition by scheduling all of the students and setting up the room. This time of year is stressful but I have been consistent with my work in humanities and hope that my determination and hard work will pay off with my grade and more importantly that I am proud of my project and my buddy enjoys the story.
Overall, I feel great about my work in the Explorer Stories project. Prior to this assignment, I had never written anything more than five pages and never so much creative writing. My explorer story ended up being 18 pages online and 41 pages in the physical book. Today, as my reading buddy was reading it out loud, I felt liked it could have been 20 pages longer! You have taught me that a piece of writing is never done, it can always be improved but I knew when to walk away and be happy with what I was turning in.
What stands out to you most about the work that you did in the course of the Explorer Stories project? What stands out the most about the work that I did in the course of the Explorer Stories project is my dedication to the writing process. In the beginning it was hard to get ideas down on paper because I am very hard on myself and didn't think any of my ideas were good enough or creative enough standing next to my peer's work. However, I did not get defeated and did research on top of reading the Story Basics article. I learned different writing techniques by reading blogs from famous authors and I even watched a video called "How to Improve Your Writing" on YouTube. The multiple drafts and rounds of critique really benefited my work and I am proud of myself for identifying my strengths and weakness as a writer and taking criticism on my second piece of creative writing.
What was the most interesting and/or effective feedback that you received in the course of this project? Copy/paste it below and describe how it influenced your subsequent work.
The most interesting and effective feedback that I received in the course of this project was from Melina Shaw in the first round of critique. I gave her my first draft and asked for lots of feedback. The draft had a beginning and an end but was fuzzy in the middle. Something that she wrote on my paper that stood out to me was that she thought my "characters were bland" and she had a "hard time picturing what the characters looked like" which I predicted would be an issue. After I got that input I imagined my character as someone I know. This made it a lot easier to decide what they looked like and how they reacted to situations. Paul also gave me great feedback about the antagonists in my story. Originally I had two mean girls who bullied my main character but he told me that they needed to have a reason for the way that they acted. I made it so that the "evil twins" were going through a rough patch because their parents were getting a divorce. This gave my writing more purpose and something that my buddy can imagine because divorce is a real situation.
In what ways did your work measure up to professional examples? Copy/paste relevant professional samples of writing and describe how your work compares favorably to the work of professionals. Before starting my writing I read a few chapters of books that my buddy was reading which included Harry Potter: The Chamber of Secrets by J.K. Rowling, No Talking by Andrew Clements and Salamander Spell by E.D. Baker. Their style for writing dialogue inspired me to have humor incorporated into my character's everyday conversations. My buddy mentioned to me that she likes when the animals have personalities so in my story the dog is silly and follows the main character around. This enhanced my writing and I think my work compares favorably to the work of professionals. I have learned to use professional writing as my rubric and it has helped my writing improve so much by setting the standard high.
In what ways did your work fall short of professional examples? Copy/paste relevant professional samples of writing and describe the steps that you can take to continue to improve your work or do better next time. I think fell short of professional examples in the way my sentences flowed. For example, in The Great Gatsby, F. Scoot Fitzgerald used beautiful lyrical sentences such as, " Gatsby believed in the green light, the orgastic future that year by year recedes before us. It eluded us then, but that’s no matter — tomorrow we will run faster, stretch out our arms farther...And one fine morning – So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past." Although we are writing out stories to an elementary school level, I think my buddy could keep up with more difficult writing. The steps that I can take to continue to improve my work for next time is to make my writing more intriguing by replacing boring adjectives, including more similes and metaphors and deeper themes and messages. This story was surface level but for the circumstances I am still proud and think my work could stand next to other children stories.
What questions do you have about your work?
Some questions I have about my work include: Can the reader picture, understand and connect with all of my characters? Does the story flow naturally at a good pace? Is there too much dialogue that is unnecessary? Is the story too predictable about who wins the contest? Have I demonstrated professional writing?
Overall, out of 50 points, what would you award to your work & why?
Overall, out of 50 points, I would award my work a 49/50. I would give myself this grade because I turned everything in on time including my literary influences, multiples drafts, critiques and binding my cover for exhibition. I also challenged myself by writing 18 pages which is something new and difficult for me. Although this should not effect my story grade I think I did a great job with teaching my buddy reading comprehension skills and learning how to be a good reader. I also put a lot of effort into the exhibition by scheduling all of the students and setting up the room. This time of year is stressful but I have been consistent with my work in humanities and hope that my determination and hard work will pay off with my grade and more importantly that I am proud of my project and my buddy enjoys the story.