Let's Get Creative: 800+ Prompts to Inspire You

This awesome site has over 800 visual prompts designed to ignite the creative fire within you. Whether you're a writing enthusiast or looking for ideas for a creative writing assignment, it's a worth a look.

Writing Resource: Write About

Check out Write About, the writing website designed by educators for students just like you. You can browse through thousands of visual prompts that excite the senses and spark the imagination to get those creative juices flowing. Just find something that inspires you and write as much or as little as you like in any style you choose. From there, you can collaborate with other students or keep your work private; it's up to you.

Let's Get Creative: Finding Inspiration

Some people have what's commonly referred to as a 'creative spirit.' You know the type. The doodles in the margins of their notebook make our best artistic efforts look like stick figures in comparison. They can write flawless poetry with their eyes closed and recite Shakespeare without a single moment of hesitation. They have super-powered green thumbs that can make even the most stubborn plant burst into brilliant bloom. They take the perfect photograph every time, and their writing is breath-taking. You might even get the impression that they were born knowing how to waltz.

But let me tell you a little secret: You're a creative spirit, too. In fact, everyone is. Your neighbor with the questionable fashion sense who starts decorating for Christmas in June? She's a creative spirit. The guy who bags your groceries at the Super Market? He is too. Your clumsy aunt with an inexplicable fondness for garden snakes? You guessed it - creative spirit.

A lot of people assume that they have to be born with some sort of special talent to be creative, and to some extent, they're correct. Fortunately, you just happened to be born human, and humans have an incredible talent for finding inspiration and translating it into creative energy.

The problem that most people have - even people who are typically regarded as 'creative spirits' like artists, authors, and musicians - is that inspiration can be hard to come by.

In truth, inspiration is all around us. It's in the trees and the clouds and the changing of seasons and the comings and goings of people around us. I once wrote a 1,000 word essay on my neighbor's dishcloth. Most of us don't see dishrags as particularly inspiring, but for me, it sparked a chain of ideas that led to an A+ paper.

Inspiration is everywhere. Sometimes all we have to do to capture some is open our eyes. Other times, pursuing that spark can be a little more tricky. Here are some tips to find what inspires you:

• Go outside. There is a world of wonder and beauty just out your front door. Take a few deep breaths. Stare at the trees. Run your fingers along the grass. Keep a look out for birds. Get down on your hands and knees and look for any interesting critters going about their lives. Listen to the sounds of your community. Watch your neighbors coming home from school or work, or gardening, or playing with their children. Let the sunshine warm your face. Lay on your back and watch the clouds. See if you can spot any cloud creatures. Observe the lengthening shadows as day turns to dusk. Look up at the night sky, and see how the world looks shrouded in darkness. Pay special attention and see if you can notice anything you overlook in your daily life, like the broken planter on the side of the garden or the crack on the second step. 
• Meditate. Go to a quiet place and just think. Separate yourself from the fast pace of modern life and see if your inner muse has anything to tell you. 
• Keep a collection of interesting, thought-provoking quotes on a document on your computer. Bookmark a few beautiful poems that speak to your heart. Take a look at some beautiful words and their definitions. 
• Download some images of natural beauty. Not everyone has the advantage of seeing nature in their everyday life, especially in urban environments. Let these photographs take you to the far-flung natural treasures of this world. 
• Listen to music. Put on some classical music and let it move you. Play a song in a foreign language and ponder its meaning. (If you're a multilingual student, don't cheat! Find music in a language you don't understand and allow yourself to feel as you listen without getting caught up in the words.) Listen to ancient music from thousands of years ago and try to imagine the life of the person who created it. 
• Look at art. If you can't visit a gallery, try taking an online museum tour. 
• Talk to an elder. Ask them about their life. Ask them to tell you their story. You never know what kind of amazing adventures they'll enthrall you with. If you have Grandparents, you might want to consider recording their stories somehow. It'll preserve your family history and you'll treasure those recordings for years to come. 
• Don't force it. Even the most esteemed creators have creative blocks. If you can't find anything that inspires you, take a break and try again tomorrow. Inspiration will find you, one way or another.

K-12 Reading and Writing Worksheets

K12 Reader provides free printable worksheets for students in grades K-12. Students can brush up on their spelling, reading skills, grammar, composition, and vocabulary. You can sort the worksheets by grade or by topic to find the best worksheet for you. Every worksheet comes with an answer key, and most have a mini-lesson at the top to further aid the learning process.

