Writing Workshop Session 8 (Personal Narrative)

Session 8: Flash-Drafting

Connection:  Last class you were asked to pick a seed idea that you were going to take to publishing.  Then, you rehearsed your story with your partner in order to help you bring your story to life.  Today, you are going to try and capture the best of those rehearsals by flash-drafting.

Today you will venture outside your notebooks, working on clean sheets of paper to create the first draft of your story.  Your job will be to write fast and furious in order to get your entire story done today.  These first drafts won’t be perfect- they never are- but I’ll give you some tips for doing them in such a way that capture the truth of your small moment on the page.    

Tips For Flash-Drafting

• Aim to get the first draft down, regardless of whether it’s your best writing or not
• Relive the story in your mind before you start writing, remembering the best of your rehearsals    
• Listen and watch as the story unfolds in your mind, trying to remember what you can’t quite recall
• Work silently and intently, holding yourself to the highest of standards 

(Have students stand)

Active Engagement:  Take a moment to reread your story in your writer’s notebook and recall your rehearsals (story telling to your partner) and then give me a thumbs up when you are done.  
(As students signal, send them back to their spots to write their flash-draft.) 

Share:  To celebrate today’s achievements, you will share your flash-draft with a small group.  When it’s your turn to read, don’t start until you have everyone’s eyes on you.  Make sure to read it like gold with lots of expression.  When it’s your turn to listen, try to lose yourself in the story you are about to hear.  Try to see and feel this powerful small moment just as the writer tells it.