ALL students can overcome an initial fear of writing if they are provided with effective invention (or pre-writing) strategies. Instructors should offer multiple strategies so students may discover which is best for his or her individual needs:
- Freewrite: write for 10-15 minutes without stopping.
- Brainstorm: list ideas and group them into clusters, which then turn into sentences.
- Looping: freewrite multiple times, narrowing each topic.
- Group brainstorm: listing, webbing, outlining through discussion.
- Talk out: write a letter or talk to someone about what you know, or talk to a tape recorder.
How do I pre-write to get started on my writing assignment? I can brainstorm. Write every word I can think of down on paper and then try to connect different words into clusters that can lead me to an outline for my topic. I can rap a tune. Sing a song. Draw a picture. I can color code my thoughts into related points for an outline. By using marker. Or colored notecards to represent areas of the paper. I can read a book, and mark my thoughts and questions in the margin. I can tell my friend about my topic…he doesn't know anything. I can tell him face-to-face, or write him a letter. I can talk to a tape recorder and then play my ideas back as I am ready to start writing. All I need is a working thesis, and then I have begun. It's only uphill from there. I've done everything I possibly can to avoid writing. I took a run. I took a shower. I ate a snack. I watched ESPN. I talked on the phone. I chatted online. I played a game. Now I just have to write.
Offer alternative ideas for those students who struggle to begin an assignment in the traditional format. Encourage students to:
- Use notecards and markers to organize research, topic ideas, and paragraphs;
- Draw a picture or a map of their ideas or outline.
- Find the opposite answers to the topic questions;
- Use computers.
– Cut and paste from a letter already drafted on the topic to an outline;
– "Google" a topic, or use other search engines;
– Create a PowerPoint presentation and transfer it to a word processing program, or vice versa.