750 Words

This simple, free to use site encourages you to write 750 words daily. This may seem like a daunting task at first, but remember that you can use what you've written for school that day, personal thoughts, free-writes, letters, blog posts, journal entries, poetry, or anything else that you feel like writing.

If 750 words is just too much or if you're in elementary school, give yourself a personal goal of 250 or 500 words a day. You won't get a cool little check in the box above your account, but you'll still know that you accomplished your goal.

Besides the obvious agenda of inspiring my students and readers to write more, I'm also recommending this resource because it is super cool.

750 words gives you daily as well as lifetime stats about how much you've written over how long, the rating of your writing, the emotions and concerns expressed in your writing, and whether your mindset is positive/negative, introverted/extroverted, certain/uncertain, or thinking/feeling. It also tells you whether you tend to write about the past, present, or future, and whether you use sight, touch, or hearing to communicate your thoughts. It also gives you a fairly impressive graphic of frequently used words. Your lifetime stats will tell you your average words per day, how fast you type, and how often you get distracted. It'll also analyze your word usage and compare you to world averages.

For those of you concerned about privacy, I can assure you that this information is computed via pre-set algorithms and formulas. No one will see it except you and the person looking over your shoulder. (Make you look.)

If you use the site frequently and start to get into the habit of writing daily, your writing will improve slowly but steadily, and you'll have a chance to earn some cool badges on the site for your accomplishments.

So pick up that pen and start scribbling! Er, I meant leave that keyboard right where it is and start typing! Good luck, and have fun!

Writing Habits to Ditch in Middle School

When you were in elementary school, your teacher might have given you a formula for writing that looked something like this:

• An essay is three to five paragraphs. 
• A paragraph is exactly five sentences. No more, and no less. 
• You start with your introduction. Begin with 'let me tell you all about' or 'first.'
• The next three paragraphs are the body. Use transitions like 'second,' 'next,' 'then,' etc.
• Your fifth paragraph must start with 'in conclusion,' or 'as you can see.' 

If you are in elementary school, this kind of writing is fine. You're still learning how to use your writing muscles and no one is going to expect you to sit down and write Paradise Lost. 

However, if you're in middle school or high school, the above formula is WRONG, WRONG, WRONG. My co-partner and I (and probably your teachers as well) feel something like this when they see a middle or a high schooler writing like that. 

Now that you know what not to do, let's discuss some alternatives that will bring your writing up to grade level.

• Begin by acknowledging that an essay can be one paragraph or fifty pages. A paragraph can be one line long, or it could fill it up half your page. This is English, not chemistry or math. There is no formula for the perfect essay, nor any equation that will give you an awesome paper.
• Start with your thesis statement. This is either the point you're trying to prove (if you're writing a 'critical lens' for English or some similar such essay) or the topic you're going to be talking about. 
• Example One: Robert Frost once said that "freedom lies in being bold." There is a compelling truth in these words, as true freedom can only be found by gathering the courage to forge one's own path in life in pursuit of one's hopes and dreams. 
• When you are asked to write critical lenses, your teacher often asks you to agree or disagree with a given statement. I'd recommend that middle schoolers do so explicitly, but that high school students attempt to do so more subtly. In the above example, I never outright said I agreed with the quote, but it's clear that I do in fact support the point of view expressed. 
• Example Two: World War Two caused a great number of social, economic, technological, political, and global changes that paved the way towards the modern world. 
• Finish off your introductory paragraph by providing a little more detail. Give a brief overview of the evidence you're going to use later on in your essay. Just remember not to play all of your cards in the first paragraph. 
• Use your body paragraphs to analyze the evidence you're going to provide to prove your point. 
• For the critical lens, you'll probably want to think of two or more works of literature that support your position. Remember that you can use books, plays, or even poetry to back up your thesis. 
• You can devote one paragraph to a real world example. I'd generally advise against using personal examples. However, feel free to draw from history and current events. 
• For the history essay, spend one paragraph on each point: social changes, political changes, economic changes, and technological changes. You'll want to save the 'global changes' part for your conclusion.
• In each paragraph, give examples of the various changes that happened after the war. You can talk about the Baby Boom, the rise of the suburbs, America's rise to a global superpower, the Cold War and the way it changed the political climate of the 20th century, the Truman Doctrine, women's return to the 'domestic sphere' after comprising a significant part of the workforce during the war, and the various civil rights movements that emerged shortly after the war.
• High schoolers should also acknowledge counter-points to their argument. For the English essay, you should acknowledge that there are other ways of achieving freedom, and that the concept of freedom itself is incredibly objective. For the WWII essay, spend a paragraph talking about the changes that represented a step back for society rather than a leap forward. 
• Now it's time for your conclusion. The best way to do this is to restate your thesis in light of the evidence you provided. This is also the place to acknowledge counter-arguments if you can't devote an entire paragraph to it. You're also going to want to make a Big Picture connection. Explain why the topic of your writing is important. Talk about how Robert Frost's words apply to everyone in some way. Spend a couple of sentences discussing the lasting consequences of WWII and how we are still benefiting (or, in some cases, suffering) from its repercussions. 
• Let your essay end naturally. Allow it to taper off. Think of writing as an art form. You don't want to hammer in your point; you want it to gradually settle upon your reader. Ideally, your essay should have the impact of steel but read with the smoothness of silk.

