I recently had students take a day in class to put aside whatever stress they had from school, take a deep breath, and focus on there writing. We were in the midst of a difficult Odyssey unit and needed a break from the intensive literary study. A day to focus on creative writing provided the relief necessary. Though I told them it was for their mental health, I also had the objective in mind to work on developing more descriptive writing. When it comes to descriptive writing, what better place to start than with memories?
To generate ideas on what to write, I had students recall three separate memories: their earliest, their most vivid, and their most painful (either physical or emotional). They were then to write a story based on one of those memories. The only guideline to their writing was that they were to fill it with sensory detail; this was in an effort to make their writing more engaging and descriptive as opposed to solely plot-driven. As students began writing, I wrote alongside them and was able to share my piece with each successive class. I loved completing the assignment and was able to model what I wanted for my other classes in addition to connecting with them by sharing a memory from my past.
The results from this assignment were astounding. I had multiple students ask if they could take their writing home to finish it and later turned in 3-4 page stories. Some stories were full of wonderful descriptive language; others contained an emotional depth that was surprising coming from 15 year old students. Some wrote about deaths in the family, others about memories connected to traumatic experiences, one even wrote about her attempted suicide. For those that were particularly difficult to read, I was able to follow up with students and connect with them in a deeper way. Overall, this assignment allowed me to, yes, teach them about descriptive writing, but, more importantly, opened my eyes to some students who needed extra attention, encouragement, or relationship. It's amazing what students will tell you when you give them the forum and opportunity!
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WOW! What a great way to get students to open up and express theirselves in their writing. I believe that students should be able to take a break from their work that might seem stressful or hard and be able to write to feel relief!
ReplyDeleteI can remember when I taught my students about descriptive writing. I was amazed at how well they were able to share with me some of their most personal stories such as family deaths, their dreams, things that scare them, and some awful things that affected their lives. I could see at how well they were able to describe to me those events and how they felt and what impact they had on them. I find that students need to have certain writing exercises where they are able to choose their own topic and be able to express themselves in their writing! Thanks for sharing a great way to relieve some stress for my students. I will definitely keep this writing activity in my spare projects.
Brad,
ReplyDeleteGreat assignment! There are so many ways to take that idea and continue improving students' writing, and having them do this while writing on a topic that they want to write about makes the job much more effective. I have found that when I write personal essays like this with students, they want to read what I write, to the point that they are willing to finish their writing for homework because they were busy reading mine. Great work!