To grow students into competent writers requires drudgery, and I don’t mean drudgery just for students. You and I have to give students daily writing practice, which means we have to come up with topics for students to write about every day.
Being a naturally lazy person, I collect short pieces of writing to use as writing prompts. My special favorites are examples of bad writing because
- It’s easier to find examples of bad writing than to find short pieces of good writing (I told you I’m lazy), and
- From their responses to other people’s writing mistakes, students understand why they need conquer their own bad writing habits.
Here’s a photograph of a sign on the door of a room used for group activities in an apartment building:
