Using The Outdoors To Develop Writing Opportunities
As an Educator, there is a significant emphasis on getting children to write more and then develop/improve their writing through different styles and techniques. Within the classroom setting, we have an abundance of conventional resources and materials at our disposal that will inevitably support young learners and enable them to access the fundamental keys to writing and the creativity and accomplishments that can follow.
It is perfectly fair to suggest that you can do only so many activities indoors to help and support your students along their writing journeys. So, to further develop opportunities, it is essential to look further into unique and additional options. That is why more and more teachers should open their minds away from traditional practice and start thinking out of the box. So much so that more teachers are encouraged to think more freely and expansively, adapting their lessons accordingly to help rekindle and reignite the flame within their student's interests and ideas. As a result, teachers are 'seeing the light' by bringing their classes outdoors to enhance further learning opportunities and enable additional options for more significant levels of creativity.
Being a teacher and Outdoor Enthusiast, I may be biased when I say this, but I feel there is something unique about nature that brings out the best in people. It calms, soothes, and inspires you differently than working in the constraints of a closed indoor environment. Maybe it is due to the abundance of fresh air or opportunities to indulge yourself in the beautiful scenery and natural surroundings, but it works.
As a teacher or parent, if you are willing to get outside, encourage inquisitively, feed off the children's enthusiasm, and try some outdoor writing activities, then I am convinced you will be astonished at the results, especially as the children will be writing more descriptively and creatively.
In pursuit of trying to influence a different way of looking at things. Below are a few easy ideas and possible solutions for how you may engage with outdoor writing alternatives and encourage your students to start developing these creative ideas over and over again.
Focus on discovering and describing those adjectives
As a teacher, one of my biggest frustrations when observing and guiding the children's writing is the lack of adjectives or how to use adjectives correctly. Naturally, I find ways to develop this and use appropriate tools to promote this side of things. Still, it can sometimes be tricky and tedious without using poor acting and visual stimulus.
Discovering and describing adjectives within an outdoor setting is the perfect way to enhance skills back in the classroom. This simple outdoor writing activity teaches students to focus on their surroundings and then encourages them to describe things clearly and appropriately.
One such approach could be taking a short walk with your students outside the classroom. It doesn't have to be far, it could be on the school grounds or local vicinity, but it should be somewhere with plenty of different natural entities for the students to observe, touch, describe and discuss.
Generally, I complete such an activity with a notebook and pencil close by and instruct each student to look, touch, and pick one item and then describe it in detail to a partner. Allow time for your students to tell what they see with each curve, scratch, colour, and texture found in the item having greater significance from one to the other. Once talk time has reached its maximum, there should be opportunities for the children to write notes of descriptions of their observations. You can inform each other clearly and effectively by allowing the students to work in pairs. There are perfect opportunities for one couple to wear a blindfold and then promote a clear description using their voice and listening. These possibilities can then lead to a simple game where the students take turns guessing what the object is and what the other student wrote about based solely on the description.
If clear notes are taken throughout the activity, it can be perfected once you arrive back in the classroom through additional input. This method allows you to elaborate further on what happened outdoors by writing extended sentences. I use Alan Peat, as I not only find his strategies easy to follow, but they are simple to implement with the students, achieving positive outcomes.
Using symbolism found in Nature
Symbolism in nature is significant, and something well worth exploring, and helping students analyse the symbolism found in their natural surroundings is hugely inspiring, especially when trying to encourage young writers to develop their critical writing skills.
Once again, it is crucial to begin by taking your students on a short walk in an outdoor setting. This time, have them search for a natural item that symbolises them from the beginning of the walk. It could be a pine cone, a twig, or a leaf found on the floor. Along the journey and throughout the activity, begin to point out different items you start to see that could symbolise you and begin to give a reason or explanation why? Children can then start to enhance their thinking by thinking of powerful metaphors or even similies that further describe what they visualise.
A metaphor expresses an idea by describing something that isn't literally true. This commonly involves comparing two things that aren't alike but have something in common. You may have to work a little to find the meaning in a metaphor, but it is fun trying.
One such example and simple reference could include the phrase Nature is King, whereby when we refer to this type of metaphor, and we call nature 'king', we don't mean nature itself sits on a throne and wears a beautiful crown. We're implying that it is a dominant force and a powerful, poignant entity within the natural world.
