The Writing Game

Copyright 2010, Chris Biffle 2

For K-12 Writers

Chris BiffleCo-Founder, Whole Brain Teaching

Crafton Hills CollegeYucaipa, California

[email protected]


Introduction 3Complexors 5Personal Record Rewards 43Writing Micro Skills 44Puzzles 46Writing Rules, Proofreading, Grading 107Summary 112Personal Record Charts 113

Copyright 2010, Chris Biffle. All rights reserved. While individual pages of this document maybe reproduced by instructors for use by their students, the document as a whole may not bereproduced, sold or transferred without the persmission of the author, Chris Biffle.


In 1999 in the small town of Yucaipa, California, three instructors, ChrisBiffle, Jay Vanderfin and Chris Rekstad, met for a year to design the principlesof a new teaching system. Their goal was simple: create a method that wasfree, effective and marvelously fun. In the last 11 years, over 8,000 educatorsrepresenting a quarter of a million students have attended Whole Brain Teaching(WBT) conferences. WBT has spread across America and to more than 30foreign countries. Thousands of teachers have downloaded countless pages offree ebooks from WholeBrainTeaching.com. WBT videos on YouTube andTeacherTube have received over 1,00,000 views. The three instructors, andtheir colleagues, are not done.

The Whole Brain Writing Game (WBWG) is a highly visual system forteaching K-12 students to write. The game, for ease of use, is modular. WBWGcomponents, color coded diagrams, can be combined in any order to design awriting curriculum for beginning to advanced writers. Aspects of the game canbe integrated with other writing programs; for example, WBWG fits well withStep Up To Writing and other systems distributed by major publishers.

The Whole Brain Writing Game is divided into two parts: Complexors andPuzzles. Complexors give your students hundreds of repetitions in basic writingskills (that you won’t have to read or grade!). Puzzles guide your studentsthrough a set of writing patterns (some of which you will have to grade ...heck!)

Here are some skills your kids will learn while playing with Complexors: generating ideas creating topic sentences designing paragraphs modifying nouns with adjectives using descriptive language substituting active for passive verbs writing similies correctly employing prepositional and adverbial phrases creating complex sentences with words like: and, or, but, because,

since, though paraphrasing ideas


Your students will learn the following skills while playing with Puzzles: Brain storming Subject/verb agreement Turning fragments into sentences Writing topic sentence paragraphs Creating three, four and five paragraph essays Writing well organized letters Composing tightly structured narrative, expository and argumentative

essays Proofreading

When students are playing with Complexors, they work in teams to orallycreate as many Complexor tasks as possible in a minute (this is why there is nograding involved!) Complexors are speed games designed to build oral fluency.If students can speak 20 topic sentences in a row, then writing a topic sentenceis enormously simplified.

When students are playing with Puzzles they work individually or in teams,completing prewriting and writing tasks. The prewriting tasks (Puzzles 1-6) canbe completed orally. Students work against the clock to build what might becalled “idea fluency.” The goal in Puzzles 7-22, which can only be completedby writing, is not speed but accuracy. Using a set of writing rules, studentscomplete ever more elaborate, and challenging, essay patterns.

Let’s begin with Complexors.


Perhaps the goal of all education is to teach students how to constructcomplex ideas. Simple ideas have one part. Complex ideas have two or moreparts. Here’s a sample of each:

Simple idea: Juan went to the store.Complex idea: Juan went to the store and bought some bread.The word “and” joins two ideas, going to the store and what Juan bought,

bread.Here are several more, two part, complex ideas.Juan went to the store but he was broke.Juan went to the store though he was broke.Because he was broke, Juan didn’t go to the store.Juan went to the store, or he went to the park.Note that the words and, but, though, because, or, link two concepts and

transform simple ideas into complex ideas.There are, of course, other ways to create complex ideas.

Nouns can modified, or in our terms, made more complex, by the addition ofadjectives.

Juan went to the big, busy store.Juan went to the big, busy store to buy some wheat bread.Comma phrases are important components of complex ideas. For

example:Juan, when he was hungry, went to the store to buy some bread.When he was hungry, Juan, a friend of mine, went to the store to buy

some bread.Similes are an excellent way to make ideas more complex by adding

comparisons.Juan, hungry as a bear, went to the store to buy some bread.Juan went to the store and bought some bread that tasted like

cardboard.After students learn to use individual Complexors, they can be

encouraged to use Multi-Complexors.Juan, hungry as a bear, went to the busy store to buy bread and milk.Because he was hungry, Juan, a friend of mine, went to the bakery to buy

some warm, delicious, freshly baked bread.

