Picture prompts are essential to practice and understand prior to standardized testing where they are always a fixture. Students need to be as prepared a possible to complete this task because if they freeze and are unsure what to write, then they will have wasted a perfectly good opportunity to display their creativity. One of the ways teachers are preparing their students is by giving them writing prompts by using images posted on Pinterest. This would be something that would not only work before the standardized test, but perhaps to engage students in discussion of novels or even Language Arts Concepts.
I have actually included an image from Pinterest above that I could use in a Language Arts class. An action shot, such as this would be great to use as a prompt for a short story assignment where students would have to discuss what has lead up to the events taking place in the picture and what happens afterwards. Also, who are these characters? These are all questions they are going to be asked to address on standardized tests. So, why not start off with two panda bears trying to get over a fence to get their brains accustomed to answering these questions? I would be very curious to hear the stories my students could write about this picture. Teachers should want to make this task beneficial for the students and for themselves, meaning that teachers should give students something fun to write about rather than something boring and not worth writing about. This image may challenge some students. Who knows? The agenda is to begin to engage students and see how they do, then tweak the assignment to helps those who struggled previously do considerably better.
Teachers can also use Pinterest to have student write about novels or comparing characters in novels to athletes or public figures. There was a Pinterest post that asked "What athlete would you compare to Finnick Odair?" Finnick Odair is a character from The Hunger Games: Catching Fire and if you are teaching The Hunger Games in your classroom, this may be a great shift to picture prompts and piquing a student’s interest in this form of writing. Eventualy students will need to become familiarized with formal writing prompts which may include either a piece of art work, a picture from a novel, or a simple picture (Like the one above).
To prepare the students for the actually exam, teachers might feel inclined to use practice picture prompts that were included in past tests and have been retired. I remember being given a picture of a house with children playing outside either in middle or high school. It was the simplest thing, but I didn't have enough preparation for it. Teachers focus on mostly what is to be expected on the multiple choice questions because those are more frequent. Students should be given a well rounded review for a standardized test and I would make sure that my students have picture prompts to respond to either daily or weekly which I believe will give them enough practice to feel confident while taking their test.
http://pinterest.com/selsmith479/writing-picture-prompts/
I think picture prompts are a great idea for students to practice for standardized tests but also to help students practice brainstorming, planning, and writing in general which will carry over for other classes and standardized tests. I think this is great practice because many students may have creative thoughts and ideas but do not know how to execute them. By giving students ample time to practice with pictures, students can practice thinking, brainstorming, and planning before writing and then practice their writing (openings, closings, punctuation, etc.). The pictures are a great idea because they allow the student to create their own story without having specific guidelines so students can practice making inferences and organizing their own thoughts.
ReplyDeleteI LOVE Pinterest. I think it is a great idea to have a Pinterest and create a board with pictures or even quotes. Perhaps the class can look at a picture of books they are about to read or characters from those books and write about them, making inferences from the pictures alone. Then, after reading the book, they can read their writing and write a response to how the novel actually was. Were they right? Or were they far off? How do the pictures actually inform the text that they read. I think Pinterest is a great way to engage students in novels
I like how you said students will have to discuss events leading up to the picture and afterwards. I think this is great for having students practice introductions and conclusions because they will have to preface what happens in the story and then continue on with that the results are from the picture or what happens after or because of the picture. It is important that students know that creativity has no limits such as not just calling those bears “bear,” but giving them names and relationships (like are the two bears family members or friends?). I think that along with using picture prompts, using rubrics would be helpful. If this is a weekly activity or even a daily activity, students should have a rubric that states what is expected from their writing. Then, students can assess each other’s work or their own or both. I think this is great for feedback and so students know explicitly what is expected in their writing.
I think these prompts can be fun and also pose a challenge which is great because students will have fun thinking creatively but they will still have to follow guidelines in order to prepare a good story. It is also great for us as teachers because we can see where are students are with writing. I also think it would be a great idea to have students brainstorm before they write and, maybe the first few times doing this activity, to have students write down their brainstorming so teachers can see how the planning process is going to better pinpoint problems with writing.
I think Pinterest is a great way for students to engage in novels because, like you said, it stimulates interest. It also stimulates thinking. Students can create separate Pinterest boards and every day the teacher can ask a certain question like the one you mentioned, “What athlete would you compare to Finnick Odair?” The teacher can write a question every day and have students gather images for the question and write a caption for the picture. Students can even comment on each other’s boards. This will help students get familiar with thinking and writing about pictures, art, and other sources. Moreover, with novels, it will help students with comprehension because students must comprehend novels before they can create a board of pictures the inform the text. You also mention giving an old picture prompts that have been used before but I think I would just give ones that are not part of tests for students to practice with so students can practice thinking and writing about new things instead of something they have seen before. I think picture prompt writing from Pinterest is a great idea as review for writing and for teacher’s tests as well as standardized tests!