Writing Tag

A piece of paper, a chalkboard and a pair of scissors are a teacher’s best friends.  Tr.uly, let me explain with this one activity.

1. Give each student a blank piece of paper.

2. Ask them to fold it “hamburger”, once, twice, three times. Unfold!

3. They will see 8 blocks for writing. In the first block ask them to write a sentence prompt… something exciting for example. “A man walked into a bank with a gun and ……” Tell them to finish the sentence.

4. Students pass their paper to their left and after reading the sentence on the paper, add their own sentence.

5. Continue passing the sentences along until the page is full. The last student should try to write something that concludes the story.

6. The student gets back their story and reads it. Read some outloud to share or have students read them in groups.

While students are writing, they should also be encouraged to correct their classmates writing! This will help get them to begin peer editing.

Another “wrinkle” is to have them only read the sentence before and then fold down the paper before they pass it on….creates a more random, funny, story.  

Another “wrinkle”. I also like doing this with gossip. Write some gossip gambits on the board. ( I heard it through the grapevine / the world on the street is / It’s common knowledge that… / I heard that … / Don’t pass this around but… / ). The first student uses one and writes some gossip about the student on their right. Pass the paper and continue the gossip! It gets hilarious!

This post was submitted by David Deubelbeiss.