Yeah success,
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?
Saturday, August 13, 2011
Ideas t from a 12 year old
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.
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.
Monday, August 8, 2011
Brainstorming ideas to inspire your children’s writing
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.
http://www.writeshop.com/blog/2009/01/09/brainstorming-ideas-to-inspire-your-childrens-writing/
http://www.writeshop.com/blog/2009/01/09/brainstorming-ideas-to-inspire-your-childrens-writing/
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