Sometimes, even though I have so many thoughts in my head, I don't always have a topic ready each day for the "Slice of Life" challenge. Like my students, I sometimes need some inspiration. Tonight, I take an idea from Aimee Buckner. In her book, Notebook Know-How: Strategies for the Writer's Notebook, she mentions a great strategy for idea generation called "Writing from a Word." With this strategy, students are encouraged to pick a word, and write about that topic for a period of time. Students write their "stream of consciousness" dealing with this topic. It's a great way for students to get their ideas on paper, and it could be a good springboard for other story ideas or sparked interest in a nonfiction topic. Tonight, I'll take this strategy and tweak it a little bit. I will still "write off of a word," but I think I'll try to write about connections to the word, and see where it takes me.
We're reading the book Wonder in class right now, so I'll start with that word...
Wonder by R.J. Palacio
We're reading the part about the 5th grade class going to a nature reserve camp...
Now I'm thinking about my 6th grade camp experience...
Camp Oty'Okwa...
With my first boyfriend...
Sitting around the campfire...
The temperatures were cold enough that we needed jackets...
Jackets make me think about how cold it was today...with the wind chill, it was nearly 18 degrees...
The high temperature yesterday was in the 60s...
Crazy weather.
I'm ready for winter to be over now. We've had such frigid temperatures and so much snow this year.
Spring will be here soon.
Spring makes me think of March.
March brings some family members' birthdays.
Birthdays mean family time and sharing...
Meals shared together.
Grilling out steaks, baked potatoes, salad, wine...
Baked potatoes make me think of potato salad...
Potato salad makes me think of summer time.
4th of July...more shared family time and memories.
My upcoming class reunion.
Seeing friends...catching up, reuniting....laughing...
Class reunions make me think of my years growing up...
Growing up, I think of my elementary school...
Elementary school makes me think of my wonderful teachers...
My teachers make me think of my Mom, who was also a teacher.
My Mom makes me think of how she helped shape me as a reader.
Reading helps me feel, relate, think, sympathize, think critically.
My love of reading is something I strive to pass along to my students every day.
Reading aloud helps me to do that.
We're reading the book Wonder in class right now...
I'll have to remember this little exercise. I'm thinking you may have discovered a few writing ideas in the process.
ReplyDeleteCathy
When you wrote about word connections it reminded me of another post called Angel Card Discussion http://www.litsite.org/index.cfm?section=Teaching-and-Learning&page=Reading-Workbooks&cat=High-School&viewpost=2&ContentId=992 I have used this strategy before it works well. I am going to give your strategy a try. Thank you for sharing.
ReplyDeleteWow, how many different thoughts this word inspired. Many of these could grow into further writing.
ReplyDeleteI agree with everyone above. You've definitely got some more writing ideas. This reminds me a bit of lifting a line that I learned from Penny Kittle at the Dublin Lit. Conference. I'm keeping your idea for a time that I'm having a difficult time thinking of what to write about and I'm going to show it to my kids tomorrow. :)
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