Model, share, model share, model! I have been a primary school teacher for 10 years and the biggest fear of children when writing is they can't think of a topic. Well its simple. If we provide opportunities for children to develop topics they will have endless supplies of ideas that they can use in the future. Start developing a Writers Notebook. Explain that good writers use this type of book to store ideas through writing, drawing or adding pictures. I have kids scoure through magazines for headings, pictures etc. I also get copies of old newspaper photo's from my local newspaper and these are generally free. Once the children have pasted something into their notebooks they can begin to develop an idea. I keep a writers notebook too so I can continually model the writing process with them. Have them then write down things like :

* What is happening in this picture - what do you see : Who? What? Why? Where? When?
* Feelings - how are the people feeling? What do you feel when looking at this?
* Ideas - What could you write about using this picture?
* Audience - Who could be your audience : peers, parents, community?
* Genre - what type of writing could I create : narrative, report, explanation etc

I generally give the children one session a week during writing time to add or alter things in their Writers Notebook. Once they have been doing this it will always be there for them to refer to to get their minds working. The ideas are already generated so they spend less time stessing over what to write about with little productivity.

I also find it very important to model to the children that good writers are continually adding or changing their writing. After deciding on an idea a good writer will play with it throughout the drafting process.

Once they have chosen an idea they would like to write about, get them to start taking notes on what they will write - a plan. This is important as children who often start a piece just because they have to, lose interest quickly and forget what they were writing about when they come back to the piece at another time. With a plan they can always come back to it to help them spark that reason for writing again. Get them to refer to their plan before they start writing in each allocated writing session.

Model:

At the beginning of each writing session, I will quickly model an area which I think children are having difficulty with. For example, developing an idea, writing from my idea. This way I am explicitly tecahing them how to become good writers rather than leaving them to their own devices.

Share:

At the end of each session I will always share how I have gone and encourage children to share their successes with the class. This helps other children generate ideas for their own writing and allows the sharer to feel success.

There is a lot more to the writing process but I believe that with using a Writers Notebook you will be able to encourage children to take responsibility for their own writing and understand that generating a good idea is a part of the writing process.

I have been using these notebooks in classes of all ages and it has been very successful. Students love adding to them during their spare time and sharing ideas with their peers. It is fun, easy and aimed at any childrens individiual writing level. Give it a go yourself and you will be suprised at the enthusiasm you create in your classroom. Happy writing!

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