Slice of Life: Some Topic Tips #SOL20 #TWTBlog
You make it look so easy.
How do you connect with kids you don’t know?
Every student had a topic before they left the rug, how did you do that?
How did you know they would connect to those topics?
It was so lucky the topic you modeled was one they knew about.
What’s the trick? How do you get kids started writing so easily?
Teachers ask me these questions every day after I “fake teach” in a demonstration lesson. I do call it “fake teaching” because I believe true teaching happens over many moments in time. I do, however, think “fake teaching” has taught me a strategy or two when it comes to getting kids going with writing. Here are my go-to tips:
1) Google search the school location: I always look for what is in the area – parks, favorite ice cream spot, a farm or a bike path. What things in the area might spark a story?
2) Take a quick scan of t-shirts when you enter the room: I think about what they are wearing and how it might connect with a story – sports fan, a special place, favorite color or hobby …
3) Look around the room: What are they studying? Was there a recent field trip? What seems to be engaging them as a class?
4) Plan for copying: I think about the season. I think about common things I do in this season and I think about common things they might do. I balance the topics I plan to share through my writing with the student writing and professional writing I plan to share. I hope to connect with as many writers as possible by sharing a wide range of topics. I listen to students share ideas and purposefully share ideas that are different to provide a wider range of examples. I am fine with them copying me and other writers to get started. In fact, I plan for them to copy in the beginning.
5) Honor the process: As a writer, I believe that finding a topic is a part of the process. It doesn’t worry me if it takes a student a bit of time to choose a topic. For many writers, that is the biggest step and I think sometimes we do not recognize the work required in finding one’s topic. I also think young writers resort too quickly with, “I don’t have a topic.” I think what they are really saying is, “I haven’t committed to a topic yet.” I find when I clarify this for them, the difference between having nothing to write about and not ready to commit to a topic, it reduces stress levels. Young writers need to know that they are not committing for life to this topic – it may just be for one lesson or one draft.
Providing time for students to write with purpose and meaning every day is the best tip of all. As teachers, we need to trust that the more they write the easier it will be for them. I know for me that is the case, in the meantime, try some of these tips. They never let me down!
Thank you, Betsy, Beth, Marina, Kathleen, Kelsey, Lanny, Melanie, and Stacey for this weekly forum from Two Writing Teachers. Check out the writers, readers, and teachers here.
