As students grow in confidence, they’re often encouraged to write longer papers and to use their creativity in more ways. But despite the positive changes, some teachers are worried about their lack of preparation.
For English teachers, revising and adapting content for teaching is essential. This can be especially challenging if you’re not confident about your subject matter, and you feel that you lack the necessary training to deliver the class in an engaging and creative way.
Whether you’re worried about how to make your 2nd grade English class more fun, or whether you’re simply looking to diversify your content, this article will guide you on how to effectively teach creative writing to your pupils in a way that will stick in their minds.
The Importance of Creative Endings
In creating a unit on creative endings for 2nd grade English students, you’re aiming to engage the students in a way that will promote their creativity and spur them on to write engaging stories of their own. But what exactly does ‘creative ending’ mean in this context?
In the real world, a ‘creative ending’ is the last part of a story. It’s where the writer wants the reader to feel something different from what they felt at the beginning of the story. In a more literary context, it can refer to the change in attitude or opinion that the story invites the reader to experience. So a creative ending is a device used to start a story, but develop the theme or opinion of the story throughout the narrative, not just at the end.
To put it simply, a creative ending is any ending that isn’t purely functional. It can be the climax of the story, or it can highlight a theme or opinion that the story has touched on. Either way, the goal is to leave the reader with a new perspective, stimulated to think about the text in a different way.
Why are creative endings important to teach?
Well, let’s face facts: it can be hard to maintain student interest in the same topic for an entire class. Especially if the topic is dry and unchallenging, such as ‘Hamlet’ or ‘Macbeth’, which are some of the most repeated stories in English literature. After reading the same story over and over, students will begin to lose interest, and that’s when you have a problem.
On the other hand, something as simple as changing the way you ask questions can make a massive difference to the learning experience. For example, if you ask ‘How would you end this story?’ you’re inviting the student to think about the ending in a creative way. You could even go so far as to ask them to write an ending, or to come up with a theme and the main idea behind it.
By placing a short story with a creative ending in your teaching repertoire, you’re opening up a whole new horizon of possibilities for your students. Not only can they learn to write a creative ending for a short story, but they can also apply this technique to a longer paper, allowing them to develop their creative writing skills, while gaining confidence in revising and adapting their work.
How to Teach Creative Endings In A Fun-Loving Manner
If your objective is to get your students to enjoy learning and to see it as a creative outlet, you can’t just throw any old assignment in front of them and expect them to shine. To achieve this, you need to find the fun in the task, and make it as creative as possible.
The first step is to set the scene: introduce the topic of creative endings in a way that will make the students curious about what you’ll be teaching them. You might want to start from very basic information, such as the definition of a creative ending, before delving into details about the various ways this can be applied to written work. Fun fact: Teaching creative endings to 2nd grade students is a great way to introduce them to the world of English literature.
For instance, why not start by asking your students what they know about literary masters, before going in to detail about how their own stories can be seen as creative masterpieces? Or, instead of teaching them about literary masters, why not introduce them to some of the most memorable characters from English folklore. The majority of 2nd graders have probably never heard of the Big Bad Wolf, but have definitely heard of the Tooth Fairy or Santa Claus.
The important thing is to find a way to make the subject matter interesting to your students. No matter what, you shouldn’t be doing this job because you feel that it’s important for their academic development. You’re doing it because you enjoy teaching and helping your students to find their voice, and to explore the world of literature in a new way. Of course, this is important, but it’s also important to find a way to make the subject interesting and fun.
Three Tips For Effective Creative Endings
If you’re looking to integrate more creativity into your teaching, it’s important to assess your own strengths and weaknesses. Are you confident about your subject matter? Do you feel that you can pull off a fun and engaging lesson on the subject, or is it better suited to an experienced secondary school English teacher?
As mentioned above, one of the major benefits of teaching creative endings to 2nd graders is that it allows you to apply what you’ve learned about literary masters to short stories, and even to some extent, to longer papers too. But this also puts a lot of pressure on you. Not only do you need to be able to deliver the lesson with enthusiasm and creativity, but you also need to be able to do so without any mistakes. Otherwise, you’ll simply be teaching your students the wrong thing.
To avoid this, follow these tips:
1. Ensure that you’ve really understood the lesson.
As a teacher, it’s your responsibility to ensure that you’ve delivered the correct information to your students. To avoid any nasty surprises once the lesson is over, go through it again, as thoroughly as possible, even if it’s been a while since the previous learning session. The last thing you want is for your 2nd graders to come back and ask about a topic, which you haven’t quite mastered yet. If you feel that you’re not 100% certain about what you’ve taught, then it’s time to go back and revise. Sometimes, a bit of knowledge can be so helpful, even though it’s not directly connected to what you were taught in class. So, be sure to make the most of those moments.
2. Use relevant illustrations.
Although your students should be able to follow your lesson without any problems, it’s sometimes hard for them to understand your verbal instructions if there are no visuals to back it up. This is why it’s a good idea to use images and illustrations in your teaching. They can help to make your point more clearly, and allow your students to follow your instructions more easily. Of course, you don’t always have to use illustrations, but it’s a useful tool to have in your teaching repertoire.
The important thing is to use what’s relevant to your students, and ensure that what you use is appropriate for their age. For example, if you’re teaching a lesson about how to write a narrative, then you might want to use real-life examples, such as ‘The Snowman’ by Raymond Carver or ‘The Junkyard Dog’ by Louis Sacha Guiterman.
3. Be prepared to discuss unanswered questions.
This point can’t be stressed enough: despite your best efforts, despite following all the tips outlined above, there will still be questions that pop up in your students’ minds. Even the most experienced teachers will have questions about certain topics, and it’s your job as a teacher to be able to answer them. If you want your students to continue asking questions, then be prepared to provide the answers. Even if you’re sure that you’ve delivered the lesson properly, there will still inevitably be times when your students disagree with you or ask questions that you don’t have the answer to. In those situations, it’s important to acknowledge that they’re thinking and that they have a point, even if you can’t always agree with their approach. Just because you’ve taught a particular lesson doesn’t mean that your students will be able to apply it successfully to all situations. So, as long as you’re prepared to provide the answer, even if you don’t always like their approach, it’s okay to admit that you don’t know the answer.