December: ABE Writing/Literacy Skills Month

This month, let’s focus on improving the writing/literacy skills of our ABE adult learners.

Please share one or more writing activities or techniques that you consider innovative and effective in helping adults dive into writing without fear and trepidation. I’ll start. (You are welcome and invited to start discussions on other relevant topics, too, of course.)

I just came across this site: 365 Creative Writing Prompts, by Think Written at http://thinkwritten.com/365-creative-writing-prompts/ . Here is one of my favorites from the site:  Given the tragic results of fires and winds in the Southeast...” Write a poem or short story about someone who has lost or is about to lose their home.”

I'll add a few of my own.

  1. Write about taking tests. How do you feel? What helps?
  2. Write about feeling like an outsider in a group. What helps?
  3. What do you know about being poor? Are poor people different than rich people?
  4. How does it feel to be homosexual or bisexual? What are the challenges. Are there benefits?

OK. Now it’s your turn. Share one or more favorites from the list on the site, followed by a couple of your favorite short prompts. Thanks!

 

 

Comments

Many thanks for the great link and resource, 365 Creative Writing Prompts, where I also found a wealth of information on publishing writing as well!  I work in a state prison and many students are so creative, involved in art, music, or writing, and these ideas are practical and user friendly.  I like your own additions and writing of #2 and #3.  I would also add "write about when your friend betrayed you and what can you do the resolve the situation."  In addition, family issues are huge in our society, i.e. addiction, poverty, dysfunctional parenting, etc. so I would like to add "Write about how your mother or father parented you. Describe positive parenting behaviors would you use with your own children or grandchildren?"  I have discovered that writing is a wonderful path towards inner healing and learning about yourself through my own journaling as well as teaching adults writing.    Now it's somebody else's turn...

 

 

 

I have been using frames with prompting phrases embedded to move students quickly into creating different kinds of text types.  For example, I will ask each student to write a "How to ______" instructional text.  A good example is a text created by one of my students, How to Plan a Children's Birthday Party.  That would be the title, and for each following paragraph I provided the starting phrase, "First, you must ______..."; for the second paragraph, "Then, you should .....: and so forth.  In this way she had a frame to build her how-to text.  How-to essays draw on personal expertise (and everyone has expertise in something, whether it's cooking rice and beans, fixing a flat tire, or teaching a child to ride a bike.).  All such texts need organization, details, and clarity, which are critical for passing credential tests.  Another frame/prompt combination I use is My Work History.  The first paragraph begins "My current job is.....  Then continues, "My main responsibilities are to....", and concludes with "I am particularly good at..."  A second paragraph frame would start with, "I also worked as a ....," with the same prompting phrases, "My main duties were..." and "I was particularly good at."  Entries don't have to be only paying jobs but could include work as a volunteer, school aid, or church member.  In this latter exercise, you can build in lots of validating skills, such as "working well with others" or "solving problems," that students might not recognize that they are "particularly good at."  I rarely plan for narrative or opinion pieces, unless they are tied to other texts or use those texts as a jumping off point. For example, a frame for writing an opinion piece in response to a text might begin, "One statement of the author's that I do/do not agree with is ...." followed by "I do do/not agree with it because ...."  A second paragraph could be launched with "Another statement that etc...." and so forth. Hope these ideas are of interest.

Hi Carey,

These frames look very useful. I wonder if any of your students using the "How to" frame have written a set of instructions or an article that might be published on WikiHow, a free how-to website. Perhaps some of the content in the How to Write a New article on WikiHow might be useful to them. Incidentally, not all articles when published are perfect; some get further editing by other wiki members -- which might be useful and interesting to the writers. Let us know if one of their articles is published.

David

David J. Rosen

djrosen123@gmail.com

 

 

 

I couldn’t pick a favorite promt, there were so many interesting ones! I can see taking 10 or 12 at a time and giving the list to students to choose from. Trying to pick from 365 is a bit overwhelming, at least for me. Something I like to use for a promt is a single word, could be a noun, verb, adjective, then write what comes to mind and read the pieces out loud . The variety of the writing is amazing.

Another site for numerous writing prompts can be found at  http://www.creativewritingprompts.com/

My learners have enjoyed this blog that shares many thoughtful prompts.

http://writingprompts.tumblr.com/

The author does a wonderful job of offering many universal ideas, thoughts and prompts that generate thoughts for most of my learners. Check out the images and try a few with your learners. Do you or your learners find these prompts fun and easy to get into? 

I am madly taking notes on all of the great ideas and resources shared here by you pros! Having fun exploring them with you this week!

Di shared a prompt using a single part of speech. That immediately reminded me of writing diamond poetry. “A diamante poem is a poem that makes the shape of a diamond. The poem can be used in two ways, either comparing and contrasting two different subjects, or naming synonyms at the beginning of the poem and then antonyms for the second half for a subject." (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diamante_poem).

Noun
Adjective -  Adjective
(participial adjectives)
Noun – Noun – Noun - Noun
Verb – Verb – Verb
Adjective -  Adjective – Adjective
Noun

I used this shape type of writing with many adult literacy students. Once, I had a group of guys in corrections write diamond poetry. They were amazingly creative, of course. Here’s is approximately what one inmate wrote, slightly paraphrased from memory.

Cow
Quiet, Peaceful
Munching, Sleeping, Drinking
Pasture, Sunshine, Rain, Fences
Watching, Scratching, Licking, Gazing
Wonderful, Juicy
Meal

Google images has many examples as well. Leecy