Every Complexor in the Whole Brain Writing Game is introduced with a onepage handout. Most Complexors give students the option of increasing the


challenge of their task by supplementing a sentence with an “adder.” Adders,used all through the Whole Brain Writing Game, are simply sentences that addinformation to the sentence they follow. Thus,

Juan went to the big, busy store.The parking lot was jammed with cars.The second sentence is an adder; it adds information to the sentence it

follows. One of the most frequent comments teachers at any level write in themargins of student papers is, “more details.” Adders, supplementing ideas withadditional information, address this universal problem.

Here’s the one page handout for the Complexor “And” and an adder.(I’ve included explanatory notes for the instructor in cloud shaped diagrams.)



Working in teams of two, students use the nouns at the bottom of thepage as prompts to orally create as many 1 point Complexors as possible in aminute.

-- I like dogs and cats.-- John has a cat and a horse.-- I went to the house and stayed all day.And so forth. For an additional challenge, you may ask students to complete as many

2 point Complexors as possible by including an adder with each sentence.

The Complexor Game

Using Complexors as a game in class is simple. Follow these steps:1. Without telling your students the basis for your decision, divide your

class into pairs of weaker and stronger writers. If you have an odd number ofstudents, allow your strongest writer to work on his/her own ... or pair yourselfwith one of the weaker writers.

2. Give each student one of the Complexor pages (assume you start with“And”.)

3. Say something like the following, “We’re going to play a fun gamecalled Complexor! I want each team of two students to work together. First,one of you will orally fill in the Complexor blank using the word ‘and’ and then itwill be your teammate’s turn. Helpsies is encouraged. If one of you is having aproblem, the other should quickly help. Use the nouns in order at the bottom ofthe page to fill in the blanks. Start with “boy” and “girl.” You don’t have towrite, just talk! Go ahead, give it a try!” 4. This step is important: walk around the room and listen to yourstudents orally creating sentences with “and.” If students are making completesentences and correctly employing “and” then go on to step 5 below. If not,spend some time working with the class as a whole, to build their skill with theComplexor … then go on to step 5 in which they will be working against theclock. Always check for competency in employing a Complexor, before allowingstudents to create Complexors as quickly as possible.

5. After students have practiced, say something like the following, “Now,let’s make Complexor a little more challenging! I want you to keep taking turnsbut I want you and your teammate to work as quickly as possible. See how fardown the list of words at the bottom you can go in one minute, creating ‘And’Complexors.”


6. Time the pairs of students for a minute. When they are finished, tellthem to cheer their progress.

7. Ask the pairs of students to switch, so that a different student goesfirst for the next minute’s test. For example, if Juan and Alisha were partnersand Juan went first initially, then Alisha goes first for the second round.

8. Time the students for a second minute and tell them to cheer if theybroke their team’s record by going further down the list of nouns than the firstattempt. Most will be cheering!

9. Finish by saying, “Good job! If you broke your team’s record, thennext time we play, don’t start making And Complexors with the first two nouns,‘boy’ and “girl”, but start with the next two nouns, ‘girl’ and ‘dog’ and see if youcan go further!”

In 11 years of experimenting, we have found no learning activity moremotivating to a large range of students from kindergarten through high school,than setting and breaking personal records. The beauty of playing Complexor isthat students get hundreds of oral repetitions at using important words andgrammatical constructions while the challenge is always appropriate to theplayers ... beating their last record.

Let me reemphasize a point I made at #4 above. Whenever you introducea Complexor, be sure to check to see that your students understand how to useit correctly, before letting them race against the clock. If some students lagbehind in competency, simply pair them with your brightest kids and encourage“helpsies.” As students try to beat their best records, it’s alright if you hearsome errors being made … kids will always make mistakes … but if the majorityof your class has no clue about how to use a Complexor, don’t let themreinforce their difficulties by making hundreds of rapid errors!

Here are three more suggestions for using Complexors in class.1. Give students the option, or assign it yourself, of playing Complexors

with the adders. Employing adders involves the crucial writing skill ofsupplementing one idea with another.

2. Ask students to practice for playing timed Complexor rounds bywriting down Complexors. As you prefer, students can write individually or witha teammate. Written lists can be used to go further, and faster, in the timedcompetition.

3. Play “Round Robin” with your class as a whole. Break a Complexor intoa set of individual activities. Point at one student to select a noun; the nextstudent selects another noun; the third student makes a sentence with aComplexor and the two nouns. For additional excitement, give each player a tencount. If they can finish their task before you count ten, the next student gets


a turn. The class works to set a class record for how many students in a rowcan beat the ten count. Select each student who is to go next, matching a taskto a student’s ability to complete it.

List of Complexors

Here’s each Complexor handout, and a brief description:



1. And Sample sentence: I play baseball and football.Adder: I like both games because they are team sports.Notes: “And” is the Complexor that students employ most often. A

good general rule, to avoid overuse, is that “and” cannot be used more thanonce in a paragraph.



