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