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The Three I's' Idea, Imagination, Inspiration
By Debbie Long
The Three I’s
Idea, Imagination, Inspiration
© Debbie Long, 2005
http://www.designsbydebbie.ca
debbie@designsbydebbie.ca
It’s that time, that special time when you pull ideas from the busy, active minds of your children or students, and brainstorm their ideas creatively. But how do you get those three I’s flowing?
I find that starting with a few questions tends to help:
1. What do you need first before you can do any kind of writing?
Depending on the group of children their answers will vary, some might say; a paper or pencil or even a brain. Of course there really is no right or wrong answers, but a good place to start is that little I word, Ideas. It is important to know what they wish to write about.
But where do the ideas come from? You can have the children search their minds from TV shows they have seen, movies they have watched, books they have read, people they have talked to, trips they have been on, or by simply looking around the room they are sitting in and noticing what is going on around them.
2. Why do we write?
The simplest answer is to communicate our thoughts or feelings. You can make people laugh or cry; feel your emotions through your words. Writing can produce a variety of works, however in order to produce your best effort you must first get all those ideas, down on paper before they vanish from our minds. At this point spelling and punctuation are not the key elements, they can be revised during the first draft for correctness. Spending to much time with grammar at this point tends to slow down the creative process.
How do you get the children to think creatively and write an imaginative piece of work based on true facts? Children learn in many different ways. Some learn best with visual aids, while others are able to visualize the words spoken in their own minds. It is best to provide as many different aids as possible to enhance the learning of each individual child.
For example; your children or students are learning about the Amazon Rainforest. For this unit, their assignment is to write a story about A Day in the Life of (A Rainforest Animal). Set up your classroom with many different scenes of the Rainforest, people, animals, trees, flowers, etc… if possible have a projector flashing other scenes in an area for all to see, play a tape or CD of the different sounds you would hear in the Rainforest. Provide the children with as many facts of the Rainforest as possible, books as resources etc…
Have the children close their eyes and listen to the sounds while you read them a pre-written visualization. Your visualization should provide them with the facts that have been discussed in a creative form. Following is an example of a visualization taken from The Beauty and the Wonder of the Amazon Rainforest, written by Debbie Long. To see the full excerpt click here.
Imagine a lush green forest - where giant trees reach up to the sky - blocking out the light to the forest floor.
How do the plants grow?
Imagine a place where there are only two seasons: wet and dry; where rain clouds hang in the air, and heavy downpours are common everyday occurrences - complete with thunder and lightening
Where would you go?
Just as quickly as it started, the rain stops, leaving the air so fresh and clean. As you breathe deeply you can smell the sweet fragrances of the colourful flowers.
Doesn’t it look beautiful?
Imagine a hot humid jungle where the sun rises every day at the same time, and sets every night at the same time, where the temperatures reach 25c every day.
Wouldn't it be nice to have so much hot daylight every day?
Imagine the sound of the rain bouncing off the leaves of the umbrella trees, the smell of the air - so fresh and clean after the rain, and the way the rain drops sparkle in the sunlight.
Doesn't it sound beautiful?
Next ask the children to choose one of the animals, people, or things from the Rainforest and write a story about what it would be like to be that person, animal or thing for a day in the Rainforest. Have them use as many of the true facts that they have learnt in a creative way.
About the Author
Debbie Long is a writer/illustrator and founding member of 'The Muse Program', a literacy program for children. Debbie has spent many years writing curriculum for The Muse Program based on the Board of Educations curriculum units. She has currently published her first children's book, in the Imagination Series, 'Short Stories with Imagination. The second is due to be released July 2005. The Beauty and Wonder of the Amazon Rainforest is currently available for purchase through Designs by Debbie in spiral bound form. Pages may be reproduced for teaching purposes only. Click her for a full excerpt and table of contects. For more details visit http://www.designsbydebbie.ca Permission to re-print this article must be granted by the Author by emailing debbie@designsbydebbie.ca
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