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Sticks and stones, right? Well...only sometimes. It's a good idea to make sure your words aren't going to hurt others. Let's look at some ways to d...
Learn to debate like a champ. It's way better than debating like a chimp. That just takes mudslinging to a whole new level.
Today we'll learn about biographies and autobiographies. And no, the second one has nothing to do with the lives of cars.
ELA 4: Analyzing Anecdotes 218 Views
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Description:
If you came here with a snake bite, you're sorely mistaken. This video is about anecdotes, which are short stories. Unfortunately, they do not cure poison. You should really get that looked at.
Transcript
- 00:04
[Coop and Dino singing]
- 00:13
Stories are a really great way for people to connect to each other. We all love stories [Teacher telling a story to kids]
- 00:18
– listening to them and telling them.
- 00:20
But, well… Okay, sometimes, your grandma’s stories can get a little long. They drag on
- 00:24
and on and you sort of stop listening and start daydreaming about cotton candy. [Girl daydreaming and cotton candy appears on a bed]
Full Transcript
- 00:28
…What? Just us?
- 00:29
Well, what if we told you that there’s a type of story that never does that? A type
- 00:34
of story that’s supposed to be short?
- 00:36
Well, guess what? There totally is. It's called an anecdote, and it's the solution to long-winded
- 00:41
granny stories everywhere. An anecdote is a short, vivid report of an [Coop discussing anecdotes]
- 00:45
amusing or otherwise memorable incident in a real person's life, or even about a fictional
- 00:50
situation.
- 00:51
It isn't so much a story with a beginning, middle, and end as it is just a brief recollection [Book flicking through pages]
- 00:56
of a memory or experience. It has the makings of a story, but it cuts out all the fluff.
- 01:00
Hopefully not the cotton candy though. We love that kind of fluff.
- 01:03
So how do we go about coming up with an anecdote?
- 01:06
Well first, we'd need to make sure we have the Five Ws of the situation all figured out. [W letters dropped into a pot]
- 01:11
That means that for whatever memory or experience the anecdote is about, we need to know the
- 01:15
who, what, where, when and why of it.
- 01:18
Who was involved? What happened? Where did it happen? When did it happen? And why did [Arrow points to the five W's]
- 01:23
it happen?
- 01:24
Just because some people like to tell stories without knowing all the details first *coughGRANNYcough*
- 01:29
doesn’t mean you have to do the same. The next step is to gather the sensory information
- 01:33
regarding the anecdote. Things like smell, touch, taste, and sound are all useful when [Examples of sensory information]
- 01:37
you want to tell an anecdote, because connecting to people's senses allows them to better picture
- 01:42
themselves in the situation. Let's look at an example of an anecdote from [Girl taking a sip of soup]
- 01:45
writer Jerry Spinelli.
- 01:46
“When I was growing up, the first thing I wanted to be was a cowboy. That lasted till
- 01:51
I was about ten. Then I wanted to be a baseball player. Preferably shortstop for the New York
- 01:56
Yankees. I played Little League in junior high and
- 01:58
high school. I only hit two home runs in my career, but I had no equal when it came to
- 02:02
standing at shortstop and chattering to my pitcher: “C'mon, baby, hum the pea.” Unfortunately,
- 02:07
when I stood at the plate, so many peas were hummed past me for strikes that I decided
- 02:11
to let somebody else become shortstop for the Yankees.”
- 02:13
As we can see, this isn't a full story because it doesn't have a real beginning, middle, [Page with beginning, middle and end]
- 02:17
or end. It does, however, recall a memory from Jerry’s childhood, making it a great
- 02:22
example of an anecdote.
- 02:23
So step one – we gather the five Ws of the anecdote.
- 02:26
Who is it about? Jerry Spinelli. What is it about? Jerry playing Little League
- 02:30
Baseball in high school. When does it take place? When he was in high
- 02:34
school. Duh. Where? In his home town, naturally.
- 02:37
And why did what happen actually happen? Well, because he wasn't too great at playing baseball.
- 02:42
Which is okay, because it turns out that he is great at writing.
- 02:45
Then we move on to step two. Do we see any sensory information here? [Sensory information examples]
- 02:49
Sure! He tells us about how he would chirp and yell at the pitcher, which definitely
- 02:53
gives us some insight into what it sounded like out on that field – even if it wasn't
- 02:56
too pleasant. So now you know everything you need to know
- 02:59
about anecdotes.
- 02:59
We don't want to tell you how to live your life, but now may be a perfect time to tell
- 03:03
your grandma what you learned in school today. [
- 03:05
Though we're sure she has some long-winded story about anecdotes, too. Good ol' granny. [Little Red Riding Hood walks to Grandma's room and a wolf is in the bed]
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