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WRITING SKILLS

Writing Workshop | One 
Learning Intentions
Why: 
Sequence of content F–10: Literature. 

What: Creating literary texts. Creating their own literary texts based on ideas, features and structures of texts experienced.

How: Create Sizzling Starts that use action or a moment of change to engage the reader’s interest.


STEP 1

Activate Prior Knowledge


Discussion


What makes a start sizzle rather than fizzle?
• Compare examples of boring beginnings and Sizzling Starts in movies, books, TV programs, etc. 
• Look at the winning entries for the Bulwer-Lytton Award, which challenges unpublished authors to compose bad opening sentences to imaginary novels.
Bulwer-Lytton Award

STEP 2

Skills and Knowledge


Use the Classroom PowerPoint file below to support the conversation and skill development of understanding how and why sizzling starts help to make writing more interesting.
sizzling_starts_lesson_1.ppsx
File Size: 110496 kb
File Type: ppsx
Download File


STEP 3

​The purpose


​The purpose of a Sizzling Start is to engage the reader and make them want to read more!
Don’t begin at the start of the day/holidays/weekend, when nothing is happening:
• One day…
• It was the start of the holidays…
• At the weekend…

Start where the action is or at a moment of change when things get far more interesting, then back-fill the who, what, where and why as the action unfolds.

STEP 4

​Exemplars


​Like every skill, you need to practise in order to improve, so try writing a Sizzling Start using each
of the four suggestions below. We can do this in pairs to make it more interesting and then we will write individually.
​1. Open with a fight scene
‘Well, you were the one who forgot the can opener.’
‘I said I was sorry, didn’t I? How many more times do I have to say it? Sorry. Sorry. Sorry!’
(From Where are the Billabongs When You Need Them? by Jen McVeity)
​
2. Use humour
If it rained for very much longer, even the ducks would drown. (From Hairy Thoughts by Jen McVeity)

3. Make the reader curious
You try delivering a rat to the presenter of TV’s biggest news program. I took a deep breath, marched
across half a hectare of chrome and carpet, and placed the brightly wrapped box right in the middle of the
receptionist’s desk. (From Shadow Seeker by Jen McVeity)

4. Introduce a problem
My dad’s allergic to me. No joke. Well no one in our house is laughing, that’s for sure.
(From Achoo! by Jen McVeity)

STEP 5

BODY OF LESSON ON SIZZLING STARTS


Gradual Release


I Do | Let's Begin | The Technique

• Explain technique:
Start with action or at a moment of change to immediately engage the reader’s interest and make them want to read more.
• Model strategy:
Watch the following opening scenes and discuss what makes them Sizzling Starts:
Ice Age
Finding Nemo

​We Do | Group Work | Have a Selection of Novels Available, See instructions beow

• Ask students to find a friend and pick a book at random from the selection you have provided.
• Ask each pair to read the first line of the book they have selected and then give them FIVE minutes to brainstorm ideas for action or a moment of change based on that opening sentence alone.

​You Do – Individual Activity

• Ask each student to pick one of the ideas from their brainstorm.
• Give students TWO minutes to write their own Sizzling Start based on the idea they have chosen.

STEP 6

Feedback


• Ask students to share their Sizzling Start with their partner.
• Get each pair to pick the best Sizzling Start to share with another pair.

STEP 7

​Review


In this lesson, we have learnt how to use action or a moment of change to create a Sizzling Start that engages the reader’s interest.

Success Criteria - Sizzling Starts

Beginner 
0 - 2 Marks
The text doesn’t include action or a moment of change.
Intermediate 
3 - 5 Marks
The text uses action or a moment of change to engage the reader.
Expert
6 - 7 Marks
The text uses action or a moment of change to immediately engage the reader’s interest and make them want to read more.
  • Home
  • Literacy Blocks
    • Writing
  • YEAR 7 ENGLISH
    • My Life as an Alphabet
    • 'Boy' Roald Dahl
  • Law and Order
  • Year 10 ENGLISH
    • Protest: The world as it is, the world as it could be
    • Language Analysis
    • ORAL PRESENTATION UNIT
    • NOVEL STUDY LION
    • OF MICE AND MEN & WHAT'S EATING GILBERT GRAPE
    • PREJUDICE UNIT
    • Essay Writing
  • YEAR 9 ENGLISH
    • YEAR 9 NARRATIVE LESSON SEQUENCES
    • Year 9 Persuasive Unit
    • SIMPLE GIFT
    • Hunger Games
    • Let us Write
    • Holocaust
  • Contact
  • Blog