Editing and Proofreading

Editing your work is an important skill to master no matter where you are in your academic career, so let's take a few moments to discuss what you should be looking for as you edit your work.

• Spelling and grammar. For the most part, you're going to be typing your papers, so you have the advantage of built-in spelling and grammar checkers. Your teacher is going to a lot less forgiving of obvious spelling errors in your type-written work than in your hand-written work. It's also important to note that as you get older, your teacher's standards are going to climb higher and higher. The quality of work you produced in first grade is simply not going to fly in fifth. As you learn more about writing, grammar, and spelling, your academic advisors, tutors, and teachers are going to expect your work to reflect this progress. 
• Watch out for common spelling mistakes and tricky words. I personally have trouble spelling the word 'apocalypse,' which is unfortunate because I end up needing to use it at least once or twice a day. Thankfully, I have my word processor and spell check to help me out. Confession: about 10% of this page was underlined in red before I went back and fixed it. The lesson there is that you don't need to be a perfect speller to write well and be understood. You just need to edit. 
• Try not to confuse then/than, too/to/two, their/there/they're, and affect/effect. 
• I'm not sure how other programs work, but in Word grammar mistakes are underlined in green. However, Word often suggests imperfect replacements for errors and commonly marks perfectly correct grammatical arrangements as errors. When it doubt, read the original sentence and the suggested corrections aloud to see what sounds more natural.
• Read your work aloud, especially if you are a native English speaker. If it sounds strange, awkward, or just plain wrong, you want to fix it. Also ask yourself, 'Does my essay flow well? Does it make sense? Did I use transitions between paragraphs? Did I avoid run-on sentences? Can I make anything clearer or more concise? Is there a better way of saying this? Did I use enough detail and add enough examples? Did I prove the point I was trying to make? Did I complete the task?' If you find any errors, be sure to fix them before turning your work in to your teacher, especially if your teacher is expecting a polished final draft. 
• Remember that the purpose of writing is ultimately communication. If you want a good grade, you need to write something that your teacher is going to be able to understand easily. If you go back to your work and find out that something doesn't make sense to you, your teacher isn't going to stand a chance at figuring out what you meant to say. 
• Also remember that you're going to want to write in a fairly formal tone. Try not to use contractions (don't, wasn't, etc) or slang words. Text speak is also a definite no. You're writing for your teacher, not your friend. 
• You might want to ask for a copy of the rubric your teacher is going to be using to grade you. Try to take a step back and look at your work objectively. Put yourself in your teacher's shoes and ask yourself what grade you would give your paper. Be brutally honest, and correct for any favoritism you might be showing towards yourself by knocking off five points (or a half a letter grade). Then ask yourself if you'd be happy with the score you gave yourself. If you gave yourself an 85 or above, fantastic. If you gave yourself a 70, you might want to go back and edit some more. If you gave yourself anything less than that, you might need to ask a parent, guardian, older sibling, tutor, classmate, or teacher for help. 

Today's Lesson: Making Your Writing Come Alive

Let's pretend for a moment that my imaginary teacher just told me to write a few sentences about my favorite memory. After a minute or two of contemplation, I decide to write about the time I got my first dog.

So here's my first draft:

When I was in second grade, I got my first dog. My mom took me to the airport to pick her up. Then we brought her home. We named her Sophie. 

Not bad, but not good, right? It's a little dry, and a little boring. If this was my final draft, I'd probably put my readers to sleep. Let's try again. This time, we're going to add a little more detail.

When I was in second grade, I got a brand new puppy. My mother picked me up early from school so we could pick her up from the airport. After wandering around the terminals for what felt like forever, we found the domestic cargo building. From there, my puppy was only a quick signature away. Her crate was a little stinky from the long flight, but I was too excited to care. We brought her home, washed her up, and decided that out of all the names we'd considered for her, 'Sophie' was the best fit. 

