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Grades level iconsGrades 3–6
Session time icon4 Sessions, 1 Hour Each
Genre information iconFantasy/SciFi, Narrative
Resource type iconLessons

Doors to the Future

by Dr. Bunny McFadden, 826 Valencia
Imagination opens doors to new possibilities. This lesson allows students to exercise their creativity by describing an imaginary door to the future and picturing what is beyond it.
What Your Students Will Learn

Your students will learn how to reflect on the past and connect those learnings to their vision of the future. Students will also practice making predictions, contrast vague and vivid sentences, and defend categorization choices. 

Common Core Standards
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.3.3.B Common Core Standards Icon
Use dialogue and descriptions of actions, thoughts, and feelings to develop experiences and events or show the response of characters to situations.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.4.3.B Common Core Standards Icon
Use dialogue and description to develop experiences and events or show the responses of characters to situations.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.5.3.B Common Core Standards Icon
Use narrative techniques, such as dialogue, description, and pacing, to develop experiences and events or show the responses of characters to situations.
Session 1
Timer
1 Hour
Visualizing the Door
In this session, students will view images of culturally significant doors and engage with a guided visualization of their own door.
Session 2
Timer
1 Hour
Descriptive Writing Practice
Students will work together to create a list of adjectives they can use to describe their setting.hen, they will use that list to help them write about the future that waits for them behind the door they created in the previous session.
Session 3
Timer
1 Hour
Bringing It All Together
Students will devote most of their time in this Session to writing about how their version of the future and the door they created work together. They will also read Mentor Texts from their peers at 826 Valencia.
Session 4
Timer
1 Hour
Revision
Students will revise their story using the Revision Roadmap handout and then assemble their door to the future.
Introduction :

Astronomer and writer, Carl Sagan, said, “Somewhere, something incredible is waiting to be known.” In this Lesson, students will use speculative fiction to create a portal to their own, incredible future.

“Speculative fiction” is an umbrella term for stories that showcase elements beyond the world we currently know.  Speculative fiction leans heavily on world-building and the writer’s own ability to hypothesize (or speculate) about details—advances in technology, societal rules, human values, etc.—that don’t yet exist. 

This Lesson helps students build the descriptive writing skills used in speculative fiction.  You will walk students through a guided visualization process so they can envision a door that opens to their version of the future. 

Session 1: Visualizing the Door

You will lead students through a guided visualization to help them imagine their doors.

You Will Need
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