In Mechanically Inclined, Jeff Anderson teaches sentence stalking, a way to use mentor texts of any length to draw students' attention to an author's craft, the goal being to highlight what is done well rather than to take kids on an error hunt.
What concepts can we teach from the following sentence?
“A florid woman was flapping a pink feather fan” (Johnny Tremain 75).
Talk about alliteration, the repetition of the initial <f> sound in florid, flapping, feather, and fan.
Notice the adjectives that describe woman (florid) and fan (pink, feather).
Look up the meaning of florid.
Discuss the choice of "was flapping" vs. "flapped."
What other concepts do you see?
“A florid woman was flapping a pink feather fan” (Johnny Tremain 75).
Talk about alliteration, the repetition of the initial <f> sound in florid, flapping, feather, and fan.
Notice the adjectives that describe woman (florid) and fan (pink, feather).
Look up the meaning of florid.
Discuss the choice of "was flapping" vs. "flapped."
What other concepts do you see?
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