The “Write” Way! Teaching to children to enjoy writing

As young children we naturally express creativity in a variety of ways. From creating with play dough, to painting, to making pretend cakes, we love to take the world around us to a new level.
As teachers, our job is to take a student’s natural creativity and help them to output it through writing. There are a few obstacles that get in our way however.
1. A lack of imagination ourselves. As teachers, sometimes we are forced to be task masters and have little time to sit still and tap into our own imaginations. How then can we teach what we do not practice ourselves?
2. Lack of experience writing. Many of us do not have the opportunity to really delve into this talent. Our own understanding is basic at best. How can we push our students to a level higher than our own?
3. Lack of resources. If in fact we do struggle with writing, it is imperative that we have tools to not only teach ourselves, but the students who trust us to teach.

Once we have faced our obstacles, we can begin to look at writing in a new way. Instead of becoming frustrated with how “These kids just don’t know how to write,” we can focus on “How can I teach you to be a great writer?” This simple change in perspective is really all we need to become successful writing teachers. This question will motivate us to become experts in the field instead of feeling frustrated with our audience.
Becoming the Expert
1. Become a writer yourself. This of course takes practice. A great way to begin is by completing writing assignments right along with your students. This will force you to share in their joys and frustrations and will give you a realistic picture of future assignments.
2. Find resources. Ralph Fletcher has several teacher friendly resources that are quick and easy to use. This is imperative in the busy world of teaching!
3. Take what Walt Disney calls a “dream retreat.” Allow yourself to express creativity in a variety of ways such as: cooking, drawing, singing, acting, sewing, gardening, or painting. Releasing creativity will help you to become more aware of your imagination and will only help build your enthusiasm about writing.

Coaching the Students
1. Define writing. Help students to understand that writing is simply expressing their thoughts with a pencil. Let them know that you will be there every step of the way to coach them on exactly how to do this.
2. Carry an observation notebook. Model this by doing it yourself as well. Show students how to write down key words or phrases about the world around them. Explain that the observation notebook can help them see things they maybe wouldn’t otherwise notice. Below are different types of observations:

• Imagination. For example, you may write that the trees outside your window look like they are talking to each other.
•Inspirations. Explain to students that it’s important to look around and try to find things that inspire us and make us feel good. This will be different for each individual.
•Details. Help children to focus on detail by changing things in your room and having them look around and see if they can find it. Have them write down changes they see.

3. Practice stretching observations by using structure words. Students can learn to take simple phrases from their observation journal and stretch them into complete sentences and paragraphs. Examples of structure words are: size, color, number, shape, when, where, movement, mood, background, perspective, and sound. Teach students to use structure words so that their classmates can see what is in their mind.

4. Play with words so that students have opportunities to increase their vocabularies. The more words they know, the easier time they will have expressing themselves.

5. Allow creativity to flow. Give opportunities to write with NO EDITING ALLOWED! Students need to learn that writing is really a two step process. The first step is to utilize their imaginations and let ideas flow. The second step is to go back and polish their writing so that others can see their imagination clearly.

6. WAIT. Before students can polish their writing, they must step away from it. Once we create something, we need time to feel good about what we’ve produced. Going in and fixing something that we just outputted and feel wonderful about, simply isn’t good for our self-esteem.

7. Polish. Once we’ve stepped away and have acknowledged the good in our creative piece, we can go back and see areas need to be better clarified. This requires a tool box for most students as they are unsure of what to look for. Tools from the tool box must be taught in baby steps—one at a time and in great detail.

Writing Toolbox:
1. Reread to see if sentences make sense. Do they have a nice flow? Have you punctuated in a way that will make sense to the reader? Will they pause in the right places?
2. How’s the spelling? Take a highlighter and highlight any words that don’t look right to you. Correct words that you know and ask a friend or your teacher to help you with the others.
3. Can the reader see it, hear it, feel it? Use structure words to add the details to ensure that the reader is experiencing what you experienced. Remember to include feeling words as well.
4. Check your words. Words are very powerful and can capture the reader or bore him to tears.  Are you repeating the same word over and over? Do you need help coming up with different words?
5. Organization. Have you written things in an order that makes sense?

Finally, share your creation! Read it aloud to someone. Display it. Put it in book form. This is your masterpiece and many others will want to experience it as well!