Thirty Days to Unlock FCAT Writing Success - Polk County School ...

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Click It or Lose It Andrea-Seminole, Florida What is the first thing you do when you get into a car? Turn on the radio? Adjust your mirrors? Start dialing a friend’s number on your cell phone? The first thing I do is buckle up. Call me crazy, but I firmly believe that seatbelts can save your life. Why believe it? Well, because I have seen what happens when a person’s safety belt has been neglected. I was 12-years old and it was the first time I could go with my mother on “Bring Your Daughter to Work” Day. My mom worked the night shift in the Intensive Care Unit at the hospital. Years previous I had gone with my dad because of my tender age. At first I thought I was banned because of the long late hours the job required. I realize now it was because I was not yet mature enough to handle what I saw. I saw people on the worst day of their lives. They were lying on a cold bed with tubes coming out of every orifice. Seeing this is hard to handle, especially for a 12-year old. However, once I started working with my mom, I found it easier to deal with her elderly patients. Their pain was easier to come to terms with. They were old. They had lived a full life. What I could not understand was that poor 17-year old kid. He was in the prime of his life. This boy had his whole life ahead of him. Only now it was changed drastically. He had been driving his car without a seatbelt and somehow had gotten into an accident. I do not know the details and I probably never will. All I know is that this 17-year old kid was now a quadriplegic. If he moved his back at all, he could die. So the nurses strapped him to a board. He had to spend the entire night in an uncomfortable position, in a very scary place and he was very alone. I can never forget the tears in his eyes or how his voice quivered when he spoke. I wished desperately then that I could make his pain, his fear and his problem go away. I soon realized the only way to prevent that pain and fear is to go to the root of the problem. Now at 17, I do not start my car without clicking my seatbelt in place and without making sure my passengers do the same. This way if I do get in an accident, I know everyone has a greater chance of walking away. I am sorry that young man did not get that chance and I pray everything worked out for him. I just wish I could thank him for showing me that if you do not click your seatbelt, you could lose a lot. © http://thisibelieve.org/ 38
Leave the Last Cookie Emily- Austin, Texas One cookie left. Only one sweet, tantalizing, perfect cookie left. It’s the unspoken prize that everyone wants and no one will take. It would be so simple for me just to grab it. I mean, it is barely three feet from the plate to my mouth. One tiny movement of my arm and I’ll be enjoying the gooey-goodness that only a chocolate-chip cookie can bring. I can see myself throwing all self-control to the wind and gleefully cramming that last precious cookie into my face, my grunts of delight audible through the storm of crumbs flying from my mouth… but I leave the last cookie. I can’t pretend I haven’t noticed my friend’s furtive glances at the tempting treat. I can’t trick myself into believing that I, out of all these people, deserve this cookie any more than they do. So I leave the last cookie. After all, a cookie is simply food that will bring me momentary pleasure (alright, sheer delight, bliss, heaven!). But then it will pass through my body unnoticed leaving me with nothing but a little extra padding around the stomach. On the other hand, leaving the cookie for someone else means much more. It is a gesture of humility, respect, and simple thanks. Sometimes I feel like everyone cares only for themselves, racing through life with their heads down and eyes averted, worrying about nothing more than their own desires and goals. I get caught up in this selfish race too easily. I won’t be taken advantage of! I need to take the last cookie! Why should I show kindness when I know for a fact that it will only be exploited by the self-centered people around me? Why would I ever step back and let my competitors have what is rightfully mine? However, the simplest things can snap me back to reality — a homemade gift from a friend with a hectic schedule, or a stranger who goes out of her way to compliment my new skirt. All it takes is one kind gesture for me to realize that this egocentric competition is all in my head and incredibly enough I am still losing. I leave the last cookie because I know everyone deserves it. I leave the last cookie for the stranger who complimented my skirt. I leave the last cookie for my best friend who took the time to show that she cared. I leave the last cookie for my worst enemy because they have taught me what it is to feel hate and thereby made me appreciate love all the more. I leave the last cookie out of thanks to everyone who has made me cry tears of laughter, tears of grief, tears of joy, and tears of anger. I leave the last cookie to show that I am humbled by the people around me whose lives have inevitably shaped mine. I leave the last cookie knowing that by doing so I have made myself worthy, and someday someone will leave the last cookie for me. © http://thisibelieve.org/ 39
Page 1 and 2: Thirty Days to FCAT Writing Success
Page 3 and 4: Day Three, Four and Five: Conclusio
Page 5 and 6: Week Six, Day Two and Three: ......
Page 7 and 8: Week One: Sunshine State Standards
Page 9 and 10: Conventions The student produces fi
Page 11 and 12: The RAFT Strategy: with Carousel Br
Page 13 and 14: Use RAFT to Create Content-Specific
Page 15 and 16: Day Three, Four and Five: Writing R
Page 17 and 18: Week One Additional Activities: Gro
Page 19 and 20: 2. Teach (Model). Select a piece of
Page 21 and 22: SOAPS Organizer, With Explanations
Page 23 and 24: Week Two: Planning and Organizing,
Page 27 and 28: Day One: Review the Writing Process
Page 29 and 30: FLEE Map Write For the Future Compl
Page 31 and 32: Day Two: Introductions Right from t
Page 33 and 34: Introductions: A Few Words for Stud
Page 35 and 36: I am Capable of More Than I Think I
Page 37: Dirt Bike Daniel-Oxford, Connecticu
Page 41 and 42: Famous Last Movie Lines “Because
Page 43 and 44: Directed Free Writing Directed Free
Page 45 and 46: Reflecting on your Rough Draft: Rea
Page 47 and 48: To Conclude, a Few Strategies for S
Page 49 and 50: • Week Four, Day Five: • Using
Page 53 and 54: Week Three, Day One: Defining and U
Page 55 and 56: Elaboration Using Sensory Language
Page 57 and 58: Week Three, Day Two: More Strategie
Page 59 and 60: Using “DRAPES” for Elaborating
Page 61 and 62: Dear Zagat Guide, I have a bone to
Page 63 and 64: Week Four, Day Four: Revise Outrage
Page 65 and 66: Week Four, Day Five: Gallery Walk A
Page 67 and 68: Week Five: Sunshine State Standards
Page 71 and 72: After the large pieces had fallen,
Page 73 and 74: Article C: The Farside Comes to Lif
Page 75 and 76: Tree Map Two: Categorizing by Audie
Page 77 and 78: Bill Gates I have just released eCh
Page 79 and 80: Through Different Eyes Directions:
Page 81 and 82: Additional Combinations of Activiti
Page 83 and 84: One Syllable Words Big words can ma
Page 85 and 86: Week Six: Sunshine State Standards
Page 89 and 90:
5. During the last 10 minutes I wil
Page 91 and 92:
Week Six, Day Four and Five: Fine-t
Page 93 and 94:
Verda, by Albert Guasch. Used by pe
Page 95 and 96:
The Optimist, by Chris Scarborough.
Page 97 and 98:
Chiaroscuro 2, by Igor Kraguljac. U
Page 99 and 100:
Nathan, by Igor Kraguljac. Used by
Page 101 and 102:
Uri, by Igor Kraguljac. Used by per
Page 103 and 104:
12. How many sentences did it take
Page 105:
Sentence ElaborationWorksheet: Writ
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