I am thoroughly enjoying the book "Breakthroughs". I have looked for specific topics as well opening the book and reading the first article I find. I love to read, but do not always have the time for an entire book. This is a nice change of pace!
Anna Collins Trest's "I Was a Journal-Topic Junkie", brought back vivid memories from my days as a 5th, 7th and 8th grade teacher. I spent countless hours looking for and creating the most ridiculous writing prompts! "I can't think of anything to write about." To which I responded, "I gave you a start, use your imagination!" Just as Ms. Trest discovered, I too saw my students writing a minimal amount. What they did come up with, was usually not too impressive. Short, to the point, boring. I think one of the most powerful tools we can give our students is to talk less and listen more. They know their interests, so let them discuss them with their peers (We know they love to talk to friends!) and they will generate a long list of ideas. When I first began journal writing, I used that time to "catch up", grade papers or prepare for the next lesson. "What did you write about Mrs. Huddleston?" My pat response was "I've already been through school and done my work." This was certainly not a motivational statement. Once I began writing with my students, I noticed they stayed with it for longer periods of time. By sharing, we learned a lot about one another. Coincidentally, they produced some incredible pieces!
1 comment:
I'm glad to have the reminder of that article in Breakthroughs. I need to talk a bit to the group about free-writing and how even though we give each other prompts each morning to write, we're actually free to write on any topic we choose. The prompts are just for those of us who might need a starting point. To make it a true free-write we need to keep our pens moving, writing down whatever comes to mind, not worrying whether it stays on the topic we began with, not stopping, not correcting ... just writing, writing, writing. It's amazing what comes out when we don't censor our writing.
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