Teachers!

Heres a good exercise you could lead with your pupils to stop them censoring themselves when they are writing. Taken from www.poetryclass.net where there are lots of other exercises listed by Key Stage. 

Free Writing

Aims
To encourage fluency in writing.
To practice writing without self-censoring.

Materials
Pen/pencil
2 clean pages

Step 1
Introduce Guidelines:

1. Keep your hand moving.  (Write everything)
2. Be specific. Not tree, but sycamore. Not car, but Mini.
3. Don't think. Go with your first thoughts.
4. Don't worry about spelling, punctuation or grammar.
    (You can go back to this after the exercise)
5. You are free to write the worst rubbish ever written.
    (Give yourself permission to make mistakes!)

Step 2
Try this timed writing for three minutes.
Begin it with 'I remember...' and keep going.
When you get stuck and feel you have nothing to say, write, 'I remember...' again and keep going.
Once you get going try to follow your mind where ever it takes you.
After the three minutes, stop.

Step 3
Now go for another three minutes. Begin on a clean sheet.
This time begin with 'I don't remember...' and keep going.
What are the things you don't care to remember, but remember underneath all the same.
Keep going, even if you write 'how can I write about what I don't remember...' Write.

Variations
I want.../ I don't want...
I like.../ I don't like...
I am.../ I am not...

Follow-up
Refine into a more structured piece. (e.g.10 syllables per line)
Use as a basis for an exercise in re-writing from a draft.

Example

"...
I don't remember the sound
the jab of your words shattering me
as you chatted on dismissing a quiet plea
saying again don't be boring shuddering
as another piece hit the playground tarmac
spreading into a pool of once-me
trampled again and again
by my big sister's silences and refusals
to look me in the eye at least
I don't remember my wanting you
to do the enid blyton best friend thing
and rescue me from the little girls that bullied me
..."
Extract from 'Forget' by Dorothea Smartt
(p.27-8, Connecting Medium, Peepal Tree Press, 2001)

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© Dorothea Smartt, adapted from Natalie Goldberg's 'Wild Mind', Rider, 1991