Join the Tuesday Slice of Life
Last week my writing partner, Stephanie, led a writing camp. She used this exercise with the students. I joined them on Wednesday for their writing marathon. It turned into a virtual writing marathon due to rain, but we managed to spend time visiting different places (through pictures) and responding with writing. Stephanie posted pictures on the kidblog she set up for the camp. For one of the pictures, her prompt was an Emily Dickinson poem and a picture of a mountain waterfall with the sun bursting over the hillside. For some, the picture led the poem. For others, Emily Dickinson’s words. Later in the week, the students were asked to find a favorite poem and “steal a line.” While we instruct them on plagiarism and the correct way to credit the original author, this activity is often successful. Somehow it breaks through the barrier of “I can’t write,” and leads to deeper creativity.
Here are a few samples from the writers at Write Your Way Camp 2012:
From Sophia with a borrowed line from Emily Dickinson
I’ve heard it in the chillest land,
and stories of this place.
Its beauty just lights up my eyes,
and fills the land with grace.
I see the mountains, puffy clouds,
and greatly blinding sun.
But in some time,
I will realize,
That my journey’s just begun.From Matthew with Emily Dickinson
Hope is the thing with feathers,
hope is the thing with fur,
hope is the thing that rises the sun,
hope is the thing that purrs.Kaylie with a borrowed title by Joe Fazio.
This is… Our LifeThis is the game we play,
start at the beginning of the day,
run in circles, having fun in the sunny rays.
Lie down in the dewy grass,
wait for the day to pass.
Go back home and start again.
I know you’ll be there tomorrow, my friend.
Reflections on the Teche 
Thank you for sharing! The idea is great and the writing it produced is fabulous!
Those were delightful. Good to have a rainy day!
Such a good idea – thank you for sharing it and the good writing that followed.
Oh, what a fun idea. Thank you for sharing. I want to try this. (How are the chickens?)
Laura is still broody. Apparently it goes on for 21 days, the amount of time to hatch an egg. But Harvey is taking good care of her, so she is doing fine.
The kids did a great job! But then, they have a great teacher!
I too have tried this and had personal success. Great reminder of this exercise. Thanks.
What a great idea! Love that poem !
I like it! I’ve also heard of people doing something similar, where they have to use a line as a first line…. and then erase the first line after they are done creating. So it’s almost like a “ghost writer” gets you started.
Thanks for the tip about the “ghost writer.” Think I’ll use it too.
Margaret,
These poems are awesome! Thank you for sharing the children’s poems-also, thanks for sharing “steal a line”…great idea to use in writing camp! How did the kidblogging go?
The kidblog was so perfect for the camp. We had access to computers and even though they were all in the same room, they were motivated by the blog to comment and post. We set up some simple guidelines, such as post two things and make two comments. We also talked some about commenting. They loved it. I am definitely using kidblog this year. My plan is to use kidblog privately for commenting among my own students, then to use http://www.youthvoices.net for posting more polished work.
Wow, the students did a great job with those lines. I’ve never tried that, it makes me wonder what would happen, mmmmm, will have to think about line that tickles my fancy.