Fun Ways to Start Writing Stories
Scaffolding

In the first semester, we were developing our G3 students' literacy skills with the help of the Daily 5 routines. Our students were very enthusiastic when it came to reading, but often the drive faded when it was time to switch to writing activities. We discussed this situation during our planning meetings and came to the conclusion that our students need more structure to be successful in their writing tasks. We also tried to select a variety of simple yet powerful fun writing activities that could be completed in a short period of time to not interrupt the order of our Daily 5 routines. 

Here are some ideas for novice story writers.

Four Corners Activity

Students used this graphic organizer. 

www.thisreadingmama.com

Four students modeled the whole procedure in front of the class. Each student had to think of a character, setting, problem and solution. Then one of the students volunteered to retell the whole story to the class.

After that, the students worked in 5 groups of four people. The timer was set and they had only 10 minutes to create their stories. All 5 groups successfully completed the collaborative task and one of the group members retold the story to the class.

When reflecting on the activity, we said that it was just a framework for a story and adding description and details will make the story much better.

The grafic organizer could also be used as a plan for the retellling of read stories and also as a plan for writing stories.

Five Columns Activity

Here is one more graphic organizer that will help your students create a fun story in 7 minutes. If you model it with a group, you will see the fireworks of ideas and hear even more suggestions and solutions than you need to fill the five columns with. The graphic organizer can be downloaded from www.thecorriculuncorner.com  .

Yannis had great ideas and I can't wait to read his full story.

Recording Special Memories

Here is yet another way to interest your students in writing. We all have special memories, we are fond of them and we like to share them. This grafic organizer can be used as a planner for a story or a story telling session.

www.thecorriculumcorner.com

All three activities can be completed in 10 minutes and can be followed by a sharing session. In 10 minutes the students enthusiastically create a solid story plan and are ready to move on and turn it into a short but remarkable story independently or in collaboration with each other.

End of the Term Reflections

The last week of school before the winter break is usually a busy time full of finishing up tasks, festive activities, saying good-byes, planning for the second semester, etc, etc. However, as professionals, we all have to take a moment and reflect on our teaching and building rapport with our students, collaboration with colleagues, communicating with parents and many other important components that make us EDUCATORS.

As the dictionary says: Criticism doesn't necessarily mean negative judgments, although it is commonly understood to be so. The word has a negative connotation and traditionally creates tension and stress. The connection between criticism and critical is obvious and yet professional discussions of critical thinking among educators are usually very productive, exciting and provide an opportunity for professional growth. To change the perspective and possibly to avoid stress, we as teachers should remind ourselves that critical thinking results in constructive criticism.

If you want to change the world, start with changing yourself. In order to practice critical thinking skills and reflect on the past term or semester use self-criticism.

It is crucial to practice self-criticism consistently as only the continuity will provide the broad vision and awareness of how you are doing and what kind of corrections your ability as an educator requires. Often this much-needed broad vision is replaced by following trends, fake enthusiasm, and adopting modern strategies for a brief period of time. Without a reflection routine and logical and persistent self-criticism professional development is like a bouncing ball that eventually stops by itself if no force is applied to it.

Following these four steps will provide a framework for self-criticism and personal and professional growth:

·      Be honest with yourself and state the facts clearly;

·      Focus on your emotions and thoughts about your professional performance;

·      Make conclusions and become aware of the problems and successes;

·      Take action to eliminate the problems and celebrate successes.

Tatiana Stadnitski