Split Trees, Not Infinitives: Word Processing Together

from: Learning Together: Collaboration for Active Learning in theElementary Language Art

Brief Description
Suggests ways to pair students so that they use word-processing software to write together.

Objective
To use a word processor while composing with a friend.

Procedure
Start students with two-sentence scenarios; introduce a setting and some characters.

Example:

  • "A tree stands, split down the middle, in an open field. Two people approach it."

  • Starting with this two-sentence scenario, you and a friend use a word processor to write together a conversation between the two people about the split tree.

  • Take on the identities of the characters; give them names, whether ordinary or fanciful; talk to each other as though you had just come upon the split tree.

  • Examples:

    Little Boy: "Gee-whiz! Look at that split tree!"
    Little Girl: "Let's go see it up close!"

    Doctor Watson: "I say, Holmes, there's a curious tree! What do you suppose has happened?"
    Sherlock Holmes: "Elementary, my dear Watson!"

    Garth: "Yo, Whoa! That's some tree."
    Wayne: "Does it have a split personality, or what?"
    Garth: "Not!"

After you have developed the dialogue and your characters, and you are satisfied that their relationship is clearly developed, print copies to be used in a teacher/student conference.

Use this opportunity for any on-the-spot instruction in writing dialogue. Share the finished products with the whole class.

Source
Vibert, Ann. "Collaborative Writing," Language Arts 65/1, 1988: 74-75.

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