Sample Seven Steps writing activity

Writing the Seven Steps Way

Imagine this...

The topic is a churchyard late at night.

There are four students. Their heads are close.

They are talking fast. They are vibrant, engaged, interested.

All are contributing ideas. One of them is listing stuff rapidly on a page. The others are talking even more quickly, brains working freely.

Here's what they are saying...

I SEE

Tall monuments
Broken headstones
Names of births and deaths
Tattered flowers
Broken bricks in grass
Darkness

I HEAR

Silence
Wind
Eerie rustling
Heart beating
Breath coming fast

I TOUCH

Cold, too cold on skin
Trees or bushes
Cobwebs on skin
Coat hugged tighter

I TASTE

Fear, bitter in mouth
Strange tingling on tongue

I SMELL

Jonquils – too sweet, and out of season
Something old, very old
New mown grass
Cold air

I FEEL

Aloneness
Eerie
Growing fear
Frightened
Determination
Total panic

 

Suddenly the teacher calls:

FOUR MINUTES TO WRITE!

The brainstorming stops.

The kids scramble to their tables.

Out comes the paper and the pens are snapped up!

READY, SET, WRITE!

Four minutes is all it takes. No hesitation, no resistance, ideas flow... and dead silence... save for the clicking of pen to paper.

TIME'S UP!

Students groan, ignore the words, ideas are still flowing. Heads stay bowed as they vow to finish the sentence.

And then comes the smile. 'I wrote stacks and it was easy.........'

That's what a Seven Steps classroom looks like.

This is what authors have known for centuries. Separate the THINKING process from the writing process - then it is far easier to write.

Using the brainstorming above, here's a sample of what students could write - in just four minutes.

If only I hadn't been late home I would never have taken a short cut through the churchyard.

The night was cold, far too cold. I hugged my coat tighter around me. It was weirdly dark too. There were all these shadows around me, tombstones and monuments of people long dead. Names, loves, births, deaths... and now the broken bricks and long grass tells the true story - they are forgotten.

If only I had started home earlier. It would not have been so dark. And so cold...

The wind picked up, cutting through me. I smelt fresh mown grass, someone was paid to care. But over it all was a smell of sweetness. Too sweet.

I put my head down and walked faster.

Then the scream pierced the darkness. Heart pounding, I ran.

If only, if only, if only...

This is just one of the fabulous Teacher PD or Classroom training sessions available for the Seven Steps.

A template for this activity is also available as a school or class licence in the Seven Steps Student Workbooks