Beating the Blank Page with Unit 7

Do a search for â€Å"writing prompts,† and you can find all sorts of clever ideas such as this: â€Å"Oreo Cookies were sold for the first time in 1912. Describe how you like to eat your Oreo.† Of course, there are some not-so-helpful ones. My favorite in that category is â€Å"Describe dirt.† The goal of these kinds of prompts is to inspire students to get words down on paper. The results are often dismal. Either the page is filled with random thoughts and ideas, or it simply becomes a receptor for tears as a reluctant student racks his brain for what to write. Fortunately, IEW has a solution for the problem of the blank page—Unit 7: Inventive Writing. The best way to begin Unit 7 is not with a writing prompt but with your student’s brain. After all, no one can write on something he doesn’t know much about, so the best thing to do is to help your student look around his brain to see what is in there, and then have him write about that thing. In the Student Writing Intensives, Andrew Pudewa begins Unit 7 by having students do a â€Å"brain inventory.† He asks the students to write down twenty-five things that they know something about: hobbies, pets, family members, vacations, summer activities, sports, favorite toys and games, friends, books, and so forth. Once they have a list, they have a mine of writing prompts that they care about. The model for Unit 7: Inventive Writing is similar to Unit 4: Summarizing a Reference because it requires students to choose a topic, collect details about that topic, and use the Topic/Clincher Rule when they write their paragraphs. However, to find details on a topic, students need a tool to get information out of their brains. Moms are experts at wielding this tool: asking questions. â€Å"Where have you been? What have you been doing? How are you going to clean that up?† Students can take their cue from Mom and keep those question words handy. That is what Rudyard Kipling did: I keep six honest serving men   Ã‚  Ã‚     (They taught me all I knew); Their names are What and Why and When   Ã‚  Ã‚     And How and Where and Who. Thanks to Unit 7, the blank page becomes an inviting depository of favorite things instead of a terrifying void. Once students become adept at writing topical paragraphs, they can learn how to tie them together with an introduction and conclusion using the Basic Essay Model. So the next time you want to get your students to write, save yourself the trouble of having to come up with a terrific prompt. Instead, invite them to do a brain inventory, and teach them how to question their brains for information. There is more than enough material there for hours and hours of inventive writing. To learn more, click here to watch Andrew's recorded Unit 7 webinar. Jill Pike  is a homeschooling mother of eight and an IEW ® Accomplished Instructor. Serving as moderator of the  IEWFamilies forum, she provides support to thousands of teachers and parents. She has authored many lesson plans offered by the Institute for Excellence in Writing, most recently adapting Anna Ingham's  Blended Sound-Sight Program of Learning  for home educators in the  Primary Arts of Language. After graduating five children, Jill and her husband, Greg, continue to home educate their youngest three in Indiana. Log in or register to post commentsJill Pikes blog Log in or register to post comments