Tuesday, November 24, 2009
Brainstorming Made Easy & Fun
As we’ve learned from day one in this class, writing is a process. Rome wasn’t built in a day, after all. As Spandel says in Chapter 7, the steps to the writing process are Experience, Prewriting, Drafting, Sharing, Revising, Editing, Publishing, and Assessing. There are so many different experiences that a student can draw from to write about, but it is the prewriting stage where students often find themselves stuck.
Sometimes, students have too many ideas, and sometimes, students can’t think of a single thing to write about. A student who is a strong essay writer might have a difficult time creating a short story, just as a great student poet might be unsure of what to say in an essay. Brainstorming and prewriting can be daunting and chaotic.
As I was searching the web about teaching the writing process, I stumbled upon this brief video about story starter picture cubes. These cubes are used to help students who are stuck on the prewriting stage figure out exactly what they’re going to write about. I thought this was not only a really fun and innovative way to get students excited about writing, but that it was also a way to take the pressure off the beginning stages of the writing process. Sometimes, deciding what to write about is the hardest part of writing, but using materials such as the picture cubes is a great way to fix that. Also, these cubes can be something students make themselves. What a fun project that could be.
My question is: do you think innovative tools such as the picture cubes could really help a student’s writing process, or are there other ideas you find more useful?
Also, to add a fun little free write to this, write a brief paragraph involving popcorn and a space ship. Can't wait to read what you come up with.
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These brainstorming blocks are so creative! I love this idea, and how these blocks can build anyone's writing. Especially with younger students, and how she was saying that it takes them longer to come up with story ideas, these blocks can be so useful! Each block can build someone's story, and can start the creative writing process.
ReplyDeleteI would use the story starter picture cubes in my classroom someday! I think these would come in handy with younger children. Each side of the block seems so different and can spark anyone's mind. From these blocks students can get excited about writing and their topic.
All I saw was the space ship coming towards me.... My mind froze. I seriously thought there was a space ship flying towards me in the theater. Then all the sudden it hit me...I looked down. A piece of popcorn was on the ground by my foot....I heard giggling. There was no space ship, only a small piece of popcorn.
I think these picture cubes are so exciting! They could be so useful for younger elementary grades such as 1st through 3rd. I feel that once students get above that age level they need to learn to come up with ideas on their own. When younger students get stuck on what to write though it could be really fun for them to roll the cube and be given an idea to bounce off of for their story. I think picture cubes can be a great way to engage students because it gives them ideas when they do not know what to write. I also think it would be a good idea to have the students read their stories out loud if they want to when they are finished. I am sure stories made from picture cubes could be very interesting and different.
ReplyDeleteThe astronaut was so excited to take off in the space ship, although his one fear was surviving without popcorn. This astronaut was not normal; he loved popcorn more than anything in the world. He ate it with every meal and even used it for decorations around his home. He has flowers made out of popcorn, streamers, and even a blanket! So for this astronaut to travel in a space ship for such a long period of time without popcorn was going to be the hardest task he has ever done.
I think innovative teaching techniques are great in the classroom. I never would think of using blocks with pictures on them, it was a great idea! I think this is great for younger kids, which is the grade I would like to teach. I also found it to be using an innovative technique that still incorporates the traditional hands-on teaching. When I first think of innovative I think of technology in the classroom and how that creates more interaction and attracts the students, but this proves there are other ways to be innovative. I love the idea of creating a visual aid for the kids that is also something they can create themselves. It incorporates art and writing, which will engage the students and encourage them in their writing process. Other ideas I have thought about that are more hands-on are using the magnet words and having the kids create sentences. Also having the students cut out pictures from a magazine and creating a story just using pictures, no words, and sharing it with a peer just through voice, then going on to actually writing it later. There are so many great ways to help students through their writing process and I do believe it is important to include innovative techniques to encourage, motivate and engage students.
ReplyDeleteWow never thought of using cubes before! I thought this video was extremely useful. I would most definitely use these cubes to help my students obtain ideas for their stories. It is so true that many children cannot come up with ideas on the spot. In fact they usually want the teacher to tell them what to write or give them a list. These Innovative teaching techniques are a great way to make writing fun and spontaneous. Also using visual aids is awesome! Like we have talked about before, different students learn in various ways. Not all can grasp a concept quickly, so if you were to give them a visual aid, they would be able to accomplish the assignment better and have more fun with it!
ReplyDeleteWhen I entered the spaceship I felt a jolt of butterflies in my stomach. Was this really happening? It would be my first time going into space. I was stiffly walking towards my seat in my tightly fit space suit. As I sat down to buckle in I heard a voice in my helmet saying, "five, four, three two..." Suddenly smoke began to fill the air outside of the windows but when the voice said, "one" nothing happened. To my surprise there was not a fire coming out of the rockets but little buttery pieces of popcorn began to fill the sky. What did this mean? Had someone played a joke. "April fools!" said the voice in my head. Immediately the butterflies in my stomach faded away and I began to burst out in laughter.
