How Do I Get My Students to Start Writing?

If you've ever asked this question to yourself or to someone else, don't worry: you're not alone! I think we all struggle with this. Here are a couple of ways that I've used that has been helpful to get my students writing during Writer's Workshop!

1. Heart Mapping

Georgia Heard in "Awakening the Heart" begins her book by talking about Heart Mapping.  I love this concept.  It gets students thinking about what things are close to their hearts that they can writing about.

 

Heard uses this method when teaching students to write poetry, but I've expanded it to all forms of writing.  Students want to write about what matters to them, and that's what this exercise gets them thinking about!

Here's how it's done:
*  Have students draw a large heart on one of the first couple pages of their writing journals.  In the picture above, we actually cut these out and attached them to the inside front cover of their writing journals. I wanted students to be able to find these quickly to get ideas.

* Inside their hearts, have them write the names of things that are important to them.  For instance, it might be the names of family members, pets, places they've visited, anything that is a favorite... I think you get the idea.  I always do one on chart paper as they are working on theirs.

* Asking students questions about things they like (what's your favorite dessert, what's your favorite sport... etc.) helps them think through the things that are close to their hearts.

* They can draw a picture or symbol to go with some or all of their ideas.

* After they "fill up their hearts," they can section the items off by drawing lines (if they want to).  I tell that that they are making it look kind of like a stained glass window. It's important to keep in mind that they do not have to fill in every spot in their heart maps. Many times throughout the year, students will think of something they can add to their map. And you'll also have experiences in class (field trips, experiments, school activities) that they may want to add, too!

* Once they have finished, they have this beautiful reminder in their writing journals of things they can write about if they need some ideas.

(I do not have any affiliate links or kick-backs for mentioning Georgia Heard's book - I just love it!)

2.  Read picture books that spark writing ideas!

You can get so many writing ideas from reading picture books.  For example...

* "All the Places to Love" by Patricia MacLachlan is a perfect read to get students thinking about a place they love to visit. The descriptive words are a great model for writing about their own favorite spot.

* "Thundercake" by Patricia Polacco can remind students of things they are/were afraid of and how they overcame their fears.

* "Saturdays and Teacakes" by Lester Laminak is great for writing about special memories with special friends/family members.

* "The Relatives Came" by Cynthia Rylant is a for writing about a time students went on a trip or vacation.

* "Diary of a Worm" by Doreen Cronin (or any of her Diary books) is a great format to get kids thinking from another animal's perspective.

There are so many amazing picture books oozing with writing ideas.  You have to think like a writer when you read them.


3. Pictures

You know the saying "A picture is worth a thousand words."  Well, get your student to begin writing those words down!  I've made it a routine in my classroom to start our day with an ELA skill building activity, and one of those is a Picture Writing Prompt. These are a favorite with my students, and many times, they will continue their story later on. Check out the links below for the FULL YEAR of ELA Skills activities. 

Here's something for you to try (or to have your students try).  I'm sure there will be lots of amazing ideas from this picture!

ELA Bell Ringers for Upper Elementary Grades printable

ELA Bell Ringers for Upper Elementary Grades digital

ELA Morning Work for Primary Grades digital

I'd love to read your stories and/or poems!  Even better, I'd love to read what your students have to write! Share in the comments :-)


Happy Writing!
Martha from "The Owl Spot"
www.the-owl-spot.blogspot.com
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Setting the Stage for Writer's Workshop

Welcome to "The Owl Spot" as we set the stage for writer's workshop.  This is my 2nd installment of my Writer's Workshop Wednesday posts, and it's one of my favorites!  

As teachers, we (usually) enjoy decorating and organizing our rooms for a new school year.  Sometimes it gets overwhelming with all of the photos circulating on Pinterest and Facebook.  I like to make a checklist, though, to help me stay focused (grab the checklist at the end of this post for free!).

One area on my checklist is to set up my content related areas, one of them being my Writing Center.  In this center, I have an interactive bulletin board for students to track their writing process and a shelf with writing tools for my students to use (different kinds of paper, checklists, dictionaries, editing pens, etc.).

For today, I wanted to focus on the Interactive Writing Process Board (or display). 

One set of mini lessons I teach after I go over procedures for Writer's Workshop is what the Writing Process is.  It's important that students know what happens in each stage, as well as where they are in the process as they are writing.  

Creating an interactive board doesn't have to be as hard as it sounds.  You just need a way for students to visually track their own process.  It also makes it easy for you to catch a "status of the class" just by looking at your board/display.  

You want to make sure you have these items on your board/display:

* Stages of the writing process

* Short explanation of what happens in each stage - this can be either on the board/display or somewhere nearby.

* Movable pieces with student names on them.  These should attach to the different writing process stages. There's so many different ways you can do this!

1. Clip chart - students move their clothespins to the stage they are currently working on with their writing. Super easy!

2. Magnets - keep your writing process stages on a magnetic surface. Use dollar store/die cuts, etc. with student names on them for your movable pieces.  Just add a magnet to the back!

3. If using a true bulletin board, you can use any movable pieces. Students attach them to the stage with push pins!

Here's some picture ideas...

These are the pieces to a writing process board. 

The posters explain each stage, while the students use the clip chart to show where they are in the process. Super easy to set up, even if you don't have much board/wall space.

Here's one that I used a magnetic surface:

Since my theme was Sea Turtles that year, my students had magnetic name pieces (sea turtle eggs) that traveled to each of the stages of the writing process. This year I had to display my explanation posters in a different area.

Here's another one...

This one goes with my current Alice in Wonderland theme. Students have their writing process posters above the "Tea Party."  On the first day of school, students design their own teacups to use as their movable piece. Because this is on the wall, they use sticky tack to move their pieces on the corresponding teacup.

I've seen so many creative ways to do this! One teacher used a dog theme, and printed out dog bowls, one for each stage. Students had bones with their names on them to move to the different bowl.  Another favorite was a race track. The Writing Process stages were around the track, and students moved their race cars around!

Have fun making your classroom setup meaningful to what you are going to teach your students! 

I'd love to hear how you display your writing process so your students can track their writing!

Link: Free Checklist for Setting Up Your Classroom

Link: Writing Process Poster Set

Thanks for reading!
Martha from "The Owl Spot"