Over the course of my twenty-year career in the classroom, I have had to disabuse many students of the following notion: the bigger the words I use and the more often I use them … the better my writing is.
I have encountered countless students who hold fast to this belief.
But how can we get them to write with a more authentic voice that is centered in their lexical wheelhouse?
Oftentimes, these million-dollar word kids are the ones who invent words or completely misuse the big words they try so hard to wield.
And then their sweet souls get crushed when we try to draw their attention to their poor writing.
Not only does their writing sound contrived and forced, but all of the wheels invariably fall off the essay as the result of exclusively thinking that big words equate to good writing.
Well … I have gamified a classroom activity for this phenomenon that I entitle “Don’t Break the Ice.”
Let’s take a look at the following sample of writing:
“I used to smoke pernicious cigarettes in high school. Knowing that they were baneful, I did it anyways because it allied me with a peer group. I am in utter disbelief that I used to do this. Cigarettes are so nocent that to this day I fear getting the repercussional ramifications of cancer.”
I bet this sounds just like a student or two that you have taught along the way.
In today’s YouTube video, I demonstrate how my students play “Don’t Break the Ice” and revise these statements in a manner that gets them back into a natural voice range.
Through competition and collaboration, your kids will learn a ton about how to cultivate and nurture their writing voices.
Here’s the link to the video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1lcWY2TXij0&t=3s
If you'd like the PowerPoint game template, simply let me know and I'll send it your way.
As many of you know, Timm Freitas and I are finally sitting down to collaborate on a textbook. I’m knee deep and chipping away at my portion. At present, I’m delineating all of my strategies to teach voice, rhythm, and flow through the gamification of my templates. I’ll be making some new videos of these tricks and posting them in my YouTube channel in the coming weeks.
I am also in the data collection phase of my writing. On January 9th, my Teach It “Write” 5-Week Mastermind begins and there are still a couple of seats available. If you’re looking to breathe some fresh life into how you teach composition, check it out – especially if you’d like to equip your students with my templates and strategies.
Reach out if you’d like more information or visit my webpage:
https://teachinghow2write.com/teach-it-write-mastermind/
Happy teaching and happy writing!
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