2. ButSample sentence: Cats are smart but dogs are smarter.Adder: Dogs can learn more tricks than cats.Notes: “But” is an important Complexor. Point out to students that

“but” often changes the meaning of a sentence. “You are a good student but... I want to go to the show but ...” Also point out that “but” as well as “and”should not be used to begin a sentence.



3. OrSample sentence: He went to the movies or the park.Adder: If he went to the park, he should be home soon.Notes: “Or” involves a choice between alternatives. Adders, like the one

above, can be constructed around one of the choices.



4. SinceSample sentence: Since you like bananas, try this banana pudding.Adder: It is the best banana pudding I have ever tasted.Notes: This Complexor introduces a comma phrase. As students speak

“since” Complexors to each other, ask them to indicate the comma at thecorrect place in the sentence by using one finger and drawing it in the air.



5. BecauseSample sentence: I like the boy because he is nice.Adder: He always helps me with my homework.Notes: So far as critical thinking is concerned, “because” is one of the

most important words in our language. In the form, A because B, the wordindicates evidence that supports a conclusion. For example:

You should take an umbrella outside because it is raining.I eat oatmeal every morning because it is good for me.The evidence that is used to support the conclusion “take an umbrella

outside” is “because it is raining.” The evidence used to support the conclusion“I eat oatmeal every morning” is “because it is good for me.” “Since” can beused as a synonym for “because.”

Note that a comma is not used before “because” in the sample sentence.Many English instructors believe that when two short independent clauses like “Ilike the boy” and “he is nice” are joined by a conjunction like “because” acomma is not needed. However, if the clauses are longer, a comma isappropriate. For example:

All through the months of May and June I worried, because I was afraid Iwouldn’t graduate from high school.



6. ThoughSample sentence: The boy ran fast, though he was losing the race.Adder: He looked tired, but he never quit.Notes: “Though” is a powerful Complexor that doesn’t occur as

frequently in student writing as “and” or “but.” Point out to students that“though” can connect two sentences (the technical name is independentclauses.)



7. Adjectives and Nouns1 point phrase: big girl, red horse2 point phrase: red, hungry horseNotes: For simplicity, adjectives and nouns are introduced as standalone

phrases, not as part of complete sentences. If you wish, ask students topractice forming adjective-noun combinations and then turning these phrasesinto sentences. When students speak phrase with two commas, they shoulddraw the comma in the air with their finger.



8. SimilesTopic: Food: I like apples.Sample sentence: This apple is sweet as candy.Topic: Holidays: The best holiday is Christmas.Sample sentence: Christmas is as fun as a roller coaster.Notes: One way to help students construct similies is to have them start

with a simple sentence, like those above. After the simple sentence is created,the comparison is then constructed.



9. FactSample sentence: My friend Juana is a fast runner.Adder: She won three races at our school.Notes: Point out to students that facts often follow a pattern: A is B, A

was B, A and B are C, and so forth. Passive verbs like “is, are, was,” whichshould be avoided elsewhere in an essay are useful in the creation of factualstatements. The adder after a fact supplies additional information thatsupports the fact’s truth.



10. ParaphraseTo construct a paraphrase, students should begin with a simple sentence.Topic: Recess: At recess I usually talk to my friends.Paraphrase: I usually talk to my friends at recess.Topic: Pets: I take my dog for a walk every day.Paraphrase: Every day I take my dog for a walk.Notes: In general, there are three ways to construct a paraphrase

sentence. You can “switcheroo” the word order, as above, and keep all theoriginal words but switch their order. Or, you can “word pop,” keep the originalorder and pop in a new, equivalent word. “I almost always talk to my friends atrecess.” Finally, you can “switcheroo word pop.” Switch the word order andpop in a new word. “At recess I almost always talk to my friends.”

Important: Students will need to master Paraphrase Complexors beforegoing from Puzzle 10 (which does not require paraphrasing) to Puzzle 11(which does require paraphrasing).



11. College Talk Verbs Baby Talk: I am happy.College Talk: I smile and laugh all day long.Baby Talk: We are good neighbors.College Talk: We help our neighbors clean their yard.Notes: Students need an easy way to understand the difference between

passive and active verbs. Calling the former “baby talk” and the latter “collegetalk” may be helpful. Often in Whole Brain Teaching we ask students to practicethe wrong behavior in order to clarify the correct behavior. In this case, weclarify “passive verbs” by asking students to deliberately construct baby talksentences. In general, passive verbs can be used for topic sentences, A is B ...but students should be encouraged not to use them for succeeding sentencesin a paragraph. The verbs at the bottom of the College Talk handout aresuggestions; your students should be allowed to use any non-baby talk verbsthey come up with.



