Shells of Writing

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Engage Your Students in Writing

In order to help your students write, have them write about their own experiences.  This will help them to be more interested in writing.  With ESL students have them become involved in dictation.  This will help to build their experiences and to feel more comfortable with the language that they are learning.  Write with and for your students.  Share your writing with them and let students head and comment on each other's writing.  Do peer reviews and show writing samples on the overhead.  Seeing examples of good as well as poor papers is important.  Write for purposes.  Write for anything, such as for the environment.  Write online, in blogs, and in all ways possible.  Students should be shown all of the different methods and places where they can write.  Help your students to love writing rather than to fear it.

Writing Ideas

Keeping a journal is really a good idea.  Students should write every day.  Teachers should take the time to read their journals.  This is the only way students can improve, and they should implement a process whereby it is ensured that students are reading comments written by teachers or peers.  Commenting on comments is a good way to make this possible.  It is nice sometimes to let students just free write, but at least at first have them go by some guide that you provide, because otherwise they will not have any directions and will keep asking you what to write. 

Students can write in blogs, they can write and read book reviews online, or create their own websites.  Make sure to include rubrics when involving your students in these activities so that the instructions are clear and purposeful for them.

Involve students in writing to pen pals either via snail mail or online.  Monitor this carefully and get the class interested in learning about other cultures.  If they are learning a new language encourage them to write in the new language, whether it is English or another language that they are learning.  This would work well for English Language Learners also.

Sometimes allow your students to participate in devising their own assignments.  This will get them more interested, give them more ownership and accountability concerning an assignment, and will give them a valuable learning experience.

Help students to write by using language experience stories.  These are stories that they write, but the teacher or tutor or someone else write it down for them.  This works well for those who have difficulty writing, learning or writing disabilities, or for English Language Learners.

More on Writing

Show your students how fun writing can be.  If you have a student who is a reluctant writer, have him or her start small.  Even a few sentences is better than not writing at all.  Encourage any efforts from such reluctant students.  Also try to find something positive in what is written, no matter how small.  This will go a long way in helping your student to become a lifetime writer.

Provide students with examples of good writing, but also show examples of what not to do.  Again, start small and do not overwhelm, your students.  All lessons should be short, mini-lessons as stated before, in order to keep the attention span of your students.  As with other lessons, keep writing lessons short and vary the lesson types and styles.

Always have students write for a purpose.  Have them write for real things.  For example, they could write to the mayor regarding city clean-up, or to the president about changes that could be made or about how they feel he is doing a good job.  There are so many ways students can get involved in any type of writing activity.  For students who like art, artwork can be added to journals.  Students can take pictures out of magazines and then write about them also, for instance. 

Write On

For reluctant writers distribute paper that is interesting or unexpected.  There is a lot of nice stationary available.  Also employ nice pens, something that will engage student interest.  The themes you pick also should be chosen carefully in order to engage your reluctant writers. 

Make use of all Internet availabilities for student writers, such as blogs, chat and so forth.  Text messaging, too is writing and should not be left out when discussing or helping students with their writing.  Keep current with your writing instruction so that it will serve the needs of your students in their world.