Category: Teacher Life

 

During a recent presentation on remixing, I shared some ideas for narrative writing prompts and had some great ideas shared back. Of course, don’t feel restricted to writing. I’m sure these could inspire lots of other creative tasks!

Prompts: Begin or End

First, read Joelle Trayers’ explanation of how she used backwards writing prompts with her young students.

Similarly, I once gave students the choice to begin or end a narrative with a prompt: the (very) short story Knock.

The last man on Earth sat alone in a room. There was a knock on the door…

Despite initial protests, the results were fantastic. Thirty-six different stories, from suspense to action to romance (!).

You could also use proverbs, idioms, or other sayings as the beginning or ending point of class narratives.

For example, let’s write a story that begins or ends with one of these sayings:

1. Curiosity killed the cat.
2. When in Rome, do as the Romans.
3. What’s good for the goose is good for the gander.

Images

Pictures are an easy way to get kids out of creative ruts. My favorite sources for visual prompts include:

• National Geographic’s Tumblr, where one image from the magazine’s photo archive is posted daily. I love these cowboys, or how about this evocative 1936 photo of a train?
• The Flickr blog, where outstanding photos are shared based on themes (try photos from the Alps, from planes, or pretty panoramas).

Harris Burdick

And finally, a few teachers at my recent OCC GATE session recommended the picture bookThe Mysteries of Harris Burdick as a way to inspire student writing.

The book features fourteen beautiful and perplexing black-and-white illustrations from the creator of Jumanji and The Polar Express. Each image is accompanied by a title and a sentence which only adds to the mystery of each page.

There is no plot. Rather, the reader is expected to create their own tale about each illustration, or try to link the strange scenes together.

Update: There are contests and examples of student writing based on Harris Burdick at thebook’s site. Thanks to Wendy on the Byrdseed Facebook page.

Fourteen professional authors (including Stephen King, Lois Lowry, and Kate DiCamillo)tried their hands at constructing stories inspired by the illustrations from Harris Burdick.