12. Descriptive sentencesTo guide students in the construction of descriptive sentences, they first

create a “blah” sentence.Blah sentence: I run fast.Descriptive sentence: I can run faster than a wild deer.Adder: When I run, I almost feel like I am flying.Notes: Writing descriptive sentences is a challenging intellectual activity.

Spend some time working as a class on creating blah, lifeless sentences. If youwish, use the phrases at the bottom of the Descriptive Sentences page. Whenyou believe your class is ready to orally create descriptive sentences, you mayneed to give them extra time, perhaps two or three minutes, for each session.



13. Comma ListTo guide students in the construction of a comma list, they should begin

with a simple sentence.Topic: Food: I like apples.Sample sentence: I like apples, oranges and pears.Topic: Pets: The best pets are dogs.Sample sentence: The best pets are dogs, cats and birds.Notes: There is a debate among English teachers about whether or not a

comma should go before “and” in a comma list. Some say it shouldn’t. Otherssay it should. To solve this raging debate, I tell my college students, “Thecomma should go before the ‘and’ or it shouldn’t. And I mean it!”



14. Comma OpenerBeginning with a simple sentence will help students construct comma

phrase sentences.Topic: The Farm: Farmers work hard.Sample sentence: In the summer, farmers work hard.Topic: School: He walked to school.Sample sentence: Happily whistling, he walked to school.Notes: We believe it is easier for students to understand prepositional

phrases like “in the summer” and adverbial phrases like “happily whistling” ifthey aren’t called prepositional and adverbial phrases! In our terminology, anOpener is a phrase that opens a sentence and that ends with a comma.



15. Comma SplitterTo help students construct parenthetical phrases, they should begin with ashort sentence.

Topic: The Farm: Farmers work hard.Sample sentence: Farmers, in the summer, work hard.Topic: School: He walked to school.Sample sentence: He walked, happily whistling, to school.Notes: We believe “comma splitter” is easier for students to understand

than parenthetical phrase. We suggest you teach Comma Openers beforeComma Splitters; students are often happy to learn that the former can beeasily transformed into the latter.



16. Double Comma PhraseStudents should first master Comma List, Comma Openers, and Comma

Splitters before attempting the Double Comma Phrase (which combines anytwo.)

Original Sentence: Saskia played on the beach.Opener/Splitter: Under the hot sun, Saskia, with her friends, player on

the beach.Opener/List: Under the hot sun, Saskia, Deidre and Lily played on the

beach.List/Splitter: Saskia, Deidre and Lily, under the hot sun, played on the

beach.Notes: Double Comma Phrases are the most complex, linguistic

constructions in the Whole Brain Writing Game. Kids love challenges; expectstrange constructions, but praise student effort.


I

In the Whole Brain Writing Game, the teacher encourages the class to setand break personal records. Students should keep track of their records on acopy of the records page (see last two pages of this manual). But what rewardsshould be used? Here are several suggestions: 1. Ask your record breakers to stand while everyone gives them avigorous round of applause, or rhythmically chants their name ... or makes someother uproarious, supportive noise.

2. Hold a raffle for three to five inexpensive prizes every Friday (fancypencils, erasers, plastic rings, etc.). Whenever students set a personal record,they receive a raffle ticket. (This is probably the cheapest, most motivating,easiest to manage of all personal record rewards.)

3. Whenever students break five personal records, they receive a plasticwristband. The wristbands (available for about 50 cents each on the Internet)can be printed with motivating words, “Excellent!” “Brilliant!” “Super Brain!”etc. In addition, the wristbands can be color coded. Breaking 5 personalrecords wins a white band, 10 wins a blue band, 15 wins a red band and soforth.

5. One reward we favor is placing a student’s photo on the Photo Hall ofFame. After 5 records are broken, take a photo of the student or pair ofstudents involved. (Kids love to have their picture taken.) Then, withoutshowing anyone, stick the photo on your Photo Hall of Fame, but with thepicture facing the wall! This will drive students crazy. The picture is onlyrevealed when the student(s) pictured breaks five more records. (Thistechnique also cuts in half the number of photo rewards you hand out ... fiverecords is a photo, ten records is merely the students getting to see theirphoto.) Students with the most photos on the wall will be the ones who havebroken their records most often. One of the first locations kids will take theirparents on Parent Night is the Photo Hall of Fame.


A fundamental problem with most writing systems is that students areasked to do too much, too quickly.

If you attend a camp to learn how to play tennis, you likely wouldn’t betold, “Go out there, throw the ball in the air and start wacking it back and forthacross the net.”

