Beginnings In Wordplay Leads To Writing

          Ruth and Stacey host this Tuesday Slice of Life on their blog, Two Writing Teachers.  Tweet at SLICE2013! 

     One of my favorite times, and quick writing assignments, was to involve my students in conversations about wordplay in their writing. I live within a block of a wonderful little park called Sunset Park.  It has a small hilly area with tall native grasses—good bunny habitat, a children’s playground and sand pit—often visited by me and my grandgirls, and an open amphitheater for small concerts. Our talks in class also focused on being aware of interesting things, ever observing the world around us!  So when I went walking around my new neighborhood one day, I discovered these signs on drainage holes beneath the amphitheater.  

                              What do you imagine when you think of “IN” and “OUT”?

IN

in a minute

in the frig

in favor of

in the midst of

in order to

in place of

in the middle of

in a nutshell

in hot water

in sync

in reference to

in some instances

in charge

in context

in effect

in the future

in the pink, red, black

in the doghouse

in trouble

in heaven

in the same boat

in over my head

in for the long haul

in a pickle

         

IN ONE EAR, AND OUT THE OTHER!

OUT

out of doors

out of eggs

out of nowhere, into here

out of this world

out of sync

out of my head

out of energy

out of bounds

out in left field

out and about

out of my skin

out of breath

out of sight

out of mind

out of sorts

out of kilter

out of gas

out of sight, out of mind

out of the clear blue sky

out of time

out on a limb

            When we’ve generated many phrases, I would have each student choose one and write a sentence that uses that phrase to help them capture a particular memory in their lives.

For example, I feel “out of sync” when I use the words “just dial that number” and others look at me as if they have no idea what I’m talking about.

Or, I knew I was “in a pickle” when I was about eight years old and I poured all the bottle of bubble bath into the tub at the same time. 

         We shared sentences of course, and sometimes students wanted so much to tell their stories “behind” the sentences.  But that’s when the conversation stopped, and we wrote!  It was a pleasure having these conversations, showing good ways to notice details, to spark interest in vocabulary that we might not know we already knew, and to find ideas for writing.