Teaching Evidence-Based Writing: Fiction

Texts and Lessons for Spot-On Writing About Reading
Leslie A. Blauman - National and International Literacy Consultant
Teaching Evidence-Based Writing: Fiction
September 2016 | 208 pages | Corwin
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Description

One in a million. Yes, that’s how rare it is to have so many write-about-reading strategies so beautifully put to use. Each year Leslie Blauman guides her students to become highly skilled at supporting their thinking about texts, and in Evidence-Based Writing: Fiction, she shares her win-win process. 

Leslie combed the ELA standards and all her favorite books and built a lesson structure you can use in two ways: with an entire text or with just the excerpts she’s included in the book. Addressing Evidence, Character, Theme, Point of View, Visuals, Words and Structure, each section includes:

Lessons you can use as teacher demonstrations or for guided practice, with Best the Test tips on how to authentically teach the skills that show up on exams with the texts you teach. 

Prompt Pages serve as handy references, giving students the key questions to ask themselves as they read any text and consider how an author’s meaning and structure combine.

Excerpts-to-Write About Pages feature carefully selected passages from novels, short stories, and picture books you already know and love and questions that require students to discover a text’s literal and deeper meanings. 

Write-About-Reading Templates scaffold students to think about a text efficiently by focusing on its critical literary elements or text structure demands and help them rehearse for more extensive responses.

Writing Tasks invite students to transform their notes into a more developed paragraph or essay with sufficiently challenging tasks geared for grades 6-8.

And best of all, your students gain a confidence in responding to complex texts and ideas that will serve them well in school, on tests, and in any situation when they are asked: What are you basing that on? Show me how you know. 

Contents

VIDEO CLIPS

VIDEO CLIPS

WRITE-ABOUT-READING TEMPLATES

WRITE-ABOUT-READING TEMPLATES

EXCERPTS TO WRITE ABOUT

EXCERPTS TO WRITE ABOUT

DYNAMIC DUOS: ADDITIONAL IDEAS FOR TEACHING WITH THE TEXTS

DYNAMIC DUOS: ADDITIONAL IDEAS FOR TEACHING WITH THE TEXTS

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

INTRODUCTION

INTRODUCTION

Section 1. Evidence

  • Lesson 1. Ask and Answer Questions
  • Write-About-Reading Template: Ask Questions
  • Excerpt to Write About: “Eleven” by Sandra Cisneros
  • Lesson 2. Ask and Answer Questions Using Details
  • Write-About-Reading Template: Ask and Answer Questions
  • Excerpts to Write About: Number the Stars by Lois Lowry
  • Lesson 3. Use Details and Examples*
  • Write-About-Reading Template: Back Up Your Thinking
  • Excerpt to Write About: “Saturday at the Canal” by Gary Soto
  • Lesson 4. Quote From the Text*
  • Write-About-Reading Template: Question, Quote, Write!
  • Excerpt to Write About: The Giver by Lois Lowry
  • Lesson 5. Summarize in Literature
  • Write-About-Reading Template: Summary Planner
  • Excerpt to Write About: “The Mythical Story of Arachne” by Emma M. Firth
  • Lesson 6. Cite Evidence That Provides an Analysis*
  • Write-About-Reading Template: Cite Evidence Choice Board
  • Excerpts to Write About: “The Circuit” From The Circuit: Stories From the Life of a Migrant Child by Francisco Jimenez