Playing tennis even with moderate competence, involves a host of microskills. Just to hit a forehand shot correctly, you must learn how hold theracquet, place your feet, bend your knees the proper amount, move toward thetennis ball, swing the racquet back smoothly, strike the ball at the correctheight with the correct amount of top spin, follow through appropriately,prepare for the next shot. And that’s just one forehand, to say nothing ofserving, volleying, hitting a lob, a slice or top spin backhand, or returning any ofthe variety of strokes your opponent may send sizzling your way. Each ofthese individual skills must be practiced repeatedly, hundreds of times, beforethey can be woven together into a competent performance.

Now, think about the host of skills involved in writing.-- Using words like and, or, but, though, since, because to create complex

sentences-- Generating ideas-- Breaking topics into smaller subjects-- Constructing topic sentences-- Creating subordinate details-- Arranging a set of paragraphs into a coordinated whole-- Understanding the relationship between sentences, paragraphs and an

essay-- Understanding the difference between the introduction, body and

conclusion of an essay-- Learning how to proofread for a variety of errors: spelling, subject/verb

agreement, capitalization, apostrophes, fragments, run-ons, end marks,commas, passive verbs, improper use of modifiers, etc.

-- matching appropriate adjectives with nouns-- correctly using coordinating conjunctions-- creating and placing transitions-- paraphrasing key ideas-- employing similes, metaphors, descriptive language-- Transforming rough drafts into a polished essay


The list could be easily extended and it wouldn’t include the nuances ofwriting an essay of a certain type: argumentative, expository, narrative,autobiographical.

Just as one should break the complex skill of tennis into small skills, thesame strategy should be followed with writing. Students will be moresuccessful creating essays, if they have had hundreds of repetitions in each ofwriting’s micro skills. It is far easier to master the skill of creating a topicsentence, for example, if all one has to do is think about topic sentences!We believe that one of the best ways for students to achieve hundreds ofrepetitions in writing’s micro-skills is to engage in oral writing as you have seenwith Complexors. If a student can learn to speak one topic sentence afteranother, actually writing the sentence down requires no additional skill.

As I have pointed out, the two modules of our game are Complexors andPuzzles. You have seen that Complexors are words and grammatical devicesthat add complexity to language. Puzzles are diagrams that guide studentsfrom pre-writing skills to full featured, five paragraph, college essays. The mostchallenging essay patterns involve, besides other features, the mostComplexors.


The Whole Brain Writing Game’s Puzzles are patterns that help studentspractice composition skills. Puzzles 1 to 6 develop prewriting abilities and canbe completed orally, like the Complexors. Puzzles 7 to 22 involve writing.

Here is Puzzle 1, with explanatory notes for the teacher:



As you can see, this Puzzle is played like the Complexors. Students workin pairs to strengthen their ability to break a topic into smaller parts. However,unlike Complexors that give students sentence level writing abilities, Puzzles 1-6 develop prewriting skills.

Here is each Puzzle and a brief description.



Puzzle 1: Name One, Two, Three, Four Students practice the fundamental writing skill of dividing a topic intoseveral parts. The bottom of the page shows 40 subjects (Balls, Rooms,Games, etc.).



Puzzle 2: Writing Sketches The topics in this puzzle (My Friends, School, Vacations, Games) are moreappropriate for simple writing tasks than the topics in Puzzle 1 (Balls, Rooms).Sample solutions to the puzzle are listed at the top of the page. Students solvethe puzzle by selecting a topic and then dividing it into two subjects, Part 1 andPart 2. Additional difficulty is added when they attempt the two point puzzle,dividing a topic into three parts.



Puzzle 3: Subject Verb AgreementTypical subject/verb exercises ask students to correctly match a singular

subject with a singular verb or a plural subject with a plural verb. Puzzle 3presents an alternate strategy. We want students to have hundreds ofopportunities of hearing the correct subject/verb pattern.

To solve Puzzle 3, student 1 makes a sentence with a starter and afinisher:

Starter: I amFinisher: in the woods.

Then student 2 makes a sentence with the next starter and the next finisher.Starter: I wasFinisher: on the table.As you can see, the game involves nothing but reading. Students read a

starter and then read a finisher ... and, in the process, hear, hundreds of times,the correct link between subject and verb. This Puzzle is especially useful withEnglish Language Learners.



Puzzle 4: Fragments and SentencesOur strategy with this puzzle is to have students deliberately write

fragments, make mistakes on purpose, so that they clarify for themselves thedifference between incomplete and complete sentences. Students are oftenconfused when a sentence is defined as “a complete idea” or, even lesshelpfully, they are told that a sentence must have a subject and verb. What’s asubject? What’s a verb?

In Whole Brain Teaching, we define a sentence as a complete message.We ask students to imagine that their phone rings in the middle of the night andthey hear, “running and laughing along the beach.” This is not a sentencebecause it is not a complete message. The phone rings again. The caller says,“I was running and laughing along the beach.” This is a sentence because it is acomplete message. We call this the Midnight Phone Call Test and use itwhenever students wonder if what they have written is a sentence.



