The Writing on the Wall

by your curly friend, Suzanne

and on the floor, sidewalk, desk...

What's more fun to write on than a piece of paper? Absolutely anything!  

Let's face it- staring at a blank piece of paper can be a daunting task, particularly for a student who struggles in school.  You might notice that "writing" days are demanding discipline days.  One way to take the fear out of writing and increase buy-in is to provide unique places and mediums for writing.  Here are a few of my favorites:

The writing on the floor- Arm students with Vis-a-Vis markers and allow them to publish a piece of writing.  I like this strategy because it can live there for several days, and students can easily read the writing of their peers.  Note: I have never asked permission to do this activity.  It's easier to get forgiveness than permission.  To clean up, I give each student a baby wipe and have them do their best.  After the school day, I give it a deep clean with Windex and paper towels.  It might still be a little pinkish or greenish, but it will wear off- promise!  This strategy also works on desktops.  

The writing on the wall- Pose questions on posters and allow students to walk around and respond.  Don't want to replace posters between classes?  Have students write their responses on Post-it notes- easy clean up!

The writing on the poster-  I think I've mentioned before my love for the poster maker.  You take any paper, and it blows it up into an awesome poster.  Laminate, and it's the perfect way for students to annotate a text or complete a graphic organizer with their group.  

The writing on the non-traditional medium- Learning about character foils? Publish your analysis on a piece of aluminum foil.  Check out our character foil lesson here.  Writing a narrative about a favorite food?  Draft on a paper plate.  Our buddy, Gretchen, has a list of fun writing spaces in The Story of My Thinking: 

Get creative, have fun and let the writing flow!