Writing Exercises

Post-it note prompt: Give everyone a post-it note. Ask them to write down the first three words that come to their mind. Distribute the post-it notes randomly around the class. For approximately five minutes, write something using the three words. Ask for volunteers to read. This exercise can be adapted for group poems as well.

Pictionary prompt: Provide interesting pictures. Ask them to write a response. Can also be done with objects.

Word Association: Get the class in a circle. Explain the basics of the exercise (like stretching for the brain, no editing, allows the brain to make unexpected connections). Poets demonstrate. Get class to join in. Encourage them to speak loudly and quickly.

Impulse Association: Exactly the same as word association, only with gestures. Kids need to be standing in a circle. If you’re brave, or have a brave student, get them in the middle and have them mirror back gestures as they go around the circle. Hilarity ensues.

Five minute speed writing: Get everyone ready to write (pen/pencil/quill, paper/papyrus). The goal of this exercise is volume. Students have five minutes to write as much as they possibly can, even if it means writing the same word over and over again. Explain that this is a race, and that it doesn’t matter what they write as long as they are writing something. Time them (and yourself), and stop at exactly five minutes. Discuss. This is very useful for working through writer’s block.

Mirror: Break into pairs. One person initiates movement, and the other person copies it as exactly as possible.