MINILESSON 6: Using Personal Experiences to Find Writing Ideas


Using Personal Experience to Find Ideas

One of the best places to find ideas for writing is through your experiences. Things that we have learned or things that have happened to us are the sparks that can ignite our writing. Your experiences are important to your writing. You already have had many experiences that can provide material for your writing. You just haven’t uncovered those ideas yet. Sometimes our writing ideas are tucked away in the corners of our minds.

Inventory of Personal Experiences
·         What am I interested in?
·         What do I like?
·         What do I dislike?
·         What makes me different from other people?
·         What do I like about myself?
·         What do I dislike about myself?
·         What would I change about myself?
·         What do I care about most?
·         What would I like to know more about?
·         What would I like to do?
·         Where would I like to go?
·         What exciting things have I done?
·         Do I know any interesting people? Why are they interesting?
·         What could I share with others?
·         What would I like to change about the world?
·         What are some things that have made me happy?
·         What are some things that have made me sad?
·         What are some things that have made me angry?
·         What are some things that have made me afraid?
·         What advice can I share with others?

Angles and Viewpoints

Writers have to look at things from all perspectives and different angles. When an author is searching for an idea, he sometimes looks at an old idea in a different way. Every issue has multiple sides. Did you know that light contains all of the colors of the rainbow? But, we don’t see all of those colors. Very few issues in society are black and white. There is always a gray area. As a writer, you must look at all of those shades of color and gray to find an idea. Look at some issue, idea, or topic from another angle. Think about some big questions in society. Are there two sides to that issue? Here are just a few examples:
·         Should middle schoolers be allowed to use their phones at school?
·         Should high school students have homework every night?
·         Should class sizes be smaller?

·         Should parents have the right to search their children’s rooms?

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

"Scout's Honor" by Avi

Image
I've created a learning resource to go along with the short story that you can find in my shop. My students have been telling me that it's quite difficult. We've done two pages per day as part of our reading workshop minilessons. They're writing the notes and responses in their journals. The grammar connection on infinitives really threw them for a loop~it was the first time that they've encountered this verbal. Melissa
Read more

Back to School Bumper Sticker Activity and Printable

Image
Here in Middle Tennessee, we go back to school in two weeks, so it's the perfect time to begin thinking about icebreaker activities.  My Back to school Bumper Sticker Printable and Activity includes 20 different bumper stickers, 10 color and 10 black and white. There are 2 bumper stickers per page. Use this as an icebreaker in the following way: Students brainstorm some bumper stickers that they've seen and what those bumper stickers say about the person driving the car. Then, the students will write down several bumper sticker sayings that represent them and their ideas or beliefs. Show students some examples of completed bumper stickers. Afterwards, give each student a copy of the bumper sticker template. Each student designs and creates a bumper sticker that represents him or her. After students have created their bumper stickers, they walk around the room reading each other's bumper stickers. This activity is a fun and creati...
Read more

The Forms of Personal Pronouns

Image
The form of a personal pronoun shows how it can be used in a sentence. Pronouns used as subjects and predicate nominatives are in the subject form. Examples:  He and I went to the post office. The winner of the marathon is she. Pronouns used as direct objects and indirect objects of verbs and objects of the preposition are in the object form. Examples: Mr. Garcia helped him and me with yesterday's homework. The clerk gave us the package. when is Theo going to give the flowers to her? Possessive forms (my, mine, your, yours, his, her, hers, its, their, theirs, our, ours) are used to show ownership or possession. Examples: My sister had to turn the box on its end to get it through the door. A mother bear is very protective of her cubs. Personal Pronouns: Singular Subject: I, you, he, she, it Plural Subject: we, you, they Singular object: me, you, him, her, it Plural object: us, you, them Singular possessive: my, mine, you...
Read more