Helping Students Find Writing Topics

Throughout most of my college career and early journey as a future educator, I always thought that teaching writing in elementary grades would be "no big deal." People would say to me, "How hard can it be to teach elementary school?" A part of me believed them at one time. Even as a student teacher, I did not fully realize how intricate, tricky, and difficult the process of teaching writing can sometimes be.

As I have now gotten my feet wet in first grade (this is my 6th week...so I've got a long journey ahead of me), I have started to realize in my short time with these students that writing (for some of them, at least) is hard. For me, writing always came easy. It has been, for as long as I remember, something I have absolutely loved. So, in my mind, I just figured writing came easy to every kid. I should have known this is not true right off the bat because I grew up with a brother who HATED writing and had a difficult time with it. One of the most challenging aspects of teaching writing, especially in first grade, is helping students figure out what they will write about.

I'm sure we have all heard of/seen/implemented writing prompts at some point in our teaching experiences. I will be honest by saying I've implemented my fair share of writing prompts. Everyone always told me that young writers need them because they can't think of their own writing topics. While a part of me still likes prompts to some degree, they do not teach students how to generate writing topics or narrow them down to one they want to write about.

In my current interim classroom, we have been practically living in our writer's notebooks. My students write in them every morning and when it's time to start class and come to the carpet, I draw 2-3 names out of a hat to see who the lucky "celebrities" get to be today. After drawing names, each of those students get to sit in the Author's Chair and read their story to the class. I get out my trusty iPad and film them to post on Class Tag for their parents to see. They LOVE this. They get so excited when their name is drawn out of the hat (we do a drum roll and everything...it's pretty legit) and beam with pride as they read us a story they created themselves.

Because I have now discovered that handing a notebook to a first-grader and saying "write something" is not a successful approach to writing instruction, I have been implementing different ways to help students learn to generate their own writing topics without using the dreaded...prompt. Our journey to the writer's notebook we now use has not been the smoothest; they learned some lessons, I learned some lessons, we all learned some important lessons about writer's notebooks. I have tweaked and made little-big changes along the way that have made a huge difference in my students as writers and me as their writing teacher. I read their work with a different perspective and we all seem to just enjoy it more.

Here are some ideas that I know ANYONE could use in their classrooms (at least first-grade classrooms). A lot of what I have been implementing in my classroom I have learned in class. However, the greatest learning experience for me has been actually getting out there and doing it with real-life kids. And I'm not gonna lie, some days are frustrating - for me and the students! It's often just miscommunication - I don't understand what they don't understand, they don't know what I want, etc. Buttt..... using the strategies I'm about to list below has decreased that miscommunication drastically; simply because these techniques are based on what comes out of the student. Then, all the students have to do is soak up the stuff they put out and do something else with it! Let's begin, shall we?

1. "20 Things I Like"

-- This technique is modified from "100 Things I Like" that I learned about in RE-5130. I made my own list of 100 things I like, and I saw how helpful it can be when generating writing topics.

-- I decided a list of 20 would be much more feasible for first-grade students (even this was challenging for some). At first, I thought "This will be sooo easy!" However, as usual, I was proven wrong. This was pretty easy for some students, but it was more difficult for others. For example, I have one student with autism. They have a hard time thinking abstractly and get overwhelmed easily. I had to give this student much more support and help them think through it. A lot of modeling was done here! Even though I didn't think modeling was necessary for this activity, it definitely was! Most of these first-graders had never made a list of 20 things they like, let alone a list!

-- Show your students an example of your own list. Talk about the thought process out loud for them to hear. Model, model, model!

-- Have them create their lists in their writer's notebook because you can refer back to this!

2. Heart Maps

-- Here is a lesson idea that goes along with Heart Maps.

-- Once again, model, model, model!

-- Have students refer back to lists of things they like if it will help them fill their heart map with things they love!

-- Once students have listed what they like and filled up their heart map, they have a more visual guide to help steer them when generating writing topics. I have found this to be very helpful with my student who has autism. They work much better with a visual guide.

