After a term and a half of structured writing sessions to build on the student's writing skills, Totara hub decided to give the children the opportunity to do some Free Choice Writing activities, after all we allocate time for free choice in reading.
There was an air of excitement as the children discussed their ideas with each other before and during the writing process. They worked by themselves, or with others and many of the children continued on with their writing before school for the rest of the week - even the group of boys who usually spend the time before the bell playing soccer - much to the surprise of their parents and teacher.
The majority of pieces were narratives and many featured the latest class pet - Pumpkin the Dragon. The finished pieces were often long and not edited to the standard we strive for in more structured sessions, but the children were really engaged and excited about their work, and this was great to see. This is definitely something that I will do again. Providing some photo prompts may help the few children who struggled to come up with initial ideas, along with some suggestions about different genres they may like to try.
http://www.kidsplayandcreate.com/50-positive-creative-writing-topics-for-kids/
Alfie Kohn has an interesting article about providing choices for children
http://www.alfiekohn.org/article/choices-children/
