Ways Teachers can Effectively Teach Writing

Teaching writing can be extremely difficult. That’s because, for a lot of teachers, they don’t understand how to go through the writing process themselves. Because they don’t understand how to go through the writing process, they have a difficult time explaining it to their students. And, you may be one of those teachers.

Stop Avoiding the Uncomfortable

It’s a fact, most people try to avoid the things that are uncomfortable. We all write every day. We write checks. We write notes. We write text messages and send emails.

However, it’s when we have to write formally that we have a problem. So, when it comes to teaching students how to write an essay, many of teachers freeze. They either don’t want to try to explain a process that they themselves don’t understand, or they cringe at having to grade them. Raise your hand if this sounds like you.

The only way to stop being uncomfortable writing is to practice writing. Yes, to become comfortable writing you have to stop avoiding doing. And, you will have to help your students lose their fear of writing too.

Write Every Day

One of the things that you can do to make teaching writing easier for yourself and your students is to make writing the norm. That means not writing once a month. That means not waiting until it’s almost time for the state test to begin to have your students writing. You can’t expect your students to write well or to be comfortable with writing, if they have not practiced writing. You only get better at something when you practice it. Your students will only get better at writing when they practice writing.

Testing is something that happens on a regular basis. And, it’s something most teachers have become familiar with. Get your students familiar with writing.

Types of Daily Writing Practices

Some ideas for daily writing include:

• Doing summaries of stories from class
• Doing summaries of any lessons you’ve taught
• Changing the ending of stories
• Writing opinion papers about what they liked or didn’t like about a lesson
• Writing letters to the author
• Writing letters to the editor of the local newspaper
• Writing articles for the local newspaper
• Journaling
• Freewriting
• Reviewing movies
• Responding to current events

Have your students summarize a lesson, a unit, or a class. This doesn’t have to be a long summary. It can be something short. It can be as simple as having them write two to three sentences about what they learned that day. They could write a quick response to something they read or something they leaned. You can have them tell whether they enjoyed the class or not and explain why or why not.

Another option is to have them share an opinion about the class. Allow them to explain how you could make the class better. They could do a quick write on what they want to learn next.

Journaling is one of my favorite ways to get students into writing. A journal is a safe place where you students can express their feelings and ideas.  Plus, journaling is one of the easiest ways to get your students to become comfortable with writing. If you are going to grade their journals, please allow them some privacy. Offer to “not read” pages with “Don’t Read” on the top. Please explain to them that their whole journal shouldn’t have “Don’t Read” on every page. Explain that this is a privilege that can only be used one a week or once every two weeks on only 1 page!

How long should you allow your students to writing in their journal each day?

Journaling can be done at home. However, if you are going to allot time for it during your regular class period, it shouldn’t be more than three to five minutes. Remember, this is just to let them practice their writing skills. If they want to write long or do more, this is when you should suggest finishing at home.

What type of writing should they be doing?

Should your students be doing sentences…paragraphs…or essays? If they are in elementary school, you can let them start with complete sentences and work their way up to paragraphs. For upper elementary, you want to get them started writing essays. This doesn’t have to be a long essay. I would suggest no more than 3 paragraphs. High school students should be writing essays. If they have little to no experience with writing essays, then you can begin with getting them to write good paragraphs and then work up to the essay.

Provide Good Examples

Provide your students with examples of what good writing is. You can take examples from past state tests. You can even take articles from the newspaper to use as examples of either really good writing or as really bad writing. Take the time to demonstrate good writing to them yourself. Let them watch you construct a piece of good writing. Write a good paragraph from scratch on the board or promethium for them to look at. If you are teaching essay writing,  write a three paragraph or five paragraph essay and Think Aloud as you do it. This way, they can better understand the writing process.

And, most importantly, be sure to break that piece of writing down. Explain what makes it good writing. Give your students a Writing Rubric and go through both good writing samples and bad using that rubric.

Using Rubrics

Try to always use a rubric when grading papers. This will help you stay objective. They will also help your students know what is expected when they are writing.

You can create your own rubric for your writing assignments, you can get one from your state website, or you can purchase one on online for places like TPT (formerly Teachers Pay Teachers). They have a lot of samples that you can use with your students.  

I love writing rubrics because not only do they help me stay objective. They help to keep me focused and they lessen the amount of time it takes me to grade papers. Rubrics keep me from getting caught up in the little things that aren’t that important.

Peer Reviews

A way for your students to be comfortable with writing is have them do peer reviews. In a peer review, you would give your students one of their classmates’ papers to grade using a rubric.

Find a way to keep the students’ names off their papers. You may want to secretly assign each student a number. This will help to ensure honest grading.

Another way to make sure that the students’ papers are graded correctly, is to have the grader justify the grade that they gave that student. This will force them to use the Writing Rubric you provided.

A good rule of thumb is to always go back and double check their grading. You don’t have to do a whole sweep of the paper. Simple do some quick checking. This will ensure that they actually graded the paper correctly. Although we would hate to think our students would ruin another child’s grades for spite, it could happen. So, always do a quick double check.

As they are looking at another person’s writing, they are having to think critically. Yes, they may be following a rubric, but they are still having to make judgment calls. Plus, as they are critiquing their classmate’s work, they are also learning how to become better writers themselves.

Differentiating Between Formal & Informal Writing

One of the reasons that our students struggle with writing so much is because they want to write just like they talk. And, even worse, they want to write like they text. We live in a time when our students do a lot of texting. They communicate through texting. And, texting includes these really short abbreviations and symbols. None of these can be used when they write formally.

As you’re teaching writing, you have to teach them the difference between formal writing and informal writing. Explain to them that texting is a form of informal writing. This type of writing may be approach for communicating with their friends. However, it isn’t appropriate for essays nor is it appropriate in most school settings.