Puzzle 5: BrainstormingIn Puzzle 5, students begin with a topic and then break it into two parts;

each part is then divided into two smaller units. This puzzle prepares studentsto establish the structure of a short essay. Significantly more difficult is thesecond task, dividing a topic into three parts. Allow three or more minutes forthis section of Brainstorming.



Puzzle 6: Topic SentenceStudents start by constructing a short topic sentence, “I like desserts.”

The next step is to construct a longer topic sentence by adding the word “and.”“My favorite desserts are pie and cake.” We believe using the word “and” in atopic sentence is the simplest way to guide students toward topic sentenceparagraphs. For example, here is a kindergarten level paragraph:

I like dogs and cats.Dogs are friendly.Cats are fun to pet.Using “and” in the first sentence, points the beginning writer toward using

“dogs” in the second sentence and “cats” in the final sentence.



Puzzle 7: Topic Sentence ParagraphsAs pointed out in the notes to Puzzle 6, some of the easiest topic

sentences to write are ones that contain “and.”My favorite desserts are pie and cake.Cherry pies are sweet and delicious.Chocolate cake tastes great after any meal.“And” divides the topic sentence into two parts; each part can then be

expanded in the next sentences. In this puzzle, students orally construct short,but tightly organized, paragraphs.




Puzzle 8: Beginner EssayPrevious puzzles can be completed orally, but Puzzle 8, a three paragraph

mini-essay, is the first writing assignment. Adders, sentences that addinformation to a previous sentence, are required in this puzzle. The problem ofconstructing transitions is avoided by asking students to copy sentences fromthe first paragraph into the next two paragraphs. Also, note that students areassigned to write their first Complexor in the second sentence of the secondparagraph. Tell your class which Complexors they can choose from.

Puzzle 8 would be a good occasion to introduce some of the simplerwriting rules (pg. 102). Evaluating the Puzzle 8 mini-essay can be done quickly;check to see that the form and rules have been followed and that theComplexor in the second paragraph is used correctly. If a significant number ofyour students are having problems with the Complexors they are using, givethem additional oral practice with the appropriate Complexor games.

If you assign this puzzle and others as in class writing exercises, tellstudents that when they finish one puzzle, they should start working onanother. Thus, your quickest students will not end up with their arms folded,happily announcing, “I’m finished!”

From here forward, a solution is included for each Puzzle. Spend timediscussing these with your class, prior to asking them to begin writing.




Puzzle 9: Only slightly more difficult than the previous assignment, in Puzzle 9students must write two Complexors.




Puzzle 10: Four Paragraph Essay Students add a conclusion to their mini-essay.




Puzzle 11: Paraphrase Complexor EssayA new skill, writing paraphrases, is introduced in this short assignment.

Give students plenty of practice orally creating Paraphrase Complexors (page30) before assigning Puzzle 11.




Puzzle 12: Students are now writing a tightly organized, four paragraph essay. Thetopic sentence includes “and”; Paraphrase Complexors are used as transitions;two additional Complexors are introduced in the body of the essay.




Puzzle 13: This Puzzle is only slightly more difficult than 12. Refreshingly enough,students are given some freedom! They can choose where in the essay toplace a new Complexor.




Puzzle 14: The big change, and it is considerable, in this Puzzle is that students can nolonger write topic sentences with “and”. This requires them to generalize abouta subject which they will break into two parts in the second and third sentencesof the first paragraph. As an introduction to this new approach, show yourclass the solution to Puzzle 14.




Puzzle 15: Dividing a topic into three, sub-topics is one of the most difficult skills instudent writing. Give your students substantial amounts of oral practice withPuzzle 5, Brainstorming (page 58), before assigning Puzzle 15. Also, note thatstudents are given additional creative freedom in Puzzle 15; they write“several” sentences in each body paragraph as opposed to the previous patternwhich requires three. Finally, the topic sentence is paraphrased as theconclusion. Puzzle 15 represents one of the larger challenges in the puzzleseries.




Puzzle 16: Topic Paragraph Flip Flop As a general pattern, this Puzzle is probably the easiest, most flexible of allthe full featured essay models in this series. Some instructors call this pattern,a “funnel.” The first paragraph begins “wide” and then “narrows down to apoint” in the topic sentence. You can, if you wish, adapt the expository,narrative and argumentative models that follow to this funnel pattern. If I wasgoing to teach my college students only one essay model, I’d teach them Puzzle16.




Puzzle 17:In this Puzzle, students write a total of eight Complexors (three Paraphrase andfive additional Complexors).




Puzzle 18: Narrative Essay Puzzle 18 introduces “freebies,” words, “first ... then ... finally” that simplifythe internal organization of an essay. These chronological transitions are wellsuited to a narrative essay.




