Helen H. Choi
Assignments & Activities Archive
Assignment Description
The overall intent of this activity is to support a prewriting phase for invention and creative thinking, as students search for and develop a topic and craft a plan for responding to a writing assignment (Trim and Isaac 107). While invention can be explored through individual activities such as freewriting, it can also take place during conversations where ideas are shared and sorted through (Esposito 42). By talking about their ideas and listening the perspectives of others, students can experience “spontaneous invention,” as ideas may emerge as they engage in dialogue and provide and receive immediate feedback from others (Lessner and Craig 144). In this prewriting interview activity, students discuss assignment parameters, verbalize and try out various topic ideas, and begin to articulate their main ideas and perspectives with classmates. Such discussions can support the creation and evolution of ideas prior to the translation of talk to text and aid students in sorting through ideas as they hone in on topics for their writing assignments (Li and Zhang 2).