Ouch!

Every year I introduce my fifth grade writers to an ouch map as a way of gathering ideas for personal narrative writing. I show them the outline of a body drawn in my own writer’s notebook, marked up with times I’ve been hurt physically and emotionally. The loss of a pet, cutting my hand on a fence while teaching myself to ride a bicycle, and not making the cheerleading team in middle school.

Next, I lean in and tell them about the time I tore my right arm open on a glass window when I was in fifth grade. As I describe what happened, I watch as their eyes begin to widen and they start to squirm.

I stop and ask, “Why are you all reacting this way? Did I show you a picture of the injury?”

“No, but it sounds disgusting!”

”It was, and as a writer if you use vivid description and choose just the right words, your audience will see what you are telling them and that makes for good writing.”

Before you know it, the room is buzzing with stories of falls, stitches, casts, and heartbreak. Young writers with stories to be told. ✏️