Write On: A Student Writing Guide

By Rod Martin

Write On helps aspiring writers with the age old question: What can I write about? It provides hundreds of ways to start a narrative or poem using thought-provoking questions, famous quotes, story ideas, plot outlines and more.

This book contains Notes on writing, Quick Lists, Using quotations, Starting Lines, Questions, Story Starters, Plot Plans, Writing Topics, Examples of Writing Lesson Plans, Descriptive, Narrative, Informative and Persuasive Essays, Notes on Improving Word Choice, Interviewing, Advertising Tricks and Colorful Cultural Phrases.

For twenty four years, Rod Martin taught English, Poetry, Drama and Television Production for Hawaiis Department of Education. Recently retired, he has turned his focus to writing books to help teachers. Drama Games and Acting Exercises published by Meriwether Publishing Ltd. teaches how to incorporate improvisational theatre into the curriculum. Future Poets published by AuthorHouse, is a guide to writing new kinds of poetry. Now theres Write On: a student writing guide published by Xlibris, here to help students turn the world of poetry and prose on its ear.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Jun 4, 2014
• ISBN: 9781499029642

Rod Martin

Dr Rod Martin, Chief Executive Officer of MERL Ltd in Hitchin, UK, is a Chartered Engineer and Chartered Scientist. He has conducted research on composites used in many applications including space, aeronautics, land transport and the petrochemical industry.

Book preview

Copyright © 2014 by Rod Martin.

ISBN:          Softcover          978-1-4990-2968-0

                   eBook               978-1-4990-2964-2

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

Rev. date: 05/31/2014

To order additional copies of this book, contact:

Xlibris LLC

1-888-795-4274

www.Xlibris.com

[e-mail]

633636

Contents

The Writing Process

Quick Lists

Thoughts For The Day: Writing About Quotations

Starting Lines

Questions To Write About

Story Starters

Plot Plans

Writing Assignments For Extra Credit

Writing Topics

Writing About Your Feelings

What Makes You, You? (Unique)

Writing About Places

Writing Process Lesson Plan

Introductory Activities/Discussions

Descriptive Essay

Narrative Essay

Persuasive Essay

What’s News? Newspaper Article Reading Response

My Three Jobs Writing Assignment

Writing Group Guidelines

Improving Word Choice

Getting Feedback On One’s Teaching:

Student Opinion Questionnaire

Emotional Vocabulary And Story

Student Interviewing Project

Students Interviewing Students

Ironic Situations

Library And/Or Computer Lab Research Contest

Advertising Tricks

Using Idioms And Familiar Phrases To Add Color To Your Writing

Figurative Language: Idioms

Hyperbole

Informative Speech Or Essay Topics

Book Report Guidelines

Writing Process Lesson Plan

Introductory Activities/ Discussions

Writing Process Checklist

The Good Life

Dedicated to all the teachers

who never give up on their students.

THE WRITING PROCESS

I’m the kind of English teacher who believes that kids learn best by doing, by practicing a skill. For that reason, I’ve put together this book of ideas I’ve used throughout my teaching career to help jump-start the writing process for my students. Their usual complaint was, I don’t know what to write about.

The following collection of Story Starters, Plot Plans and Starting Lines (and more) should give them plenty of food for thought. It’s up to you as their teacher, how much you want to give out and how often. Don’t overwhelm them but give them a sufficient number of ideas to choose from.

And finally, I never told my students they couldn’t write on a topic of their own choosing: that’s when they are most motivated.

QUICK LISTS

To settle the class while you take roll, you can give them one or more of these suggestions for writing a quick list. Don’t give them too much time. There should be a sense of urgency or competiveness. The writing of lists is just a warm up that gets kids thinking and writing. It’s rarely worth grading other than to see that an effort has been made or to stir discussion.

Write the names of all the people in this class.

Turn to your neighbor. One of you tells the other about an interesting experience you have had. The listener must retell the story back to the first person.

Write one kind of food beginning with each letter of the alphabet.

List all the kinds of busy work your teacher gives you that seem a waste of time.

List all the work tools you can think of.

Make up several names for new rock groups.

How many countries can you name?

List all the musical instruments you know.

Name as many teachers at this school as you can.

Name as many movie stars as you can. (extra credit: Can you tell what movies they were in?)

Name as many kinds of ice cream as you can.

List one manufactured item for each letter of the alphabet.

How many holidays can you name?

List the continents of the world.

List as many models of cars as you can.

Name every kind of color you can think of.

How many animals can you list?

List several kinds of trees.

List as many kinds of transportation as you can.

How many different kinds of languages can you name?

List things you should not do.

How many parts of an automobile can you list?

List the 12 months of the year, spelled correctly.

List the many things that make people the same.

List as many states as you can.

