1. A hero that has the step of the writing process in his/her name
2. A power/ability/device that demonstrates the specific 6 Trait of Writing that goes with that step of the writing process
3. Three examples of dialogue that demonstrate a knowledge of the details of that part of the writing process
4. Use two of the three templates for pages:
   Page 1
   Page 2
   Page 3
   

We will use the following sites for inspiration:

Hero Generator

Chip Designer

Rock Star

Soldier Generator

1. To save the background layout image, Control + Click on the image to save it.
2. In Word, select Insert->Watermark. When your options come up, select  ‘Picture’ and then make your options look like this:
   
   Now you’ll have more than just your usual Word layout!
3. Design your hero using the links above. You’ll now need a screenshot.
4. Press Apple + Control + Shift + 4 to get the screenshot cursor. Draw your box and then paste what you copied into Word.
5. Click on the picture. In your formatting palette (View->Formatting Palette), select Wrapping (the picture needs to be selected for wrapping to show up). Change ‘Wrap To’ to ‘None’ and change ‘Style’ to ‘In Front of Text’. For each picture you’ll need to change the wrapping.
6. Move and resize your pictures using the squares (handlebars).
   
   You can even flip images by resizing to the opposite side.
7. To add dialogue, in your formatting palette select Add Objects. Click on the tab with the green square and the yellow circle (the AutoShapes).
8. Click and drag whatever object you want onto the page.
9. You can also add WordArt (the shiny ‘W’ in Add Objects) to give your comic that extra BAM/KAPOW!

Witness the awesome power of The Editor, wielding the Ring of Conventions.

Excelsior!

We watched the Spider-Man 3 trailer, looking for theme and symbolism. We then looked at a trailer storyboard to find the same elements of literature.

Students had read a literature circle book as a group of 4 and now they were ready to create the movie trailer.

Trailers needed:

1. 5 different scenes from the book
2. 10 different camera shots
3. an interweaving theme
4. 3 examples of text
5. a music soundtrack
6. to be 30-60 seconds in length

I tell you nothing teaches precision in words like a 30-60 second limit. If they were under, they didn’t have enough content. Over, and they were boring.

These editing skills transferred later into their essays and narratives. (Woo!)

A week with iMovie and then we were ready for the HJHS film festival. At lunch we had standing room only in the library (my obsession was long-building) as most of the 8th grade student body watched everyone’s trailers on an iDVD.

When do you have students asking for a copy of their book report to show off?