Puzzle 19: Expository Essay Explain to your students that an expository essay is a type of story. Theywill be explaining the “story” of the steps involved in a process; “first ... then ...finally,” can be used just as in the narrative assignment.



Puzzle 20: Argumentative Essay Argumentative essays are among the most difficult for students to write,and thus are the last Puzzle pattern. Note that the topic sentence mustcontain the word “three.”

There are three reasons why students should go to college.There are three values that good teachers must possess.A good parent should have three goals.




Letter Puzzle 1Using letters as writing assignments can be introduced early in the Puzzle

sequence. Only because they involve special considerations, date, greeting,closing, are they set aside here at the end. Note that the body of the letteruses a topic sentence with “and.”




Letter Puzzle 2The body of this letter presents a small, well formed paragraph with a

topic sentence and two sub-points expanded with adders.

Using Puzzles In Class

Puzzles 1-6 can be used as timed classroom games just like Complexors.They will provide students with hundreds of oral repetitions of crucial pre-writing skills. At some point in a writing program, however, students need to dosome writing! Puzzles 7 to 22 provide models for increasingly challengingcomposition tasks. Here are suggestions for how to use these advancedPuzzles.

1. After class discussion of the assignment, give individuals or teams ofwriters the assignment of completing a Puzzle. Encourage them to use theprewriting skills learned in Puzzles 1-6. So that everyone is constantly writing,tell students that when they complete one Puzzle, they should begin another(or a new version of the one they just finished).

2. Give harder Puzzles to more competent writers and simpler Puzzles toweaker writers.3. Have students play several speed rounds with a small group of Complexors,and then ask them to use one or more of these Complexors in completing aPuzzle.

4. Once the concepts for completing several Puzzles are understood, letstudents choose which Puzzle they want to work on.

Personal Record Puzzles

As we have noted earlier, students love to set and break personalrecords. The mechanics of this in the Complexor games is straightforward;personal records are determined by how much work can be completed in a timeperiod (usually a minute). But how are personal records to be set when wedon’t want students rushing through an assignment ... like writing?

Whenever you wish, give students the option of choosing what Puzzlethey want to work on, and how it should be evaluated.

Think about that for a moment.In writing, given the disparity of talents, students should only be judged

by their personal best effort … and a good way to judge best effort is whetheror not students meet standards they set for themselves.


If you are intrigued by this idea, then tell your class that when they turnin their paper they should write down which rules (see next chapter) they arepositive they have followed perfectly. Weaker writers might indicate they wantto be judged on rules #1-3 (neat appearing paper, name and date in the correctplace, every sentence beginning with a capital letter). Stronger writers mightchoose more difficult rules involving Complexors and challenging essay patterns.Under this system, students would receive recognition (raffle ticket, photo onPhoto Hall of Fame, etc.) when you judge, and this could be done quickly, thatthey have met the goal they set for themselves. When students consistentlyset goals that are below their ability, your task then is to coax them to trysomething slightly harder.

The grade you assign to the paper might, at your option, take intoaccount how well students met their own standards.


Our writing rules (on the next page) are arranged, roughly, in order ofcomplexity. Thus, it is easier for students to turn in a paper that is unwrinkled(Rule 1) than it is to turn in a paper that has no missing words (Rule 13). Ofcourse, you may arrange these rules, or add others, as you wish.



The general idea of the Writing Rules is that students should begin byfollowing simpler rules and then advance to following more challenging rules.Using writing rules in conjunction with Puzzles and Complexors allows you todesign writing tasks appropriate to each student’s ability. Kindergartners mightonly be trying to complete Puzzle 7 and follow rules 1-4.

1. Your paper is not wrinkled or torn. Your writing is very easy for theteacher to read. (Smooth your hand over your paper.)

2. Your name is in the upper right corner of each page. (Tap yourname.)

3. The date with the month, day and year is on the line under your name.(Tap the month, day and year. Three taps in all!)

4. Every sentence must begin with a capital letter.As students advance in ability, they should be trying to follow more and

more of your writing rules.Note that each rule is followed by instructions in parenthesis. These

instructions tell students what to do while proofreading.

Paperclip Proofreading

Here is a great truth: you will go batty if you spend your career circlingcapitalization errors. Your students are the ones who need proofreadingpractice, not you.

The main problem we have found in student proofreading is that we askstudents to look for all the possible errors they might make, instead of trying toidentify one mistake at a time. To solve this problem, all you’ll need is a box ofpaperclips.

