But I wonder what the impact will be on the current
generation focused on these cryptic forms of communication. Will we forget how
to write a complete sentence? Will the next generation even know about
adjectives and adverbs? Will we be able to write anything without adding the
ubiquitous hashtag?
I suspect my concern might be inflated. After all, our schools still teach
reading, writing and arithmetic. Well, at least reading and arithmetic. How
much longer will they count writing as a requirement? As we eliminate music,
art, and sports form our schools, can writing be far behind?
OK, OK. I’m exaggerating again maybe just a little – but I
fear JUST a little. However, just
in case, I’m thinking that we might want to offer some tips to assure we
continue to think in sentences and paragraphs. And what better place to hone
our writing skills than having fun with our family and simultaneously
increasing quality time together?
FunFamily Writing
Exercises
My suggestion is that you schedule time for family
activities and include some writing exercises as one of the “games.” Don’t make
the timing inflexible – after all we’re all very busy being cryptic. And if it
works better for your family just to do it extemporaneously, then so be it. But
make it a priority.
Maybe Sunday evening as part of an informal family dinner
you could do some of the following exercises to involve as many family members
as possible. I suspect if you’re a parent you already know that you’ll have to
work on topics of interest to the age group of your kids, although superheroes
seems to be a subject for all ages at the moment.
By the way, you might also consider this as a great way to
tell Mom what you think of her for Mother’s Day; or Dad for Father’s Day; or
for any member of the family on their birthday. Eventually you might like the exercises so much that
you start to write prose and poetry.
Consider using one or more of the following as part of your
routine family gatherings. Once you start, you will most likely think of lots
of other exercises that your family will appreciate.
·
A special gift for Mother’s Day or for Mom’s
birthday: each family member choose a topic to build a story about Mom. Then put it together in one document.
You can print it out or read it to her. Suggested topics:
o Her
sense of humor – she always laughs at my jokes
o How
she makes dinner after a long day at work
o Her
fantastic appearance
o The
cool way she tells me I’ve made a mistake
o How
she helps me with my homework
o Her
favorite movies
·
Each family member is to write a paragraph that
includes a topic sentence and at least 2 detail sentences and a conclusion
about a favorite super hero without telling anyone who it is. Write a physical
description, special gift that makes your character a super hero, and why you
like him/her. Read your description to your family. The first one to guess gets
to go next.
·
Each family member writes a paragraph describing
the family getting ready for school or work in the morning. For a little something extra, include
some dialogue. This should make for some interesting discussion when you read
your paragraph aloud to the rest of the family and then they read their
paragraph. The different perspectives could be very enlightening.
·
Write a dialogue that occurred between you and
your teacher, friend or even a stranger. Ask the rest of the family to act it
out.
·
Write a paragraph describing a room. Include
shape, use of room (does it have bars?), smell, humid or dry. Each family
member is to draw the room within ten minutes.
Reminder: Tips to Write an Effective Message
In addition to honing our writing skills by having fun with
our family, we can all write effective messages such as e-mails or letters by
remember the following easy tips:
1. Identify
the recipient’s characteristics.
Is it someone who is always in a hurry and thus will only read part of
your message? Is it someone who
needs to be convinced, requiring more details? Is this a procrastinator who you know will need follow-up
messages to achieve action? Is
this a group of people who you don’t know? Does the group have any common characteristics you could
address? Or, do you have no idea about the recipient, suggesting a more general
approach?
2. Know
what you want to accomplish. What
is it you want your reader to do?
There are many reasons for writing:
a. to
introduce yourself or your company;
b. to
correct a mistake – theirs or yours;
c. to
complain about poor service or a defective product.
If you are clear in your own head
what you want to accomplish, you will have direction when you write. This is true for the simplest
e-mail. Just ask yourself when you
start writing it: What do I want
the recipient to do?
3. Inform the reader immediately what you
want—in the opening statement.
There are some exceptions to this rule, but in general your first
sentence should be an action statement:
this is what you want them to do or this is what you want them to
know. I find it exasperating to
get a message that doesn’t tell me until the end what I’m supposed to do. Or worse, the requested action is
buried in the middle somewhere. Often, I miss the requested action, and neglect
to respond appropriately. If
you tell us immediately what you want, we are more likely to read on to
understand why we should do it, and are more likely to do as you request.
4. Provide
supporting statements. After you
have stated what you want, amplify your request. This is where you provide the details for the reader to give
your message credibility.
When you have clearly stated your goal in the beginning, these
supporting statements help to convince the reader to do what you want.
5. Inform
the reader clearly what the result or benefit will be of doing what you
ask. Make a simple concluding
statement: the result of learning
about my new company is that you will have a place to go to buy the most unique
widget. When you need a widget,
you will be happy that you know about it.
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