When Journal Prompts Just Aren't Enough

To me, it feels like teaching writing is one of the most difficult things I do.  I remember we had an evening seminar during our studies on how to teach writing and our mentor teacher said, "Write about Spring!" as a writing prompt.  This was to show us that when we give prompts like that, sometimes it's just really hard to be creative.  Imagine how an elementary student must feel.  I always tell my class that somedays journal prompts flow easily and somedays they don't.  If they never do, there's a problem.  But, for the most part, journal writing is a nice way for us to begin the day.

However, eventually, journal writing can become...shall we say...stale?  I know when I'm looking through my daily journal prompts that if I don't want to write about it, neither will my students.  Plus, I never want writing to become a chore - especially this particular kind of free-verse, just for fun writing that helps us get our brains working in the morning.

My mentor teacher introduced me to something called Write Abouts - Silly Starters.

They look something like this:

You get the drill.  You have your choice of plot, setting and character - there are endless combinations.  My students LOVE Silly Starters and Story Starters.  It's a nice way to swap out journal writing with some creative thinking and provides students with a chance to use their imaginations without any fear.

Try it.  You'll thank us later.