Workshop Wednesday: Writing Tips

Wow, it's been a LONG time since I've been able to link up with Jivey (which is sad because she has SO many great ideas and has become one of my go-to people), but I really wanted to make sure I joined in this week for some writing tips.

I'm not sure about you, but writing is something I've always struggled to teach. I love doing it and actually wanted to be an author growing up (still do), but it's SO scary to teach. Plus, when I was in 4th grade and we didn't have a writing SOL, it was one of the first things that I cut ::hangs head in shame:: because of time. Now that I'm the reading specialist, I don't get as much of a chance to do writing. HOWEVER, I now work with 5th grade students who DO have a writing SOL, and it's coming up quickly. Eeek!! So I have been working writing practice in to help them get there, especially since we've lost a lot of days because of snow.

Long story short, I want to share a quick little tip that I will be going more in depth with next week, so stay tuned! We had this FABULOUS speaker, Fred Wolff, come to our school over the summer and again last week to share some great ideas and lessons for Six Traits Writing that we just implemented in our school. When he came last week, he actually taught a lesson in each grade level, and the teachers observed the lessons. I got to see the 5th grade lesson on sentence fluency, and it was FANTASTIC! So simple, but the students were engaged the entire time.

Like I said, though, I will share more next week. Today I want to give my quick tip. Fred read one page from Harris and Me (the scene with the pancakes, if you're familiar with the book).

Students just listened the first time. It's a GREAT excerpt to teach "exploding the moment" as well, and he did that with us over the summer. It made me want to read the book (but I haven't had a chance yet). Anyway, after we heard it once, he read it again and had us stop him after the first word in each sentence. One student wrote them on the board. We discussed how his beginnings were varied and circled some words that students didn't usually use for beginnings (with, in, etc). Then he gave the kids 5 "power" words to start sentences. I don't remember them exactly, but these are the five that I've been using with my kids:

He suggested as young as 1st grade having a "When Week", where students create tons of sentences starting with "when". Then go through each word doing the same thing. Already, I've noticed that my students are beginning to think outside of the box instead of starting every sentence with "I" or "The"!

What's your writing tip?