THOUGHTS FOR THE DAY:

WRITING ABOUT QUOTATIONS

You can have the students partner share what they think the quote for the day means. Then have them each write what they think it means, perhaps giving an example of that concept in action. Discuss the true meaning with the class. If their initial definition is not correct, ask them to write the real meaning under their first attempt.

Note: don’t try to stump the students but pick out quotes you feel they can understand. I believe the use of quotes is more thought provoking than quick lists.

The first thing we must teach you is to walk alone.

The greatest power a person possesses is the power to choose.

Reality has limits; the world of imagination is limitless.

If one would speak, one must also listen.

A job worth doing is worth doing well.

Little steps make little mountains.

Knowledge is power.

If you have nothing nice to say, say nothing.

Not many people are willing to die for love, but many people are dying daily for lack of it.

Excellence is the best deterrent to racism and sexism. Oprah

To accomplish great things, we must not only act but also dream, not only plan but also believe.

Slander (put downs) cannot destroy an honest person. When the flood recedes, the rock stays. Chinese Proverb

Deeds count, not just words. As the Chinese say: Talk does not cook rice.

Mexican proverb: If the fish had not opened its mouth, it would not have been caught.

Education should teach us how to think, not what to think.

It is good to have an end to journey toward, but it is the journey that matters in the end.

When it comes to friendship, the trick isn’t finding the right friend; it’s being the right friend.

The illiterate of the 21st century will not be those who cannot read and write, but those who cannot learn, unlearn and relearn. Alvin Toffler

Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away.

I’d rather be a ‘could be’ if I cannot be an ‘are’: because a ‘could be’ is a ‘maybe’ who is reaching for a star.

Every generation must protect freedom from those who find new ways to enslave us.

You see things as they are and ask Why? but I dream things that never were and ask Why not? George Bernard Shaw

It is by writing that you learn to write. (Practice makes perfect)

Be careful what you want: you just may get it.

We are not only responsible for what we do, but also for what we fail to do.

Cheaters never prosper.

Great effort may lead you to great prosperity.

It’s not whether you win or lose, its how you play the game

Failure is not fatal. Winston Churchill

Woulda, Coulda, Shoulda been: don’t let this be your life, my friend.

Learning never ends.

If you want to be happy, practice compassion. The Dalai Lama

Seven days with no laughter makes one weak.

It is difficult to give away kindness. It keeps coming back to you.

We do not stop playing because we grow old; we grow old because we stop playing.

Alone we can do so little, together we can do so much. Helen Keller

Sing like no one’s listening. Love like it’s your first. Dance like no one’s watching and live like it’s heaven on earth.

There are many things I don’t know, but few things I can’t learn.

It is how you deal with failure that makes you a success.

When the power of love is greater than the love of power, there will be peace on earth.

The meaning of life is to give life meaning.

Let your word be your bond.

No act of kindness, however small, is ever wasted. Aesop

There is no one luckier than the people who think they are.

Do all the good you can, in every way you can, to everyone you can.

The most successful people are those with a plan ‘B.’

Once you have learned to love, you will have learned to live.

Fall seven times. Stand up eight. (Japanese proverb about resiliency)

No one can make you feel inferior without your consent. Eleanor Roosevelt

After the game, the king and the pawn go into the same box.

Do not follow where the path leads. Go where there is no path and leave a trail.

Being kind costs nothing, yet it is priceless.

Happiness is something to do, something to love and something to hope for.

If you always go with what you know, you’ll never learn and grow.

We live by choice, not by chance. Hal Urban

If you love life, life will love you back.

All children are artists. The problem is how to remain an artist once you grow up. Pablo Picasso

To repeat what others have said requires education. To challenge it, requires brains.

Honesty is the best policy.

It is better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all.

Everyone has their story to tell.

Consider the consequences of all you do and that will help keep you out of trouble.

I cannot do everything, but I can still do something. Helen Keller

Not all who wander are lost.

A friend is a gift you give yourself.

Give others the freedom to be themselves and be thankful we’re all different

Better to hold your tongue and appear a fool, than open your mouth and remove all doubt.

No task is too big when done by all.

The cure for boredom is curiosity. There is no cure for curiosity

Ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country.

You catch more flies with honey than with vinegar.

Treat others as you would have them treat you.

The grass always seems greener on the other side.

You can fool all of the people some of the time, but you can’t fool mom.

Our biases and prejudices color our view of the world.

Change is the only constant.

Generosity with strings attached is not generosity.

Pick battles big enough to matter and small enough to win.

Praise loudly but blame softly.

You can complain about your life, or change it.

Hope can change the world.

Negativity only works for magnets.

Love wins.

Tolerance of diversity might save the twenty-first century.

To lose your troubles, help others with theirs.

We give ourselves stress: life gives us challenges.

The smallest good deed is better than the grandest good intention.

The world we have created is a product of our thinking: it cannot be changed without changing our thinking. Albert Einstein

Ideals are like the stars: we never reach them, but like the mariners of the sea, we chart our course by