ELA iRead Post-it Guidelines
January 2017 – Innovators, Visionaries, and Rebels: Celebrating Risk-takers
Directions:
Writing is a tool of innovation and change, not only for English/Language Arts, but across disciplines: middle school writers are not only future novelists, poets, and essayists, but also scientists, historians, journalists, documentary filmmakers, and politicians.Choose a book, poem, story, news article, film, website, or something else you’ve read that is innovative, inspiring, or provocative, either in its content (for example, a story about something controversial or about someone changing other people’s minds) or its form (for example, a story that uses multiple genres or voices, a website that includes multiple viewpoints, something that challenges the usual way that we read). Write about why you chose this text and why/how it invents, changes minds, or encourages taking actionin important ways.
You may write in your preferred genre (such as drama, poetry, short story, narrative, an op ed piece, science fiction, news article, speech, scientific report, eulogies, petitions, etc.). For example, you make might a speech about the efforts of local activists who are fighting for an issue that you care deeply about, or create a movie trailer for a piece of historical fiction about a famous inventor, or write a series of poems about a book that challenged boundaries in our society to inspire change. If you find it helpful to state the audience for your writing at the beginning of your piece, you are welcome to do so. Your writing for this themed piece should be no longer than four pages.
Ideas for Post-Its:
Remember to note specific text evidence (quotes and examples) from your book.
Characters:
- How is the protagonist or antagonist unusual?
- Does the point of view push boundaries?
Conflict:
- What is unique about the conflict?
Theme:
- What is the message or lesson of the story?
- How does the author develop the theme to push boundaries?
Format:
- Use and purpose of digital media or other storytelling techniques.
Connections:
- Text to Self, Text to Text, Text to World, Text to Media
Tone:
- How does the author convey feelings about the story to the reader?
Directions for Themed Writing:
a. Use legible type (no smaller than 11 or 12 point).
b. Double-space (except for poetry).
c. Margins are to be 1” on all sides (except for poetry).
d. Page number should be in the upper right-hand corner.
e. The student’s name and “Theme” must appear in the upper left-hand corner of each page.
f. School name must not appear on the paper or within the body of writing.
g. Maximum length for the theme is four (4) pages.