6 METHODS TO GENERATE WRITING IDEAS
#1 BRAINSTORMING
The object in brainstorming is to compile as large a list as possible of potential examples for a given topic.
a great activity to do in small groups or with the entire class
it is helpful to have students working together when brainstorming
Challenge your students to come up with as many examples as they possibly can for whatever topic you give them
#2 FREE WRITING
an individual activity for getting thoughts from your head on to paper.
free writing is simply putting on paper every thought that is going through their heads
The goal of this activity is to never let your pen or pencil stop writing
Spelling and grammar are not important for this activity; it is ideas that we are trying to grasp
Give your students a set length of time for this activity
#3 JOURNALISTIC QUESTIONS
Start by reviewing the question words: who, what, where, when, why and how.
This activity can be done either individually or in groups
For example, if your topic was study habits, you might ask, “Who has good study habits? Who benefits from good study habits? What are the good habits? Where do people with good study habits study? Where to they keep their books? Where do they organize notes and homework? When do they study? When do they complete assignments? ...”
When finished prewriting, have them go back and read what they have written and organize their thoughts in preparation for writing.
#4 CLUSTER MAPPING
Also called as idea webbing, is a great way to show relationships between ideas
To begin, write your topic in the center of the page and put a circle around it
Then you can move in one of two directions. With younger children, have them think of questions about the topic. For example, if the topic is spiders, they may ask, “What do spiders eat? Where to spiders live?
Each question should be written in a bubble connected to the central topic
each of the subtopics would be one paragraph in a composed piece of writing with examples and support for the idea surrounding it.
#5 FLOW CHARTING
flow charting is most effective when examining cause and effect relationships
Example: With the central theme drug abuse in the center of your page, to the left students would make list of causes for drug abuse with arrows pointing at the central idea
Then examine the effects of drug abuse and place those in separate boxes to the right of the central idea each with an arrow going from the central idea to it
When writing, students can then focus on either half of the diagram (causes of drug abuse or effects of drug abuse) or follow the cause and effect pathway from cause to effect and cause to effect.
#6 DOUBLE/TRIPLE ENTRY
Double or Triple Entry is another focused brainstorming activity.
useful when comparing and contrasting two or three topics or when exploring two or three areas of one topic
With this prewriting method, have students make two (or three) columns on their paper. Each column should have a topic which focuses the idea generation.
If your are writing about ethnic heritage in comparison to another, you could have them label one column with each culture.
When finished, you should have a good idea of the points on which you can compare or contrast the topics.
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