Traits Tuesday - Best Traits Lesson

It's Traits Tuesday, and today's topic is Best Traits Lessons...

We have spent the past few days of school really diving into the writing trait, ideas.  Through my years of teaching primary students, I find that it is difficult for the majority of them to come up with off-the-wall, imaginative ideas (typically my higher level students are able to do this).  So because of this, we have focused a lot on our own experiences and writing from the heart. 

Author by Helen Lester is a true story about how Lester became an author. She tells of her experiences growing up and how writing wasn't always easy for her. I like how students can see that even people who make their lives writing books sometimes have difficulty getting ideas, but one can always look at things happening in their lives or interests to spark some ideas.

I usually read this book a couple of days after we have talked about ideas so that students are a little familiar with the trait. After reading the story, I begin modeling a writing about my own life. We then discuss what our ideas are that we would like to write about for the day. This keeps kids focused and on track. If I ever have a child that says, "I don't know what to write about", I tell them I will give them more time and come back to them when everyone else has shared their ideas. Usually at this point, they've thought of an idea from listening to their classmates. If they still are unable to come up with an idea, I give them 3 choices of ideas they can write about. This is the child that I will work with one-on-one, during conference time, to make a list of ideas from their interests. They keep this list in their writing binder for future reference.

Hope you can join in to share your best traits lessons! We would love to have you link up for Traits Tuesday!