There is a lot of truth to this article. The author talks about how for him, school started at 4:00pm. That is when he could go home and grab his toys and write about what he liked...fiction. He talks about how teachers want kids to write and when they start writing, often they are stumbling to come up with something to write about. Often they are told to write about "what you know". Some start to do that and then they are told that they need to write about something real, not fiction. He talks about how much better students would write if the restrictions on their topics were lifted. One of his examples is Joanne Rowlings and how her teachers knew of her talents early on. If any of you have ever watched Harry Potter, you know where her talents are too. What an imagination.
The author also has another good point which is that we read to our kids when they are little. What do we read? Fiction books about frogs, dogs, cats in hats, and so on. Two of my kids favorite videos when they were little were Barneys Imagination Island and Grandpas Magical Toys. Barney's video was all about using their imagination to go places. The other video was about how all the toys came to life when no one was in the room.
Kids should be encouraged to use their imagination as it is a very powerful thing with endless possibilities.
Reference: http://www.edutopia.org/blog/elementary-student-writing-fantasy-gaetan-pappalardo
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