Audience

Teach your students about audience. They need to know who they are writing to and what the purpose is for their writing. This will help them to determine if they are writing informal papers or formal papers.

Graphic Organizers

Graphic organizers are great for helping your students learn how to format their writing. They will help your students to organize their ideas.

When Should You Introduce Graphic Organizers

 You should introduce graphic organizers as soon as possible. You can begin in elementary school, and they can continue to be use even through high school. And, they are really great to use with your struggling writers.

I especially like to use graphic organizers during the brainstorming process. They help students to put their ideas down on paper and structure their writing pieces.

Word Splashes

I love word splashes, word splashes. They are a great way to activate your students’ prior knowledge. You simply write  word on the board or promethium board and have your students write other words or phrases that they associate with that word. This is a part of the brainstorming process, and it can help to lead them into writing about a given topic.

Use Video Clips

You can even use video clips/movie clips to get your students more involved in writing. These clips will help to activate your students’ prior knowledge about the topic that they are going to write about.

You would be amazed at the number of kids who are lacking in real world experiences.

A friend of mine is doing “Under the Sea” for her summer reading program. Unfortunately, a large number of the kids in our community have no experience with sea animals. They haven’t seen them. They had never watched a video about them, and they certainly don’t know much about sea animals. My librarian friend decided to show the children who had enrolled in the program short videos about sea creatures before they begin reading books about them.

Writing Apps

Don’t get mad when I make this suggestion. However, writing apps can also be used to help your students become better writers. These Speech to Text apps can be utilized in the beginning to help your students become more adjusted to the writing process. These apps allow the students to talk about what they are going to write about first.

By using these Speech to Text apps, your students can become for comfortable with writing. They also cut down on the amount of actual writing that the students have to do.

A word of caution: Don’t allow your students to become totally depend on these apps. Remember, they do need to be able to write themselves. The apps are only to be used as a tool to help them in the beginning.

Break Writing Assignments into Smaller Chunks

Break those large writing assignment down into smaller pieces. So, instead of having your students write a three paragraph or a five-paragraph essay in one whole chunk, you can have your students break it up into paragraphs.

Best of all, when you break these large essays up into pieces, you can start wherever you like. I like to start my essays in the middle. I start in the middle, and I go from there. The reason that I do this is because I know what I am going to discuss in the middle paragraphs. These are the meat, and I can begin there. Then, I go back and complete my introduction. Next, I complete my conclusion.

You can allow your students to do the same, or you can have them do each piece in sequence. I taught my students both ways, but they seemed to like to do the middle first.

Writing within Time Constraints

State tests are often timed. So, teach your students how to pace themselves when writing. I used to do this by using game. I would tell my class that I could write a 3-paragraph essay within 3 to 5 minutes. I would quickly brainstorm my topic. The, I have my students set a timer, and I would begin the race against the clock. I never lost. And, my students though that I was a super hero.

Aside from showing off, you should begin to make your students comfortable with pacing themselves while writing. This will help to alleviate the anxiety of timed testing.

Here are some steps to take to get your students comfortable with timed writing:

• Use a timer when they write on a regular basis.
• Start with a longer length of time first, and then begin to lower the time.
• Teach them how to outline their writing.
• Make sure that they do their brainstorming FIRST!

Connect Writing with Reading

Writing should tie into your reading. Some schools teach reading and writing as separate classes. And, there’s nothing wrong with that. However your school does it, try to incorporate reading with your writing assignments.

One of the easiest ways to do this is to have your students to respond to something that they have read. Kids love to share their opinions. You can ask them to give their opinion on a text that they have read.

Here are some questions that you can ask:

• Did you like the article? Why or why not?
• Could this have been better? How?
• Does this story remind you of any real-life events?
• Is this piece similar to another story?
• How would you change the end?
• What would you have done differently?

Grammar…Grammar

I’m a holistic teacher . That means that I believe you should teach reading, writing and the grammar together and not separate.

To me, they are like family members. You have dad, mom, and the baby. They are all different, yet they are still a part of one whole family.

To teach writing, you must include grammar. And, there are a variety of methods you can use.

The most important components are:

• Complete sentence
• Begin sentences with capital letters.
• All sentences end with the correct punctuation mark.
• The paragraph/essay is coherent.

The Writing Process

Teach your students to use the Writing Process. This begins with brainstorming and ends with the completed paper.

I always told my students not to worry about editing during the first draft. Just write. Let everything just flow. This was because I wanted them to get all of their ideas down on paper. Then, they could go back and make corrections.

Outlining

Some teachers still use outlining while others don’t. I love using an outline. It makes writing so much easier and faster. By predetermining what you are going to put in each section of the paper, things then to move much faster.

It is up to you whether you teach your students to outline or not. However, I would strongly suggest it especially for your students who are beginning writers.

Writing Days

Consistency is the key. To make teaching writing easier, establish a writing routine. I like to have “writing days”. These were days that were dedicated to nothing but writing. We would have completed reading our text and finished any additional assignments related to the reading activity. Now, it was time to write our summaries or other responses to literature. My big writing day was always on Wednesday. On Wednesdays, we only focused on writing. This wasn’t the only day that we wrote, this was just the only day that was completely dedicated to writing.

Grade Carefully

Don’t penalize your students for every mistake when they first began writing. Allow some grace. Let them make mistakes. Simply encourage them to write. After writing has become the norm, then you can begin to require better written papers.

Key Points

• Students should write every day They can be part of your exit tickets. They can be part of your introductory bell ringers. And, they can do journal writing. No matter how you decide to do it, make writing a part of their daily lives.
• Cultivate a love of writing within your students. Don’t simply teach them writing. Show them how to love writing.
• Guide them gently through the writing process.