Writing Ideas for School

Institute for Excellence in Writing-  Andrew Pudewa 

       I have heard about this program being used by various teachers across our conference, but never really got serious about investigating it- personally. Lately an experienced teacher strongly advised me to look into it, because he could sense I would find it beneficial. He was right. I have yet to actually teach one of their courses, but I have really connected with what they have to say. A lot of things are not new, but they have done the research and put the muscle on things we talk about. Memorization, poetry, writing, public speaking, etc. Please do yourselves a favor and look them up for ideas. We need more writers and really just communicators in general. It will help you put some meat to those writing theories you had and tried to practice, but needed more confidence in.

http:  iew.com

Practical Writing Ideas I Have Tried in the Classroom:

        I have kind of winged my own writing composition program from day one.(Please do not judge me by my blogging standards!)  I like every student to have a Composition notebook that they can keep and look at all the stories they wrote during the year.  I use the language arts period on Tuesdays for assigning a one week writing assignment to do in their spare time. I provide deadline reminders the rest of the week. For example: 200 words are due Thursday, rough draft needs to be finished Friday, and finished product is due next Tuesday. We write stories, essays, and reports. I try to have my students focus more on outlines, story flow, and developing believable characters.

I also have divided up my class in two groups and have had report competitions. I give each student three topics to choose from. For example:

Bot Fly

Cuckoo Bird

Komondo Dragon

That way I can insure the class will have a wide assortment of unpredictable topics to choose from. They have one or two weeks to study and write a one-page report on their topic. They also have to write note cards for a class speech on their topic. They hand me their report and wait to present the class their topic. The opposite team listens and must come up with questions for the student after his oral report. I have pictures prepared on a projector. As they appear the students get up for their talk. Every relevant question the opposite team asks gets their team a point. Every answer given by the student gives him or her a point for his team. For the questions unanswered that student has until Monday to have “Comeback” answers to gain more points. It is a fun way for the students to write, talk, and learn about a variety of topics. From the Bermuda Triangle, the Pyramids of Giza to the poison arrow frogs of the Amazon we learn together.

We write stories and have sent them to other schools to be read and reviewed. They give us feedback on what they liked or think we need to change to make our individual stories more interesting. They in turn send us stories to critique. I think it helps students to learn how to receive and give helpful criticism to improve their writing. If you have other writing recommendations or ideas send me some at jonluketws@gmail.com