In this podcast episode, Nancy McCabe shares six creative strategies to inspire students’ writing, emphasizing free writing, sensory details, and the importance of imperfection. She suggests incorporating outdoor experiences.
In this episode of The 10 Minute Teacher Podcast, award-winning author and writing professor Nancy McCabe shares six timeless, creative ideas to help your students rediscover the joy of writing. She explains how free writing, sensory exploration, and some simple writing activities can awaken student creativity. I also love how she celebrates that imperfection might be the best thing to happen to writing in the age of AI as you teach writing!
This podcast is sponsored by Speakable.
Want to bring daily speaking practice to your classroom without adding prep or grading?
Speakable helps language teachers assign speaking tasks, give instant feedback, and leaders can track progress, all with tools aligned to ACTFL and WIDA standards.
✅ Instant AI grading
✅ No setup or training required
✅ Student data and growth insights
👉 Explore how Speakable works, whether you’re a teacher or a school leader, you’ll find the right place to start.
YouTube: 6 Ideas for Teaching Writing Now with Nancy McCabe
6 Ideas for Teaching Writing Now with Nancy McCabe
Listen to the Podcast
Subscribe to the Show
I wanted to pull together her six points as they were so great, but it is worth a listen just because she talks about common mistakes and what she has learned.
1. Start with Free Writing to Build Fluency
Nancy begins every class, regardless of age group, with free writing. This practice encourages students to write continuously for a set time — without worrying about grammar or correctness. It unlocks creativity and helps them “think on paper.”
“No matter what age I’m teaching, I usually start with free writing… seeing what comes out.”
Teachers can use 10-minute writing sessions to build stamina and reduce perfectionism in students who fear the blank page.
2. Use Turning Points and Sensory Details to Generate Ideas
Nancy often asks students to list turning points in their lives — those pivotal moments that changed them — and then explore them through sensory writing. Focusing on sights, sounds, smells, and feelings brings writing to life.
Try giving students a list prompt like:
- Ten moments that shaped who you are today
- Ten places that remind you of someone important
Then, have them pick one and write about it using rich detail.
3. Connect Reading and Writing through Imitation
Nancy recommends a powerful but often overlooked technique: imitative writing. Students choose a favorite story or poem and rewrite it by swapping in their own nouns, verbs, and details. Noun for noun. Verb for verb.
This exercise helps students internalize structure and rhythm, deepening their understanding of what makes strong writing work.
4. Take Writing Outside the Classroom
Writing field trips can transform your classroom’s energy. I share how visiting a cemetery inspired her, and Nancy shares her own cemetery story. She had her students to write about life, memory, and meaning — each in completely different ways.
Even a short walk across campus or around the neighborhood can inspire powerful writing.
“Just going to different places and thinking about the different approaches you could take to writing about that can be really great.”
5. Celebrate Flaws and Embrace Imperfection
In a world filled with AI-generated text and polished prose, Nancy says we should celebrate flaws as proof of authentic voice. Imperfection shows process, humanity, and originality.
She reminds us that attempting to be “writing perfectly on the first try shuts down creativity.” The best writing grows from detours, mistakes, and messy drafts.
6. Writing Is Thinking
Nancy closes with a reminder every teacher should remember: writing is not the product of thinking — it is thinking.
Encourage students to write to discover, not just to display what they already know.
“We don’t want them to think before they write. We want them to think as they write.”
Key Takeaway
Good writing teaching isn’t about getting it perfect — it’s about helping students enjoy the process of discovery. Whether through free writing, field trips, or celebrating mistakes, these ideas remind us that writing is as human as thinking itself.
About Nancy McCabe – Bio As Submitted
Nancy McCabe is the author of nine books, most recently the middle grade novel Fires Burning Underground (Fitzroy/Regal House 2025), the comic novel The Pamela Papers: A Mostly E-pistolary Story of Academic Pandemic Pandemonium (Outpost 19, 2024), the ya novel Vaulting through Time (CamCat 2023), and the memoir Can This Marriage Be Saved? (Missouri 2020).
Her work has appeared in Michigan Quarterly Review, Prairie Schooner, Gulf Coast, Salon, and Newsweek, received a Pushcart, and been included ten times on notable lists of annual Best American anthologies. She directs the creative and professional writing program at the University of Pittsburgh at Bradford and teaches in the low-residency graduate program in writing at Spalding University.
Blog: https://www.nancymccabe.net
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/nancy.mccabe.92/
Disclosure of Material Connection: This is a “sponsored podcast episode.” The company who sponsored it compensated me via cash payment, gift, or something else of value to include a reference to their product. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I believe will be good for my readers and are from companies I can recommend. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”
Never Miss a Podcast Episode
Subscribe to get our podcast episodes by email.
