1. Topic: Writing Workshop: Edgar Allan Poe & Creative Writing
2. Content: Prepare students to create a narrative piece, fiction or nonfiction, of any genre (essay, poem,
folktale, ballad, drama, etc.) that uses detail and description to generate response from readers.
3. Rationale: Being able to communicate effectively is an important “real life” skill. By adding details to writing,
students strengthen their communication skills by engaging others and broadening their vocabulary. The
activities in this lesson require students to “think outside the box” and play with words, which is not only fun but
beneficial to their future as English students and educated individuals. Students should know and be able to use
effective, descriptive language in order to captivate our readers and create a vivid picture in their minds. For a
sixteen-year-old: If you are interested in getting a car for your birthday, you need to know and be able to
describe the kind of car you would like to have, or if you invite a friend to see a movie, you need to know and
be able to describe the movie that you are going to see. Adding description is fun! [and it makes your papers
longer :)]
4. Goals:
Common Core Standards/Grades 9-10
3. Write narratives to develop real or imagined experiences or events using effective technique, well-chosen
details, and well-structured event sequences.
Engage and orient the reader by setting out a problem, situation, or observation, establishing one or
multiple point(s) of view, and introducing a narrator and/or characters; create a smooth progression of
experiences or events.
Use narrative techniques, such as dialogue, pacing, description, reflection, and multiple plot lines, to
develop experiences, events, and/or characters.
Use a variety of techniques to sequence events so that they build on one another to create a coherent
whole.
Use precise words and phrases, telling details, and sensory language to convey a vivid picture of the
experiences, events, setting, and/or characters.
Provide a conclusion that follows from and reflects on what is experienced, observed, or resolved over the
course of the narrative.
North Carolina Standard Course of Study/English I
Competency Goal 1: The learner will express reflections and reactions to…personal experiences. Narrate
personal experiences that offer an audience:
scenes and incidents located effectively in time and place.
vivid impressions of being in a setting and a sense of engagement in the events occurring.
appreciation for the significance of the account.
a sense of the narrator's personal voice.
5. Objective(s): Students will be able to use descriptive language to effectively describe an experience or
event in the fullest, finest detail.
6. Materials and Aids:
Activity: Jumpstart Writing.
Teacher will pass out Halloween writing prompt and students will respond in their writing notebooks/journals.
Activity: “The Tell-Tale Heart” by Edgar Allan Poe
The students will listen to an on-line reading of “The Tell-Tale Heart” while reading along with their own copies.
Activity: Get Descriptive!
The students will work with a partner and use highlighters to mark all of the descriptive words in the passage.
Students will be instructed to look for adjectives, verbs, similes, metaphors, and other literary techniques that
create vivid images for the reader.
7. Creative Assessment:
Students will return to their individual writings from the Halloween prompt and elaborate by adding details.
Students will use a different colored pen/pencil to show where they added more detail. Students will turn in a
copy of their final draft before leaving class.
8. Procedures/Methods:
A. Introduction (5 minutes)
1. Jumpstart Writing Activity
B. Guided Instruction (20 minutes)
1. “The Tell-Tale Heart” by Edgar Allan Poe
C. Practice (15 minutes)
1. Get Descriptive! Activity
D. Accommodations (Differentiated Instruction)1. Read aloud for students with reading difficulties. (Auditory)
2. Enlarge print for students with visual difficulties. (Visual)
3. Provide a handout of notes for students with difficult writing. (Visual)
E. Checking for understanding (10 minutes)
1. Creative Assessment
9. Teacher Reflection:
1. What went well today?
2. What could I improve?
10. Resources:
1. Halloween prompt(s)
2. “The Tell-Tale Heart” by Edgar Allan Poe
http://www.literature.org/authors/poe-edgar-allan/tell-tale-heart.html
3. On-line version of “The Tell-Tale Heart” by Edgar Allan Poe
http://www.loudlit.org/audio/heart/pages/01_01_heart.htm