Teaching Writing

Resources for Teachers of Writing

Here are just a few websites and programs that can be helpful for teaching creative writing for students. From lesson plans to book suggestions, these websites have a lot to offer for anyone who wants to encourage children to write. National Writing Project The National Writing Project is made up of University-based groups around the United States and help to bring teaching methods that will develop students’ passion for writing. Get in contact with a group near you, or explore their online resources. For teachers and homeschooling parents, there a variety of lesson plans available on the Resources page. They also have lists of recommended teaching books, as well as a stimulating podcast on education called NWP Radio. Teachers and Writers Collaborative Though their workshops are based in New York, Teachers and Writers Collaborative have plenty of writing-related resources on their website. Check out their list of books that are helpful in teaching writing, as well as their monthly magazine that features lesson plans, interviews, and general teaching tips. PBS LearningMedia Browse the English Language Arts section of PBS Learning media to find helpful videos and lesson plans to help illustrate writing concepts for your students. Search by grade level to find resources and teaching ideas, some of which have been submitted by teachers who have found success with their lessons. Additionally, when you create a free account, you can use the tools such as the Quiz Maker and Storyboard Maker. The Brown Bookshelf A blog created by African American children’s book authors and illustrate to help promote and review books by African American authors. Check out their list of recommended books, as well as their “28 Days Later” program for the month of February, where they celebrate Black History Month by spotlighting a different African American author every day.   Are there websites you have found helpful that we are missing? Email sarah@stonesoup.com and let us know!

Writing Activity: Stories about trust, truth and lying

The Mother’s Day Gift by Mathew Thompson, age 11, Dallas, Oregon

The Clay Pot by Naomi Wendland, age 12, Lusaka, Zambia
These two stories deal with the same problem: the tempation to lie to hide a mistake. The temptation to lie to cover up a mistake is a common one, and most people, at some point in their lives, give in to the temptation to pretend they haven’t done something that, in fact, they have.

Writing Activity: plot a story on a graph with the brilliant, funny “Shapes of Stories” talk by Kurt Vonnegut

This writing activity is based on a very funny Kurt Vonnegut lecture on the shape of stories. In this project, students learn to develop compelling narratives by graphing the plots. American author Kurt Vonnegut (1922-2007) is best known for his book Slaughterhouse-Five (1969).  In this very funny, very brilliant talk on the fundamentals of the narrative arc, Vonnegut explains through a chalk-board lecture how to graph the ins and outs of a story. Using the example of Cinderella, Vonnegut proposes a universal story structure that can be plotted with an X/Y axis. Only partly tongue-in-cheek, he suggests that most stories can be understood (and plotted) as moving from happy/sad on the Y axis (the vertical in a graph) and in time with the X axis (the horizontal in a graph) moving from the story beginning to story end. The X axis (happy/unhappy) could also be re-thought as good/bad, calm/scary, good fortune/bad fortune and any number of other dynamic pairs to shape story lines and characters. This talk is appropriate for young writers and can easily be adapted to concrete classroom writing projects. Project: Plot a story on a graph. Follow Vonnegut’s general concept of plotting a story on an X/Y axis. Have your students actually write on the graph’s curve the major plot points as the story moves from its beginning through its middle to its end. While Vonnegut’s model is for plot, this same structure can be used for character development to show how a character’s personality might change over the course of the story.