Have you ever heard these questions or statements about writing?
“How do I get my student to enjoy writing?”
“I don’t know what to write about?”
“This is boring!”
Student engagement is essential in a child’s learning. How do you get all students engaged in subjects like writing or reading? Choice. Give the students choice. Now, I know what you’re thinking… that’s hard and I don’t want to let go of my curriculum or let them have free reign. However, I am positive that when you allow some choice into your day, student engagement will go up. (I promise it’s not as scary as it may feel!)
Writing is an example of a subject that students are reluctant to love. You may even hear moans and groans when it’s writing time. That’s where I’m here to help: let’s get our students to LOVE writing.
Keep it simple:
- Teach them HOW to be good writers through explicit lessons and modeling.
- Let the students choose their topic.
If you teach them the steps to becoming a good writer, it doesn’t really matter what they are writing about, so let them choose! I have a variety of writing units where the teacher delivers writing lessons and the students get choice:
Argumentative Writing State Unit
Snapchat Narrative Writing Unit
Genius Hour Informational Writing Unit
Within each of these units, you will be given lessons that walk the students through the steps for each type of writing. When you model these skills (with your own topic), the students will see how the process works. When I model the lessons, I usually follow an “I write, you write” model. For example, I will model writing a thesis, then they will write theirs. After they complete theirs, I give them feedback or do peer feedback. We complete the same process for each part of the writing process. By chunking the writing process, I often think that this helps the students not feel as overwhelmed.
In exchange for giving students choice in their writing topics, student engagement should go up. (Fingers crossed!) They will begin to take ownership over their writing and enjoy the process because they are writing about something they enjoy.
I encourage you to enjoy modeling the lessons and creating your own stories or essays. The students will love seeing you develop your thoughts, help you through the process, and hopefully have fun!
My hope for you is that with these two simple steps:
- Teach them HOW to be good writers through explicit lessons and modeling.
- Let the students choose their topic.
You will start to see a change in your students’ love for writing!
