by Sharon Watson | Oct 19, 2014 | Middle School Prompts, Sharon's Blog, Writing Prompts
MIDDLE SCHOOL PROMPTS
Writing is hard. My students tell me this, and I believe them.
Writing makes their hands hurt. They don’t know what to write or how to write it. They have trouble coming up with topics. They’ll write if someone gives them a topic they are interested in. Or if someone gives them a topic, they don’t want to write.
Can you identify with any of these? If so, let’s make it easier on you.
Writing tip: When you are writing, be aware of your environment.
What do I mean by that? I mean be a detective and find out where you like to write and what you like around you when you write. Do you enjoy being in a room full of people, your favorite pet, or solid quiet when you write? Would you rather be at a desk . . . or slouched in the beanbag in the corner? (more…)
by Sharon Watson | Oct 12, 2014 | Middle School Prompts, Sharon's Blog, Writing Prompts
MIDDLE SCHOOL PROMPTS
Rules, rules, rules! You find them everywhere.
I even found some in a guide book to a Florida vacation area.
But these weren’t strictly rules. They were more like advice. In Emerald Coast Guide, I found all sorts of advice and things to avoid.
Quirky Beach Rules
For instance, in their “NEVER do the following” column, they mention some obvious things and some funny things: (more…)
by Sharon Watson | Oct 12, 2014 | High School Prompts, High School Tutorial, Middle School Prompts, Middle School Tutorial, Sharon's Blog, tutorial, Writing Prompts
HIGH SCHOOL PROMPTS
How do you write a story about Alaska before people arrived? You make animals the main characters, which is exactly what James A. Michener does in Alaska.
Michener creates Matriarch, a mammoth that is old enough to be the grandmother of many other mammoths. Through her eyes, we see the landscape and experience the early troubles of the area now known as Alaska.
An Alaskan Matriarch
Here’s a passage from Alaska in which Matriarch first encounters . . . well, I think you’ll figure out what’s going on here: (more…)
by Sharon Watson | Oct 7, 2014 | High School Prompts, High School Tutorial, Middle School Prompts, Middle School Tutorial, Sharon's Blog, tutorial, Writing Prompts
SHARON’S BLOG
Let’s celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month by highlighting a short story by Colombian-born Gabriel García Márquez.
Many stories can be put into one of two categories when talking about how the ball gets rolling: (more…)
by Sharon Watson | Oct 5, 2014 | Middle School Prompts, Middle School Tutorial, Sharon's Blog, teaching aids, tutorial, Writing Prompts
MIDDLE SCHOOL PROMPTS
Note: This is part one of the Intro to Writing series. Find links to the other tutorials here.
What do you do when your teacher gives you a subject to write about, but that subject is too broad?
For instance, what if your teacher says, “Write about natural disasters”? Right off the bat, you know you are in trouble. That subject is too large; there are too many possibilities. It would take a few books to cover everything, and your essay is due in two days. (more…)
by Sharon Watson | Sep 28, 2014 | Middle School Prompts, Sharon's Blog, Writing Prompts
MIDDLE SCHOOL PROMPTS
Has your sports team ever lost a game? And did you write about it in a poem?
You didn’t?
Well, Ernest Thayer did in the now-famous poem “Casey at the Bat.” You can read the history of the poem and the poem itself here.
October 2 is National Poetry Day, and recently the theme was “Remembering,” in which amateur and famous poets write to remember a special moment or a meaningful time in their lives. (more…)
