Mr. Kingsbury's asks his kids to get out their "responders" and their is an exicted buzz in the room. The kids reach into their desks and pull out remote control like objects. One by one they "check in" on the screen until Mr. Kingsbury can see everyone is accounted for and is ready to roll.
Today's lesson is about writing a strong lead, one that "hooks the reader". Mr. Kingsbury wants the kids to think about some examples and then evaluate whether they are or are not strong leads. To do this, he uses examples from books around the room, opening the first page and reading the first sentence.
After each example, the kids are asked to use their responders to register a "yes" or "no" answer as to whether they believe the lead is a strong one, one that makes them want to keep reading, or not. After every one has responded, the data is displayed on a bar graph. Some of the leads are obviously strong, some get more mixed response. Always, Mr. Kingsbury has a few students share their thinking. . . What about the lead made it strong (or not so strong).
Next, it is time to put the responders away and get out their writing projects. It is time to move from analyzing the leads of others, to writing leads of their own. It is time to practice "setting the hook".
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