In past years, I have asked my students to spin a tale about what it would be like to encounter a dragon. Most students found this to be a very enjoyable assignment due to the fact that they were able to let their creative juices flow! Several of the finished products were some of the most well-written, imaginative stories I have ever received from my students. I am now presenting to you the same assignment. The due date for the final copy will not be for a few weeks because I want you to be able to have time to develop a terrific plot and enjoy being creative. We will follow the timeline below. You must complete a plot diagram and a rough draft for your story. Happy writing!

Thursday, October 8, 2009:

Review the requirements listed on the back of this sheet.

1. You must incorporate at least five of the vocabulary words from "Dragon, Dragon" into your story. These words include lair, flabbergasted, plagued, ravaged, tyrant, craned, and reflecting. You can use any form/tense of the word.
2. You cannot use elementary school words including: big, small, happy, sad, mad, fun, good, stuff, thing, nice. Avoid slang words including awesome and cool.
3. You cannot begin any sentences with conjunctions such as and, but, or, so, because…I also do not want to see also at the beginning of a sentence.
4. You must include figurative language in at least two places. For example, you have included similes, metaphors, alliteration, etc in your writing.
5. None of your concluding sentences can begin with this, that, these or those. These are "Porky Pig" endings.
6. You cannot use dialogue in your story. Whatever needs to be said by your characters can be done in the third person. For example, The brave knight asked the dragon where he lived, and he explained that his secret lair was high in the hills beyond the village.
7. Be sure you have followed all manuscript rules including a proper heading, 1.5 or double spacing, assignment name (Dragon Story) and a creative title that is neither underlined nor in quotes.