In Paperclip Proofreading, each student is given a paperclip that they clipto the side of their writing rules. After they complete each proofreading task(indicated by a parenthesis in the writing rules), they move the paperclip downto the next proofreading task. Thus, as you circle the room, you can tellimmediately what error students are looking for, based upon where the paperclip is pointing on the list of writing rules. Almost every proofreading taskrequires students to engage in a physical activity, smoothing their hand over anunwrinkled paper, flicking an end mark. You can easily tell which students arefollowing your instructions, simply by watching their gestures! When studentshave completed proofreading for all the rules that the paper required, instructthem to go back to the beginning of the rules and begin again. This solves theproblems of kids folding their arms and announcing, “I’m through” when youwant them to keep working at finding errors.


After you are satisfied that papers have been thoroughly proofread and aclean, perfect copy has been produced, we suggest you go on to our version ofpeer review.

Students trade papers with a neighbor. The neighbor only marksviolations of the writing rules assigned for the paper. When this is completed,the neighbor slowly waggles the paper over her head until she sees anotherpaper being waggled. She quickly trades papers and, on the new paper, onlymarks violations of the writing rules. This multiple error checking continues untilyou are satisfied that each paper has been reviewed several times.

As the next step, students return the paper to the original author. Theauthor looks at her paper and places a star beside each mistake that she agreesis a violation of a writing rule. The paper is then turned in to you … alreadyproofread by many students and the author. Check to see if you agree that theauthor has correctly starred errors; this will vastly reduce the time you spendcorrecting errors yourself! If no errors have been starred, read the papercarefully to see if you find unmarked mistakes. If many errors have beencorrectly starred, don’t take the time to mark more mistakes (which would onlydepress the author further.) Note that with this entire procedure, you will bespending the most time carefully reading the best papers. And, isn’t that whatyou want to do?

Grading

Obviously, you can grade writing assignments in any way you wish.However, the traditional method of giving a score for “content” and anotherscore for “form” often results in confusion among student writers. It often isn’tclear what the difference is between “A” and “B” content or “C” and “D” form.If it isn’t clear to your class what you expect of them, and how they are beingevaluated, how can you expect them to meet your?

Here is our most controversial suggestion: grade only the writing rulesassigned for the composition.

Let’s say it is early in the semester in a lower grade and you ask studentsto complete Puzzle 7, a three sentence paragraph. You tell them to write aswell as they possibly can but you are only going to be grading them on thefollowing: neatness, name location, correct day, month and year, first wordcapitalization and end mark placement. That’s it! And, here is the truth. Usingonly these evaluators, you will have a number of students who don’t followthese rules! What sense does it make to drive them on to more complexcompositions, if they can’t manage the simplest tasks.


In college for the last 10 years, I graded only on rules followed and neverhad a disagreement with any student on the grade on their paper! They see therules. They see the violation. They have starred their own errors. Theyunderstand what they did wrong and how they can avoid the problem on thenext essay.

What do you do about content? Well, you have to clearly define whatyou mean by excellent content. Is it the use of adjectives with nouns? Is itdescriptive language? Is it the use of similes or active verbs? These are allComplexors! When you give students a Puzzle to complete, tell them whatComplexors you will be looking for and exactly where in the essay you expect tofind them. Make Complexor use one of your rules or use rule 14.

14. Your paper exactly follows the directions you were given.Using Complexors correctly, as defined by you, results in better content.


Summary

The Whole Brain Writing Game is divided into two parts: Complexors andPuzzles. Complexors can be completed orally and provide students withhundreds of repetitions in using words and phrases that added complexity totheir compositions. Puzzles are writing patterns that begin with simple tasks,creating three sentence paragraphs and culminate with five paragraph collegelevel essays. Complexors add verbal sophistication to the Puzzles. Puzzles 1-6can be completed orally; Puzzles 7-22 require writing.

Setting and breaking records is an important component in the WholeBrain Writing Game. Working in pairs, a weaker with a stronger writer, studentstry to see how many Complexors or simple Puzzles can be completed in a timeperiod, usually a minute. Record breakers can be given awards, the easiest tomanage are raffle tickets for a Friday raffle.

Assignment completion and proofreading are simplified with a set ofwriting rules. The rules, arranged from simpler to more complex, areaccompanied by proofreading tasks which, for the teacher’s and student’sconvenience, often involve a physical activity.

A peer reviewing system is suggested which culminates in studentsplacing a star beside errors that have been correctly marked by theirclassmates. When teachers receive these starred papers, the amount of timespent evaluating a composition is significantly decreased. A controversialsuggestion is that teachers grade only on the writing rules following, the formof the composition, and not on content. Content is difficult to define and, inthe Whole Brain Writing Game, is largely created by the effective use ofComplexors.

For more information about the Whole Brain Writing Game contact me,Chris [email protected] access thousands of pages of free downloads, go to

WholeBrainTeaching.com

Complexor and Puzzle records pages follow.



Documents

The Writing Game