Shoes and Boxes and Peanuts and Keys: Using Objects to Find Joy in Writing

If I want to get good writing from students, any students, I need to give them an object-something they can touch or hold or see. There is something almost magical about writing when a physical object is involved. Some of the best writing I have received from students has come from peanuts, acorns, shoes, stones, sticks, keys, boxes, or pictures. As writers, we need to engage our senses to make our writing real. Something happens when multiple parts of the brain engage in the writing process. Depth occurs. True creativity emerges. Writing, its joy and fun and wonder, simply happens. I hope to equip you with a few things that have provided fun and joy in writing in my classroom, prompts that have consistently resulted in writing-worth-reading. In most cases, these prompts require a number of objects, so planning ahead is encouraged. I hope that I can help you and your students find joy in this complex process, because writing is work. Then, once the joy is found, you and your students can put this newfound love of words into different forms for different purposes.