Section 2. Relationships

  • Lesson 7. Describe Characters, Setting, and Sequence
  • Write-About-Reading Template: Look @ Literary Elements
  • Excerpt to Write About: “The Shepherd’s Mistake” posted by Brishti Bandyopadhyay in Folktales for Kids
  • Lesson 8. Follow Characters, Setting, and Sequence Over Time*
  • Write-About-Reading Template: Literary Elements Wheel
  • Excerpts to Write About: Fish in a Tree by Lynda Mullaly Hunt
  • Lesson 9. Notice Plot via Character Conflict/Change
  • Write-About-Reading Template: Think About Character
  • Excerpts to Write About: “The Julian Chapter” From Auggie and Me: Three Wonder Stories by R. J. Palacio
  • Lesson 10. Notice How Character Drives Plot*
  • Write-About-Reading Templates: Story Map; Write About Character and Plot
  • Lesson 11. Develop Theories About Characters
  • Write-About-Reading Templates: Create a Theory About Character; Compare/Contrast Characters
  • Lesson 12. Analyze Character*
  • Write-About-Reading Template: Character Essay: Task/Assessment Options
  • Excerpts to Write About: Here Where the Sunbeams Are Green by Helen Phillips

Section 3. Themes

  • Lesson 13. Determine Theme in Story
  • Write-About-Reading Template: What’s the Theme?
  • Excerpt to Write About: “The Mighty” posted by Brishti Bandyopadhyay in Folktales for Kids
  • Lesson 14. Analyze Development of Theme in Story*
  • Write-About-Reading Template: Pick a Question
  • Excerpts to Write About: The Tiger Rising by Kate DiCamillo
  • Lesson 15. Determine Theme in Poetry
  • Write-About-Reading Template: Find the Evidence
  • Excerpt to Write About: “Mr. Nobody” by Anonymous
  • Lesson 16. Compare and Contrast Theme in Poetry*
  • Write-About-Reading Template: Elements of Poetry
  • Excerpts to Write About: “Dreams” and “Mother to Son” by Langston Hughes

Section 4. Point of View

  • Lesson 17. Whose Point of View Is It?
  • Write-About-Reading Templates: Point of View; Point of View: Advanced
  • Excerpts to Write About: I Am the Dog I Am the Cat by Donald Hall
  • Lesson 18. How Point of View Colors the Way a Story Is Told*
  • Write-About-Reading Template: Who Is Telling the Story?
  • Excerpts to Write About: “My First Step to the White House” by Chris Van Allsburg
  • Lesson 19. Compare and Contrast Narration in Different Texts
  • Write-About-Reading Template: Compare POV
  • Excerpts to Write About: “Medusa, Pegasus, and the Chimera” retold by Steven Zorn; Medusa Tells All: Beauty Missing, Hair Hissing by Rebecca Fjelland Davis
  • Lesson 20. Analyze Contrasting Points of View*
  • Write-About-Reading Template: Two Views
  • Excerpts to Write About: Wonder by R. J. Palacio

Section 5. Visuals

  • Lesson 21. How Illustrations Add to Meaning/Mood
  • Write-About-Reading Template: Imagine the Story With Pictures
  • Excerpt to Write About: One Day, The End by Rebecca Kai Dotlich
  • Lesson 22. How Illustrations Contribute to Meaning
  • Write-About-Reading Template: How Visual Elements Add to Meaning
  • Excerpts to Write About: The Promise by Nicola Davies
  • Lesson 23. Compare Text to Staged Performance*
  • Write-About-Reading Template: Compare/Contrast Text to Movie or Play
  • Lesson 24. Analyze Text to Drama*
  • Write-About-Reading Template: Analyze Text to Drama: Compare/Contrast Text to Movie or Play

Section 6. Words and Structure

  • Lesson 25. Determine the Meaning of Words and Phrases
  • Write-About-Reading Template: Look at Language: Words and Phrases
  • Excerpts to Write About: The Real Boy by Anne Ursu
  • Lesson 26. Understand Figurative Language*
  • Write-About-Reading Template: Figurative Language Collection
  • Excerpts to Write About: Figurative Language: In November by Cynthia Rylant; Like Butter on Pancakes by Jonathan London; Canoe Days by Gary Paulsen
  • Lesson 27. Analyze Overall Structure
  • Write-About-Reading Template: Text Structure Analyzer
  • Excerpts to Write About: No Two Snowflakes by Sheree Fitch
  • Lesson 28. Compare, Contrast, and Analyze Structure Between Texts*
  • Write-About-Reading Template: Compare/Contrast Chart for Organization
  • Excerpts to Write About: Winter Bees and Other Poems of the Cold by Joyce Sidman and Rick Allen

REFERENCES

REFERENCES

Description

One in a million. Yes, that’s how rare it is to have so many write-about-reading strategies so beautifully put to use. Each year Leslie Blauman guides her students to become highly skilled at supporting their thinking about texts, and in Evidence-Based Writing: Fiction, she shares her win-win process. 

