Category: Writing

Posted on

Trusting the Process: Brainstorming

Have you ever sat down to write something, only to find that you just can’t think of any ideas? Or maybe you start off with lots of ideas, then hit a road block part way through your piece. Either way, it can be really frustrating when the ideas just aren’t flowing. Students can have this happen to them, too. Teaching our students to use the writing process can equip them with the tools they need to ensure their writing is the best that it can be, and can also provide them with the skills they need to keep their thoughts and writing organized. 

The general structure of the writing process begins with brainstorming or prewriting, where ideas are written down, research is gathered and organized, and the overall plan for the piece of writing is laid out. Next comes drafting— putting the ideas into sentences and paragraphs. Editing and revising come next. Here, the piece is proofread for errors, flow, and consistency, then the necessary revisions and corrections are implemented. This step, along with drafting, may be done several times during the course of writing a piece. The last step is finalizing, polishing, and wrapping up any edits or changes and making the final draft ready for readers. While all the parts of the process are essential, today I will be focusing on brainstorming and prewriting. 

The way a person brainstorms might differ depending on what kind of writing they are doing. If they are writing a fictional story, they might begin with outlining the characters, setting, and conflict. If they are doing a research paper, they might start by choosing their topic, then picking a few key points or areas to cover, followed by researching their chosen topics. If they are writing an argumentative or persuasive piece, they first would choose which side of the argument they are going to defend, then generate their supporting arguments. Regardless of the kind of writing being done, prewriting is an important step in the process of writing. 

There are many ways to brainstorm ideas, and, as noted above, the method changes with each kind of writing. Below are some methods that can be effective as students begin to generate their ideas prior to writing. 

Bubble/Spider/Cluster Map

With this method, students begin with writing their central idea in the middle of the page. Then, they draw lines connecting to other bubbles, which would contain the sub-topics they are going to cover, with additional lines and bubbles drawn to accommodate any other ideas. This method is particularly effective for research or argumentative papers.

If writing a fictional piece, a writer might begin with the story title or idea in the center, then devote individual bubbles to characters, setting, conflict, and plot.

Outlining

Here, students would begin with their main idea at the top of the page. Next, they would focus on one sub-topic or section at a time, writing down key elements, quotes, or facts that they are going to use. This is a great tool for research or argumentative papers as well. It can also be effective for narratives. Students would begin with their story topic/title, then outline the order of events, the conflict, characters, and so on. In the case of writing a story, sketching out ideas on a simple plot diagram would also be an effective way to outline. 

Free writing

Free writing is the process of setting an amount of time, then writing about the chosen topic for the duration of that time. Writers can write down what they already know, what they want to know, questions they have, and so on. It is a great chance to just kind of brain dump onto a piece of paper (or computer screen). The free write can then be used to facilitate a more organized prewrite, such as an outline or cluster map.

Listing

Listing is a great way to generate ideas when doing a compare/contrast paper, research paper, or even an argument piece. It’s effective for listing pros and cons, story ideas, ideas for character names, potential settings or conflicts, or any other number of things that might need to be included in a piece.

Timelines

Timelines can be helpful when writing a research piece. It can be useful to map out events in chronological order so that when drafting the piece, the writer has a clear idea of when things happened so as to ensure that they get their facts right in their writing.

Researching

In addition to this type of prewriting being effective for research papers, this form of prewriting is also extremely helpful for argument pieces. Students can combine researching with outlining or cluster mapping to organize their findings as they search for information. One very important thing to note here is to make sure that students remember to record where they find their information and research so that they can properly cite their sources, and, in the event that they need to revisit the source, they will know right where to look. 

The writing process isn’t something that only Language Arts teachers might use; it can (and should be) employed by any teacher who is having students write papers or pieces. It is a very effective way for students to get their ideas down, organize their writing, and prepare for the drafting stage of writing. Think of it as “preheating the oven” when you bake— you’re getting things ready for the final product. Check out the resources below if you need some ideas for getting your students started!

