Name
Date
DIRECTIONS: Two versions of the same Tuesday. Read both.
1Read both Tuesdays
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2Page 2: cross out
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3Then write your day
Most people write this:
We did math, then we had break, then we did English. Then it was lunch. In the afternoon we had PE and then we came home.
True, but it is the timetable: it fits every Tuesday. Here is the same day,
written from what changed:
- In math I got the one with the remainders right on my own, and I did not put my hand up to check.
- Amir was away, so I sat next to Josie, who talks the whole time.
- It rained at break so we stayed in, and the classroom sounds completely different when everyone is in it at break.
- Mrs Doyle read the next chapter and stopped in the worst possible place.
- I could not find my PE shorts and had to borrow the spare ones, which are enormous.
- On the way out Mr Peters said "see you tomorrow, Sam" and I have never told him my name.
Nothing dramatic happened. An ordinary day is writeable if you look at it.
DIRECTIONS: Would this have been just as true yesterday? If yes, cross it out.
- We had assembly in the morning. keep / cross out
- The whiteboard pen ran out halfway through a word. keep / cross out
- We do reading after lunch. keep / cross out
- Josie brought in a conker the size of a plum. keep / cross out
- I sat at my usual table. keep / cross out
- The hall smelled of paint and nobody would say why. keep / cross out
- We have PE on Wednesdays. keep / cross out
- I finished my book on the bus and had nothing to read on the way home. keep / cross out
It is a deleting job. Most of a good piece about a day is
what is left after crossing out.
DIRECTIONS: Answer as many as you can about today. A line each is plenty.
- What went wrong, even slightly?
- Who was not there, and what did that change?
- What did somebody say that you are still thinking about?
- What did you get right that you were not sure about?
- What was different about the room — noise, weather, smell, where you sat?
- What are you looking forward to or dreading tomorrow because of today?
DIRECTIONS: Write about today, using page 3.
Every sentence must pass the test.
Name the lesson if you like, but don't make it the sentence.
DIRECTIONS: Keep going. Then cross out anything that sneaked past the test.