Writing Practice Acitivities
In addition to explicit instruction on how to write, writing practice will help improve writing skills. Here are additional writing activities to add to a robust writing program.
Alternate Perspectives
Purpose
A writing practice activity that will help writers think about their audience before writing. They will imagine what someone else would think or feel about something.
How
- Think about a story the writer heard or read lately — on TV, radio, in the newspaper, on YouTube or social media, etc.
- Ask about how that story made them feel
- List the names of 4 people they know well
- Imagine what each of these friends would think or feel about that story
- Have the writer write about how their friend would respond to this
See it in Action!
Watch:
This activity includes example prompts and tips for helping learners explore audience and perspective.
Cartoon Storytelling
Purpose
A writing practice activity based on pictures. This strategy is very good practice for writing sequences—beginning, middle, and end.
How
- Gather 6 pictures learners can organize into a story—from magazines, photos from your camera phone, or from free online photo websites
- Have the learner put the pictures in an order that tells a story
- Write a draft of the story
Note: Pictures can be found for free at these links:
See it in Action!
Watch:
Cartoon Storytelling
This short clip from the Instructional Strategies for Writing e-learning describes the cartoon storytelling activity and how it helps learners practice sequencing.
Timestamp: 2:07
Watch here
Cartoon Storytelling PDF
The cartoon storytelling activity and a printable cartoon frame are included on the last two pages of this PDF resource.
View PDF