I really liked this idea. I also think that picture cubes can be an extremely effective tool for teaching different types of student who have difficulty with writing. For instance a teacher might use this method of picture cubes in a special education classroom to make the pre-writing process more visible and tangible for students that have a difficult time sitting and coming up with original ideas. On that same note of using this method to assist children with special needs, I think it would be really creative to create picture blocks that are embossed as well. This way children with visual impairments could also participate and feel the shapes of the pictures to stimulate their mind. A student creating these blocks themselves is also a great idea. If they created these cubes as a separate assignment to use when they get stuck with the brainstorming process, students could refer back to their own ideas. This would reinforce their positive self-esteem as writers having them know that the ideas that helped them were still part of their own original planning.
ReplyDeleteThis blocks are fantastic! Should a teacher not have the resources to provide these blocks to his/her students, I think another great option would be to create a picture wall with various images that students could use as resources to brainstorm ideas. I think the picture wall would also be less limiting that rolling a cube and being forced to use the certain image as inspiration. I think that coming up with innovative ways for brainstorming rather than just using worksheets or simply thinking to come up with ideas. I also think that sharing with other students is a wonderful way for students to come up with ideas to use for their writing. Sometimes we can get stuck in ruts where ideas just don't seem to come, and bouncing ideas off of other is a great way to release the pressure of brainstorming.
ReplyDeleteI stared at the popcorn popping on the stove, and all of a sudden the popcorn seemed to be bursting like shooting stars. I looked around me and I was in a spaceship! This wasn't popcorn popping, it was really shooting stars! I was flying through space! All around me were the planets and on each planet was a different species of aliens. woahhhh! I couldn't even believe it, this couldn't be happening. All of a sudden I heard a beeping. The beeping wouldn't stop. I looked down in my spaceship to figure out what it was, but I couldn't seem to find the source of the noise. I looked back up and I was back in the kitchen. Looks like the beeping was the timer going off and my popcorn was done! What a fun trip to space!
I thought that this was a great tool to use in your classroom at least for the younger kids!I like what we came up with in class about how students could all make their own cube at the begining of the school year and then you could use them all year and even use another students if you run out of ideas on yours!
ReplyDeleteAs for this sweet free write. I was on my personal space ship just chilling up in space over by Jupiter and its huge rings I have a sudden craving! I really really wanted to eat some popcorn but as I looked in the pantry I saw that I was all out of popcorn. I was not happy about this and not to mention I was running low on jet fuel so now I had to stop by the gas station on the way to the store.....
BY:WILLIAM BURNS
I think using cubes is a great manipulative to get students pre-writing and brainstorming. I do like the suggestions we came up in class about the students making their own cubes with the experiences they have gone through or experiences they would like to experience. I see this beneficial for younger students but maybe for older students they could come up with posters with different experiences on them and post them around the room for inspiration. In turn students not only help themselves but help their classmates who might also be stuck on a topic to write about.
ReplyDeleteBoom! Smack! Crash! What is going on? I looked outside what I thought was my window and discovered it was a meteor shower of popcorn! But wait, I was staring out of a sea of stars and planets. I pondered to myself how I went from watching my neighbor water his grass to gliding in space. Wait! I'm in a spaceship.
I really liked this idea. It is great for creative writing. I like that students also learn about characters, and settings. It helps relieve the stress of trying to come up with something, and relieving stress can make writing so much more fun.
ReplyDeleteHave you ever heard of that song that when I go to the moon what am I going to bring on the spaceship with me? It reminds me of that song and in this case I am going to bring with me some popcorn, hehe.
This is a great tool to use for brainstorming because it is so interactive. I know for a fact that if I had these cubes when I was younger, I definitely would use them all the time. It was always hard for me to come up with free-writes and I would just sit there and look at my classmates papers for ideas. These cubes would have been very helpful.
ReplyDeleteI was sitting in the Hutton Gym working conessions at the men's basketball game. I have a love-hate relationship with this job. I LOVE the fact that I can eat whatever I want while I'm working there, the free candies and soda were my favorite. However, I HATED making the popcorn! I'm always buring myself on the kettle, or a few kernels will get stuck in there and will wait to pop right when I open the door so the popcorn flies into my face. On top of that I know how it is made, which almost turned me off popcorn for life. I would tell you, but you'll probably stop eating it too. Yet despite all of that, the mouthwatering, buttery smell is still oh so tempting. Anyways, I went to go unplug that machine, and the last thing I remembered was shocking myself. I'm pretty sure I passed out because I woke up on a strange cold floor. I get up wondering what is going on. I feel the room shake violently. I jump off and run to the window as the shaking continues. I look out to see myself launching off of Wilson Field. Was I on a spaceship? (Sorry I got carried away haha!)