Bully+Writing

Activity: try this writing process for yourself--narrative to poem to letter to fiction.

Effective program against bullying: []

 Bully Writing narrative Bully Writing poem Bully Writing letter Bully Writing fiction

Steve Schack is a teacher at Livingston Elementary School in the Columbus Public Schools. He created a series of writing experiences that focus on bullying and that result in personal narrative, poetry, letters, and fiction. Working on a topic such as bullying can help teachers know what is going on with students and may open up the possibility of doing some significant fence-mending between students where that needs to be done (or else finding and setting up services for bullies or the bullied where classroom intervention is not enough).

He begins with having students write a personal narrative about the experience of bullying, being bullied, or witnessing bullying. The format he provides here is the same as on the 4th grade proficiency writing test. He also provides students with a scaffold for brainstorming and also for reviewing their own writing.  back to top

 After students have written their own personal narrative, Steve's next assignment shows them how to turn that narrative into a powerful poem. back to top

 He also has students write letters about the incident, which teaches this important format while having students write about a compelling topic. back to top

 Finally, students write a piece of fiction, telling the story from a different perspective and in a way that creates a happier ending. back to top

This writing process, moving across genres with a single piece of writing, can be applied to other topics. It probably works best when students find the topics compelling.

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