Leslie combed the ELA standards and all her favorite books and built a lesson structure you can use in two ways: with an entire text or with just the excerpts she’s included in the book. Addressing Evidence, Character, Theme, Point of View, Visuals, Words and Structure, each section includes:

Lessons you can use as teacher demonstrations or for guided practice, with Best the Test tips on how to authentically teach the skills that show up on exams with the texts you teach. 

Prompt Pages serve as handy references, giving students the key questions to ask themselves as they read any text and consider how an author’s meaning and structure combine.

Excerpts-to-Write About Pages feature carefully selected passages from novels, short stories, and picture books you already know and love and questions that require students to discover a text’s literal and deeper meanings. 

Write-About-Reading Templates scaffold students to think about a text efficiently by focusing on its critical literary elements or text structure demands and help them rehearse for more extensive responses.

Writing Tasks invite students to transform their notes into a more developed paragraph or essay with sufficiently challenging tasks geared for grades 6-8.

And best of all, your students gain a confidence in responding to complex texts and ideas that will serve them well in school, on tests, and in any situation when they are asked: What are you basing that on? Show me how you know. 

Contents

VIDEO CLIPS

VIDEO CLIPS

WRITE-ABOUT-READING TEMPLATES

WRITE-ABOUT-READING TEMPLATES

EXCERPTS TO WRITE ABOUT

EXCERPTS TO WRITE ABOUT

DYNAMIC DUOS: ADDITIONAL IDEAS FOR TEACHING WITH THE TEXTS

DYNAMIC DUOS: ADDITIONAL IDEAS FOR TEACHING WITH THE TEXTS

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

INTRODUCTION

INTRODUCTION

Section 1. Evidence

  • Lesson 1. Ask and Answer Questions
  • Write-About-Reading Template: Ask Questions
  • Excerpt to Write About: “Eleven” by Sandra Cisneros
  • Lesson 2. Ask and Answer Questions Using Details
  • Write-About-Reading Template: Ask and Answer Questions
  • Excerpts to Write About: Number the Stars by Lois Lowry
  • Lesson 3. Use Details and Examples*
  • Write-About-Reading Template: Back Up Your Thinking
  • Excerpt to Write About: “Saturday at the Canal” by Gary Soto
  • Lesson 4. Quote From the Text*
  • Write-About-Reading Template: Question, Quote, Write!
  • Excerpt to Write About: The Giver by Lois Lowry
  • Lesson 5. Summarize in Literature
  • Write-About-Reading Template: Summary Planner
  • Excerpt to Write About: “The Mythical Story of Arachne” by Emma M. Firth
  • Lesson 6. Cite Evidence That Provides an Analysis*
  • Write-About-Reading Template: Cite Evidence Choice Board
  • Excerpts to Write About: “The Circuit” From The Circuit: Stories From the Life of a Migrant Child by Francisco Jimenez

Section 2. Relationships

  • Lesson 7. Describe Characters, Setting, and Sequence
  • Write-About-Reading Template: Look @ Literary Elements
  • Excerpt to Write About: “The Shepherd’s Mistake” posted by Brishti Bandyopadhyay in Folktales for Kids
  • Lesson 8. Follow Characters, Setting, and Sequence Over Time*
  • Write-About-Reading Template: Literary Elements Wheel
  • Excerpts to Write About: Fish in a Tree by Lynda Mullaly Hunt
  • Lesson 9. Notice Plot via Character Conflict/Change
  • Write-About-Reading Template: Think About Character
  • Excerpts to Write About: “The Julian Chapter” From Auggie and Me: Three Wonder Stories by R. J. Palacio
  • Lesson 10. Notice How Character Drives Plot*
  • Write-About-Reading Templates: Story Map; Write About Character and Plot
  • Lesson 11. Develop Theories About Characters
  • Write-About-Reading Templates: Create a Theory About Character; Compare/Contrast Characters
  • Lesson 12. Analyze Character*
  • Write-About-Reading Template: Character Essay: Task/Assessment Options
  • Excerpts to Write About: Here Where the Sunbeams Are Green by Helen Phillips