** Please note that these resources are for classroom or personal use only. They are not to be sold, reposted, or claimed as your own. **

Cluster MapDownload
OutlinesDownload

Posted on

Plagiarism: A Problem in Today’s Classroom

If you’ve been a teacher long enough, and especially if you teach or have taught upper elementary or secondary students, you’ve likely had to deal with plagiarism in your classroom. If you haven’t, count yourself lucky! It’s a growing problem, especially in today’s world, where AI and other digital outlets are making it too easy to plagiarize, cheat, or put minimal effort into assignments. It’s really quite disheartening to see.

Plagiarism is, by definition, the act of using someone else’s work as your own without giving credit to the original author. There are many ways that a person can plagiarize, each just as dishonest and academically unethical as the next. 

First, someone can use the entirety of another person’s work as their own. Essentially, the “new” author changes the by-line by substituting their own name, thus claiming the entire piece as their own work. Nothing else is changed, and the work is copied word-for-word.

Second, plagiarism can happen when someone takes pieces of someone else’s work and puts them into their own writing. This can often be referred to as “patchwork plagiarism”, as the “new” author pieces their paper together using patches and pieces of one or more already written pieces. This can even occur when a student attempts to paraphrase someone’s work, and maintains the same structure and only changes a couple of words.

Third, a student can plagiarize by pulling a sentence here and a sentence there from someone else’s work and not citing where the thought came from. This is likely the most common form of plagiarism, as students often don’t see a problem with “borrowing” a sentence or two every now and then in their own work. It is, however, academically dishonest, and is most definitely a form of plagiarism. 

As a teacher, how do you combat this ever-increasing problem in today’s classrooms? One of the easiest ways to prevent it from happening is to teach students how to properly cite their sources. Because it is now easier than ever to copy and paste someone else’s work into their own, students absolutely must have a foundational knowledge of what plagiarism is, what it can look like, and what the consequences are for engaging in it. It’s also important to note that this sort of instruction is not the sole responsibility of the English/Language Arts teachers. Sure, they are likely the ones who encounter this problem the most, but they certainly aren’t the only ones who do. Anytime you are assigning students to write anything— research papers, narratives, poetry, and so on, you must initially define what plagiarism is and clearly set up your expectations and the consequences for failing to abide by those expectations. I found it very helpful to have a note about plagiarism on the actual assignment paper that I handed out. 

Before turning students loose to write their papers, make sure they have an understanding of how to properly cite the sources they use in their writing. Be sure to have resources readily available for their reference should they have questions about proper citation formats. Read through their rough drafts to check for any potential problems or plagiarism so that it can be fixed before the final draft is due. 

Should you discover that a student has plagiarized, be sure to follow through on the consequences you set at the beginning of the assignment. I remember assigning my 8th grade accelerated class to write their own book of poetry, with each poem following a specific structure or rhyme scheme. I outlined each kind of poem on the instruction sheet, and made sure to include a note at the bottom that all work was to be 100% their own, and that failure to do so would result in a “0” grade for the entire project. As I was reading through poems, I came to one student’s assignment, and came across a poem that sounded a little too advanced for 8th grade (even for an accelerated class). A quick Google search produced a whole list of sites containing the poem that had been submitted by this student. The poem matched, word for word. My heart sunk, as I knew that I would have to follow through with my previously set consequence. This student was a straight-A student, who had never cheated, and had always turned in quality, original work. That same night was Parent-Teacher Conferences, and let me tell you— it was not an easy conversation to have with the student and her father. She was devastated and claimed she had misunderstood that all work had to be original, but because I had taken the time to write very specific instructions on the assignment sheet, I had proof that my instructions were clear. It was a hard lesson for her to learn, and that “0” grade decently impacted her final grade for the term. Even though it was a hard thing for me to follow through with, I knew I had to, because I knew that if she had gotten away with it, she wouldn’t have learned the lesson, and I would have hated for her to learn that lesson in college or a high school course where the consequence would have been much more serious. 

Plagiarism is one of those things that is hard to deal with as a teacher. It is a form of cheating, and should not be tolerated. Students should know what it is, how to avoid it, and what the consequences are for engaging in it. Like I said previously, it’s better for students to learn about this kind of thing earlier, rather than when the consequences for dishonesty are much more severe. 

