Programs and Areas
First Year Writing Program
Teaching Resources: Style
Tried & True Home
|
Transitions | Transition Derby | Commonly Used Transitions |
Balderdash | Sentence Structure Activity | Slang, Cliches, and Informal Language |
Another Informal Language Activity | Style Tightening Your Writing | Tailor It to the Class Needs |
All Purpose Writing Activity | Throat Clearing Phrases | Cutting the Fat | Word Choice
Transition Derby
Time: 20-30 minutes
This activity emphasizes the importance of good transitions, and gives them a way start thinking about transitions in their own writing.
- Start with a mini-lecture about transitions, perhaps with a short overhead and a handout (there is a handout attached on the next page.
- Ask students to write 2-3 sentences about an animal of any kind (you can certainly modify these prompts, but keep them very vague).
- After they have completed this, tell them to pass their paper on to the person next to them. Now, they are to read the paragraph in front of them and effectively transition into a paragraph about a place. You may want to remind them to look at the sample transition words.
- Ask them to pass their paper on to a new student. Now their task is to effectively transition into a paragraph about an event.
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Tell your students to pass their “mini-essays” back to the original author. Ask students to share their “mini-essays” with the class. These are usually pretty funny, but can also be very successful.
After each example is read, you may want to have your class discuss the specific tactics used to transition effectively.
Have an idea for Tried and True? Send it to fywp@osu.edu!
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