Examples of Nature Metaphors might include:
Nature is our mother
Nature is home
Nature is an antidote
Nature is therapy
The calm lake was a mirror
The sun is a golden ball
The lightning was fireworks in the sky
The snow was a white blanket over the sleepy village
Of course, such examples don't necessarily need to be developed around the word 'nature', but they provide a proper, meaningful context for these concrete examples. Any natural material found within your surroundings can be perfect for creating a suitable context through developing different ideas.
Once your time is up outdoors, it is crucial to get back to the classroom and make sure all the children begin to write about what symbol they chose for themselves and why they decided upon it. Building upon the excellent outdoor work, it is necessary to get the children to think freely about what they have discovered. It will reveal impressive results if you follow it with other ideas.
Free writing provides powerful inspiration
In my classroom, I actively encourage Free writing opportunities, which frequently occur throughout the week. These are done through an activity called Nibble and Scribble, an excellent way to immerse the children in thought and writing. I generally build writing tasks around snack time, thus allowing the children to eat their snacks while writing. This enables them to write freely and become more engaged due to the distraction of their food. It works well!
It need not be an activity spent over a long period; I tend to use a timer at the front of the class to limit writing time and to see what the children come up with within that time. Usually, it is 10 to 15 minutes max.
To further help inspire and support the children's inquisitive nature, ideas, and intentions, I often use a visual stimulus to keep the whole process. This visual stimulus can be a picture, an object found in nature or a short video depicting a scene, all of which help.
I find it a gratifying activity to teach, as the limitations are free, and the opportunity for children to develop their ideas is pretty limitless. So much so that when students are given a time frame in which they must write nonstop, they come up with some exciting outcomes. Students can write whatever comes to mind, and they do not have to worry about their spelling, punctuation, or grammar.
Research shows that taking free writing outdoors and immersing all participants in the sights and sounds around them will encourage students to dig deeper inside themselves and find varied and exciting solutions. There is no doubt that the sounds and sights of nature seem to bring out the best in people, and this is then quickly transferred and shown in their writing. In addition, and to make the whole task come to life, you can easily incorporate many opportunities to develop drama and speaking and listening skills that allow the children to share ideas through verbal presentations.
Write in a daily Nature journal
In one of my previous blog posts, I talked about the key benefits of getting outside and compiling your thoughts and observations using Nature Journaling techniques. Now, I am certainly not an expert at pictorial and written documentation, but I fully understand the significant benefits for curious young minds keen to better themselves, discover more and learn something new.
Nature journalling is one of many creative outdoor writing activities that can be delivered several times a week in the school playground or nearby the school grounds. It is essential to take the students somewhere outside where there is plenty of room to be on their own.
Then, give the students ample time to write about their thoughts and observations. I tend to find that note form is perfect as it keeps their ideas clear and concise. You could further develop the thought process by highlighting and categorising criteria through the following prompts.
What is going on in your life?
What do you worry about?
What are you happy about?
What are your hopes and dreams?
It is effortless to link these questions and more to what they hear, see and touch, with nature providing the perfect backdrop for this form of exploratory learning.
I would make it clear to the students by letting them know that the journals are for their eyes only, and they are free to write down anything that comes to mind. The main point of this activity is simply for the students to practice writing down their feelings so they can use this critical skill in future writing assignments that might be longer or more challenging the older they get. The ability to successfully express your thoughts and feelings is an attribute every great writer should have.
Develop a zest for Poetry
Teaching poetry has always been part of the curriculum, and it can be tricky, as generally, the teacher is not a poet, and the writer needs to obtain inspiration for the poem. That said, although I am not an expert, some outcomes are best achieved by students and the chance to free up their minds.
So what better inspiration is there than using the outdoors?
You can choose a different type of poem each week and connect it to the seasons, the weather, feelings etc. Once again, use the principles of observations and allow your students to practice writing about the things they focus on within their natural surroundings. Poetry is an art form and teaches us many skills, such as the skills of descriptive writing and using synonyms appropriately, especially when using rhyme. It fundamentally allows the students to develop creativity.
Within language skills, many writing forms have different rules to follow. Whether it is formal writing, comedy writing, easy writing, or tedious writing, one thing it all has in common is that the use of the outdoors can influence everything.
Thinking out of the box and utilising your creative thinking as a teacher is refreshing. It is effortless for you to devise various outdoor writing activities that will seamlessly help your students develop and enhance their ideas to become the best writers they can be.