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Grades level iconsGrades 9–10
Session time icon60+ Minutes
Genre information iconNarrative
Video resource type iconVideos

Place As a Character with Sean Prentiss

by Sean Prentiss
Essayist, poet, and National Outdoor Book Award winner Sean Prentiss shares his favorite way to develop the setting of a story or essay as a fully formed character.
About the Author

Sean Prentiss is an essayist, poet, and professor. His book of nonfiction, Finding Abbey: The Search for Edward Abbey and His Hidden Desert Grave was awarded the National Outdoor Book Award, the Utah Book Award for Nonfiction, and the New Mexico-Arizona Book Award. He is also the author of Crosscut: Poems, a memoir-in-poems about his time spent building trails in the Pacific Northwest. Prentiss is an Associate Professor at Norwich University in Vermont.

What Your Students Will Learn

You will learn how to develop a place in a deep and meaningful way.

Common Core Standards
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.9-10.3.D Common Core Standards Icon
Use precise words and phrases, telling details, and sensory language to convey a vivid picture of the experiences, events, setting, and/or characters.
What You Will Do

STEP 1

First, watch the video. Then, answer this question in your writing journal: “What are 3 adjectives you would use to describe the place where you currently live? Avoid general descriptions like, “cool,” “good,” “bad,” etc. Why did you choose those words?”                                                                   

STEP 2

Next, you will think of a place to research. This should be a city or a town that you know very well, such as a place where you’ve lived for a while. Once you think of a place, answer the questions on page 2 of the Place As a Character — Handout. These questions will help you identify telling details and precise words and phrases about your place. If...

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