Use This Tool to Combat Writer's Block

Writer’s block is the worst.

Sitting in front of a blank page, wrestling with how to start, feeling unsure that anything you write is going to be any good at all…it pretty much sucks.

Students face this all the time. Teachers are always asking them to write and sometimes they just don’t know how to start.

But one thing that’s helped many of my students is the wonderful word web.

You may have seen these or even used one yourself. Basically, you draw a big circle in the middle of the page for the main idea. Then you draw several smaller circles around that main circle for the supporting arguments/ideas/plot points and connect the smaller circles to the main circle with lines.

You can also draw even smaller circles around the mid-size circles to use for the details of each argument/idea/plot point.

Filling in the circles helps students see how their ideas are connected and where they want to go with their essay or story. They almost never have trouble creating a word web and they find they know what they’re going to write once the web is completed.

I use it all the time in my tutoring sessions and I’m including it here so you can use it with your child…or for yourself!

Click on the image to download it.

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