My colleague/journalism bestie and I have found that having students brainstorm is hard. Really hard. We always would feel frustrated after a brainstorming session and say to each other, “Can’t they just be creative?” Then we realized that creativity is hard, and we need to teach them how to think creatively.

We have been trying to teach them different ways to think about a topic. We created these charts with detailed instructions for them. This handout takes us an entire class period (50 minutes).

1) I read it aloud, and I go through the models with them.

2) Then they brainstorm alone--for about 15- 20 minutes.

3) Then I have them share in small groups.

4) Then everyone shares one idea aloud.

By the end, students will be coming up with better and better ideas that they actually like. If they start the article assignment with an interesting idea that they like, the finished product is going to be so much better than if they had settled on an “eh” idea. Good luck!