Section 3. Themes

  • Lesson 13. Determine Theme in Story
  • Write-About-Reading Template: What’s the Theme?
  • Excerpt to Write About: “The Mighty” posted by Brishti Bandyopadhyay in Folktales for Kids
  • Lesson 14. Analyze Development of Theme in Story*
  • Write-About-Reading Template: Pick a Question
  • Excerpts to Write About: The Tiger Rising by Kate DiCamillo
  • Lesson 15. Determine Theme in Poetry
  • Write-About-Reading Template: Find the Evidence
  • Excerpt to Write About: “Mr. Nobody” by Anonymous
  • Lesson 16. Compare and Contrast Theme in Poetry*
  • Write-About-Reading Template: Elements of Poetry
  • Excerpts to Write About: “Dreams” and “Mother to Son” by Langston Hughes

Section 4. Point of View

  • Lesson 17. Whose Point of View Is It?
  • Write-About-Reading Templates: Point of View; Point of View: Advanced
  • Excerpts to Write About: I Am the Dog I Am the Cat by Donald Hall
  • Lesson 18. How Point of View Colors the Way a Story Is Told*
  • Write-About-Reading Template: Who Is Telling the Story?
  • Excerpts to Write About: “My First Step to the White House” by Chris Van Allsburg
  • Lesson 19. Compare and Contrast Narration in Different Texts
  • Write-About-Reading Template: Compare POV
  • Excerpts to Write About: “Medusa, Pegasus, and the Chimera” retold by Steven Zorn; Medusa Tells All: Beauty Missing, Hair Hissing by Rebecca Fjelland Davis
  • Lesson 20. Analyze Contrasting Points of View*
  • Write-About-Reading Template: Two Views
  • Excerpts to Write About: Wonder by R. J. Palacio

Section 5. Visuals

  • Lesson 21. How Illustrations Add to Meaning/Mood
  • Write-About-Reading Template: Imagine the Story With Pictures
  • Excerpt to Write About: One Day, The End by Rebecca Kai Dotlich
  • Lesson 22. How Illustrations Contribute to Meaning
  • Write-About-Reading Template: How Visual Elements Add to Meaning
  • Excerpts to Write About: The Promise by Nicola Davies
  • Lesson 23. Compare Text to Staged Performance*
  • Write-About-Reading Template: Compare/Contrast Text to Movie or Play
  • Lesson 24. Analyze Text to Drama*
  • Write-About-Reading Template: Analyze Text to Drama: Compare/Contrast Text to Movie or Play

Section 6. Words and Structure

  • Lesson 25. Determine the Meaning of Words and Phrases
  • Write-About-Reading Template: Look at Language: Words and Phrases
  • Excerpts to Write About: The Real Boy by Anne Ursu
  • Lesson 26. Understand Figurative Language*
  • Write-About-Reading Template: Figurative Language Collection
  • Excerpts to Write About: Figurative Language: In November by Cynthia Rylant; Like Butter on Pancakes by Jonathan London; Canoe Days by Gary Paulsen
  • Lesson 27. Analyze Overall Structure
  • Write-About-Reading Template: Text Structure Analyzer
  • Excerpts to Write About: No Two Snowflakes by Sheree Fitch
  • Lesson 28. Compare, Contrast, and Analyze Structure Between Texts*
  • Write-About-Reading Template: Compare/Contrast Chart for Organization
  • Excerpts to Write About: Winter Bees and Other Poems of the Cold by Joyce Sidman and Rick Allen

REFERENCES

REFERENCES

SAGE Publishing Logo

Teaching Evidence-Based Writing: Fiction

Texts and Lessons for Spot-On Writing About Reading


September 2016 | 208 pages | Corwin

Format Published Date ISBN Price
Paperback 01/02/2026 9781506360706 $37.95
Lifetime 01/02/2026 9781506374314 $35.00

One in a million. Yes, that’s how rare it is to have so many write-about-reading strategies so beautifully put to use. Each year Leslie Blauman guides her students to become highly skilled at supporting their thinking about texts, and in Evidence-Based Writing: Fiction, she shares her win-win process. 

