Ed Tech Tips with E. Mosier
Make your classroom more E-fficient!
Resources to Improve Students' Writing Skills
Overview
An activity that doesn't require much prep at all, that allows students to be creative, is writing. Assigning students a prompt and having them respond, with limitations or not, is powerful. Not only will it hone their writing skills, but also allows them ownership and freedom over the content they are producing. No matter which career they choose, being able to be a fluent writer will pay dividends. Below are some resources that you can use as openers, or as part of your curriculum, to increase your students' writing abilities.
Newsela
Quill
Another resource that digs into the students' writing abilities a little more is Quill. This website is packed with different activities and screening tools you can use. To get started, there is a diagnostic tool that explores your students' writing abilities, so you have a clearer image of their skill level. Additionally, there are Activity Packs that cover a wide variety of grammatical skills, which can be filtered by grade level and ease of use. A final applicable piece of this site is the ability to proofread existing passages for errors, which would provide students a way to learn how to peer edit during the writing process!
Write About
100 Word Stories
An additional way to practice writing is to stretch a student's creativity by placing unfamiliar limits on their writing. An example of this is the 100 Word Story. This is a collection of stories written using exactly 100 words. A terrific part of this website is the "Photo Prompt." This is where a realistic photo has been submitted and it asks students to come up with an explanation of the photo in precisely 100 words. Other prompts for these stories include fictional stories, essays, and even book reviews.
6 Word Stories
If you would like to limit your students even further, have them try a 6 Word Story. This is a site dedicated to enhancing creativity by placing a strong limit on the number of words a story can have. Ernest Hemingway's famous 6 word story, "Baby shoes. For sale. Never worn." rips at the heart of the reader, but encompasses its intended meaning in such a short phrase. There are categories available for students to choose from, and can be written on any subject the student decides.
Contact Mr. Mosier!
Email: mosiere@davenportschools.org
Website: www.davenportschools.org/sudlow
Location: Sudlow Intermediate School, East Locust Street, Davenport, IA, United States
Phone: 563-445-5150
Twitter: @emosier3