Motivating Through Writing Jazz up your curriculum with Creative Writing

Creative writing What makes writing creative? How is that different from other writing? Is creative writing without form? Totally free form?

What are the types (genres)? Poetry Memoir (using anecdotes from your life) Fiction A. Short Story B. Novel Drama One-act or three-act Screen plays Le

Are you a poet?

Let’s try writing poetry Can you do that? Have you ever written poetry? You will do it now. What do you need? Pen and paper Add imagination….  

Start with Haiku Who Am I? In a pouch I grow, On a southern continent -- Strange creatures I know.

What’s the form Poetry has forms; The sonnet has 14 lines, carefully rhymed. Haiku doesn’t have to be rhymed but it has a certain amount of syllables

I am first with five Then seven in the middle Five again to end.

More haiku Who am I Green and speckled legs, Hop on logs and lily pads Splash in cool water. Who am I? Write a haiku about a certain animal but don't mention the animal's name

Many hairy legs I crawl fast around my space People don’t like me.

Who am I I have four strong legs. Hairy or fuzzy my skin I like to bark too.

Now: Pair Sharing Many ways to do this. Think/Write/Pair/Share Think/Pair/Share/Write/Share again. Why is this process good???? (I wait for them to think.

Pair with someone and share your haiku. Did you use the right amount of syllables? Count them. That is the form.

Other haiku Beaches Sand scatters the beach Rough waves crash on the seashore Deep water shimmers Snowflakes Snowflakes are our friends They descend when winter comes. Making white blankets

Write another haiku Using any idea or topic Peace, friends, Joy, et cetera

Share again

Poetry is easy Let’s try an even easier poetry form: Acrostic poems: Sun, you are bright and shiny Under the sky so blue Nothing is brighter than you.

How to write an acrostic Choose any word: your name, or anything you want to describe, like the sun poem. Choose any word: Use the letters in the topic word to begin each line. All lines of the poem must relate to or describe the topic word.

Using a name Silent when others are talking I want to be… Silent when others are talking Absolutely active in my life Love is what I hope for all Always looking to help Magnetic in my dealing with others.

Now It’s your turn You write one…

Share your acrostic poem

Please find a way for Everyone to get along… A C E

Pair share again Poems easy to write? Now we are all poets.

Now what?

“You don’t quit playing because you get old. Play and Write “You don’t quit playing because you get old. You get old because you quit playing.”

A Motivating Creative Activity Get in groups of 4-5. We will give you objects and cards. As a group, create a story, using the objects; plan that each group member will say something. Don’t write. Tell this story to another group, holding up the objects as they play their parts in the story.

If this were a real class, I would break up your groups and have each student write the story individually… they could change any details and even big parts, but stick to the main story.

GRADING OR NON-GRADING “I can’t ask them to write often because it is too hard to grade all those papers.” Does a soccer coach grade every move that a player makes? Writing is a skill and it needs practice, practice, practice.

Why non-graded? An ungraded exercise is valuable: It lets students communicate their thoughts without fear of judgment of any kind. It says to them that their MESSAGE has value.

The assignment does matter Look for topics that they can care about.

Topics for Writing What is the most exciting career? The most boring? What do you want to do as a career? Why?Describe a good friend. Write about your main interest: fishing, soccer players, art, the sea, the souk, business, camels, the season you like the best and why. Agriculture?

Error Correction Give many many short assignments for them to increase their fluency. Without the fear of being graded, they will write more. Again: Use topics that they are interested in. Use short papers often, even daily and have them share with a partner. If they really want to, they can give it to you

You don’t have to… Mark every comma or misspelling they make. They will learn through practice. On a page-long paper, mark one particular error, like Verb forms or sentence structure. THEN make a positive comment at the bottom. Don’t be negative… that will silence their will to write.

Shocking idea… You don’t have to read every paper. Just so someone reads it. Peer Reading… Pair/share.

Any Questions myrtis101@mac.com

Wallet Talk/Write A popular activity… almost like a warm up. Look in your wallet/hand bag Find something that has meaning for you. Anything… I model something in my bag.. (cell phone)… take something out of my bag… cell phone?

Now I will model …. I choose ……. Now I will write about it. Go to the document where I will write right in front of them. Now you write

Keep writing… at least 10 sentences… don’t worry about grammar, spelling, anything. Now share with a person next to you.

What did you learn from this exercise? Write, then read Discuss with partner What did you learn from this exercise? Writing before sharing…. How does it change the talk? GIVE THEM TIME to talk with partner about this.

The end Myrtis Mixon San Francisco, California, USA myrtis101@mac.com Riomediagroup.com/blanche35now

Why use goals? Helps motivate learning Keeps the learner on task Helps the learner see the reason for a task. List one long-term and one short term goal, on your worksheet. Count off to have a partner. Now: share your goals with a partner.

Back to Writing What types of writing do we ask students to do? What do you ask your students to do? Share with your partner. Share with your partner… What do you ask your students to do?

What does research say? Students studying English as a foreign language spend less than 5% of their time on writing of any kind. A high percentage (as much as 90%) do no writing in English (except for fill-in-the-blanks).

