Many students develop old ideas in their stories: the beach (which we discussed earlier) theme parks, the zoo, birthday parties, are all ideas that are worn out from being used so often. I got so tired of my students picking the same old ideas and doing the exact same things with those ideas that I designed a poster with many of the most worn-out story ideas.
I then told my students that the only way they could choose one of the ideas listed is to change it from a dinosaur, as I mentioned earlier, to at least a parrot idea, one that has been done, but is at least engaging and creative in its presentation.
Here are a few examples of how my students keep the old idea, but just "freshen it up" a little in the development. A birthday party would become interesting if the piñata suddenly came to life. A trip to the zoo would be exciting if perhaps one of the animals escaped or started to speak English. A ride on a roller coaster would be engaging when the ride is a means of getting to another time or place.
See this poster and all our other products at www.thewriteprescription.com or
on www.teacherspayteachers.com under The Write Prescription/Bill MacDonald
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