1. Writing Activities to
Ignite Students’ Interest
in the Middle School
Classroom
Gary Cole, Jeremiah Clabough, Lance McConkey, & Beth
Hudson

2. Prewriting
Free-flowing ideas that calm a student’s fear and/or add a
spark to the fire.

3. Do we need PRE Prewriting?
 Quick-writes  responding to literature
 Photo analysis  role playing
 magazines/newspapers/periodicals/CD-ROM  research
 conduct an interview based on your topic  imagination
 media - radio, tv, internet  personal interest inventories
 experiences  class interest inventory
 film - movies and documentaries  Tableau
 music  free writing
 visual art - observing or creating  journalling
 dreams  image streaming (transplant yourself
to another place or time and describe
 memories from a first person point of view)
 discussion and brainstorming

4. Most common prewriting
strategies:
 Freewriting  Cubing (considering a subject
from six points of view)
 Clustering (graphic
organizers)  *Describe* it (colors, shapes,
sizes, etc.)
 Brainstorming
 *Compare* it (What is it similar
 Collaboration (group or to?)
partner)
 *Associate* it (What does it
 Journalistic questioning (who, make you think of?)
what, when, where, how) *how
does it matter to me or others*  *Analyze* it (Tell how it's
made)
 Outlining
 *Apply* it (What can you do
with it? How can it be used?)

5. Procedures for Teaching
Prewriting
 1. Brainstorm. Encourage students to think outside of the
box.
 2. Model the exercise. If you are teaching diagramming,
create a diagram on the board.
 3. Give examples. Students like to see examples. Show
them a completed essay as well as the planning for that
particular essay.
 4. Help them come up ideas, though do not do all the work
yourself. Be an active participant.
 5. Reinforce the fact that students are doing a good job,
even if their work is not-so-great.

7. Four-Square Method of Prewriting

8. Grammarly
web site

9. Music in the Social
Studies

10. Brags and Whines
 Imagined monologues from the perspective of an
individual, place, or event.
 Give the “speaker” humanity and emotion
 Students love to Brag
 Students are great whiners
 Two ways to use
 Teacher created
 Student created

11. Julius Caesar Brag
You want to talk love, I tell you, the people of Rome love me! They fall all over me, I mean
everywhere I go, Romans treat me like a god. They even made me FIRST CITIZEN of
Rome! They did! And my PR people had to do almost nothing at all to make it happen.
I mean, I’m the man! I give them stuff, you know. They all like a little extra food,
tickets to the races at the Coliseum, some good stiff fights from the best gladiators.
Entertainment, that’s the name of the game in politics. And I know politics, from Rome to
Egypt to Gaul – all three parts. In face, they love me all over the empire. When Rome’s
best general, old Pompey tried to stiff me, my boys in in Greece sent me his head in a
basket, Now, that’s love!
But hey! The people ought to love me. When the Mediterranean Sea was crawling
with pirates to the point that no ship was safe, who cleaned them up? Who wiped them
out? Julie, that’s who, - me and nobody else. When the Gauls were raising a ruckus up
north to the point that Romans were afraid that they would come down and plunder the
city any spring. Who took care of the problem? Need I tell you? The C man, of course!
I just marched a legion or two around Gaul. Naturally, I was always victorious in every
battle. Why I even extended the empire, made it “all that it could be,” so to speak.
One of the parts I added was this little island to the north. The people there are
kind of funny. They fight naked and paint themselves blue, but the place has some really
nice hot baths. It’s a great place for Romans to vacation. And was I done? No sir!
Where are the best wheat farms in the world? Egypt, that is where! And now, thanks to
nobody but J.C. We got all the wheat we’ll ever need. Everyone in Rome loves me, I tell
you! In fact, I think I’ll take a walk through the heart of town, jus to give them a thrill.
Yeah, a nice spring walk is just what I need.