Leslie combed the ELA standards and all her favorite books and built a lesson structure you can use in two ways: with an entire text or with just the excerpts she’s included in the book. Addressing Evidence, Character, Theme, Point of View, Visuals, Words and Structure, each section includes:

Lessons you can use as teacher demonstrations or for guided practice, with Best the Test tips on how to authentically teach the skills that show up on exams with the texts you teach. 

Prompt Pages serve as handy references, giving students the key questions to ask themselves as they read any text and consider how an author’s meaning and structure combine.

Excerpts-to-Write About Pages feature carefully selected passages from novels, short stories, and picture books you already know and love and questions that require students to discover a text’s literal and deeper meanings. 

Write-About-Reading Templates scaffold students to think about a text efficiently by focusing on its critical literary elements or text structure demands and help them rehearse for more extensive responses.

Writing Tasks invite students to transform their notes into a more developed paragraph or essay with sufficiently challenging tasks geared for grades 6-8.

And best of all, your students gain a confidence in responding to complex texts and ideas that will serve them well in school, on tests, and in any situation when they are asked: What are you basing that on? Show me how you know. 


Table Of Contents:

  • VIDEO CLIPS
  • WRITE-ABOUT-READING TEMPLATES
  • EXCERPTS TO WRITE ABOUT
  • DYNAMIC DUOS: ADDITIONAL IDEAS FOR TEACHING WITH THE TEXTS
  • ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
  • INTRODUCTION
  • Section 1. Evidence
  • Lesson 1. Ask and Answer Questions
  • Write-About-Reading Template: Ask Questions
  • Excerpt to Write About: “Eleven” by Sandra Cisneros
  • Lesson 2. Ask and Answer Questions Using Details
  • Write-About-Reading Template: Ask and Answer Questions
  • Excerpts to Write About: Number the Stars by Lois Lowry
  • Lesson 3. Use Details and Examples*
  • Write-About-Reading Template: Back Up Your Thinking
  • Excerpt to Write About: “Saturday at the Canal” by Gary Soto
  • Lesson 4. Quote From the Text*
  • Write-About-Reading Template: Question, Quote, Write!
  • Excerpt to Write About: The Giver by Lois Lowry
  • Lesson 5. Summarize in Literature
  • Write-About-Reading Template: Summary Planner
  • Excerpt to Write About: “The Mythical Story of Arachne” by Emma M. Firth
  • Lesson 6. Cite Evidence That Provides an Analysis*
  • Write-About-Reading Template: Cite Evidence Choice Board
  • Excerpts to Write About: “The Circuit” From The Circuit: Stories From the Life of a Migrant Child by Francisco Jimenez
  • Section 2. Relationships
  • Lesson 7. Describe Characters, Setting, and Sequence
  • Write-About-Reading Template: Look @ Literary Elements
  • Excerpt to Write About: “The Shepherd’s Mistake” posted by Brishti Bandyopadhyay in Folktales for Kids
  • Lesson 8. Follow Characters, Setting, and Sequence Over Time*
  • Write-About-Reading Template: Literary Elements Wheel
  • Excerpts to Write About: Fish in a Tree by Lynda Mullaly Hunt
  • Lesson 9. Notice Plot via Character Conflict/Change
  • Write-About-Reading Template: Think About Character
  • Excerpts to Write About: “The Julian Chapter” From Auggie and Me: Three Wonder Stories by R. J. Palacio
  • Lesson 10. Notice How Character Drives Plot*
  • Write-About-Reading Templates: Story Map; Write About Character and Plot
