Inspirations: Writing and Making Activities
Author: Multiple Writing Project Teachers
“Inspirations: Writing and Making Activities.” WriteOut, 7 Oct. 2021, https://writeout.nwp.org/2021-inspirations/.
Writing Project colleagues and friends have put together inspirational resources—videos and related handouts—to support place-based writing and making activities. Feel free to use as-is or remix as needed. Share your creations and stories on social media using #writeout.
Urban Cadences in Idaho’s Freak Alley
Join Cecilia Pattee, a teacher-consultant for the Boise State University Writing Project, and her family—Sofia is an optimistic 8th-grader and David is a pensive 1st-grader—as they share a view of a sliver of an urban, artistic outdoor space in Idaho along with how this translates to cadence and poetry. They invite you to consider cadence, two-voice poetry (in Spanish and in English) and your very own outdoor space.
Here is a related handout. This activity and video is intended for all ages.
Share your response with Cecilia and her family using the hashtag #writeout and tag her @CeciliaPattee.https://www.youtube.com/embed/PrHYvSYeNOchttps://www.youtube.com/embed/v2p-8SNbKKU
Using Nature to Spark Creativity
Join Elizabeth Farris, a teacher-consultant with the Ohio Writing Project and a second-grade teacher in the Lakota Local School District, as she, alongside her own children, share ideas to inspire art and creativity using found natural treasures.
Here is a related handout. This video and activities are intended for young writers/creators (and young-at-heart!) .
Share your own nature creations with Elizabeth using #writeout and tagging her @createplayteach.
Telling Stories About Place
Join Charlotte Kupsh, a writer, teacher, and PhD student at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, as she explores how the stories we tell about places reflect and inform our perceptions of the world. Starting in a public park in Lincoln, Nebraska, this Inspiration will support you in composing a narrative as you explore a public outdoor space in your own community.
Here is a related handout. The video is intended for use with high-school writers and up.
Share your response with Charlotte using the hashtag #writeout and tag her using @CharlotteKupsh.https://www.youtube.com/embed/L_Rbg8QN2pIhttps://www.youtube.com/embed/w6tcXZZWVX4
4-Leaf Palette Poem
Join Kim Ruffin, Associate Professor of English at Roosevelt University and an Outdoor Afro leader, as she creates a 4-leaf palette to inspire and create poetry. Her inspiration came from a visit to the George Washington Carver National Monument in Missouri, and this activity is meant to inspire writing in much the way Dr. Carver used the outdoors to inspire his work.
Here is a related handout. This video and activity is intended to be used by all writers.
Share your response with Kim using the hashtag #writeout and tag @outdoorafro.
Found Poetry
Join Kelly Hedberg and Jessica Early, as they create found poems from public and park signs in Tempe Arizona. Kelly Hedberg is an Outdoor Education Consultant at Rover Elementary School. Jessica Early is a Professor and Director of English Education at Arizona State University and the Director of the Central Arizona Writing Project.
Here is a related handout. The activities are great for a range of ages while the examples shown here are by young writers.
Share your response with Kelly and Jessica using the hashtag #writeout and tag them at @KellyHedberg10, @Jessie_Early.https://www.youtube.com/embed/cr1WIyU8c4Qhttps://www.youtube.com/embed/d6fXTu-tqTQ
Poetry Painted from Our Connection to Nature
Jean Kanzinger is a member of the Teacher-Consultant Council at the NWP site at Kent State University and teaches high-school English and communications. Join Jean as she demonstrates techniques used in art education and in writing about art that can enhance the description in your nature poetry.
Here is a related handout. The activities can support a range of ages while the video is oriented towards teachers and older writers.
Share your response with Jean using the hashtag #writeout and tag her @Writers_Locker.
Go Outside and Make a Zine!
Join educators Margaret Simon and Sharon Bunyan as they share the zines they made after going outside. The video includes guidance for creating your own.
Here is a related handout created by Maker Jawn of the Free Library of Philadelphia. Intended for use by all writers.
Share your response with Margaret and Sharon using the hashtag #writeout.https://www.youtube.com/embed/zivLR7MqaZ4https://www.youtube.com/embed/cghle_1yWeA
Acting Out in Nature
Join Caity Church, a 6th-grade English Language Arts teacher in Northwest Arkansas and a theatre enthusiast, and her daughter as they listen to the sounds of the outdoors and get silly by acting out! The video guide explains and demonstrates three improvisational acting exercises.
Here is a related handout. This is intended for use by all ages.
Share your response with Caity using the hashtag #writeout.
Urban Parks
Join Angela Crawford, an educator in the School District of Philadelphia and a member of the Philadelphia Writing Project, as she falls in love with nature in urban spaces. Spend some time doing the same in your own urban park and find inspiration for your writing.
Here is a related handout. This is intended for use by all writers.
Share your response with Angela using the hashtag #writeout and tag her @revolutionary_Dr.Angie.https://www.youtube.com/embed/jjdUgs6UPXUhttps://www.youtube.com/embed/WUsBY4u10i0
Knowing Your History
Join Dawn Martin-Young, a teacher-consultant with the Oklahoma State University Writing Project and a doctoral candidate, as she explores how local histories shape who you are and how you see the world. This inspiration is based on her experience learning about the history of the Tulsa Race Massacre in her hometown and encourages the use of re-photography to connect you to your place and community’s history.