That's quite a bit better. Notice that I also varied the sentence structure and used compound sentences. I also added a bit of emotion and flair. By combining all of these strategies, my writing seems a bit less generic and has a better shot of keeping my reader's attention.

If you want to be really fancy, you might want to try switching it up even more. My imaginary teacher's imaginary prompt was vague enough to allow me to get a bit creative. Let's try changing the point of view by writing this memory up as a journal entry.

Dear Journal,

Guess what? My puppy arrived all the way from Washington today! Mommy took me out of school at lunch-time so we could go pick up our new puppy. I was too excited to eat much, but Grandma made me chicken cutlets so it was hard not to eat. After lunch, we headed straight for the airport. Mom got a little lost so it took us forever to find the domestic cargo building, but we ended up in the right place eventually. 

I could barely stand still as we waited in line for our puppy, but the wait was worth it once I saw her. She was stinky, wet, and dirty from the long flight, but she was so, so, so cute! I took one look at her and fell in love. We had decided to call her Chloe, but the moment I opened my mouth, "I love you, Sophie!" popped out instead. Oops. 

After two long baths, Sophie was finally clean and free to explore her new home. I think she likes it here. I spent most of the afternoon playing with her, but she's taking a nap right now and Mommy says I should let her rest. Oh well. Anyway, I should go check on her. Bye, Journal!

This one is even more detailed and interesting, and it's a lot better than my boring first draft. You might notice that I changed some minor details from draft to draft. When you're writing creatively, it's perfectly alright to embellish your work like that. Just don't try that when you're writing a history paper. While it might be fun to re-imagine the American Revolution as a giant food fight, that is definitely not what happened and you'll probably get a big fat F for your efforts.

Khan Academy

A while back, one of our readers suggested that we add Khan Academy to our list of resources.

Khan Academy offers an amazing variety of learning resources. Students can brush up on their math or science skills, learn about economics and finance, dive into the world of computer programing, prep for the Big Test, or access partner content offered by world-renowned museums.

Khan Academy is an awesome resource for learners of all ages. Kindergartners through college students can benefit from using Khan Academy, as can their caregivers and teachers. Adult learners can enjoy these resources as well. Whether you're 5 or 125, Khan Academy will help you learn something new.

Credible Sources

I promised you a post on credible sources, so here it is. Your imaginary teacher assigned you an imaginary four-page research paper about American involvement in World War II.

Let's take a moment to talk about all that research you're going to be doing. My co-partner has a sort of Golden Rule when it comes to research papers - one hour for every page. Oh my gosh, you might be thinking. There's no way I'm going to be spending four hours on this paper before I've even started writing it! First of all, relax. That rule applies more to college-level papers than the papers your average high school student is going to be writing. I would cut that number in half for you and say that you'll need to spend a good two hours researching for this paper.

So, what kind of research do you want me to do? You might ask. Let's go over the kind of research you aren't going to be doing first.

When you google World War 2, 519,000,000 results come up. You aren't going to be using the vast majority of them. You also aren't going to be using the first result, which looks something like this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_War_II

That's Wikipedia. Wikipedia is good for a great many things. If you need to find out whether your cat is an American shorthair or a Toyger, Wikipedia is your go-to guy. If you need to settle a bet with your best friend, Wikipedia is the way to go. If you need to find out what that new TV show you've been hearing about lately is all about, Wikipedia is your best shot. But if you need to write a high school research paper, Wikipedia is a fast-track to an angry teacher and a big fat C- (or worse!)

Moving on. Now that we've established that Wikipedia is a definite NO, what about this site: http://www.worldwar-2.net/

That's a .net site. It's good for getting a general idea of what the war was about, but that's about it. Use it to get into the researching mood, but don't bookmark it to cite.

Now we're going to get into the kinds of site you can use. Take a look at this one: http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10005137

That's a website from the United States Holocaust Museum. While it's not exactly about American involvement in WWII (which is what your paper is about, remember), it is managed by a museum and was probably written by WWII scholars. These are the kinds of sites you're going to want to research from and cite.

That's a .org site, though. It's still not your best bet if you want to be absolutely sure you're getting the most accurate information available. For that, you're going to want to go to .gov and .edu sites. Government managed sites and those run by universities are some of the most credible sources out there, and should be your go-to research domains.