So now I want to know— how have you handled it when you have come across plagiarism in your classroom? 

Posted on

Handwriting vs. Typing: Is One Better Than the Other?

Learning to write— like the actual formation of letters— is a fundamental skill when learning to read and write in any language. If you don’t know how to form the letters, writing legibly and making sense of what is written becomes nearly impossible. You simply must know how to form each letter before you can start putting letters together to form words, sentences, paragraphs, or entire pages of writing. 

I don’t have much memory of learning to write in standard penmanship, but I do vividly remember learning to write cursive. I recall working so hard and practicing a lot to be able to write cursive neatly and efficiently, and that’s about all I wrote in for a long time. Fast forward lots of years, and my handwriting now has become a hybrid of standard and cursive. My kids are now learning cursive at school, and I am so glad they are. It’s becoming a “lost art” the more we turn to digital forms of communication. 

I read an article the other day on NPR by Jonathan Lambert that discussed the benefits of taking a pencil to paper and writing rather than typing something out. In the article, Lambert points out that taking the time to actually handwrite things has big benefits to children and adults alike. He said, “In kids, studies show that tracing out ABCs, as opposed to typing them, leads to better and longer-lasting recognition and understanding of letters. Writing by hand also improves memory and recall of words, laying down the foundations of literacy and learning. In adults, taking notes by hand during a lecture, instead of typing, can lead to better conceptual understanding of material.”

Sure, typing is much quicker and more efficient. Oftentimes, it’s also more convenient— like when you remember something to add to your “to do” list while you’re out and about; it’s so easy to quickly pull out your phone and type it into your Notes app. But… consider how many times you have been typing and have been on autopilot to the point that you can’t even remember what you typed. I know it has happened to me several times. The brain to hand connection isn’t nearly as strong when typing as it is when actually taking a pen to paper. 

Think for a minute about what has to happen when you type. You locate the letter on the keyboard and click it. Once you have memorized the keyboard, muscle memory kind of kicks in and your fingers almost just know what to do. It’s really pretty cool— you think of a word you want to type out, and as you’re typing, your brain tells your fingers where to move to click each letter. 

Now, take a minute and think about what happens when you pick up a pencil and put it to a piece of paper to write. First, your brain must tell your hand to pick up the pencil and and correctly hold it. Then, you must think about where on the page you are going to start writing (usually the left side). Your brain must then decide which word you are going to spell, then break the word apart and make sense of which letters to write and in which order they go. Next, your brain must communicate to your hand how to form each letter, and on top of that, it is telling your hand to make micro-adjustments as you write out each letter, such as needing to close the circle on your “d” a bit more before you start to make the line on the side of the letter. The amount of brain to hand then back to brain communication is much more involved with handwriting than it is with typing. It’s really quite remarkable. 

Not only does handwriting something take more “brain power” so to speak, it also helps to solidify material and create a stronger memory for recalling information later. Because you often paraphrase what you hear, your brain must process what you are writing, therefore creating a tighter link between the paper and your mind. Whereas with typing, you can often type verbatim what you are hearing, all while not even fully registering what you are typing. 

Obviously, there are definitely times when typing is much more efficient— can you even imagine hand writing that 100 page dissertation for your doctorate degree?! No thank you! But the art of writing by hand has its place as well. Receiving a hand written note from someone you love is so much more meaningful than having them send a text or an email. It also becomes a treasure years down the road to be able to see your grandparents’ handwriting or your kindergartener’s first sentence written out. Handwriting also goes a long way when teaching kids the early foundations of literacy. 

So even though we are becoming more and more digital today, let’s make sure we don’t lost the art of handwriting, for it seems that if we do, it could be detrimental to the way we process written text. Literacy quite literally depends on it!

If you’d like to read the article referenced above, you can find it here.

