Have recently signed my class up to Story Jumper, which allows students to create their own story or book with great illustrations and then share it with others. Parents can even order a hardback book of their children stories. What I also like about it is that it is a good teaching tool as it has templates to help develop stories as well as questions about each sequence of a story to motivate.
Another group I have spent this year trying to motivate into writing is a group of 3 boys who are 9years old yet academically writing at a 5yr old level. Many of the class writing topics/ research topics etc have been out of their reach and they have required their own motivations to 1. promote independence 2. promote quality of content beyond 'I went to...'
These boys are very dependent and often resistant to writing.
I found using the computers a major motivator and had some success using 'Powerpoint Photo Album' and www.storybird.com
Both of these programs use images to scaffold the writing. While we had tried printed images (story sequencing ones) with motivation increased but output still stilted independent of the teacher, it wasn't until the boys were writing on the actual computer that their motivation and output levels remained high for extended periods of time.
Photo album allowed the boys and I to co-construct a photo powerpoint (in 2 clicks) in line with a class topic (that the rest of the class were doing) and then the boys were able to work through the pictures adding captions or text under each fairly independently. The boys could get started with the Teacher aide on her days in and then continue independently - the positive off spinner being that these children have also gained ICT skills in locating documents, saving, finding web pages etc..
Storybird is something I have just introduced as we try to tackle creative writing - very challenging for these boys. Storybird gives you a choice of illustrations by real artists to choose from, drag them on the page and add your text. The finished result is a digital, page turning book. For motivation I give this a 10/10, the boys requested it everyday. We weren't getting quality writing - just sentences of what they could see in isolated pictures - but they wrote for 40 minutes independently. So I will definitely return to this tool. I think next time with the rest of the class too. As we master narrative perhaps we can find an artist to motivate a story.
What have you tried with low level, low independence writers?
A big challenge for my year 5/6 children was our work around persuasion or argument. We worked on different topics around what we had been learning - The worst disaster is...? Our school is the best? down to persuading the teacher What wet weather games the class should spend their $200 allowance on?
But it wasn't until we hit on the more abstract and fun that I really saw the enthusiasm increase.
Children enjoy the bizarre and the creative.
Our hit topic actually came from a relieving teacher (using the conversation as a time filler/winding down at the end of the day) The noise level and involvement of the children was at maximum. So I ran with the idea for the next few pieces of writing with much improved results.
Would you rather eat a mouse or a cockroach?
Which is the best pet - an ant or an elephant?
The amount of prior knowledge the children could bring to the topic meant they had plenty to say, and the discussion with others who disagreed meant children were able to mention and negate any negatives to their side of the argument into their writing.
Using the bizarre and the oral language preparation proved a winner this time.
Has anyone else had the bizarre topics motivate writing?
An example below - this child is a very reluctant writer - usually completes a sentence or 2 under duress. This was finished in 30minutes -( I have edited for spelling and punctuation)
I would want a pet any more than a pet elephant. To begin with an ant is a better pet than an elephant. One off the reasons is - how are you going to feed it? I mean it must eat 2 tons a day. But an ant needs to eat a crumb for 3 days.
Yes, you can ride a elephant, but will the road hold it’s weight? If it cracks you will need to pay. At a traffic light the elephant won’t stop and it will crush the car’s and probably kill someone. You will have to pay for the car and the funerals and you will go to prison for manslaughter and the elephant will go to Africa.
Now the poo, how are you going to get rid of that?
Out writing samples were a success across the board last term. I would put it down to 2 reasons.
1. integration in meaningful topic - We had been studying disasters (in line with Christchurch and Japan earthquakes) We had had guest search and rescue speakers, Researched and written persuasive articles about which disasters were the worst kind, and read disaster recounts.
2. You tube - we watched first hand filmings of those disasters (sounds a little morbid but greatly motivated my year 5/6 boys).
After a morning watching our chosen disaster we headed back to class and wrote a first person narrative recount of our time in a disaster. THe only planning being what was i doing before the disaster, during the disaster and after the disaster.
In a class of many struggling writers for whom motivation and success in writing is low I was very pleased with some of the outcomes. Many stories mimicked exactly what they had seen in particular video details.
How else can video motivate and create excitement about storytelling?
A few ideas my helpful son has given me to try.
1. Writing using national geographic images for creative writing. He says you do the "what happened before, what is happening now and what will happen next" as the writing prompts. I wonder if you could use this with a round robin brainstorm, so you can collect lots of story ideas form the whole class.
2. Writing scripts - we all know that kids love performing plays, but how often do we let them write scripts. I am hoping to have the time to allow this this term. I understand that it will be quite complex once the kids get into it, so that what the characters are saying id able to tell a story. We are starting by doing readers theatre (where like a play they read out parts, but there are no actions, verbal only) hopefully this will give them some ideas of how simple the storylines are - a single idea really not a long drawn out story.
I hope this will motivate my reluctant boys and i can get more than action sounds out of them? Watch this space.
The following is a link to a blog that looks at ideas to get children started with writing, ways to inspire them to write. It is mainly aimed at home schooling, but may give some ideas to motivate writing in the classroom.
"Who dares to teach must never cease to learn." (John Cotton Dana).
Has anyone tried or used avatars to motivate writing?
Have tried using Voki's to create a character who has lots of adventures, although without prompting, there wasn't a great deal of motivation. Had better success with using a Voki to recite a poem, the idea of creating a virtual character to read out their own poems motivated even the most reluctant writers to have a go. The children seem to like creating their virtual character and to just say a message rather than using it as a stimulus for writing. Although, to even write a mesage 'that can be talked back' they have to use correct spelling and practice typing.
