10 Things you should know about teaching writing
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Here are my tiptop tips for educational activity writing that every writing instructor should know.
Are you lot familiar with the Writing Workshop? It's a method of teaching based on this truth: Children learn to write well when they write ofttimes, for extended periods of fourth dimension, on topics that matter to them.
Non simply do children learn to write well within the Writing Workshop, but they also learn to enjoy it!
Whether you're a classroom instructor or a homeschooler, a kindergarten instructor or a center school language arts instructor – the Writing Workshop is for you.
1. Students need a consistent routine.
Writing is circuitous, but the Writing Workshop itself is built on a solid construction that never changes. It is the routine of mini-lessons, contained writing, and sharing time that makes the workshop run smoothly.
Begin each workshop with a v-10 minute mini-lesson. Reserve about of the workshop for students to write independently while you hold private writing conferences. Conclude with a five-x infinitesimal sharing fourth dimension. When yous're consistent, students will cease asking, "Are we writing today?" or "Practice we have to write today?" They'll even commencement to look forward to it!
two. Students need to write iii-v days per week.
I'k guessing that you share a problem with every other teacher on the planet – your day is already full. If you lot tin can't schedule a regular Writing Workshop, the next best matter must be to squeeze it in one day a week. After all, something is better than zilch correct?
Actually, information technology's not.
If you can only teach writing one day a week, skip it. Donald Graves, a leading pioneer in the teaching of writing, remarked that "ane twenty-four hour period a week will teach them to hate it. They'll never get inside writing."
We brand time for what matters, whether that's taking a shower every day or sitting downwardly for lunch. When nosotros believe that learning to write well is absolutely essential, we have a adept difficult wait at our mean solar day and brand time to teach information technology.
3. Students need to write for an extended flow of time each day.
I remember the year that I tried to squeeze the entire workshop into a thirty-minute catamenia.
It didn't go well.
Think virtually a long, heavy railroad train and the work it takes to get that big machine and all its cars chugging forth the tracks. Once the entire train is moving, it glides smoothly along the rails. But what if information technology had to stop after merely fifteen minutes? Information technology takes so much time to get the railroad train started, information technology would hardly seem worth the effort to begin.
Kids need time to build and maintain their writing energy. I recommend at to the lowest degree 20-40 minutes of independent writing every day.
4. Students need to find their own writing topics.
I know information technology feels easier to put a prompt or sentence starter on the board, just giving students daily writing prompts is only like putting them in a box. They can only stretch so far! If your greatest fearfulness is having a roomful of students complaining, "Only I don't know what to write about!" fear non. My ebook has more twenty ideas and printables for helping kids find their own writing topics.
5. Students need to move through the writing process at their own pace.
Nosotros're all familiar with pre-writing, drafting, revising, editing, and publishing. We often expect our students to motion through these stages in a linear style.
But accept you ever thought nearly your own writing process? Writing isn't orderly. It's messy.
In the Writing Workshop, we support our students as they motility in and out of the stages. We may set a general deadline for finishing a piece, but we don't insist that every educatee is on the exact same timetable.
half dozen. Writing is personal.
Have you e'er been reluctant to share something you've written?
Writing is intensely personal. That's why how you reply to a student's writing matters and then much.
Have you seen the Facebook meme, "Exist careful. You never know when you're creating a memory"? Equally a writing teacher you have the opportunity to bring confidence, create positive memories, and inspire dreams.
Yous also have the power to crush a child'due south confidence with a unmarried comment.
Does this scare y'all?
It doesn't need to.
My book has an entire affiliate almost how to be an encouraging and helpful writing coach – with a printable tip sail, sample questions, and more.
For now, remember to exercise iii things: mind, smile and care.
7. Mentor texts are your best co-teachers.
The reason that many teachers and homeschoolers are agape to teach writing is because they don't know much nearly it. If they're not confident writers themselves, how tin they teach their students to excel at it?
I accept good news.
Even if y'all're the only adult in your classroom or homeschool, you're not the simply teacher. My gauge is that you accept at to the lowest degree a hundred co-teachers in the very same building.
They're called books.
A mentor text is any text that can exist used an example of practiced writing for writers. Does a child demand help writing a stiff atomic number 82? Find a book with a good beginning, and permit its author be the teacher. Is a pupil's writing boring? Discover a book with adept sensory images and so your pupil tin can learn from the best.
Not sure where to find mentor texts? I've got you covered. My book has 39 lists of mentor texts – including books with strong leads, sensory images, verb pick, alliteration, and much more than.
8. The writing teacher needs to focus on the writer, not the writing.
It's really tempting to look at a slice of student writing, see all its flaws, and exercise everything you can to make the piece perfect. Simply if your student is simply making changes because of your suggestions, what have you accomplished? Your student may have a nice piece of writing, but will he write better tomorrow?
When I piece of work with student writers, I oft discover myself getting defenseless up in the content of a item piece. When I feel myself getting distracted from the big picture, I ask myself – "Is what I'chiliad teaching going to assistance this student on his next piece of writing, likewise?"
If you're not sure what to teach, you'll exist glad to know that my ebook has over 200 mini-lesson ideas for K-8 — plus possible teaching points for writing conferences in all grades.
9. Teaching writing isn't supposed to be easy.
It's okay that writing isn't easy to teach. It's non supposed to be! The reason that teaching writing is hard is because writing is difficult.
Have you tried it lately?
I don't mean dashing off an email or jotting downward your grocery listing. I'm talking about a term paper, a college essay, a work proposal, or a letter to the editor. Writing is a messy procedure that involves brainstorming, drafting, revising, re-writing and editing – and non necessarily in that guild!
When we accept that didactics writing is challenging – and embrace that claiming – we cease 2nd guessing ourselves and starting time enjoying the journey.
10. Information technology'south worth it.
Yep, it'due south hard work didactics kids to write well.
But i t's worth it.
It's worth it when your students get invested in their writing and produce pieces you lot and they are proud of.
It's worth it when they open their hearts on paper.
It's worth it when you find a reluctant writer boldly trying something new.
It's worth it when your students larn to support and encourage each other during sharing time, and when that caring spills out of the Writing Workshop into other parts of your day.
It's worth it when your conversations about writing pb to deep, personal connections with your students.
It's worth it when you observe that this manner of teaching really works.
Yous can have a successful Writing Workshop! Learn how today.
Get OUR GUIDE FOR Didactics WRITING
Writing Workshop Guide K-8
$26.00
Whether you're new to the Writing Workshop or an experienced workshop teacher, you'll beloved this giant handbook for education writing in grades Thou-viii. In improver to this helpful guide, you lot'll also receive over 150 pages of printable resources!
Source: https://www.themeasuredmom.com/10-things-need-know-about-teaching-writing/
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