Lambert, J. (2024, May 11). Why writing by hand beats typing for thinking and learning. NPR. https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2024/05/11/1250529661/handwriting-cursive-typing-schools-learning-brain 

Posted on

Halloween Activities for Language Arts

It’s no secret how much I enjoy holiday-themed activities! They just bring such a fun element to a lesson and spark so much creativity. Even though we typically think of holiday themed activities as being targeted toward elementary aged kids, you can easily bring them into any content area and any grade level simply by modifying the difficulty of the activity.

Thought I can appreciate all content areas, English/Language Arts is my favorite, since that is what I spent many years teaching. And since we are nearing Halloween, I thought it would be appropriate to share some fun Halloween themed Language Arts activities! 

(Most of these will be geared more toward junior high aged kids, but can be modified for other grade levels as well.)

  • Read some “spooky” stories or poems. Edgar Allen Poe is always a good option for this time of year. In particular, “Tell Tale Heart” is a stellar choice for junior high students. Other options include “The Hitchhiker” by Lucille Fletcher, “The Most Dangerous Game” by Richard Connell, or “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” by Washington Irving. Did you know Roald Dahl even has some spooky short stories?!
  • Ask students to write a descriptive paragraph or two giving detailed descriptions of a haunted house. Have them trade papers with a classmate and have them create a physical model (drawing, painting, cut and glue, etc.) of the haunted house using what is written.
  • Have students write a personal narrative about their favorite Halloween or a favorite family Halloween tradition.
  • Have students write and illustrate a simple Halloween children’s book.
  • Have students write a persuasive piece defending their right to still trick-or-treat.
  • Using the free “Roll A Story” printable below, have students write a short story using the elements their dice rolls choose for them.

Play some fun Halloween music while your students work on one or more of these delightful Halloween themed activities, and you’ve easily set up a fun work environment for your students to work in! Teenagers might put up a front that they are “too old” for things like this, but deep down, they love it and will eat it right up when given the chance! 

** This printable is free, and is intended for home or classroom use only. Please do not resell, repost, or claim as your own. **

Roll A Story HalloweenDownload
Posted on

This or That?

Sometimes kids get a little mixed up when trying to understand the difference between fact and opinion. In their minds, their opinions make sense, and seem like fact to them. They often cannot grasp the idea that other people might think differently or have different preferences. A fun way to introduce the concept of opinion is by using “would you rather” or “this or that” type activities. 

In order for students to understand that people can have differing opinions, they need to see and hear it. Students need to also be able to defend their opinion with more than just a “because I like it” as their reasoning. If given a choice between the ocean and the mountains, and the ocean is chosen, the student should be able to explain what it is about the ocean that they prefer. 

To help you with this activity, I’ve created a worksheet for you download for free! I’ve made two different worksheets— one to be used as a writing assignment, and the other to be used as a math assignment. 

On the writing worksheet, you will find several pairs of words. Have students read through each pair and circle which of the two words in the pair they prefer. Then, have them choose three (or more if you want) of their choices to defend. On the back of the worksheet, have them write a short paragraph about why they prefer the word they circled, giving concrete examples and solid details. 

On the math worksheet, you will find the same pairs of words. Again, have students read through each pair and circle which of the two words they prefer. Next, students will ask each classmate what word they circled, then put a tally mark next to the corresponding word. Once they have asked all of their classmates, they will total the tallies for each word, then fill in the bar graph accordingly. Finally, students will write three questions that could be answered using the data displayed on the bar graph. 

If neither the math or the writing worksheet fits your needs, you can always just use the “This or That” pairs as an ice breaker or conversation starter. It’s also an excellent self-starter for the beginning of class or a time filler when you have just a few extra minutes left in class.

However you use it, I hope you enjoy it! As always, my downloadable worksheets are strictly for classroom or personal use only. Please do not resell, repost, or claim as your own.

This or That-2Download
Posted on

Reading: Worth the Fight

We’re just over a week into the new school year, and one of my kids has already pushed back over required reading time. For the past several years, his teachers have set a required time for reading every night, ranging from 20-30 minutes. As an avid reader and former teacher, I’ve obviously been on board with these daily reading requirements. It’s a no-brainer for me. 

