ELA: Writing ^21st Century Skills All Ages Strategy
Skills
Verbal Reasoning
Verbal Memory
Visual Memory
Pick a Narrow Writing Topic
If your student has difficulty deciding what to include and exclude in writing assignments
Teach It!
Objective: Students will choose a distinct moment or experience to ensure that their writing has focus and is not too broad or general to hold their audience's interest.
Direct Instruction: a) Think about specific, observable moments, times, places or people when you are choosing your topic. For example, instead of writing about school, pick one memorable day or class period. Instead of writing about playing baseball, choose one goal you had for the season or one specific game to write about. b) If you know the general topic you want to write about, brainstorm a list of observable, specific details that you could focus in on and then choose one. c) Questions you can ask yourself: What specific experience or moment stands out? What person or place was essential to making the moment unique? What is the most memorable part of that experience? How did this experience make me feel?
When personal writing is specific and has focus, it is much more interesting for the reader. The reader is able to experience what you are describing, instead of just reading about a broad or general topic that will not put the reader in your shoes.