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

Week Three, Day Two: More Strategies for Elaborating on Ideas
Focusing the Binoculars
1. List 5 places you love
a. Examples (Key West, posh resort hotel
room, Manhattan, my porch)
2. Choose one place to write about and focus the
binoculars, narrowing down a topic
a. Key West
b. (focus the binoculars) The reef
c. (try to get even smaller) Coral reef five
miles from shore in the Atlantic Ocean
3. Choose a new location from your list, repeat step #2.
Extension using Sensory Language
1. Think of your special place and what sights, sounds, and smells come to mind
a. I see the endless expanse of ocean, extending far beyond my vision.
b. I hear the water lapping against the hull of my boat.
c. I smell the salty air and the dead fish floating past.
d. I taste the ocean water and spit it out, wincing.
e. I feel the weightlessness of the water surrounding me.
2. Students write a paragraph about their favorite place using as many sensory details as possible.
a. The boat speeds toward what seems to be a lot of nothing. Nothing but the vast expanse
of ocean in front of, behind, all around us. The eye can see forever, seeing only water as
we continue on. We reach our destination, five miles from shore and I immediately
breathe in the salty air, letting it cleanse my lungs of the pollutants of city life. I feel the
Key West heat and humidity dissipate as I am surrounded by a weightless cool liquid. My
body effortlessly floats face down in the middle of the Atlantic, and I begin to see the
aquatic city come alive beneath my body. From this point I feel nothing, hear nothing,
taste nothing, and see everything.
3. Teachers- it is important to model this entire process. Write about your favorite place! Stress
sentence variety in conjunction with imagery.
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