The ultimate goal is to turn your students into eager, independent and enthusiastic writers. "Nudging the Imagination" helps them follow that path.
In classroom writing workshops lasting between 1-1½ hours, we generate a collaborative story featuring characters and a setting that spring strictly from your students’ own imaginations – and no one else’s.
Each student will add his or her voice to the project, giving them each a sense of ownership, in a classroom atmosphere of "organized chaos." The classroom bubbles over with excitement, laughter and learning as we “cook up” a story, using the class-generated characters and settings that form our “list of ingredients.”
The concept of “word pictures” – writing so clearly and so descriptively that our words become pictures in our minds – is discussed as are the important concepts of revision and editing.
Ideas for follow-up activities are offered after the story has been completed and a title has been agreed upon by the class.