A government site: http://www.archives.gov/research/military/ww2/

A .edu site: http://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/era.cfm?eraID=15&smtid=1

You also want to use a couple of primary sources in your essay. Good luck!

Research Paper Pacing Guide

Let's take a moment to discuss credible sources. Say that your history teacher just assigned you a research paper about World War II. Your task is to summarize American involvement in the war in four double-spaced pages. Your due date is in two weeks. Oh no!

First of all, don't panic. Two weeks is more than enough time to write this kind of paper, even with all the geometry homework you have and the physics test you need to study for and your little sister's dance recital on Thursday night and that sleep-over you'd been planning over the weekend. Four double-spaced pages is only about 1,000 words.

On behalf of your teacher, I'd like to caution you against using any 'tricks' to get out of writing the full thousand words. You can try to set the spacing to 2.5 or use a HUGE font, but don't think you're fooling anyone. Your teacher has seen it all before, and s/he will not be impressed. In fact, s/he might be rather cross with you, and more often than not, teachers take out their frustrations with your little tricks by knocking down your grade a couple of points. That might not seem like a lot, but it could make the difference between an A and a B at the end of the semester.

Okay, back to our plan. After you've taken a few deep breaths and repeated 'I can do this' once or twice, you're going to need to set up a pacing guide for yourself. Start as soon as possible. And by 'as soon as possible,' I do not mean Sunday night at eight p.m. on the Monday before it's due. The best time to start is right now. (There's no time like the present, after all!) If that's not possible, carve out a space in your schedule to begin your research in the next two days. More on this later.

Alright, let's pretend that you've done all your research and gathered all your facts. You're confident that you know enough about WWII to write 1,000 words about it, and you're pumped. You are so ready to write this thing. Your history teacher won't know what hit her/him! You might want to start with an outline to organize your thoughts, or you might want to dive right in. Either way, give yourself three to five days to get through the writing stage.

Time jump. You've got 1,000 words on a Word document and you still have an entire week until your essay is due. At this point, you'll want to start the editing process. Read through your paper to make sure it makes sense. Check to see if it flows. Watch out for spelling and grammar errors. Read it aloud to catch those sneaky mistakes. You might want to get a second opinion as well. Ask a friend, parent, or tutor to give it a quick look through for you. They may be able to spot mistakes you might have missed. If your teacher has office hours or is open to helping students, you might want to give them a visit as well. Don't drop in unexpectedly, though. Shoot them a quick e-mail respectfully asking if they could take a quick look at your essay. Check out the sample e-mail below.

Dear Ms. Robinson,

I've been working on the WWII essay due at the end of the week. I'm in the final stages of editing, and I was wondering if you could take a quick look at it to see if there's any way I could make it better. I would greatly appreciate your input, but I totally understand if you're too busy. 

See you in class tomorrow,

Jane

A word of caution: DO NOT send this e-mail to your teacher the day before the paper is due. If your teacher responds at all, it probably won't be anything to want to hear. No one likes being asked to do things last minute. Also, don't take advantage of your teacher. Asking for help with major papers and requesting general advice on how you can do better in their class is fine. Running to them for every little assignment is not.

This is also the time you want to start working on your bibliography as well. Make sure to cite every source you used. Also, do not plagiarize. This should totally go without saying.

You might also want to add a cover page. Make this part as fancy as you want. Use that weird font you've been eyeing for forever. Just make sure that if you use an image you found online, cite it!

Flash forward to The Dreaded Due Date. You're not stressed, though, because you started (and finished) early. You didn't lose a minute of sleep last night. Just make sure you don't forget your paper in the printer tray. That'd be tragic. (You might want to e-mail your paper to your teacher the night before just in case. Add a joking little note that you're so forgetful and you'd hate to accidentally come to class without your paper.)

Now all that's left to do is sit back and wait for the A's to start rolling in. Check out our next post on credible sources for more help with the 'research' part of your paper.

University of Minnesota Digital Archive

The University of Minnesota offers an amazing free resource that allows anyone with an Internet connection to browse their extensive collection of digital materials. Students can learn about anything from horticulture to the history of computers. Art students can browse a beautiful collection of landscape paintings, drawings, and sketches done by Minnesota artist Francis Lee Jaques. An extensive collection of maps lets students find the perfect compliment to any history paper. Students can also browse a Children's Library, a collection of African American literature, an immigration archive, and a variety of Native American related documents.

The site is here: https://umedia.lib.umn.edu/node/88821

Remember, if you use any of the resources on this site, be sure to cite them accordingly! (The same goes if you use any other resource on this blog, or on the Internet in general, in the course of gathering information for your research paper.)

