LESSON 3 - BRAINSTORMING

Writing Process Descriptive Essay Narrative Essay

Exemplification Common Writing

Personal Essay
Essay Mistakes
Writer’s Prompt:
• Describe your perfect day.
• What are you doing?
• What are you seeing?
• Where are you?
• What do you smell?
• What do you see?
• What are you feeling?
• Write a paragraph describing your
perfect day.
Assignments
• Read in GW “Wuthering Heights” by
Emily Bronte’ Page 31
• Page 35, do questions Meaning and Idea
#3; Language, Form, Structure #2
• Read LBH Chapter 2 and do Ex. 2.6, Page
31
Assignment Review
• E.B. White “Once More to the
Lake”
• Meaning and Idea - #4
• Language, Form, Structure - #3, #4
• Read Little Brown Handbook (LBH)
Chapter One
• Narrow the subject
• The Civil War
• Teenage Drinking
• The History of the Cell Phone
• Environmentalism
E. B. White
• New Yorker magazine essayist
• Language lover
• Charlottes Web, Stuart Little
• The Elements of Style
 Bouncing your brain.
Some creative ways to get the writing process
started
To Begin…
And, “Why not?”
"Some men see things
as they are and say
'Why?'
I dream things that
never were and say,
'Why not?'"
George Bernard Shaw
Welcome whimsy. Be foolish.
Dream.
Have a light bulb moment.
Look at things differently.
Look at both sides of the picture.
Ways to Brain Bounce
• Freewriting
• Brainstorming
• Ask critical questions
• Keep a journal
• Mindmapping
• Daydreaming
FREEWRITING
Freewriting
• “Freewriting” is like pouring all of
your thoughts onto paper.
• Don’t take your pen off the page;
keep writing for the entire time.
• If you don’t know what to write,
write “I don’t know what to write”
until you do.
Freewriting
• Set a timer for five to ten
minutes
• Look at the topic and think
about it briefly
• Now ready? Set? Write!
Freewriting
• Don't stop! Don’t edit!
• Keep your fingers typing or
your pen moving for your
time limit
• Don’t try to sort “good” and
“bad” ideas.
• Don’t worry about spelling
and grammar.
Exercise
• Freewrite for 10 minutes on the
word which will appear on the
next slide.
• Just go for it.
• Don’t hold back
blue
BRAINSTORMING
Brainstorming
• “Brainstorming” means
thinking of as many ideas as
possible in a short amount of
time.
• Write down your ideas so
that you don’t forget them.
• Every idea is a good idea
Brainstorming
• Write down everything that
comes to your mind; don’t
worry about sorting out
“good” and “bad” ideas.
• Don’t worry about spelling or
grammar
Brainstorming
• No stopping, no editing
(similar to freewriting)
• Note key words or short
phrases in list form under
your subject (instead of free-
flowing paragraph)
 Example of
Brainstorming
Topic: What would I do with one million
dollars?
• Travel--Europe, Asia, S. America
• Buy a house or two
• Share--donate to charities
• Get an expensive car
• Invest/save and let the interest grow
Exercise
• For next few minutes, get into
groups of two, three, or four
and brainstorm the subject
presented on the next slide.
How would you solve the
current economic crisis?
MINDMAPPING
Mindmapping
• Start with a central word.
• As related concepts pop in
your head, indicate them as
branches, arrows, bubbles,
etc.
• You may have an “aha!”
moment.
 Delis
World Series?
Broadway
Pricey Gang warfare

Cost of Food Law and Order

The Yankees
New York
Big Apple
Hilary
Clinton Vacation?
Movies
Far Away
911 Times Square
Exercise
• Mindmap the topic on the
next slide.
The Senior Prom
JOURNAL WRITING
 Keep a Journal
Journal Writing
• Why is this important to
me?
• How does it relate to me?
• How do I feel about it?
• Do I feel
good/bad/indifferent about
it? Why?
Journal Writing
• How does this affect me
daily?
• How might my connection
to this change in the
future?
• How did I feel about this in
the past?
ASK CRITICAL QUESTIONS
Ask
• Dictionary definition of
_____?
• How is the _____ different
from other things?
• What are some concrete
examples of the _____?

Sleepwalking
COMPARE AND CONTRAST
Compare/Contrast

• What is _____ similar to?

• What is _____ different

from?

• Is _____ most unlike (like)

what?
Sleepwalking
OUTLINING
 Outlining
• “Outlining” is a more organized form of
pre-writing than the others we
discussed.
• It can be used after you have generated
ideas through brainstorming, free
writing, or other pre-writing techniques.
• It works well for structured types of
writing such as essays.
Example Outline
I. Introduction: Eating sushi has its
advantages and disadvantages
II. Advantages
a) easy to cook – none required
b) fun to do with friends and
family
III. Disadvantages
a) hard to find sushi restaurants
b) sushi is expensive
CHARTING
Charting
• Sometimes you will want to
organize your ideas for
writing in a chart.
• Charting works very well for
comparison/ contrast writing
or examining advantages
and disadvantages.
Owning A Cat
Good Bad

Good Shedding
company

Easy to Litter Box

care for
Exercise

• Draw a chart to organize your ideas about the

following topic:
• Compare the similarities and
differences between Troy and St.
Louis.
More ways to get your brain bouncing…
Act silly.
Think outside the lines.
 Change your focus…

When is a pencil not a pencil?

How many legs does the elephant have?
Monroe or Einstein?
Young lady, old man or
man?
Before an artist named Eric
paints the side of this
building…
And after.
Before: the blank hallways
of a large manufacturer…
And after.
Think about it…
Hard work pays off in the future.
Laziness pays off now.
Stephen Wright
I intend to live forever –
so far, so good.
Stephen Wright
What happens if you get scared
half to death twice?
Stephen Wright
I used to have an open mind but my
brains kept falling out.
Stephen Wright
Take a trip in your mind…
Listen to music…
And after everything,

Again.