3. Ask students questions!

-- I read my students' writing everyday, and I always try to ask questions that deepen their thinking and prompt them to write more. First-graders especially need help thinking out-loud as well as a model of how a writer thinks.

4. Small Moment Stories

-- Often times, I think first-grade students have difficulty with narrative writing because they have a hard time narrowing it down. Small Moment Stories are great for helping students learn how to tell a story about a simple moment that stands out to them.

-- Even though I have not implemented this in my classroom yet, I plan to!

-- I will start out by modeling this thought process and creating a visual as I think out-loud. For example, I will brainstorm ideas in front of students about my own special small moments, or just moments I remember. I will write them out on the white board and narrow it down to one. After narrowing it down, I will begin to add a few details surrounding that topic to show students how to expand their thinking and add to their narrative. After adding other details, I will model my writing for students.

-- Then it's their turn (with guidance, of course)!

-- Here is an example of my Small Moment Story:

Small Moment - The First Time I Saw My Nephew

When: September 19, 2017

Where: Hospital

How I felt: happy, nervous, excited

I had just walked into my first morning class. I sat down in my usual spot and was ready to get on with my day. I got a call from my mom, which was weird, but I answered anyway. When I answered, I heard, "Lauren, your sister-in-law is at the hospital. She is probably gonna have Levi soon!" My heart started pounding. I became so nervous and didn't know how to react. I had never had a nephew before! As soon as my professor walked in, I ran to him and apologized while explaining that I had leave. The day I had been waiting for was finally here! I had been talking to Levi in his mom's belly for nine months; I called him Muffin. We were besties from day #1.

I hurried off to the hospital with a feeling in my gut I had never had before. I was about to meet someone I had known so long, yet so little, yet knew so well, yet didn't know at all, yet loved so much, yet had never seen. It was such a strange feeling. I knew in my heart that we were already the best of friends. I couldn't wait to finally see him! I had imagined for so long what he would look like - light brown hair, green eyes, sweet smile. I was right about everything but the hair...

I remember sitting in the waiting room for what felt like forever. At one point, I was so hungry I couldn't take it anymore. "Surely he won't come while I'm gone to get food," I thought. So I scurried to Sonic. As soon as I walked back into that waiting room, my brother walked out and told us that he was here. My palms were sweaty. It felt like Christmas morning. I'm not sure if everyone's Santa does this, but mine always left his gifts to me unwrapped. I would wait at the end of the hallway on Christmas morning in the dark, waiting for my mom and dad to tell me and my brother that we could come in. I was always so excited but nervous at the same time! I knew I would see what I had waited on for so long as soon as I walked in the living room. That's how I felt when Adam told me Levi was here.

I wasn't worried about eating anymore. I was ready to meet my new favorite person. However, I had to wait even longer... apparently you can't go in right when the baby is born. So my patience was really tested that day. But I didn't mind. After a while, my brother came back in and said Levi was ready to make his big debut. I think he knew I was waiting and how nervous/excited I was. I walked slowly but quickly at the same time down that long white hallway, my shoes shuffling across the shiny floor. I pushed open the heavy and wide wooden door. There was part of a wall to my right, so I rounded it and saw my sister-in-law lying in a bed with a bundle in her arms. I will never forget how I felt when I saw that bundle. It had a face! The most precious face. The face I had known so long yet had never seen. He was brand new and familiar all at the same time. I had lived without him for 20 years, but somehow, it was like we had known each other forever. What was life before Levi? I don't remember.

I immediately began to cry. It was the happiest moment of my life. God had finally sent me the greatest friend He knew I needed. I know Levi is my brother's son, but part of me thinks God sent him just for me (I shouldn't be so selfish...). I walked up to him slowly and admired him from above. He didn't say anything, but he didn't have to. We said our own version of "hello." Something about him said to me, "I've been waiting for you!" The first thing I noticed about him was his bright RED hair. RED?! How did that happen? We still don't know, but I wouldn't change it for the world. Sometimes I pray that his hair always stays red. He was just lying there, happy as could be, not a worry in the world.

Two years later, Levi and I are still #1 bffs. He calls me Lala now. I never really had a favorite sound until he started calling me that.