5 Reasons Why Teaching Children to Write is a Great Idea—
Writing is an essential life skill for everyone, regardless of the career paths they end up following. That’s why it’s never too early to start teaching kids how to write well.
From writing book reports to copying sentences or practicing in their journals, every opportunity kids get to write is valuable practice time that will help them hone their writing skills. The following five tips offer simple, practical ways to teach children to write.
1. Good Writers Begin as Good Readers
Writing is an essential life skill for everyone, regardless of the career paths they end up following. That’s why it’s never too early to start teaching kids how to write well.
From writing book reports to copying sentences or practicing in their journals, every opportunity kids get to write is valuable practice time that will help them hone their writing skills. The following five tips offer simple, practical ways to teach children to write.
1. Good Writers Begin as Good Readers
The best writers are always great
readers, and it’s easy to see why. Kids who read regularly develop a
better understanding of proper grammar, spelling, punctuation, and
sentence structure. Though they might not be able to identify the
factors that determine the quality of a book, they’ll still become more
familiar with good writing. A solid familiarity with great writing helps
kids immensely when they begin writing on their own.
2. Start Out Slowly
As you teach children to write, it’s
important to start out slowly—particularly if the student has already
decided that he or she isn’t interested in writing. Many students who
struggle with writing rebel against the activity because they believe
they aren’t good at it. Even writing a few short sentences or a summary
of an article can seem overwhelming and cause stress. Help students get
started with writing by working on small activities like lists, notes,
and copied sentences.
3. Practice Letters and Thank You Notes
Once students start to get more
comfortable with writing, letters and thank you notes are a great way to
hone their skills while still keeping the activity casual. A simple
thank you note is easy for a child to accomplish—and teaches both
manners and sentence writing. Letters to pen pals, favorite authors, or
celebrities are also a fun way to get kids interested in writing,
because they care about communicating with the recipient.
4. Give Kids Freedom
For many students, writing is easier and
more enjoyable when they get to pick the topics they write about. While
some students are comfortable writing about anything, others will become
stressed and despondent when asked to work on an essay or a book
report. These students might not be able to avoid this type of work
forever, but you can help them approach writing from a more positive
perspective by giving them the chance to begin work in the medium
creatively. Give students fun journal prompts
or let them pick their own topics in order to keep their interest and
promote a positive writing experience for the entire class.
5. Keep Things Light and Creative
Journal prompts, essay
questions, and response papers are a great way to encourage students to
think more deeply about issues and to consider new perspectives—but they
can be a little heavy for beginning writers. As students learn to write
initially, keep their assignments light, fun, and creative. Begin with
short assignments and gradually increase the length over time. When
students start to become more comfortable with writing, you can begin to
ask them deeper questions and have them consider more new ideas on the
page.
Until next time, write on…
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