Last week, I began sharing some of the teaching strategies included in Nonfiction
Writers Dig Deep: 50 Award-winning Authors Share the Secret of Engaging Writing. Today, I’m going to pick up
where I left off by discussing how to help students
make an assigned topic their own.
If you read this blog
regularly, you know that I always advocate for letting students write about
topics that fascinate them. You might think that strategy is at odds with a
teacher’s need to integrate language arts with content area instruction. But it
doesn’t have to be.
Let’s say
your class is studying the American Revolutionary War, and you want everyone to
write a report related to that umbrella topic. Obvious choices might be George
Washington or the Battle of Bunker Hill. But let’s face it, not everyone has a
deep natural interest in a dead white guy or a skirmish that happened in Boston
almost 250 years ago.
That’s
where the Idea Incubator I discussed last week can come in handy. As a
student looks at this list at the back of her writer’s notebook, she may notice
a lot of facts, questions, and ideas about the weather and wonder if she could
write a report about the weather
during the Revolutionary War. After doing some research, she discovers that the
1770s were an exceptionally cold, snowy period in history, and the weather
influenced the outcome of many battles. Bingo! She’s identified a great topic
that she’s excited about.
Another student notices that his list includes
some facts, questions, and ideas about numbers
and math. He might decide to create a series of infographics comparing statistics related to
different battles or the two competing armies.
A third student who’s fascinated by fashion could focus on the kind of clothing the
soldiers wore, including how a severe shortage of boots affected the Colonial
troops.
When a student’s personal interests guide the
research and writing process, their final piece will burst with passion and
personality. When students recognize their natural interests and look for ways
to discuss an umbrella topic through that lens, they’ll be infinitely more
invested in the process and the product.
