Concise Writing: A Lesson Plan using Smick! by Doreen Cronin

Smick! What a cute name for a dog!

Smick! by Doreen Cronin is a story about a dog befriending a baby chick. The first thing that caught my eye was the fabulous illustrations by Juana Medina. I love the quick and expressive feel of her breezy black lines. This book would be a great bedtime read when you only have five minutes to spare.

Why five minutes? Well, the story is very short. There are only 34 words! As a writer, it can be tempting to describe your every thought in great detail, and sometimes that's useful, but it's also important to be able to cut to the heart of your story. This lesson plan practices concise and clear writing. It can be used with kids, but also with adults in a writing group.

Dara holding Smick! by Doreen Cronin

ENGAGE

-Ask this question while counting the words on your fingers: "Hi, my name is ____ and we are going to do some creative writing. We are going to practice writing a short story. Is it possible to tell a story in 40 words?" What I just said was 33 words. Can you tell a story in 40 words?

-Discuss.

-Read Smick! by Doreen Cronin. Count how many words it has (34). Does it work as a story?

EXPLORE

-Using Smick! as inspiration, write a story using only 40 words (max). The story could be written like a line of dialogue (In Smick!, the story is told by the human owner talking to her dog).

Here's my attempt at writing a Smick! inspired 40-word story:

Hey, Rock! Can you talk? Say hi! Let’s walk! No? You’ve lost a sock? Don’t cry, I’ll draw it with chalk. What do you think? I’ve made it pink. Are you ready to roll? I'll push you, let’s go!

(39 words)

EXPLAIN

-Talk about concise writing strategies. This website has some useful ideas: Editing for Clarity: How to Make Your Writing Clear and Concise - Author's Pathway

EXTEND

-Give the students a long paragraph or a bit of a story. You can use any story, or write your own to suit your group. If you want, you can use the wordy paragraph below. If you use my paragraph, you can have two dramatic students act out the lines:

Wordy Paragraph:

MOM: Greg, what’s wrong?

GREG: I am in so much trouble! What am I going to do? Listen, Mom, I’m so sorry, but it wasn’t my fault. Help me figure out what to say to Dad. I’ll tell you what happened. It’s a long and terrible story. I was in the living room with my friends, and my friend Trevor asked if he could have some water. I decided to get water for all three of us. One water for Trevor, one for me, and one for my other friend, Jack. I filled up three tall glasses with cold tap water, and since it’s a hot day, I made sure the glasses were full to the brim. But then I realized I had a problem. How do you carry three glasses of water? I’ve seen waiters do it all the time, but I’m not a waiter. It’s a lot harder than it looks. I put one glass in one hand, the second glass in the other hand, but what do I do with the third glass? I guess I could make two trips, but that’s way too much work. Instead, I tried to sandwich the third glass between the other two. It seemed to work, but only if I put enough pressure on the cup in the middle and balanced everything against the backs of my thumbs. With my hands full, I carefully tiptoed to the living room. I spilled two or three drops, but that was no big deal. I was actually pretty proud of my water-carrying abilities; I was even able to step over a pile of Legos without spilling anything. Trevor said thanks and reached for his water, and I attempted to hand it to him using four fingertips and a scooping motion. That should have worked, I swear! But then the cat ran by my leg. I was totally spooked! I bobbled the water around like a novice juggler. Bump, bump, bump, clang! Trevor tried to grab it, but he ended up knocking it in the air. It flew across the room and smashed into Dad’s new television. Water spilled everywhere, in the speaker, everywhere. And I think there’s a crack across the screen. Don’t get mad. I don’t think the television is working. It’s not turning on. What should I say to Dad?

-Greg's line has 384 words, and it's 22 lines long. Ask the students to cut it in half. Rewrite it with only 192 words (or 11 lines). They can work in groups of two, and when they've finished, they can act out their new scene.

-Now cut Greg's monologue to 40 words. When they finish that, try only 20 words.

-Can they rewrite Greg's line using only three words?

-Discuss the results. Did the story improve as it got shorter? Was there a point where it felt too short?

-To extend further, learn about famous short story writers such as Anton Chekhov.

-You could talk about Ernest Hemingway and the very short story contest (A Very Short Story Contest - Gotham Writers) where you try to write a story with just 10 words!