reluctant writers & struggling writers
These ideas are helpful for young writers of all ages who struggle with writing and/or who are reluctant to write. I have used them with EAL/D students, as well as with children from Kindy to Year 6.
With these students, it's important to understand that writing can be a scary process when it's hard and when you are aware that you are "not a good writer". Writing is a complex process and committing pencil to paper takes courage. So think about being encouraging, gentle and positive and about trying to make writing fun.
With these students, it's important to understand that writing can be a scary process when it's hard and when you are aware that you are "not a good writer". Writing is a complex process and committing pencil to paper takes courage. So think about being encouraging, gentle and positive and about trying to make writing fun.
ideas
Child dictates and the teacher scribes.
This is one way of breaking the writing process down. It lets the child organise their thoughts without the pressure of also having to remember how to form the letters which make up each word and manipulate the pencil to write them. Reducing the cognitive load in this way allows the child to focus on the message he or she wants to convey and on forming oral sentences. Seeing his or her message builds the child's self-esteem and shows the child why we write - to convey a message. Once you've written the story or sentences the child has dictated, be sure to enthusiastically emphasise to the children that "this is your story" and "you wrote this!"
Teacher provides a word bank of content-related words and phrases.
This prompts the child's thinking and removes the cognitive load of having to remember and spell some of the words relating to volcanoes, Aboriginal life before white settlement or whatever you are studying. It builds confidence and leaves the child free to concentrate on composing their thoughts and then the narrative they need to write.
Teacher provides sentences for children to cut and paste and assemble into a coherent narrative.
This is helpful for children who need more exposure to how sentences look, what they are, how they are composed, etc. It gives them practise at reading sentences and deciding whether the sentence "makes sense". You can either cut the text up into separate complete sentences or into parts of sentences, depending on what skills you think the child needs to focus on.
Silly Sentences Puzzle
I love this puzzle. My children loved it when they were small and I've used it in the classroom with great success with children of all ages. The puzzle is self-correcting so children are able to compose a complete, proper sentence on their own. Nouns, verbs, adjectives, etc are colour-coded. The important part of using this puzzle is to have conversations with children as they play. Typically, a child will tell you that a piece doesn't fit and you can then have a conversation about whether what they're trying to do would result in a sentence that makes sense. I normally start by separating all the nouns, verbs, etc into groups and by showing the pictures on the cover of the box which helps them understand what they will be doing (making sentences). I then let them explore the puzzle on their own. After they have created some sentences, you can get the children to copy them into their writing books.
Joint Writing
The children help the teacher compose sentences or a complete text on the IWB. Again, this takes the pressure off the child, lessens the cognitive load and makes the writing process fun because:
Teacher provides a word bank and a structure and the children write their own sentences (eg popsicle writing).
Popsicle writing is good for:
This is one way of breaking the writing process down. It lets the child organise their thoughts without the pressure of also having to remember how to form the letters which make up each word and manipulate the pencil to write them. Reducing the cognitive load in this way allows the child to focus on the message he or she wants to convey and on forming oral sentences. Seeing his or her message builds the child's self-esteem and shows the child why we write - to convey a message. Once you've written the story or sentences the child has dictated, be sure to enthusiastically emphasise to the children that "this is your story" and "you wrote this!"
Teacher provides a word bank of content-related words and phrases.
This prompts the child's thinking and removes the cognitive load of having to remember and spell some of the words relating to volcanoes, Aboriginal life before white settlement or whatever you are studying. It builds confidence and leaves the child free to concentrate on composing their thoughts and then the narrative they need to write.
Teacher provides sentences for children to cut and paste and assemble into a coherent narrative.
This is helpful for children who need more exposure to how sentences look, what they are, how they are composed, etc. It gives them practise at reading sentences and deciding whether the sentence "makes sense". You can either cut the text up into separate complete sentences or into parts of sentences, depending on what skills you think the child needs to focus on.
Silly Sentences Puzzle
I love this puzzle. My children loved it when they were small and I've used it in the classroom with great success with children of all ages. The puzzle is self-correcting so children are able to compose a complete, proper sentence on their own. Nouns, verbs, adjectives, etc are colour-coded. The important part of using this puzzle is to have conversations with children as they play. Typically, a child will tell you that a piece doesn't fit and you can then have a conversation about whether what they're trying to do would result in a sentence that makes sense. I normally start by separating all the nouns, verbs, etc into groups and by showing the pictures on the cover of the box which helps them understand what they will be doing (making sentences). I then let them explore the puzzle on their own. After they have created some sentences, you can get the children to copy them into their writing books.
Joint Writing
The children help the teacher compose sentences or a complete text on the IWB. Again, this takes the pressure off the child, lessens the cognitive load and makes the writing process fun because:
- the child is not doing the actual writing;
- several people are helping to compose the text;
- the teacher is prompting, helping and encouraging at every step;
Teacher provides a word bank and a structure and the children write their own sentences (eg popsicle writing).
Popsicle writing is good for:
- EAL/D students - to get them thinking about tenses and using them correctly;
- reluctant writers - to get them writing sentences;
- all writers - to get them using adjectives, noun groups (with very long hair; with a short tail) and adverbs;