Idea Stretching Writing Strategies
When you need to break up a long writing project, literature study, or research paper with a day or two of isolated writing experiences, you might try one of these strategies:
1. Utilize one of Linda Rief’s 100 Quickwrites. This book includes 100 short passages, poems, and stories that each includes follow-up writing topics or prompts. These are especially good for secondary grade-levels. Click on the titles below to view excerpts from the book.
2. Have students pretend to “be” an inanimate object for 30 minutes. This is a great approach to work on imaginary writing thatincludes personification and targets the trait of voice.
Heidi Lehman at South Adams Middle School takes her students on silent field trips through the building. With clipboards in hand, she walks them to the stage, and gives them a 30-minute, on-demand writing topic. (You are a mouse on the stage. Describe a typical day in your life.) The next day, the topic might lead them to the cafeteria. (You are a French fry on the cafeteria floor. Describe your day.) Heidi suggests that the teacher participates in the 30-minute writing prompt, too. This makes you unavailable for students to access; hence more like the test-writing genre. After each day’s writing, she reads through the first drafts quickly to identify a quick mini-lesson focus for the next day’s silent field trip writing. Download a complete list of Heidi Lehman’s Writing Field Trip Topics.
