Fishing for Readers: Identifying and Writing Effective Opening "Hooks"
This lesson introduces how to write a good "hook" or beginning for a story. The students examine a variety of fiction texts to begin understanding what a "hook" is and then learn to write their own. Writing a catchy introduction or "hook" often eludes even the most proficient writers. In this lesson, students work in pairs to read introductory passages from several fiction texts and rate them for effectiveness. Then, the teacher guides the class in categorizing their favorite "hooks" according to the author's strategy (e.g., question, exaggeration, exclamation, description). Strategies and examples serve as resources for studentsu2019 own writing, and students can then explore how the same story can be introduced in different ways. For the final part of this lesson, students write a variety of hooks for one story topic, using the interactive Flip Book to publish their work.
