How I
Spent My Summer Vacation.
It was a good
way to start pulling us away from the carefree days of our break and back to
the task at hand. This old essay is still a good way to start the school
year. It is a creative way for your
students to write nonfiction that does not need any research. And it
is a way to get the creative juices flowing again.
Teachers hope to see more than just a laundry
list of summer activities. I like to
encourage young writers to think about an original way to approach this essay.
I connect with students by providing interactive videoconferences
with schools all over the country. One
of my favorites is a program I titled
Where Ideas Come
From:
Brainstorming with a Nonfiction Author
Teachers and students like this session because it is
helpful and lots of fun. It is truly
audience participation because I believe that to model what I’m teaching them
about brainstorming-we need to actually brainstorm together. Live and on the spot. Yep, it is risky. I never know what they will say-or worse if
they will clam up and say nothing. So far, so good. Every time I’ve done this program the
students had lots to say!
What I want to do with my students is to model how they can
take a mundane topic and put their own unique spin on it. I
encourage them to think “out of the box”.
Sometimes in this session students come up with amazing creative
ideas. Yessss!! The goal is
accomplished!
My session goes something like this:
When asked to brainstorm for ideas on an essay on How I
Spent My Summer Vacation, most students will come up with the usual suspects:
I was out of
school
I slept late
I went swimming
I went on a trip
I visited family
I watched TV and
movies
All these are
great places to start. Now let’s take
these ideas to the next level. Reality
is that in classrooms there are kids with a wide variety of experiences. Some vacationed on sandy beaches while others
stayed home alone all summer.
Great writing doesn’t depend on having extraordinary life experiences. . .
it depends on putting a unique spin on
ordinary life experiences.
Carla Killough McClafferty
Let’s start with
the students who stayed home all summer and played basketball in their own
neighborhood. If they wanted to write about this, the following questions could generate something
to focus on in an essay.
Did you learn a
new basketball skill?
How did you learn
it?
Did someone teach
you?
A new
friend? An old friend? A brother, uncle, father, sister?
Did you win a
game against someone for the first time?
Did you have a
hot streak and make many baskets in a row?
For a student who
played ball all summer, suddenly their essay could include friendship, family
relationships, competition, or how they improved their skills.
www.morgefile.com |
How about the
student who traveled to the beach? A
little brainstorming could bring up some possibilities on how to go a different
direction with their essay.
Did you travel by
car, plane, or train?
Did something
interesting happen on the way there?
Did you make up
your own travel games?
Did you devise a
way to keep your brother from bothering you?
Did you get car
sick?
Did you see a
dolphin? A shark?
Did you walk on the beach and
find a neat shell, or stone, or glass?
Did you learn to
swim?
Or try to surf?
Build a
sandcastle?
Find a tidal
pool?
Suddenly, the
essay can be more than going on a trip to the beach. It could be about family relationships,
building a fort in the sand, watching a sand crab, walking on the beach at
night, or learning to do something new.
No matter what, students
can bring something unique to their own essay because each one is unique.
So with a fresh school year upon us, let's brainstorm!
If you want to
learn more about my videoconferences, contact me through carlamcclafferty.com
or go to inkthinktank.com
or go to inkthinktank.com
Thanks to my fellow TAs for beginning our back to school
posts with a bang. Esther Hershenhorn
reviewed Kate Messner’s book Real Revision which sounds like a great way to get
the creative juices flowing as the back to school season begins.
JoAnn Early Macken started it off with a post about how to Write a Poem
Step by Step. And don’t forget to enter the book giveaway. You might be the
lucky winner of a copy of this excellent book by JoAnn Early Macken.
Carla Killough McClafferty
Asking questions is a wonderful way to draw out more details from student writers. Your brainstorming sessions sound like great fun!
ReplyDeleteThanks, JoAnn.
ReplyDeleteGreat activity, Carla. And I especially love your quote:
ReplyDelete>>Great writing doesn’t depend on having extraordinary life experiences. . .
it depends on putting a unique spin on
ordinary life experiences.<<