Excerpt From The Hunger Games

Read the corresponding excerpt from The Hunger Games out loud as the students follow along with their copies of the novel, on page 148, where Katniss describes the scene where the games are about to begin. She is standing there on a platform waiting for the gong to ring out to begin the fighting to the death with the other tributes. The scene describes one minute lapsing. After reading, ask students, “What types of details did Katniss give us about her first impressions of the arena?” Answers could include: setting, background knowledge, thoughts, feelings, five senses, etc. After looking at the excerpt from The Hunger Games, have a whole class discussion on the importance of adding details to writing. Ask students, “What do details do for …show more content…
Students will turn and share the two excerpts that they chose and discuss with a partner, “How does this paragraph contain great detail?” Call on a few volunteers to share their excerpt and reasoning for great detail with the whole class. Introduce the prewriting activity to the students. The writing topic is: “Choose a 1-10 second moment to write about using great detail. The moment could be something extraordinary or an everyday occurrence.” Handout and review the “Teacher Example of Questioning Activity” worksheet. Students will write their topic on the top of a piece of paper and number 1-10 down the side of the paper. Explain that having another person ask questions about their topics will help to ensure they provide enough detail about the topic and will help to generate ideas for their writing. Each student will pass his/her paper to 10 different classmates, working clockwise around the room. Each student will come up with a new question that they would like to know about the topic listed at the top of the paper. Once each student has 10 questions about their writing topic, the papers will be returned to their original