Writing
prompts are really challenging for students.
It is almost like a deer in the headlights. They are given a writing prompt and their
mind goes blank. Or even worse, the
anxiety starts. The self-defeating
thoughts come rushing in. Goodness,
students know how to beat themselves up, don’t they? This breaks my heart. Writing does not need to be this hard. Students always have the information inside
of them. They often just do not know
that they do. I am excited to share with
you some strategies that I have used to get those ideas out of reluctant
writers and help them come up with some incredible writing. Want to boost a kid’s self esteem? Show them that they know how to write! In this article, I will be sharing how to
deconstruct a writing prompt and make it manageable and palatable for
students. Then we will get into how to
get students thinking about the topic, churning ideas and organizing them into
a rough draft. Finally, I will share out
some resources that I have used to get this all done.
Getting
to the Meat of the Matter
The
first step with teaching kids to deconstruct a writing prompt is to pull it
apart into manageable parts. Once they
see that it is not so big and overwhelming, you will get them to continue on
with you through the process. So, how do
we pull apart a writing prompt? Lets
look at a few sample prompts at different levels:
3rd
grade: Tell about a special place that
you have visited.
5th
grade: We all need help sometimes. Write a story about a time when someone
helped you.
8th
grade: What are the main benefits of the
Internet to society?
10th
grade: Recently a citizen’s group
proposed a change to the rules for obtaining a driver’s license. The group has proposed that high school
students have at least a “B” average in order to get a driver’s license. Take a position on this proposal. Write a letter to the editor of your local
paper to convince voters to agree with your position.
We
can see that as the grade level increases, the prompts become more complex and
ask for more detail. Let’s start pulling
the important parts out. This step is
key to convince students that this is truly manageable and do-able! A great way to pull out the essential pieces
of a prompt is to change the color of key words or even change the font. See the examples below:
3rd
grade: Tell about a special place that you have visited.
5th
grade: We all need help sometimes. Write a story about a time when someone helped you.
8th
grade: What are the main benefits
of the Internet
to society?
10th
grade: Recently a citizen’s group
proposed a change to the rules for obtaining a driver’s license. The group has proposed that high school
students have at least a “B” average in order to get a driver’s license. Take a position on this proposal. Write a letter to the editor of your local paper to convince
voters to
agree with your position.
Having
the child do this as part of the “deconstructing” process is very helpful. Let them get as creative as they would
like. Part of the point here is to get
them to engage in this process. If they
want to draw stars, flowers or color the words pink with green polka dots….let
them! This step is particularly helpful for
your visual and kinesthetic learners.
They need to interact with the material in order to truly
understand. Having the key pieces of the
prompt standing out in a different font or color, immediately brings the eye
back to them when children forget what they are to do. This happens often and kids will appreciate
that the information is clearly displayed when they need to come back to it.
Organizing Thoughts
Now
that we have the essential pieces of the prompt indicated, it is time to get
the student thinking. This can be the
tough part. Most times, you will be met
with “I don’t know” or “ that never happened to me” statements when you ask
them about the prompts. A way to get the
conversation started is to share a personal story about yourself. Has something in the prompt every happened to
you? Talk about it! This is a great method to connect
with kids. Students love learning about
their teachers and getting to know them as real people. Now, they will not tell you this. So, if you do not hear them thank you for
sharing details about you and your life, don’t stop doing it. It has more of an effect than you will ever
know. Students will start to think about
how their situations relate to yours and suddenly will have details to
share.
If
you still are not getting anything, share some details that you know
about them. Details about their
family, experiences in school, interests, hobbies, etc. Reminding them of the experiences that they
have to pull from can definitely get related ideas flowing. Plus, they will be touched that you
know about them. Guaranteed
connection method here. Hopefully by
using these two methods, kids will start to talk. However, be patient. Students are usually a
bit rusty when asked to share about their lives. Asking probing questions and keeping the
conversation light will really get you to chatting.
If
you still are not getting much from the child, you might want to play the
devil’s advocate. Present a challenging
situation to the child. This would be a
position that the child would most likely disagree with. Sometimes, self-esteem issues get in the way
of students sharing what they feel, like or believe in. They are afraid that their ideas will not be
accepted. They tend to share a bit more
about the things that they disagree with.
They can usually rely on the concepts of right and wrong as a safe way
to put their opinions out there.
So
during all of this brainstorming, we need to be putting these ideas into some
format. My suggestion for this is to use
the K.I.S.S. theory. Keep It Super Simple is the way to go. Take a look at the examples below:
These
graphic organizers were made by me for students that I have worked with. Although there are a lot resources out there
to use, I prefer making my own.
Depending on how our brainstorming is going, it will change they way I
set up the organizer. Pre made
organizers do not allow the flexibility that I prefer. Creating a template with as many “triggers”
in the beginning is the best way to go.
These are comfortable and friendly reminders that prompt students to do
what needs to be done. When you have a
reluctant writer, you cannot have
too many. They should be set up to
succeed and have no chance to become frustrated and then over time remove these
prompts in future organizers. Adding a
word bank to
the side of
the organizer is also extremely helpful to students and will help ensure success!
Happy Deconstructing!
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