Many educators use images as prompts to stimulate student thinking, inquiry, and discussion. I have drawn inspiration from great educators like Nancy Steineke, Smokey Daniels, and Gretchen Bernabei. I have also used Visual Thinking Strategies though in hindsight, I should have been using them more for our Writer’s Notebooks.
We’re currently in a writing unit of study with argumentative writing. My 6th grade students are exploring arguments for and against the instruction of cursive writing in schools. Earlier this week, they read two great articles from NewsELA ( a resource that has been a godsend for me this school year). Today, I wanted to set the stage for the next article we’re going to read together from Scholastic Scope about the benefits and challenges of cursive writing. I felt like they needed a concrete way to connect to the idea that cursive writing is very personal and often associated with personal connections to others as well as cherished memories.
I decided on the fly to use a photo I took of something I found in the overflowing storage tubs and drawers that held thousands of recipes belonging to my late mother. Regular readers know I was extremely close to my mom and anything I have of hers with her handwriting makes her feel closer to me somehow. As the students arrived, I asked them get their Writer’s Notebooks; I then projected this photo with my LCD projector:
We did three 5-7 minute “bursts” of writing with a modified See, Think, Wonder thinking structure:
See: First, I asked students to write down everything they saw in the photo.
Think: I asked students to think about why the photo might have significance or importance based on what they had seen and noticed.
Wonder: I asked students to write what they were wondering about the photo and what they saw; they could use a “I wonder…” sentence stem or simply write a question.
Students then broke into pairs of their choosing, and we did a Turn and Talk. Next, we did a “lightning round” whole class share–each student got to choose one talking point from his or her “see” writing, “think” reflections, and list of wonderings. My co-teacher Heather Blaker and I were impressed by the depth of thinking we saw from many students; what really struck me, though, was that my students who usually struggle with their writing were the ones who absolutely “rocked” this learning activity with exceptional depth to their thinking and noticings.
Once everyone shared, I then did the “Big Reveal” and told students the story of the photo and my connections to it as well as the meaning the objects in the photo had for me. I then asked students to consider why the cursive handwriting held such significance and if they thought the significance of these handwritten recipes would be the same for me had they simply been typed. We then ended class with students volunteering to share what they wrote, and several shared their own stories of having handwritten notes and other kinds of writing from relatives that held deep meaning for them.
This is not a new strategy by any means, but I was just so struck by the engagement and thinking of my students, especially those who usually struggle. Students, even my shy ones, were also eager to share their writing and participate in discussion. I am thankful my administrators support a literacy and writing studio where writing , student interaction, and student discussion (small and whole group) are valued. As we approach the state Milestones testing window in a few weeks, I can’t help but wonder how my students might do if they had the opportunity to have at least one visual writing prompt like the one we used today. I hope the developers of our state test will consider adding this kind of prompt, especially since students are so often judged, sorted, and evaluated on the basis of their test scores.
Today was also a reminder that I need to embed visual prompts more frequently for our notebook time, and I’m now thinking of how they can enhance the ongoing inquiry units in progress for all of my students in grades 6, 7, and 8.
How do you incorporate visual writing prompts into your writing or Language Arts classroom?
Filed under: 2016-17, 2017, Writing Instruction and Literacy Tagged: "Turn and Talk", Chestatee Academy, Inquiry, notebook time, photographs, See Think Wonder, visual writing prompts, War Eagle Writing Studio, writer's notebooks, Writers