How do you get kids excited to write to a prompted topic that they know little about or care little about? For many writers, it's the lack of motivation to dive in and attack a prompt that is holding them back. Without the care-about-it factor, writings tend to lack length and voice. The students get in "git-r-done" mode and just slap some ideas on the paper to be done.

FAKE YOUR EXCITEMENT!

At a workshop in Ft. Wayne recently, Indian Springs Middle School teacher Courtney Gordon shared an outstanding idea to get students writing to a prompted topic. She and her colleagues create a scenario that each student should think of a particular boy/girl they like. They then tell the students to imagine they are hanging out at recess, or lunch, or after school, or at a ball game with this individual. The scenario continues . . . This certain person you like brings up the topic of (insert assigned prompt topic here). This is a topic you know little about (and frankly, care little about)... but you like this person, and you want to keep hanging out and talking longer. So, you fake it. You pretend to be interested. You ask questions and engage in conversation, just to prolong the time with this person. Explain to them that when they are writing to a prompt, it requires the same "fake it, till you make it" attitude.

INTRODUCE THE TEST LADY.

A second strategy to help students dive into your state's standardized writing prompt is to give them a sense of audience. I call her the Test Lady -- the old woman who reads and scores all the students' writing prompts. I want to give students a sense of a human on the other side of their writings. Without it, they assume they are writing to a machine . . . BORING!

To help your writers envision this real live audience for their writing, consider having students draw portraits of the Test Lady on 11x17 paper. Hang the individual portraits your students create within the classroom as a constant reminder that a human being is on the other end of what they will write for the state prompt.  

READING FOR DETAILS.Jan Ballard's third grade class at Lincoln Elementary thought this image best represented the ISTEP Lady.

 

SENSE OF AUDIENCE.John Stoffel's third graders thought the ISTEP Lady was older.

 

 

WANTED.Woodburn Elementary fifth graders in Staci Salzbrenner's class not only drew portraits of the ISTEP Lady but also identified what they needed to do on the test.

 

 

 

 

ILLUSTRATION.Third graders in Mary Kiningham's class at Cedarville Elementary voted on their favorite ISTEP Lady portraits. Then, they hung all of the images throughout the building for parent open house.

 

 

 

ISTEP LADY GLASSES. Instead of having her students draw portraits of the ISTEP Lady, Upland Elementary teacher Colleen Yordy (left) introduced her through the different glasses she wears. She has her Punctuation glasses that include "diamond periods" on the frames. She wears large, round glasses when she's looking for WOW words. Colleen continues on with glasses for spacing, capital letters, and sticking to the prompt topic. Each of the frames is within a pocket chart. And when students are "done" writing in her classroom, they move to the corner and put on the different glasses to check over their work, just as the ISTEP Lady would. What a great way to integrate the idea of ISTEP Lady with your students' writing process. So creative! (Pictured with Colleen are Upland teachers Terri Brooks and Debbie Small.)

 

LOST & FOUND. Bluffton-Harrison fourth grade teacher Julie Meitzler challenged students to draw their own images of the ISTEP Lady in response to news that she had "gone missing." Julie created a terrific mock newspaper article that explained the details. Thanks for sharing, Julie!
Download the Word version of the "missing" article.
Download Word version of the "found" article.

SNAPPY DRESSER.The ISTEP Lady is viewed as having serious fashion sense by Dr. Maureen Scane's class at Sunman Elementary. The fourth graders selected this portrait
as one of the class winners.

KID-LOVIN'SCORER. A fourth grader in Mary Catherine Palmer's class at Meadowbrook Elementary thought the ISTEP lady was someone who loved kids. What an unintimidating audience to write to!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

ALL AMERICAN GIRL.This is one of the winning portraits from Linda Bernhart's third grade class at Cedarville Elementary.