Brainstorming

Writer's block is a debilitating affliction known to strike children often just before a homework assignment is due. It actually knows no age or time limits. One proven method in the fight against "not knowing where to start" is using the computer as a brainstorming tool. No special software titles are needed but getting into the practice of using the computer as a tactical weapon early on in a child's school career can make it easier to battle.

One of the best ways to begin the brainstorming process for children is working with images and than adding words. When Albert Einstein was once asked how he began his writings, he explained that he constructed pictures in his mind, images that moved around one another. In this way he crystallized his ideas and later wrote them down. The computer offers up many kinds of blank pages to fill up with random words and pictures that can later be placed into some kind of sequential order to relay a set of facts or depict a fanciful plot.

You probably already have a whole array of software that can be used to help your child brainstorm but perhaps you and they have never thought about using those applications for that purpose. For example, KidPix Studio (in any of its many versions) from Brøderbund /The Learning Company or other simple art program offer endless blank pages just waiting to be filled with pictures that kids can draw themselves. Or kids can use the "rubber stamp" features of these programs to quickly bring faces, animals, flowers, and other various serious and imaginative subjects into their brainstorming. Clip art within the programs or from other sources including the Web can also be canvassed for ideas or inspiration and quickly imported onto the pages. When a child has created a number of these pages, they can formulate a storyboard or set of panels or frames that form a plot or show a set of events or facts. For example, ten scenes from a child's autobiography or in the life of some famous person can be very quickly constructed using an art program in this way. Or a complex plot can be laid out for a mystery story. After researching a subject in science, children can also use this method to synthesize what they have learned in order to explain how a volcano erupts, why tigers are endangered, or how a tadpole turns into a frog. Some art programs also offer kids the chance to input their voice. Using the computer as a tape recorder in this way for each one of their images is another means for quickly generating ideas. This is also a great way to get kids who have trouble writing down their ideas started in the brainstorming process.

As children get older a better brainstorming tool is your word processor. As ideas come to mind, have your child type them in line by line on a page in the word processor. New idea, new line. Urge them to keep going until they run out of ideas and then go back and cut and paste to combine ideas, put them in different order, or group them. Many word processing programs including Microsoft Word and Appleworks come equipped with an outlining function that make ordering and grouping even easier. The important thing for your child to remember is that he is brainstorming, not composing sentences for the assignment itself.

Also show your child how to use the thesaurus already built into your word processor. It too can be very useful in the brainstorming process. Have your child type and then highlight on the page a word that represents one of their key ideas. Have them call up the thesaurus, usually located under the Tools or Edit menu. What words does it refer them to? Does that foster any new ideas? If so, copy the words out of the thesaurus and paste them on a separate line of the word processor as the germ of a new idea.

Storybook creation programs such as Storybook Weaver Deluxe from The Learning Company and the Imagination Express series from Edmark/Riverdeep are more of a software investment but well worth the money in helping stimulate upper elementary and middle schoolers creative writing. They come with ready made backgrounds, characters and props that are like stickers that can be dropped in where appropriate on the page. There is also room to write what action is taking place in each scene as well as many other features. Give your child a chance to play with all the elements of these programs before starting a story. Enough characters, backdrops and props are available in these programs to help stimulate a thousand and one tales.

Inspiration from Inspiration Software is a commercially available software title especially designed to promote brainstorming using the computer. (Kidspiration is also available for children in grades K-3.) For middle, high school, and college age students (and adults!), this tool is very useful in creating visual webs of text and pictures. These can help students make connections and organize their thoughts for essays, sequence their points for a research paper, plan web pages, outline lab reports, and develop multimedia projects.

Of course, the key element to doing any assignment well is having enough time. Remind your child to leave plenty of time to plan and then execute assignments. Encourage them to use the computer to make a "to do" list. Using the computer as a brainstorming and planning tool can help relieve the symptoms of writer's block fast.