How We Teach Our Students to Read

How we teach our students to read is a method that is time-tested and effective. Unfortunately, it's also a company secret.

Thankfully, we use more than one method and we're more than willing to share so that our readers can improve their reading skills on their own and at any reading level.

• Read a lot. This is one of the tips that we give our students on their first day with us. Reading is almost like a sport in that the more you do it, the better you'll be at it. 
• Read what you love whenever possible. Sure, you're going to have to read some potentially boring (but still rewarding) books at school, but in your free time you can read whatever you want. 
• That being said, step out of your comfort zone sometimes. If all you read are mystery books, try reading historical fiction once in a while. If all you read is non-fiction, try science fiction! 
• Make reading an adventure. Reading transports you places in your mind that you may never otherwise be able to go to. Reading can take you to France in 1863 or Egypt during Cleopatra's rule, New York City one hundred years from now or 65 million years ago right before everything changed. Reading can allow you to visualize the rise and fall of empires, the birth and death of the most influential people ever to have lived, and the greatest changes ever to have taken place on this planet. You can go anywhere in time and space. Isn't that amazing?
• Discuss what you reading. Asking yourself or being asked questions about what you read helps you develop critical thinking skills.
• Write about what you read. Whether it's a journal entry describing what you read, a book review, a character analysis, an essay, or an alternative ending, writing about what you read will help you find new levels of meaning within any text.
  

Today's Lesson: Writing about Controversial Topics

Today's lesson was all about writing about controversial topics. Writing about controversial topics can be a great way to stimulate creative thought, practice persuasive writing, and explore oneself.

Today's question? Is murder permissible under certain circumstances, and if so, why?

Our students have a lot of different thoughts on this subject. Leave your opinions in the comments.

Writing Resources from NanoWriMo

The good folks at NanoWriMo have created a series of noveling notebooks that help you create an awesome plot and amazing characters.

Elementary School: http://ywp.nanowrimo.org/files/ywp/Elementary_School_Workbook_Customizable_V2.pdf

Middle School: http://ywp.nanowrimo.org/files/ywp/Middle_School_Workbook_Customizable_V2.pdf

High School: http://ywp.nanowrimo.org/files/ywp/High_School_Workbook_Customizable_V2.pdf


They also have great lessons plans for educators: http://ywp.nanowrimo.org/lesson-plans

Camp NanoWriMo

Camp NanoWriMo runs in April and July. It's a writing program that challenges young writers to choose their own writing art form and a word goal, and to reach that word goal by the end of the month. The Camp allows young writers to choose their 'cabin mates' and describes itself as "an idyllic writer's retreat smack dab in the middle of your crazy life."

Come check it out at: http://campnanowrimo.org/

April Script-Writing Month

April used to be script-writing month. Unfortunately, that tradition has ended in the larger world. However, it is still celebrated here at Infinite Potential Tutoring. We encourage all of our students to write a screenplay or other script during the month of April, and attempt to do so ourselves.

Script Frenzy's 2012 homepage can be found here: http://2012.scriptfrenzy.org/index.html

And a ton of writing resources can be found here: http://2012.scriptfrenzy.org/eng/howtoguides

Personification

I find that students sometimes have trouble with personification. If you are looking for a way to creatively introduce personification into your learning environment, try the following:

• Personify war. What is it like during times of peace? What was it like during the World Wars? What is it like right now? 
• Personify peace, using the same criteria as above.
• Personify a nation, taking into consideration history and current affairs.
• Personify a planet, taking into consideration that planet's defining features. 
• Personify love.
• Personify hatred.
• Personify grief. 
• Personify happiness.
• Personify time. 

Descriptive Writing Exercise for Elementary School

This is a descriptive writing exercise I did with one of my fourth grade students. It really got her thinking about details and descriptive language.

Describe a bed. 

What kind of bed it is? What is the headboard like? What color/material is the headboard? What kind of mattress does the bed has? Is the bed soft or hard? Are there any pillows? If so, how many? What kind of pattern is on the pillow-cases? Are there any stuffed animals on the bed? What about people or beds? What kind of blanket is on the bed? What color is the blanket? What pattern does it have? What kind of fabric are the sheets? What color are the sheets? How high is the bed? Please write a paragraph using descriptive language. 

This kind of assignment really helps students focus in on one thing or object in order to describe it in the vivid detail it deserves. Pick any room or object and ask very specific questions about every aspect of that place or thing, and see the amazing things your student will come up with.