This year, however, his teacher won’t be assigning a specific amount of time or number of pages to read each night. Instead, students have a chart on their school computers where they can log any minutes they read, though it’s not a requirement or an assignment. Naturally, my son took that to mean, “I can read for even just one minute and put that in my log!” Fourth graders, right?! You can imagine his dismay when I told him that even though his teacher wasn’t going to assign reading time, my husband and I were. Despite his nightly protests, we have held strong to this boundary, and most nights, after his 30 minutes are up, he asks if he can read just a little bit more— and who am I to say no to that?!

You might wonder why I choose to pick this battle. After all, it would be much easier to give up the fight and not have to listen to the whining and protesting every night. I’d probably even gain “cool mom” status with my son if I didn’t have him read. But honestly, I am not out to win “cool mom” status, and pushing through the whining is 100% worth it to me. 

You see, I’ve encountered so many teenagers who struggle to read. Kids who really are very smart and capable, but just are not where they “should” be in regards to reading. Kids who are terrified to read out loud in front of their peers because they are not confident in their reading abilities. One way to combat this is to have kids read regularly— even a short 15 minutes a day can make a world of a difference in reading ability. 

Reading goes so far beyond opening a book and following along. It opens doorways to many other skills! Reading increases vocabulary, improves writing skills, boosts confidence, encourages imagination, and increases knowledge, among other benefits. Reading is a life long skill. I know not everyone will continue to pick up a novel and read as adults, but the foundational skills gained through reading in the younger years are vital. Even on days I don’t pick up a book to read for fun, I am still reading things all day long— a menu at a restaurant, a recipe as I cook dinner, the labels on food at the store, road signs, texts, social media posts, and so on. The ability to read is one that cannot be put on the back burner. 

In order for young kids to become better readers, they must keep reading. If someone wanted to be a better football player, they would continue to play football. The same goes for reading. It is simply a skill that must not be ignored. I might even go as far as to say that reading is one of the most important skills that can be learned. It is, after all, something that is used in every other subject they will learn. It is a skill that they will use no matter what career path they use. 

So the next time your child or one of your students complains about reading time, remind them that you are actually helping them— Helping them become better readers, writers, thinkers, and doers, because reading is the key to opening doors to the future.

Posted on

Dear Teacher: An Introductory Assignment

My last post was full of ice breaker and getting to know you ideas that involved the entire class. Today I wanted to share another idea for getting to know your students, but this one is done individually, and as a homework assignment.

Because I was an English teacher, this assignment worked particularly well for my class, but it can work just as well for any other content area. The assignment was called “Dear Teacher” and was a chance for students to write a letter to me. I gave them suggestions about what they could tell me, but also left it open for them to choose the content of their letter. 

Some of the suggested topics included:

  • Favorite food
  • Favorite subject
  • Favorite music, movie, book, actor/actress, show
  • Family— how many siblings, things they like to do, etc.
  • Friends— who their friends are, what they like to do together, etc.
  • Favorite vacations they’ve been on
  • Things they did over the summer
  • What they’re looking forward to about this new school year
  • Goals they may have
  • Their feelings about reading & writing (or whatever your content area may be)
  • Anything else they felt like telling me

I also required the assignment to be hand written (this gave me a glimpse into their grammar and spelling skills since they weren’t using a computer with spell/grammar check), and required the length to be about 1- 1.5 pages long. I wanted it long enough for them to tell me about themselves, but not so long that I was reading these letters for the rest of my days!

This assignment was always so fun to get back from students. I loved learning about them! Beyond the “getting to know you” objective of the assignment, these letters also gave me insight into their writing style, grammar/spelling skills, handwriting, and personalities. Another thing I really liked about this assignment was that, because I had assured them I wasn’t going to be sharing their letters with other students, it allowed students to be completely honest and open. I had students open up and tell me about difficulties at home, friend struggles, learning struggles, and so on. It let them know right off the bat that I was a safe person who had their best interests in mind. 

The “Dear Teacher” letter was always just a participation grade, which was a great way to start off the year. It was a low-stakes, no pressure assignment to ease them into graded writing that would come later. 

So while this assignment was really quite simple, it accomplished much more than surface level formalities. 

What kind of assignments do you give your students to start the year?