Writing Blog

Background

I believe good writers are not born they are made. Come on let's be real here, producing a quality piece of writing whether it be a novel, poem or screenplay takes TIME and EFFORT. Believe me, I have been writing for four years of my undergrad at McMaster. On this note, I do believe that writing stories are something every student should attempt in school. I vividly remember in grade 4 writing my own fictional story where I had to create a narrative, characters, setting, conflicts, etc. This was so much fun! I remember creating a short story about a young king, trying to rule his kingdom at a young age and the troubles he had faced.

 By creating and telling a story, children learn to organize their thoughts and use written language to communicate with readers in a variety of ways.

I believe allowing students to write their own stories will enhance students to better understand stories written by other authors. This blog is meant to encourage educators to have their students write their own stories using these three resources that may help.

Story Map 

 A story map is a strategy to help students learn the elements of a story before they begin to write their own. Developing a solid understanding of the elements of a story is essential for our students to follow and fully comprehend the stories they read and write. I believe teachers can use story maps that touch upon the writing strand of the Ontario Language Curriculum.

Before students start writing, educators should have their students develop their ideas for their stories (SE 1.2 Developing Ideas). From here, students can focus on classifying ideas using a story map (SE 1.4 Classifying Ideas).

This is why story maps are great to use in the classroom to get the students organized by completing the map before they write and construct their own stories. Having said this, these are the five key elements of a story:

• Setting
• Characters
• Plot
• Conflict
• Theme

 Understanding how a story is organized is necessary for students to access the highest levels of fictional story writing (SE 1.5 Organizing Ideas). It helps students organize their thoughts and to competently weave together the various threads that would make up their own stories. Finally, once students have completed their story maps, they can begin writing their stories.

Assisting Students to Write Descriptively 

 The primary purpose of descriptive writing is to describe a person, place or thing in such ways that a picture is formed in the reader's mind. Encouraging students to use descriptive words in their stories will improve students writing to be more interesting and full of details. It encourages students to use new vocabulary words and clarifies their understanding of new subject material they can use for writing.

 Using this video by Nalo Hopkinson, this is a good resource for students to enhance their skills in descriptive writing. It gives necessary strategies for students to follow by modeling vivid sensory details using similes and metaphors that paint a picture for the reader.

I believe the strategies learned from this video, students would be able to describe the characters and settings they created in their stories.

I wish resources such as these were available when I was a student. Back then we had to use a boring Thesaurus in order to spice up our writing. Teachers can use this video as a resource that touches upon the writing strand of the Ontario Curriculum document. Using descriptive wording, this focuses on making the necessary revisions for their stories as they choose the proper vocabulary (SE 2.1 Form). It also focuses on using the proper word choice as they select a figurative language for their stories (SE 2.3 Word Choice). Overall this is a great resource to encourage students to use descriptive wording when writing stories.

Storyboard 

 A storyboard is a visual and written representation of a story that is broken down into individual panels. It sketches out how a story will unfold using these descriptive panels. I believe the use of storyboards can be wonderful tool students can use for progressing their writing skills. By using the graphics from the storyboard, students are able to use their imagination and write their own narrative.


My third resource is one learned in my language class called StorybaordThat. This app is perfect for students developing their own stories and writing them out.

Using this app, students can provide a story outline in the form of a plot diagram or with an extended graphic depiction of the story using as many squares (panels) necessary (StoryboardThat). Teachers can use this video as a resource that touches upon the writing strand of the Ontario Curriculum document.

 Firstly, it works towards classifying ideas and the purpose of what their story will be about (SE 1.2 Developing Ideas). Secondly, it displays the student's thoughts and ideas by using a sketch-board or an outline of a series of events from their story (SE 1.5 Organizing Ideas). Overall this is a great resource that students can use when creating and writing their own stories.

Conclusion 

 In conclusion, I strongly believe educators should implement these three resources into their classrooms. I believe these resources will further enhance students writing skills and how to write their own stories.

References

https://www.storyboardthat.com/storyboards/rachael12345/how-to-use-storyboard-that

https://searchengineland.com/how-to-create-a-style-guide-for-your-seo-content-writers-305893

https://www.pinterest.ca/pin/287597126176591620/?lp=true