6 Creative Lessons to Inspire Secondary Writers
Looking for outside-the-box ELA teaching ideas? This roundup from TeachWriting.org has valuable ideas for everyone, covering everything from differentiation ideas…to engaging mini lessons…to maker spaces…and more!
Let’s dive into the ideas linked below to find inspiration you can use to engage middle and high school students. Here are six different posts containing creative lessons, resources, and activities to inspire secondary writers.
PICTURE-INSPIRED POETRY
Read about THIRTEEN ways Reading and Writing Haven uses pictures to inspire students to write poetry. Heading into a literary analysis, poetry, or creative writing unit? These ideas will be especially useful!
Ready to dive into poetry analysis and written response? Add some zest to your typical lesson plan with this visual one pager that scaffolds students analysis of key poem or song elements.
SUSPENSE WRITING
In this post, Teach BeTween the Lines shares FOUR mini-lessons for teaching suspense writing, including character analysis, sensory images, literary devices, and more.
Dive into a spooky-type short story and character analysis with “The Most Dangerous Game.”
MAKER SPACE
This creative lesson to inspire secondary writers is a newer approach. Turn your writer’s workshop into a maker space with these unique ideas from Spark Creativity.
It’s true! Creative writing doesn’t have to be intimidating. Engage students with this short story maker assignment.
REFLECTION ACTIVITY
Bespoke ELA’s post is all about the recursive nature of writing. It goes all directions: forward, backward, and sideways. Support secondary writers by teaching them to be reflective throughout the process.
Use these FREE task cards by Bespoke ELA at the end of a Writer’s Workshop to emphasize that an essay can be edited and revised at any time. Communicate to students that writing is a continual, recursive process, not linear.
CREATIVE WRITING
Teaching a creative writing unit or class? In this post, Language Arts Classroom writes about THREE creative writing assignments you can use with students; how-to articles, children’s books, and movie scripts.
And! Help students organize their writing with a creative angle: cookies! These graphic organizers will help students with brainstorming, narrowing ideas, and more.
WRITING MINI LESSONS
One of the most popular ways to incorporate lessons that inspire secondary writers is writing workshop. The problem? Without training, it’s hard to figure out how to get started.
Amanda Write Now’s post covers various angles to consider when setting up a writing workshop. Specifically, this article features “how-tos” for FIVE of her favorite workshop mini lessons.
Writing Workshop Launch Lessons from Amanda Write Now