Here is a a related online resource/handout. While the activities could be used with a range of ages, this video is intended for mature audiences as some of the materials in this inspiration present primary source documents with graphic depictions of the Tulsa Massacre.
Share your response with Dawn using the hashtag #writeout.
Contrasting Worlds
Join Amy Hirzel, a high-school English teacher and poet from Northeast Ohio, as she explores the intersection between the human and natural world through poetry. Amy will guide you through how to produce vivid writing inspired by the worlds around you!
Here is a set of related handouts along with an extended resource guide. This activity can be used with all ages while the video and resources are oriented towards middle- and high-school writers:
Share your response with Amy using the hashtag #writeout and tag her @thewordyteacher.https://www.youtube.com/embed/NWtCEM_3DpAhttps://www.youtube.com/embed/AJDit26ETTA
“Blood Memory” Family Story
Join Marlys Cervantes, a teacher of creative writing and literature at Cowley College and an OSU Writing Project teacher-consultant, as she explores family narratives inspired by N. Scott Momaday’s idea of “Blood Memory”. In this illustrated video, Marlys introduces us to Momady’s work and ideas and then shares her own Blood Memory story to inspire you to write your own. Illustrations by Kate Hill Cantrill.
Here is a related handout. Activities are great for a range of ages while the video orients towards middle- and high-school writers.
Share your response with Marlys using the hashtag #writeout.
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Such a creative spot to add wonder and curiosity for a child to create an imaginary story…what might live here? (For some reason, it is tagging the whole video, but I am referencing the tree trunk at the 6:11 mark.)
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Lovely aura from this teacher and her sweet kids as they ventured into nature. I can’t tell you how many times that I have personally said, “oh, I am not very creative…” so I appreciated her embracing this statement that many will say, and simply reminding us that we can get better with practice. I liked the idea of her observational poetry at the conclusion as well.
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I notice that curiosity led this narrator to her topic and wonder if I should add “curiosity” to my main pedagogical beliefs. This quality is foundational for writing.
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Inspires observation and creativity! The poem at the end of the video was quite impressive.
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I really liked the treasure hunt aspect of finding words to create word bank and then using that as inspiration for writing a poem. I could imagine visiting community murals as another way to gather images or words to inspire a poem, too. Thank you for the inspiration and fun lesson!
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I have used word banks in poetry before but never thought to use signs or “found” words for such an exercise. For older students, I wonder if they’d like to search out their own signs/words and create with the initial “finding” inspiration, as well.
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I also like teaching/practicing the distinction between noticing and thinking, which may not be not obvious to begin with. I’m saving a copy of the handout as a lesson resource for the future. Thank you!
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Hannah, excellent observation about the distinctions between noticing and thinking. Many middle and high school students I have taught do not immediately recognize the differences between noticing and thinking. Also, some college students I have taught do not immediately recognize the differences.
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This website includes a lot of different thinking strategies that might be of interest:http://www.pz.harvard.edu/thinking-routines
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I absolutely enjoyed Jean Kanzinger’s lesson on nature-inspired poetry.
Here’s what I noticed:
1. Writers are given an opportunity to write outdoors.
2. Writers are given an opportunity to engage in “sensory” and “place” explorations to expand their poetry writing skills (beyond basic descriptions).
3. Writers are offered “choice.” They are invited to select a place in nature that resonates with them or one that they have a personal connection with.
4. Writers are given Art-inspired strategies, Visual Thinking Strategies (VTS), What I Notice vs. What I Think strategies, Model poems, Perspective options, and Additional Resources for Nature Poets to support the poetry writing process.
5. Writers are encouraged to keep a notebook or journal for documenting observations and engaging in pre-writing exercises.
Offering such a support system not only contributes to a “connected learning” experience, but also increases student interest, improves student motivation, and fosters “learning without walls” (just like the “teaching without walls” concept).
In the future, I wonder if writers could be supported further by giving them an opportunity to annotate Nature poems using social annotation tools, such as NowComment or Hypothes.is. This would ensure richer engagement with nature-inspired poetry and experimentation with “remix.”
I see “place” as a giant textbook for inspiration, learning and countless teaching moments!
Feeling in-love with place-based learning!
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I love this annotation idea, Neihan. Lovely way to enhance/extend this I agree.
Also “place” as a giant textbook is lovely :)
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Thank you for the detailed images showing how to fold and cut paper to make a zine and the delightful examples, too!
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I know you have talked about Zines, Hannah, in the past but I didn’t really know what they were so I found this video helpful!
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The history of zines is also interesting and fun to play with.
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The narrator has such a lovely and soothing voice inviting us all to go outdoors.
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Absolutely! I notice how the music creates a comforting mood to complement her soothing voice; her voice seems to connect with the cadence of the music.
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I notice that re-photography has significant power to aid in repairing historical memory, especially about important issues of race and racial violence and discrimination. I wonder how we can guard products of re-photography from false readings of “progress” when the new picture might indicate to many how much better things are now than then; such readings can do further damage and violence to historically marginalized groups like Blacks.
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Appreciate your comment, Antonio. She is working on this for her dissertation; I wonder how she addresses that. It’s an important point/question.
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