Idea Generation

Goals

• review the elements of the writing process
• generate and gather ideas

The Learning Task

The first step in the writing process is to generate ideas, or a range of writing topics that you can come back to and explore in more detail. These ideas are called your writing territories*.

Let’s explore a specific way to come up with writing territory ideas by exploring the spoken word poem by Sarah Kay, “Hands”.

Draw an outline of your hand. Listen to Sarah Kay’s poem, “Hands” and jot down any words, phrases or images that bring something to mind for you when you are listening to the poem. You might choose one of those words, phrases or images at another time to develop into a larger piece of writing. In the meantime, let your mind wander, be inspired by Sarah Kay’s words and record what comes to mind.

*Writing Territories is a term coined by Nancie Atwell
** Thank you to Linda Rief for the lesson idea

Daily task! Don’t forget to engage with your Writer’s Notebook: Creating a Place for Reflection

Note: please see the information in this lesson for guidance.

We don’t have any Writer’s Notebook entries to share with you today! Please complete your journal entry and share with us; your words might be what someone needs to read.

If you would like to share your thinking, thoughts and wonderings with other students in the Waterloo Region District School Board as above, please share your journal entry using this form. Your entry may be chosen to share within our system. This is NOT a requirement and it is your personal choice to share.

Grace Lin Reading Where the Mountain Meets the Moon

Listen to the author, Grace Lin read her book Where the Mountain Meets the Moon. In the valley of Fruitless Mountain, a young girl named Minli spends her days working hard in the fields and her nights listening to her father spin fantastic tales about the Jade Dragon and the Old Man of the Moon. Minli’s mother, tired of their poor life, chides him for filling her head with nonsense. But Minli believes these enchanting stories and embarks on an extraordinary journey to find the Old Man of the Moon and ask him how her family can change their fortune. She encounters an assorted cast of characters and magical creatures along the way, including a dragon who accompanies her on her quest.

Categories: Elementary