Teacher Forum: Writing Prompts
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- 4/15/2008 |
- 10:00 am
I have been hosting writing workshops at schools and libraries for several years, and I put an emphasis on the word WORK. As far as I'm concerned, the best way for kids to improve their writing skills is to actually work at it.
Some of the best feedback I get from teachers involves an exercise I do with writing prompts. If you'd like to try it in your classroom, here's what I do...
I begin by having the kids write down four words, usually three nouns and one adjective. Remember, the idea is to get them to create, so I don't like to supply verbs or extra adjectives. Gotta leave something for their imagination, right?
I also have them write down an interesting sentence. My favorite is "I won't ever do that again!" It adds a touch of suspense, but you're free to come up with whatever sentence you like.
Their assignment is to create a brief (one or two paragraph) story. They must use the four words, and the sentence, in whatever order they like. They get four minutes to work.
There are several lessons to be learned from their finished projects. Did the entire class use the adjective to describe the same noun? Why? How could they have made their own story unique? Did they all make the sentence the last thing in the story? How would the story have been more interesting if the sentence came first?
I've found that kids are often hesitant to write anything that isn't safe. When everyone in a classroom makes the spider black, for example, I ask, "What if your spider was red? Or see-through?" You should hear them gasp at the concept. I swear that often all they need is validation that it's okay to expand their creativity. This writing prompt exercise can do that.
Have fun!
