Prewriting play in computer lab

Regular writing sites

• ·         100 words
• ·         Six sentences
• ·         40 x 365 (Make a list of people in your life; try to capture the essence of each in only 100 words)
• ·         Writing prompts from Writer’s Digest
• ·         Daily writing prompts from Writingfix.com

Look over samples, read writer’s guidelines, and do a couple of each. (You might even want to submit or join!)

Photo-inspiration

            Go to flickr.com or some other photo-sharing site. Pick a word and search through the photos for one that interests you. Try colors (blue, maroon), emotions, abstractions (independence, silence), types of food, family relationships, whatever. Write down a memory that the picture evokes, the imagined thoughts of a person in the picture, a string of images that the picture brings to your mind, …

Nonfiction sites

          Browse through the archives at Brevity or This I Believe. Look for a title that intrigues you and write your own post based on that title (or a variation of it). Make a list of memires that come to mind as you browse through these short pieces. 

Graphic organizers

            Play around with one or more of the following:

• ·         bubbl.us
• ·         gliffy
• ·         mindomo

Try mapping a difficult decision you have made, or the stages that you went through in some learning process.

List-making

Make a list of the significant objects in your life or the people who have taught you something. Make a list of the places that have been important to you throughout your life. Make a list of your endings and beginnings.