What Are You Afraid Of?

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What Are You Afraid Of?

• A Writing Unit
• By
• William G. Martin

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Getting Hurt?
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Scary Rides?
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Deep Water?
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Monsters and Ghosts?
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The Dark?
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A Bully?
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• Have you ever been afraid? Everyone gets scared
  sometimes. Do thunder and lightning make your
  heart beat faster? Maybe your mouth goes dry when
  your teacher announces a pop quiz, or your palms
  sweat when it's your turn to give your report in
  front of the class. Perhaps you get butterflies
  in your stomach when you see the bully who picks
  on you.

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What happens when you are afraid of something,
like spiders?

• Have you ever wondered why being scared makes
  your heart beat faster and makes you breathe
  quicker? The body's reaction to fear is called
  the "fight or flight" response. And people have
  had it since the beginning of time.
• Here's how it works. Imagine you're a caveman or
  cavewoman alive 100,000 years ago and you come
  face to face with a hungry saber-toothed tiger.
  You have two choices 1) Run for it (that's
  flight), or 2) pick up your club and battle with
  the tiger (that's fight). A final choice (be
  eaten) doesn't seem like such a good one!
• To prepare for fight or flight, you body does a
  number of things automatically so it's ready for
  quick action or a quick escape. Your heart rate
  increases to pump more blood to your muscles and
  brain. Your lungs take in air faster to supply
  your body with oxygen. The pupils in your eyes
  get larger to see better. And your digestive and
  urinary systems slow down for the moment so you
  can concentrate on more important things.

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• How did butterflies get in your stomach? Well,
  those really aren't butterflies in there. 
• "Butterflies in the stomach" is a way of
  describing those nervous, fluttery feelings you
  might get before a test or an important game. A
  creative writer created the phrase to describe
  the feeling, and people have been using it ever
  since.
• These tummy flutters are normal and
  happen to many people - even grown-ups. Some
  people believe having a few butterflies might
  even help you perform better by keeping you on
  your toes. 

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Lets WriteChoice 1 Persuade (convince) the
reader that what you write is scary.Choice 2
Persuade (convince) the reader that they can
overcome fears.

• PRODUCT CHOICES
• Cartooning
• Create a scary cartoon strip.
• Poetry
• Write several scary poems.
• Booklet
• Create a booklet called Everything you wanted to
  know about (ghosts, fear of ___, things that go
  bump in the night).
• Story
• Write a scary story.
• Write a funny, but scary, story.

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Start with a Web
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Colorful Words

• spooked
• took
• longed
• waved
• wrote
• blind

• Try to think of some good colorful words of your
  own too.
• laughing
• crying
• tearing
• cackling
• howling
• beckoning
• loving
• hiding
• holding
• hoped
• feared
• hunted

• anxious
• the weather
• the sea
• a graveyard
• a deserted house
• a dark room
• poison
• vanished
• the chase
• imprisoned

• howled
• pulled
• screeched
• creaked
• creeping
• shivering