Writing with Sharon Watson-Easy-to-use Homeschool Writing and Literature Curriculum

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The Introduction’s Super Power

The Introduction’s Super Power

SHARON’S BLOG

Introductions can be boring. Super boring.

Young writers think they have to fight with a blank piece of paper for that first, amazing sentence before they write anything else, and so they get stuck.

Cue the tissues. But it doesn’t have to be that way.

A mom recently asked me to look at her son’s essay. He was entering a state-wide speech contest on the topic of responsibility and had written a solid essay—except for the introduction. He was going to put his listeners to sleep with it.

We were all sitting at his kitchen table. I turned to this teen and asked him,

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The Enumerative Essay: Parking Spaces and Baseball

The Enumerative Essay: Parking Spaces and Baseball

SHARON’S BLOG

My husband Terry gave me the idea for this writing prompt though he didn’t know it at the time.

A love of lists

Last summer we drove to our local grocery store, and as Terry pulled into a spot, he said, “I like to park here because . . . ,” and he listed four reasons why he likes to park in that particular place. Now that you know how exciting our lives are, you’ll be happy to know that his love of lists surfaced yet again—at the ball park.

We were watching the Indianapolis Indians play the Rochester Redwings when one of the Indians smacked a ball and headed toward first. Terry leaned over to me and said, “There are nine ways to get to first safely.” Or was it seven?

Terry was halfway to writing an enumerative essay because he began with a number (four or nine) and had a secure idea of a list.

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Flee the Boring Description!

Flee the Boring Description!


MIDDLE SCHOOL PROMPTS

You know that boring description in the last book you read for school?

No, wait. You didn’t read it. You skipped the description because it was so dull.

It’s time to fix that. Here’s a paragraph from H. G. Wells’ The War of the Worlds. Notice the specific and powerful verbs he uses to keep this description of refugees moving along:

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I Didn’t Finish My Homework Because . . .

I Didn’t Finish My Homework Because . . .

MIDDLE SCHOOL PROMPTS

 . . . I didn’t want to add to my teacher’s already heavy workload.

. . . I put it in my pocket and my mom washed it.

. . . I visited my aunt who has this ancient fan, and my hair caught in it. I had to perform an emergency haircut with her fingernail clippers.

This prompt isn’t about homework, but it is about why things happened.

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