Goals What is your goal for this session? My Goals: To share 15 strategies to motivate Ss to write. To learn more strategies from you. To energize you into wanting to let them write. They write Goals and then share with a partner

What Types of Writing Foursomes: pair up with another pair. Discuss: WRITE: What kind of writing did you do when you studied English? 2. What kind of writing do you ask your students to do? I ask for their ideas and write on big easel board. I list what they shout out…

What types of writing do I teach? I have been a writing teacher for longer than 30 years….university, high school, elementary, both to native speakers, second language learners and English as a foreign language

Journal Writing What is that? Self-talk? Can be about what you read Can be about what you think Can be about any subject Journal writing can be creative. In one of my classes, I ask them to journal about every reading assignment. Sometimes it is a preparation for a bigger writing assignment. PERHAPS I ASK THEM to ‘journal’ right now about their own personal attitude about writing in EL classes. Some of you may be skeptical about whether it is worthwhile to do this.

Now you ‘journal’ Write about what you think about writing, what you think about your having to write, about having your students write. Will it be difficult to do this? What will the problems be. This is all about your thinking… Keep going. This is free writing but with a focus.

Summary Writing When do we summarize? What do we summarize? Is it a simple skill? When we answer: what was the book about? What was the movie about? What did you do yesterday? Some students think this is really simple. It is not

When do you use summaries? When is the last time you were asked to summarize something? What did you do last night? Have you seen any good films or TV shows lately? What was it about? Have you read any good books lately? Tell me about it. How did you make that? How did you do that? Every day. People ask each other these questions all the time. We do this verbally every day. Include: a general statement answering the question: I saw a thrilling movie last night. It was about …. The hero did this and then that….

Essay Writing Do your students write essays? What is an essay? “A short composition on a single subject, usually presenting the personal view of the author.” An essay does need support for the opinion. Support can be examples, details, statistics… French for ‘try”. Opinion… but supported

Research Writing When are we expected to do this? Why do we research anything? Do you ask your students to do any research? What do they research? Can you make it more interesting? How do they do research? What sort of subjects do they research Would it be a good idea to make it interesting to students?... Surveys? Interviews? Could they do personal research? Online research?

What else? Is there another type of writing that we haven’t mentioned? CREATIVE WRITING

Let’s compare: How are they different? Journal Writing (self talk) When is this creative? Summary Writing (telling any story; summing up) Essay Writing (persuasion about a subject, idea) Research Writing (supporting our ideas) Creative Writing ??? Have these fly in when I touch…. Journal… self talk… can be about anything

Types of Creative Writing What kinds of creative writing have you written? What kinds of creative writing have you asked students to do. Share with a partner or in a foursome Talk with partner/s… in pair or foursome again?

Reading and Writing are linked 1. You have to read what you write 2. Also, often, we want someone to read what we write. Do we learn how to write better by reading what others write? Writing and reading are two sides of a coin How could #3 be true?.

So? We know what it is… But how to get started? Think/observe… then free write? Or, choose a model to imitate? Slowly from one to the next…

Non-Stop Writing A reading. Read and then answer: WHAT DO YOU THINK? (for one minute) NOW: NON-STOP WRITE You write on a topic without stopping, similar to free writing. In class, non-graded, timed writing on an assigned topic---without stopping. Use “think-three” rule: support the statement with at least three reasons, all explained in narrative form Why do a writing assignment that is non-graded?  

Write–back Associated with Nonstop Writing Student could write a letter to the author of a reading or to some other person connected with the reading – past, present or future, real or fictional. (Write-back to the author of a story, poem, non-fiction piece) Nonstop Writing gives students practice in timed writing.

Observation or Remembering Memoir or Anecdote Read an example: An Occasion at the Bus Station A time when someone else taught you a lesson about sharing?

Can you think of a time when you learned something from an ‘occasion’? For example: A time when you were wrong about something? A time when you were not kind. A time when you saw someone being kind to someone who was different? A time when you changed when confronted by circumstances. A time when someone taught you about sharing? Go to next page

HOW TO DO IT? MEMOIR … Anecdote Choose a focus or start with an observation A. Brainstorm (alone or with partner) B. Spider gram C. Freewrite D. Share E. Freewrite again

Anecdote, memoir, short story? How is this anecdote different from a short short story? An anecdote (memoir) is usually true but it isn’t that different from some stories.

WRITING FICTION… ELEMENTS OF FICTION Character Plot Point of View Description Dialog Setting/Pacing Voice LOOK at these elements in relation to the anecdote.

A Simple Reading

What comes first? In language teaching… Listening? Speaking? Reading? Writing? So, one would think that you have to listen, speak, and read before you can write? Is this true? Is this the order in which we learn our first language? Our second language?

Your writing Read what you wrote to your partner. Who goes first? The person with the brightest clothes? The longest hair? The shortest person? The older person? The person who travelled farther to get here? The person closer to the front door? A way to vary who talks first….. Give them 5 minutes for this. Could you use this in class? What did you learn from this exercise?

Acrostics Another easy type of poetry.

Thank You Myrtis101@mac.com Riomediagroup.com/blanche35now