So I’ve led writing workshops with a wide age range of kids so I’d love to explain a little bit about what I do with different ages. I’ve done writing workshops with pre-K and kindergarten students. These are often based on my Chicken Butt books and what we will do is when I’m reading Chicken Butt aloud to a group kids I will have a teacher help out by creating a list. And the list will be every possible rhyme that isn’t in the book.
And so as I’m reading the book I’ll say you know what, what? And before turning the page I will ask the kids what it could possibly be? And the kids will rock their brains to think of what possible rhyme it could be other than chicken butt. So you know who is also chicken shoe, and it’s also chicken stew, and it’s also chicken glue and you can go through every single one.
It’s chicken tutu, it just goes, kids can come up with some wonderful stuff. So we will make a very long list and then when we’re all done, I’ll talk to the kindergartners about how they can make their own joke books or rhyming books in which they make up, you know who? Dinosaur tutu. You know why? Dog pie.
So the kids can draw illustrations of those kind of silly creations and can create little books for themselves in which they go through who, what, where, when, and why? And have all the illustrations to go with it. Instant writing workshop for kindergartners. When I’m working with older kids I do variations that are better for their ages. And so for example when I’m working with middle grade students we will sometimes go on a spy hunt.
In which we will go eavesdrop on conversations and collect little snippets, kids love this. And then write stories from them because these create the most perfect, natural story prompts. When you have a completely out of context comment, all of a sudden you can imagine all sorts of possible stories and everyone can imagine a different story from the same line.
Getting kids out on their sneakers and getting them to write at the same time they don’t kind of notice they’re doing that and it’s always a lot of fun. When I’m working with significantly older kids like teenagers, then the stories are often right there. Because teenagers have such great stories that they want to tell and it’s so much coming from their own experiences and from all the things that they’re absorbing in the world around them.
So a lot of times with teenagers I work more on the revision process and on what you’re telling and what you’re not telling, and how you’re structuring the story. So I feel like at all different age ranges there are different ways you can work as a writer with kids to get their stories out and to make them excited about them.