12. King Tut Whine
I should be remembered for all of the good things I did for Egypt. Instead of being known just as the
son of a radical Pharaoh. You know I was the son of Amenhotep IV better known as Akhenaton. He
had to go ruin everything before I was even born. You see good ole dad changed the entire religion
for Egypt, turning it from worshiping many gods to worshiping just Aten the sun disk god. So when he
died hahaha and I became Pharaoh I tried to shine. You know it is really hard to shine though when
you are only nine years old. That was a big problem I had to rule with older people helping me. So I
really didn’t get to shine for several years. One thing we did in the first years was to change the
religion back to a polytheistic form and dropped the stupid single god idea that father had. Then we
moved the capitol of Egypt back to Thebes after, you guessed it my father had moved it. My personal
life was really great; I had a beautiful wife Ankhesenamen and was in a loving relationship with her.
Relations with our foreign neighbors had reached a very critical point. See my father, oh yeah him
again, he let foreign relations fall to the way side because all he was concerned about was his new
religion. So I had to come in and start fixing these problems as quick as possible and of course some
of them had to be done forcefully. So tell me does it not sound like I did a lot for Egypt and to beat it
all I died at such a young age. Yes, I was only 19 years old when I died and people cannot really
figure out what caused my death. I mean was I murdered, did I fall and break my leg, or was it some
other reason I died? Another thing that goes wrong for me is by dying at such a young age my tomb
was not completed and I was buried in a smaller tomb that was probably built for someone else. The
embalmers were in such a hurry to get me ready for the afterlife that they even messed up the
mummification process. Now that I am in the afterlife things should go better for me but low and
behold some old geezers by the name of Carter and Carnarvon found my tomb. You should know that
they had to cut and pull on my mummy so bad that it messed it up and now my Ka or spirit cannot find
my body. So what does that mean for me, of course I am wandering throughout the afterlife trying to
find my mummy. So what a life and afterlife I have had.

13. Student Created
Children’s Books

14. Student-Created Children’s Books
Purpose:
1. Provides an interesting and
creative way for students to write on
historical topics
2. Allows students to use rarely-
exercised talents such as storytelling
and drawing
3. By requiring stories to be written at
a K-3 level, struggling writers can still
excel.

15. Procedure:
1. Assign students topics from state
standards.
2. Prepare a rubric that encourages
students to be creative with the cover,
the story, and the illustrations.
3. Have students turn in rough
drafts of the story and the
artwork.
4. Set a deadline and stick to it.

16. Tips:
1. Give extra encouragement to boys
(they tend to be reluctant).
2. Have a sweet reward for everyone
who turns in a completed book on
time.
3. Coordinate with a local K-3 teacher
and have your students go read their
books to the elementary kids.

17. 5 3 1
Early elementary Early elementary Early elementary
Story students would find the students would find the students would not find
story readable, story a combination of the story readable,
interesting, and two from level 5. interesting or
informative informative.
Add to the story. Have a Show the illustrator Show hurriedness and
professional feel. Colors invested time, but shows lack of preparation.
are sharp, and gluing, if some rough edges or Drawings may be
Illustrations any, is not exposed on glue marks. Has an inappropriate for the
the page. unfinished feel. story or age group.
Conveys the message of Uses interesting Does not use interesting
the story. Uses a variety materials but may appear materials. Appears to be
Cover of materials. Piques the “less than polished.” done at the last minute.
reader’s interest. Has a
“beautiful” appearance.
Uses a variety of sources Uses slightly varied Sources are not varied or
(books, articles, sources, most of which reliable.
Sources Internet). All sources are reliable.
highly reliable.

18. Questions

19. Contact information
 Gary Cole coleg@monroe.k12.tn.us
 Jeremy Claboughjclabou2@utk.edu
 Lance McConkey streetdoc77@gmail.com
 Beth Hudson
 Conference materials available at the following address
http://thumbingthroughscholars.pbworks.com/w/page/42
320957/FrontPage