  • Lesson 11. Develop Theories About Characters
  • Write-About-Reading Templates: Create a Theory About Character; Compare/Contrast Characters
  • Lesson 12. Analyze Character*
  • Write-About-Reading Template: Character Essay: Task/Assessment Options
  • Excerpts to Write About: Here Where the Sunbeams Are Green by Helen Phillips
  • Section 3. Themes
  • Lesson 13. Determine Theme in Story
  • Write-About-Reading Template: What’s the Theme?
  • Excerpt to Write About: “The Mighty” posted by Brishti Bandyopadhyay in Folktales for Kids
  • Lesson 14. Analyze Development of Theme in Story*
  • Write-About-Reading Template: Pick a Question
  • Excerpts to Write About: The Tiger Rising by Kate DiCamillo
  • Lesson 15. Determine Theme in Poetry
  • Write-About-Reading Template: Find the Evidence
  • Excerpt to Write About: “Mr. Nobody” by Anonymous
  • Lesson 16. Compare and Contrast Theme in Poetry*
  • Write-About-Reading Template: Elements of Poetry
  • Excerpts to Write About: “Dreams” and “Mother to Son” by Langston Hughes
  • Section 4. Point of View
  • Lesson 17. Whose Point of View Is It?
  • Write-About-Reading Templates: Point of View; Point of View: Advanced
  • Excerpts to Write About: I Am the Dog I Am the Cat by Donald Hall
  • Lesson 18. How Point of View Colors the Way a Story Is Told*
  • Write-About-Reading Template: Who Is Telling the Story?
  • Excerpts to Write About: “My First Step to the White House” by Chris Van Allsburg
  • Lesson 19. Compare and Contrast Narration in Different Texts
  • Write-About-Reading Template: Compare POV
  • Excerpts to Write About: “Medusa, Pegasus, and the Chimera” retold by Steven Zorn; Medusa Tells All: Beauty Missing, Hair Hissing by Rebecca Fjelland Davis
  • Lesson 20. Analyze Contrasting Points of View*
  • Write-About-Reading Template: Two Views
  • Excerpts to Write About: Wonder by R. J. Palacio
  • Section 5. Visuals
  • Lesson 21. How Illustrations Add to Meaning/Mood
  • Write-About-Reading Template: Imagine the Story With Pictures
  • Excerpt to Write About: One Day, The End by Rebecca Kai Dotlich
  • Lesson 22. How Illustrations Contribute to Meaning
  • Write-About-Reading Template: How Visual Elements Add to Meaning
  • Excerpts to Write About: The Promise by Nicola Davies
  • Lesson 23. Compare Text to Staged Performance*
  • Write-About-Reading Template: Compare/Contrast Text to Movie or Play
  • Lesson 24. Analyze Text to Drama*
  • Write-About-Reading Template: Analyze Text to Drama: Compare/Contrast Text to Movie or Play
  • Section 6. Words and Structure
  • Lesson 25. Determine the Meaning of Words and Phrases
  • Write-About-Reading Template: Look at Language: Words and Phrases
  • Excerpts to Write About: The Real Boy by Anne Ursu
  • Lesson 26. Understand Figurative Language*
  • Write-About-Reading Template: Figurative Language Collection
  • Excerpts to Write About: Figurative Language: In November by Cynthia Rylant; Like Butter on Pancakes by Jonathan London; Canoe Days by Gary Paulsen
  • Lesson 27. Analyze Overall Structure
  • Write-About-Reading Template: Text Structure Analyzer
  • Excerpts to Write About: No Two Snowflakes by Sheree Fitch
  • Lesson 28. Compare, Contrast, and Analyze Structure Between Texts*
  • Write-About-Reading Template: Compare/Contrast Chart for Organization
  • Excerpts to Write About: Winter Bees and Other Poems of the Cold by Joyce Sidman and Rick Allen
  • REFERENCES

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