Teaching Writing – Brainstorming
Some may feel that writing is one of the most cumbersome subjects to teach. For some students, topics are too abstract and for others, they have no idea where to begin. Through careful planning, you can make your students feel at ease and comfortable enough to take that writing risk. In this step of the writing process, I talk about brainstorming and how beneficial it can be with students.
My first blog post on teaching writing beginning with group work can be found here. I would check it out before reading below.
Brainstorming
The students can use their ideas and experiences from their group work to help think of ideas. Right away, students are already more confident!
Next, it’s time to ease into the topic the students will write about. After introducing the new writing topic, as a class, I brainstorm possible ideas with the whole class. Before beginning, I’ll have the class think about the new topic and brainstorming questions for 3-5 minutes, allowing them to jot some ideas down in their writers notebooks if they would like. Some students need time to process what is asked and to gather their own ideas. When coming back together as a class, I’ll display a graphic organizer on a smart or digital board, write ideas down on a smart board / dry erase board, or use a document camera to list ideas.
In this spring writing example, individually or in groups to begin writing (Step 1). Now, students will gather ideas based upon the card they drew on what is “raining” from the sky. Students or groups can either draw a picture or draw and write individually or in a group. You could even gather large construction paper and have the students draw even larger pictures!
The next step (look at the picture below), the class will gather as a group and come up with a big list of possible writing ideas. You will want to write down as many ideas as possible / appropriate. Remember, this can be done using your white board, smart or active board, or paper with a document camera. You will want to save this for the next step!
You can choose to have the students write this down, however I rather keep the students focus on gathering possible writing ideas and not writing this down. When brainstorming as a class or small group, I will often write the ideas for them so I can share it with all the students later. This can be done by displaying them on a digital board, document camera, or share via Google Classroom (such an amazing free resource for teachers. Comment below if you would like to see how I use it). For reluctant writers, this idea list will be extremely useful for them. It will give them a starting point for them to brainstorm their own ideas.
Calls to Action
– What are some ways that you brainstorm before beginning writing?
– Check out Step 1 – Group Activity
– Check out other writing units here
Itís hard to come by knowledgeable people about this subject, but you sound like you know what youíre talking about! Thanks