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Writing Ideas


     So, you've given the students free writing time. FREE writing time! They can write about anything they want! It's the greatest gift you could give them. Yet, you still have those few (we all do) that insist they have nothing to write about. Which is OK. Some students need that prompt. They need that beginning sentence to open their minds to the twenty that follow.
     I've recently added to the classroom a mason jar filled with writing ideas for just such an occasion. Every time I offer free writing time, it never fails that one or two students complain of nothing to write about. It works great with blogging, as well. Every once in a while students are given days to choose their own posts (this week being one) and same as with journaling, some students can't always think of an idea. Now, the jar sits full of random writing prompts that scale from simple ideas of the perfect weekend to being stranded on a mountain with no shoes. Really, the ideas are endless, and it requires little to no work for the teacher. I had a mason jar at home I brought in to fill up and spent a few minutes browsing Pinterest for prompts. The most extensive part was writing out each of the prompts, and even that didn't take too long. Side note: writing them isn't even necessary, I just chose that option. Filling it up all the way isn't even necessary. As you can see in the pictures, I filled mine about halfway, letting students know if they had ideas of their own they could add them to the jar (which many students did).
     One of the great things about having the Writing Ideas Jar in the classroom is it puts responsibility on the student to find and create a prompt. I love making students take responsibility for their own learning! Below, I've listed some of the websites I borrowed ideas from so you can get ideas from them as well. Don't forget to thank the awesome creators for sharing their work!

Stress Relieving Prompts - This post had amazing suggestions to share with students. It focused on being happy, healthy, and stress free. Something I wish for all my students to be.

Deep Thinking Prompts - This post shares suggestions for getting students thinking. Particularly, these prompts ask students to think about themselves and their lives.

Fun, Easy Prompts - This post shares simple, easy prompts that any student could use and answer. They revolve around every day things the students are doing and seeing.

If you have any questions or ideas to share, please feel free to message :)

                                                                                                                 With love,
💜Ms. Haury
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Comments

  1. AnonymousSeptember 26, 2017 at 10:00 AM

    I usually like the prompts, but sometimes I just want to write about my own thing. Even if you put something down for the whole class to write about, sometimes I don't really want to or there's not much to say about it. Of course, that doesn't mean I won't do it, but sometimes I have some exciting and fun experiences of my own going on! >^w^< ( It's a cat with whiskers.)

    ReplyDelete
  2. Ms. Haury's Blog LogSeptember 28, 2017 at 10:41 AM

    Thank you for commenting Clementine! I'm glad you shared your thoughts, and I love giving you time to write about them. Don't forget, along with time spent during class writing, you can always talk about your exciting and fun experiences in a blog post. I would love to read about more of them in the future. :)

    ReplyDelete
  3. AnonymousOctober 13, 2017 at 11:31 AM

    I love promps because they get me thinking

    ReplyDelete

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