Escaping the Rut

At different times, my students always get into that inevitable, seemingly insurmountable, rut: I have nothing to write about! Despite my best efforts of keeping writing notebooks full of ideas, students still fall into this rut.

This is an activity I use to talk about characters and characterization, and to get students out of that rut. It works out well to use this with things like story structure as well.

Materials needed: paper

Prep time: minimal

I give students a blank sheet of printer paper and make sure everyone has a pencil. At this my students start asking questions about what is going on, because I rather notoriously hate pencils, but that is another story. I explain to students we will be drawing today. First, they must visualize a made up creature/monster – this is also hilarious if you have them think about other things like their dream date, etc. I do not really tell them what they are going to do. I like to let the steps unravel and see the light bulbs go off in their heads as we go.

1. In the upper corner of their paper, they write their name. Then in the upper part of the paper draw their creature’s head. I give them a few minutes to get some detail, but not too much that they get off task. Usually around five minutes, I ask students to draw a neck on their head. Then fold their paper over so that the only thing that can be seen is the neck. Then I take up their papers amidst great confusion.

 

2. Then, I pass out a new paper to them, with explicit instructions not to open up the paper and peek. I then have students draw a torso and arms. At this point students begin to realize what is going on and exactly what they are doing. After another five minutes, I have students draw a waist and once again, fold the paper over to hide everything except the bottom of the waist lines.

 

3. Once again, I pass the papers along to new artists. This time I tell students to draw legs and feet. After another five minutes, I have students open up their papers for the incredibly exciting reveal. If you do this, prepare yourself for loud shrieks and laughter. I have never had this go quietly, even after students know what to expect. As students get their paper back they cannot believe what is on their paper.

4. I give them a few minutes to name their creature, and if need be “fix” anything they need to with them. Sometimes heads and shoulders don’t line up etc.

5. After this, I begin to ask students questions about their new character. Where do they live? Are there others like them, or are they unique? How old are they? Do they go to school? Work? What challenges do they face day to day? What is something their monster really wants? The kinds of questions are just to get the kids thinking about the characters and their lives.

6. I ask them to choose some character traits from a list that apply to their monster. Then I ask how they know. The first time I ask this they look at me like I’m crazy, and say we just made it up. So then, I ask how do you know if a person has those same character traits, after some responses I tell them to use their imagination. Students brainstorm words, actions, thoughts, and others opinions that might be used as evidence in their story to determine character traits.

After this, my students are usually ready to begin telling an interesting story. The absurdity of their monsters and the lighthearted nature of the activity usually frees students to try something different.

It also is not meant to waste time. Writing instruction does not mean that reading instruction stopped. In thinking about character traits for our characters students are practicing with inference and identifying characterization, and getting more familiar with more subtle forms they often forget about.

Quickwrites

I had a great time presenting my new Writing Strategies for ELLs workshop yesterday. What a great group of teachers coming together to find ways to meet the needs of all their learners. This is definitely one I will grow into a longer session; I felt like we needed even more time to write.

I'll share one of my favorite writing strategies from my classroom.

I always ask teachers to think about the challenges ELLs face in their classrooms, and almost all of the time anxiety is a concern. I think this is especially true with writing tasks; what could be worse than struggling over a large assignment only to get it back bleeding with corrections.

Krashen's Affective-Filter Hypothesis tells us that learners need to be receptive to our input for maximum learning to take place. Things like anger, boredom, and anxiety, reduces the learning for students, and can make writing instruction tedious for both teachers and students. The real challenge then, is which comes first? Are struggling students unsuccessful because they are anxious, bored, even angry? Or are they anxious, bored, and even angry because they are unsuccessful?

There are several strategies that we can do as teachers to reduce anxiety in writing like modeling and explicit expectations. One of the easiest to implement though is quickwrites. Quickwrites are just what they sound like, short, timed, writings. When I do quickwrites in my class, I tell students not to worry about spelling and mechanics. Just get their ideas flowing and write the entire time.

Writing for 1 minute or 3 minutes sure seems a lot easier and less stressful than an intimidating, blank sheet of paper. It can also be turned into a game - have students count their words and have some friendly competition.

You can also string quickwrites together to create longer works. There are a number of ways to do this, but I always like to start with Gretchen Bernabei's 11-minute essay. It's a basic structure for expository writing and asks students to find evidence in a variety of forms.

Start by showing students a picture and giving them a truism (broad statements that are generally universally true, and they are arguable) ex: Sometimes good things don't last very long, Some things are worth fighting for, The bad times make the good times better.

Ask students to think about the statement, if it is true or not, and copy it onto their paper.

Students write for 1 minute explaining the truism, what it means, and their own interpretation.

Students think about novels or short stories they have read, ask them to find an example of the truism in a story. Have them write for 3 minutes about how their example is an example of a truism. Remind them to start their new paragraph with "In the story..." and include title and author.

Students think about movies they have seen, ask them to find an example of the truism in a movie. Have them write for 3 minutes about how their example is an example of a truism. Remind them to start their new paragraph with "In the movie..." and include the title.

Students think about history or current events they have heard or studied, ask them to find an example of the truism in an event. Have them write for 3 minutes about how their example is an example of a truism. Remind them to start their new paragraph with "In recent events (or history)...".

Students write for 1 minute about what the truism and their writing leave them wondering about. Begin new paragraph with "All this makes me wonder..." or "I wonder"

Students, and adults in my workshops that I illustrate this with, are always amazed by how much they write. This lends itself well to discussions about revision in a stress free environment. Students who spent a long time drafting a piece are rarely willing to go back in and revise - until they learn about and internalize the benefits.

I get asked all the time by teachers about modifying this with extended time for students with that as an instructional modification. The point of doing the quickwrites is to reduce anxiety and write for short amount of times. It is not to produce a polished piece of writing to be turned in and graded as such. Sure if you need to add a minute here or take a minute away go for it. But do not add so much time that is seems difficult to fill with continuous writing.