Creative Writing

Think-Write-Pass

I love giving students space to be creative and silly with their ideas.  And I love having students write stories together – and sharing their creativity and silliness with one another. Think-Write-Pass is one of my favorite activities for building a classroom culture of writing and fun.  When students are free to play with ideas and be their silly selves – the classroom transforms into a place of imagination and creativity. Here is my latest […]

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20-Word Summaries

Providing examples of well-written summaries works well for my advanced students. However, my reluctant readers and writers often remain confused, even after seeing these models. For these students, I’ve found that writing 20-word summaries on topics connected to their prior knowledge is most effective. Here’s why: Students summarize things in their everyday lives. If I ask how their day or year has been, they naturally give a brief summary. Likewise, when asked about a movie […]

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