When I was beginning my narrative writing unit this year for my 9th grade English Language Arts class, I knew I needed to figure out a way to get students engaged with a unique creative writing activity. There are always so many excuses as to why students don’t want to write narratives. Most of the time, students tell me they just “don’t know what to write.” I knew it was essential that I incorporated a lot of activities that would allow students to think creatively and practice their writing skills.
This activity is especially helpful in getting students’ brains moving when writing creatively. All you need is a few good creative writing options, some dice, and a little luck!
Read on for more information on this fun creative writing activity!
When I found a dice script from The Gaming Grammarian and knew that I wanted to incorporate it in my classroom. (Seriously, it’s so cool!) Roll a Story activities are very popular in the lower grades, but I wanted to up the ante and use them for my high schoolers. So, I started working on a line of Roll a Story activities that would suit my secondary students.
I was so pleasantly surprised at how much my students enjoyed them (and asked for more options!), that I began posting them in my shop. My students liked them so much that I kept creating them and now I have a full-blown bundle of Roll a Story activities that work both digitally or printed. Each time a holiday rolls around, my students ask me for a new version. We’ve moved on from narrative writing, but this strategy has worked so well in motivating my students in their creative writing that I knew I had to share.
How Does It Work?
Roll a Stories are simple. Provide a topic, options for each story element, and dice. Allow students to roll the dice to decide their story elements and then they have to get writing to incorporate each one.
The Roll a Story activities in my bundle use a dice script in Google Slides to allow students to roll for their story elements. There is no longer the excuse that students don’t know what to write. The dice decides for them! Students roll the dice multiple times to obtain their story elements and then they begin writing. Watch the video below to watch one in action.
How Can I Use It?
These activities inspire creative thinking. Having to mold your story elements into a cohesive piece of writing is no easy task, especially for reluctant writers. However, having the elements already provided for you makes getting started much easier. Here are some thoughtful ways to use these activities in your classroom:
- Use these stories as a rough draft to incorporate writing minilessons. (I have them on setting, plot, character, dialogue, and pacing in my shop!)
- Post these to any learning management system as a quick substitute activity that students will actually want to complete.
- Create a beautiful bulletin board display of their writing with handwritten versions. (Each set comes with a printable version that has themed writing paper for printing!)
How Do I Get Started?
Check out how the activity works by downloading my free version, Roll a Setting Writing Activity. This specific activity guides students through writing a rich setting description. To have them write a full story, download any of my Roll a Story writing activities. You can use them whether you’re virtual, hybrid, or face to face.
I hope you’ll try this strategy in your own classroom. My students loved the activity and I got a lot of great writing that was very entertaining to read.
What are you favorite creative writing strategies? Let me know in the comments below or join me on Instagram or Facebook to join the discussion.
Happy teaching!
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