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Teacher Tips - Stimulate Creative Writing Ideas With Pictures

After years of writing educational articles, I've learned Two Things about topic creation: Thing One: It's sometimes hard to come up with a new slant for a tired subject. And Thing Two: Graphics are great for stimulating new ideas.

Kids have enough trouble staying interested in school work. And, lots of kids seem to have a hard time "feeling" creative for an assignment topic that doesn't interest them. Who wouldn't? Is there a way to stimulate each individual student to choose a topic to write about and yet keep the class as a group proceeding toward a satisfying conclusion?

Here's a thought for your next creative writing assignment (and it works for "kids" from pre-teens to adults): Find photos or graphics in magazines, cut 'em out (without words or captions) and pass the stack around to your students. However, don't tell them what they will be doing with the pictures. Instruct each student to choose one that appeals to him/her. When each student has his/her own picture, you can begin the creative writing process.

It's human nature: when someone chooses to notice a certain photo or graphic, his/her focus is the result of accessing a remembered experience. It's science: memories are stored holographically in our brains (what it looked like, what it sounded like, what it felt like, how we felt when we experienced it, etc). Therefore, the unique perception of each individual student allows each one to personalize his/her viewpoint about what a picture "says" or "means"...or imagine what came before or what is likely to happen next. The assignment becomes a unique experience driven by each student's individual interest.

Ask your students to "just look at your picture". While they are gazing on their pictures ask the following questions:

What's going on in your picture? or
What did your picture remind you of? or
What is going to happen next? or
How do you feel when you look at the picture? or
What about the picture did you like? What made you choose it?

Then suggest that your students choose just one of the above questions and expand their thinking about their picture related to that question.

You know your students best. Obviously, your teaching style and class ability will determine how you uniquely prepare them for this assignment and specifically support their process. Based upon your students' grade level, you can further define and refine the assignment and your specific goal expectations, i.e. # of sentences, start-middle-end of the story, descriptive words, method of organizing, etc.

As a writer, I see "stories" and topics for articles everywhere--all around me. The initial trick for me is to notice an event or an idea. Then I "open my mind" so I can imagine a bigger picture about the topic and finally I zero-in upon one or two aspects that I find interesting. Then I'm ready to start writing.

As their teacher, you know you're more likely to inspire more enthusiasm and involvement in their writing assignments when you allow your students to focus upon topics that interest them. Using photos and graphics can be a powerful tool to awaken ideas and motivate kids to willingly write their unique thoughts and impressions.

When your students need a bit of pressure from home, what do you do? Parents often feel that they are powerless to influence their kids' behavior at school. In addition some parents may not feel confident that they can "help" with homework. For ideas you can share with them about motivation and homework you're invited to visit: www.HomeworkSuccessNetwork.com Remind your parents that When the Goin' Gets Rough, it makes sense to Go 'n' Get More Information. Eh?

Article Compilation by www.HomeworkSuccessArticleDirectory.com

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