Dear Letters
Skills/Focus: Multiple Perspectives, Developing Voice, Descriptive Writing
To introduce this assignment I show the Dear Kitten Series by Buzzfeed. These immediately grab my students' attention and have been a favorite! After the video, we discuss point of view and the purpose behind the letters. Next, I challenge students to write their own letters. Here are the directions I give:
Instructions
- Pick an inanimate object or animal.
- Pick audience (who/what), Nontypical context (i.e. Instead of animal in the wild, what about animal in a zoo?)
- Write a letter giving advice to something else (point of view)
- Make the setting specific and interesting. (i.e. marker in PreK class on the 1st day of school)
- Select picture to capture the message/mood of letter. Use ookaboo.com or pixabay.com
Here are few student examples:
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| Image Source: Pixabay.com |
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| Image Source: Pixabay.com |
Two Sentence Stories
Skills/Focus: Storytelling, Vocabulary, Summarizing
I modified this assignment based on the article, 20 terrifying Two-Sentence Stories. I came across this article on Facebook and shared only those samples that were school appropriate. Students created their own stories based on the following guidelines:
1. Choose a genre (i.e. Adventure, Epic, Romantic, Mystery, Scary, etc.)
2. Condense a story into two sentences. Choose your words wisely!
3. Select a picture to use as an illustration or cover for your story. Use ookaboo.com or pixabay.com
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| Image Source: Pixabay.com |
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| Image Source: Pixabay.com |
Scary Stories in 5 Words
Skills/Focus: Storytelling, Vocabulary, Context This prompt was inspired by a Twitter hashtag. I found this humorous trend appear in my feed and thought why not use it to insert some humor into writing! I recommend to not use actual hashtags in the event that there are inappropriate examples. So to make this more school appropriate I selected a few samples to share.
The internet is down worldwide.
Imagine a world without pizza.
There is no wifi here.
Whatever you do, don't move.
I am telling on you.
Tips for Student Writing
Although all final products are posted online, I encourage students to use whatever method works for them as they are brainstorming and writing their first draft. While some students choose to use a graphic organizer/thinking maps, others can doodle or take notes on a piece of paper. Most my students have chosen to draft using Google Docs, so I encourage the use of add ons and tools to assist them. I am moving towards collaborative editing "teams" where students will need to "hire/contract" their own peers to assist in the editing process. It is important that as a teacher I am not the only individual giving feedback for student writing. Finally, student work is displayed either on our class blog or class Twitter account to share with a global audience.
Hi Ms. Deyamport, Kyle again, form EDM310 at South Alabama. I really enjoyed this post. I really loved the 5 word stories. I had not seen that on Twitter, but will have to go check it out. It's cool to see how creative the kids can get in just 5 words. "Imagine a world without pizza." I don't want to! The examples of the "Dear Letters" were great, too. The laptop to computer one was really creative. Thanks for posting these. It's really fun to see something new and interesting for the kids. I will definitely be using the 5 word stories when I get my classroom.
ReplyDeleteHi Kyle,
DeleteThanks for your comment. We have enjoyed these writing prompts. I think it's important for students to have fun with their writing. We have more coming up, so stay tuned.
Elle
All of these writing assignments are different from what I have ever been assigned, but in a positive way. These assignments promote higher thinking, in my opinion. I am a student at the University of South Alabama where I plan to get my degree in secondary education. I hope to teach middle school English. These writing assignments that you have shared are great to assign for any age and can me modified to meet certain standards or meet a grade level criteria. I also really like how you have incorporated technology into your classroom, which I plan to do also when I start teaching.
ReplyDeleteHi Taylor,
DeleteI agree that my approach is very different that what is done in the traditional writing curriculum. I feel that my students need to apply their knowledge in interesting and novel ways, so I figured a social media twist would be interesting. Feel free to explore my blog for more ideas that incorporate technology.
Thanks for stopping by!
Elle
These assignments were fun and interactive. When I become a teacher I will probably refer back to this blog and incorporate them in my own classroom. I had never heard of Google classroom before. This seems like a useful resource to use in the classroom that helps organize and store all your students assignments. Great blog post Mrs. Deyamport!!
ReplyDeleteHi Justin,
DeleteGoogle Classroom is sort of like a Learning Management System (LMS) but much simpler. It was just launched in September and we have enjoyed using it. I highly recommend you into utilizing an LMS for digital content- it helps keep you and your students organized!
Thank you for your comment,
Elle
I really enjoyed this post on how social media inspired the different styles of writing prompts that you assigned to your students. These writing assignments were very different and they let the students be creative in what they want to say. I will definitely be using these writing prompts in my classroom once I become a teacher.
ReplyDelete