Ideas that came out of the small group brainstorm
about how to help kids find something worth saying about almost
anything...
- have a group discussion about things they like
about the topic, things they connect with...share ideas, provide
praise
- create a safe environment for discussion and
writing
- often in discussion kids (we all) find our
responses in listing to others...in reacting to what someone else
has said
- break down boundaries between writing and
other investigations...teach inquiry as part of the writing
process and as part of every learning process...do more long term
investigations that include writing in other subject areas
- a problem may be that the process (the way the
writing process is presented) is inconsistent from year to year,
teacher to teacher...new terms, new steps, new
expectations...causes confusion
- Jim Beam, what are your concerns about
yourself and what are you concerned about in the world...
practice of reflective writing may have helped, say anything you
want to
- prewriting idea: use quotation, even class
saying, let them write for 10 minutes to engage the subject
- sometimes it is not cool to have something to
say when you are a teenager..drama activities that take kids
outside themselves give them another perspective and make it okay
for them to have something to say
- examine purpose...why do we write? Give
purpose. Learn. Publish.
- break writing activities (college application
essay, etc.) down into fill in the blanks exercise...break the
process down into smaller steps for those who need it
- teach them how to do, dont just tell
them to do it...what is wrong with breaking the 5 paragraph essay
down into its parts?
- cant that be conditioning instead of
learning...some students produce the 5 paragraph essay even when
another form (personal narrative) might be more appropriate
because they have been taught the form
- 5 paragraph essay is survival skill...you need
to know how to do it for those times when nothing else will
do...but it will very likely never be your best writing
- modeling, using kids writing as examples on
overhead, gives others ideas of what they might have to
say
- produce an atmosphere where talk is about
writing not the writer
- we should take care not give, give,
give them things, reasons, topics, etc....help them discover
their own things to say