What do your students struggle with the most?

@meganrohan4116

2 жыл бұрын

We struggle so much with setting development. Thank you for giving another grea ides

@AprilSmith

2 жыл бұрын

@@meganrohan4116 ​ @Megan Rohan It can be really difficult to get them to describe the setting naturally. I find that we start as a group with an "awkward" description of the setting, and we discuss/model how to fit the description more naturally into the story. It takes a lot to learn this, even for adults!

I'm so thankful that I've found your channel! Your content is beautifully made, and I love your way of conveying and delivering the information. I've watched most of your videos and they have helped me a lot with inspiration sources in my current teaching journey, specially in teaching students about writing creatively. I hope you always keep on creating such unique content.

@AprilSmith

Жыл бұрын

Thank you! I’m glad I can help!

April! Thank you for this!! I am doing a fractured fairy tales unit for our summer term and this with help A TON!!!! :)

@AprilSmith

2 жыл бұрын

That sounds amazing!! Is your school year-round?

Both character and setting development. We are writing fantasy stories and this is so important.

@AprilSmith

2 жыл бұрын

Making both sound natural when they include them in their story is the hardest part! I've found that brainstorming makes it easy to come up with the ideas, it's the connection from the brainstorming to including it naturally in their story that is really difficult.

I homeschool my 6th grader. She can write creative stories forever, but she can never get to the end of the story! She tends to overdo dialog too, and not include enough descriptive text. That's what we are working on.

@AprilSmith

2 жыл бұрын

This is very common! The ending is the hardest part. It may be helpful to have her start planning the ending before the beginning and middle. For example, go straight from her brainstormed story ideas to the last squares of a story board.

My students struggle with developing the character and using dialogue correctly.

@AprilSmith

2 жыл бұрын

I think where they struggle with these is really how to fit it in naturally to make the story flow. Sometimes it can help to pull examples from short stories and do a lot of highlighting and discussion, but it is really hard for many students to put it into their writing.

Character development. Even when they write about themselves they just say a girl/boy in the 5th grade

@AprilSmith

2 жыл бұрын

Oh no! I would definitely do a lesson on how/when to use character names. I know that I often see students say the character's name in every sentence. That's another problem, but both could be fixed with a couple of mini-lessons on character name usage and pronouns.