Teaching Writing: Children II

Lesson 1: Review of Writing Basics and Teaching Expository Writing

Practice

Transition Words

One of the keys to good expository writing is sequencing the ideas or events in a logical manner. Here are several ideas to practice sequence.

Comic Strips

Have each student bring in a favorite comic strip from the Sunday funnies page. Comics are often a good vehicle to use for discussing sequence, as they need to tell a whole story in several frames, and the pictures and ideas need to be presented logically.

Prior to beginning this exercise, choose a comic from the paper to use as a reproducible. Choose a comic that has a pretty simple storyline and that shows the transitions clearly from one frame to the next. Block out all of the written dialog so that just the pictures and word bubbles remain, and reproduce for the class.

In groups, have students share their comics. Allow some time for the fun part of the comics - then have each group discuss the sequence of each person's strip. Next, present each student with the blank reproducible you created. Have them write dialog to go in each bubble. Share in groups and again review the effective use of transitions.

Brainstorming

On a large easel chart or chalkboard, have students brainstorm a list of transition words. On the chart, make headings for the following ideas:

Time or a shift from one time period to another
A cause or reason
A result or an effect
An example
More information
To compare or contrast

There are other kinds of transition words. See http://www.infoplease.com/homework/ttran... for a more complete list of uses and words, then choose categories that are appropriate to your grade level.

Next, have students suggest word to indicate each category. For example, some time transitions are before, after, during, later, in the end, finally, then, first, last - the list can go on. As students suggest words for each category, you might want to use several in a sentence to be sure the word does fit in the category it is suggested for. Once you have developed a list - display it in the classroom for students to refer to and add to!

Classroom Transitions Feud

Here is a game to play to practice using those transitions. Prior to play, write sentences using words from the chart you made in the previous activity. Create more sentences than the number of students. Also, you may want to make sentences for some words that are transitions, but were not listed on the chart.

This game works best with a bell - like they use on Family Feud - but you can also have students raise their hands as a signal.

On the chalkboard, list four or five of the categories you charted in the previous exercise - the ones you used to create your sentences. Divide the class into two teams. The object is to have students correctly identify the transition word, and the category it belongs to.

To play, have the first members of each team step forward (near your bell, if you have one). Read the first sentence. The first student to ring the bell (or raise his hand) must name the transition word or phrase, and name the category it fits under. If he is correct, write the word in the proper list and award a point to that team. If she is incorrect, the other player gets to try. Continue in this manner until you have used all sentences. Count the points and declare the winner.

Model a "How To" paragraph

Writing instructions is another example of expository writing. A good way to get students thinking of the How To paragraph is to do a whole-class brainstorming of the steps needed to complete a particular task. Choose a task that you might have students do in the classroom. Washing the chalkboard is one that comes to mind.

On your chart, have students suggest the steps that one would need to follow to complete the task. Record the ideas - but leave several lines in between each, as there will undoubtedly be steps that are forgotten and suggested as you go along. Review occasionally to see if the steps sound logical and in order.

When the class feels they have all of the steps needed, ask for a volunteer to perform the task - but be sure they do exactly what is described. If the task doesn't go as planned, discuss the need to be clear and to present ideas in a logical sequence.

Message Board

One last practice idea is to set up a message board in your classroom. This is a place where students can post short notes to each other and to you. A blank bulletin board with lots of thumbtacks is all you'll need.

Before allowing students to use the message board, you may want to set up a few groundrules. In my classroom, students could only post and retrieve messages in the morning as they were coming into the classroom, before and after lunch and recess, and when they were getting ready to leave for the day. All messages had to be signed, and the slips were folded in half with the name of the person they were intended for written clearly on the front. And the cardinal rule: no one could read a message that was not addresses to him or her!!!

This can be a fun way to get students to do some informal - but authentic - writing, and it does cut down on that annoying note passing during class!

  1  2  3  4  5  6