Margriet Ruurs

Margriet Ruurs has been writing poems and stories since she was six years old. She is the author of Emma's Eggs, Emma and the Coyote, Big Little Dog, and A Mountain Alphabet, as well as several books for educators, including The Power of Poems.

Margriet shares her love of writing, language, and poetry with children and teachers throughout North America.

Margriet will be teaching a class titled "Writing for Children" at the Kalamalka Institute of Working Writers.

Visit www.margrietruurs.com to learn more about Margriet's new releases.

Motivating Writers

Writers write because they have a story to tell. Once I have a good idea for a story or an interesting topic to research in nonfiction, I get excited about writing. Help your students to get excited about writing by allowing them freedom of choice. Here are some specific ideas.

• Encourage your students to keep a special journal to record ideas. I keep track of good ideas by scribbling them down in a lined notebook. I record funny expressions, interesting events, or something I hear that is funny or interesting. Sometimes I jot down an unusual name. (I once saw a sign for a lawyer named Mr. Cheetum!)
• Make a list of nonfiction topics you would like to explore.
• Collect interesting headlines from newspapers to give students ideas for storytelling. Clip out headlines and keep them in a photo album for students to browse through. My newspaper headlines include:

"Teenagers stranded on island"

(This would make an interesting survival story.)

"Scientists spot footprints of Abominable Snowman"

(Imagine you are one of the scientists; what would you do?)

"Children find prehistoric egg"

(What if you could hatch it?)

• Besides newspaper clippings, I use pictures to encourage storytelling. Find advertisements in magazines such as Time, Family Circle, Newsweek, and Better Homes & Gardens. Laminate your pictures and keep a file handy to stimulate storytelling ideas. Students of all ages, including kindergarten and first grade, will enjoy using these pictures for oral storytelling. This is an excellent way to practice elements of story: beginning, middle, and and. What is the problem? How does the storyteller solve it?                             

Reading Today, August/September 2006, page 40

Teachers Rave

"You gave me so many wonderful ideas for writing and teaching poetry! I loved the idea of looking at newspaper headlines or using pictures from magazines. I am so excited to teach poetry now!"
- Student teacher

"Sharing your ideas, through literature, allows students to play with words while making connections to their works and experiences outside the classroom walls. Thank you for providing me with new dreams and professional goals."
- Student teacher

"One of the best things I learned was that poetry doesn't have to rhyme to be poetry. I believe it is extremely important for children to know that. Thank you for recognizing teaching as a challenging profession fan for adding to my desire to teach!"
- Student teacher

"Margriet Ruurs loves words and she loves kids. Through her own art as a writer, and in her writing and reading workshops with children, she brings to young people the joy and the satisfaction of putting down the thoughts and ideas that they really care about, and then offering them all kinds of shapes and patterns to hold them so they can be remembered, and sometimes shared with others."
- Professor David Booth, Department of Curriculum, Teaching and Learning, OISE/University of Toronto