Teacher Forum: Inspired Writing
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- 2/27/2007 |
- 10:00 am
Sure, 100 teachers will have 100 ideas when it comes to lighting a fire under kids and encouraging them to write. But that's what this forum is all about...exchanging ideas. Here's a very popular exercise from my writing workshops...
In their early years, I'm convinced that most kids love the idea of writing. They scribble all the time, they populate their drawings with gibberish-words that mean something to them at the time, while we cock our head and do our best to decipher them. Ask your child, "What does this say?" and they'll have an answer ready for you. It makes sense to them, and they enjoy it.
Once they get a touch older, however, we - perhaps unconsciously - take away that joy of creating. Slowly but surely we begin to correct their errors, even when it's harmless. "Ashley, how could an elephant get inside the car? It wouldn't fit!" It's never intentional, but we almost hurry them along in their comprehension of things, rather than letting them grow into the point where they'll realize that elephants and cars don't go well together.
I think that shuts them down. Suddenly a child begins to believe that they're not worthy of the art of writing, that "other people" may write books, but they certainly can't. That's a shame.
In my writing workshops, one of the most popular exercises is one that challenges students into busting out of their creative dungeon. It's a silly little exercise, but the kids always seem to love it.
I give them four words and a sentence. You may come up with your own particular words and sentence, but I'll share mine just for fun. I have the students write down "kitchen," "spider," "black," and "sister." Then, I have them copy this sentence down verbatim: "I won't ever do that again."
They're given five minutes to go crazy, and write a story with those four words, and that sentence, in any order they want. And that last part is crucial to the instruction. I challenge them to go beyond any story they've ever heard, and to tap into their most creative crawlspaces. When all is said and done, we listen to their stories...and learn.
How many kids will make the spider black? Most of them. How many will have the sister afraid of the spider? Most of them? How many will end the story with the sentence, rather than beginning the tale that way? Most. Now, explain that to be unique and interesting, what if the spider was orange? What if the sister wasn't afraid of the spider, but turned into the spider? What if we started the story by saying "I won't ever do that again!" Won't that compel the reader to turn the page?
Many times we repeat the exercise later, and you should hear the stories this second time around! Students, when shown that their imaginations are boundless, and are actually told to break the chains, will surprise you.
That's one of the ways I inspire, by letting them know that it's okay. It's not about simply teaching the skills; for me it's about teaching them to explore within. And that will often take them back to the days of elephants inside cars. That's cool.
Dom Testa
Author of the Galahad series of books
www.DomTesta.com
