How to Get Your Class Excited about Writing?
Writing is a skill that can be supported throughout the years. A spark of creativity and imagination at any age can ignite a passion for writing, drawing, and other visual arts. However, for some reason, students in Middle often find writing to be an intimidating task. Finding ways to get your class excited about writing can be a little challenging but not impossible.
Why should your class write often?
Writing can be fun; it can take the form of a story, a letter, a creative poem, an essay, a journal entry, a creative account, a blog post, or any other type of written piece. The reason why students should write often is so they understand that it is used to communicate with others. Especially with the push for Social-Emotional Learning writing can be used as therapy. Students can use writing to answer questions, express feelings, or share information. Writing can also be used as an “artistic process” to gain knowledge, develop a sense of creativity, or just have fun. According to Jennifer Findley, here are some things you can do to get your students pumped up about writing:
· Choose topics that are high-interest that students really care about
· Let students talk and have discussions before, during, and after writing
· Have students put their writing into a digital ebook using Canva.com
· Create a class podcast in which they share their writing and stories
· Try digital writing prompts
· Publish on a class website so families can see it
Have you thought about starting a writing club?
When starting a writing club, it is important to find a focus for your class’s writing pieces. Having a focus allows you to help your students explore a specific genre or topic. Bring in local poets, this is a great way to get students excited about a club. You can use any topic as a starting point for your class’s writing pieces but start small and build stamina. Think of fun quick writing exercises just to get students started on a piece of writing. Reading books, and bringing in diverse authors with story types and genres are great ways to bring writing alive.
Gain confidence by sharing student writing aloud and often!
It can be intimidating to students when they discover you want them to write and then read their work. If you’d like to get your students more comfortable with the idea of writing, try asking them a few questions about the activity, model a group write, or tell a story out loud and add to it with student input. Create a rotation where students are writing on different pages and sharing stories. Another fun thing that can be done is a quick talk and type, then re-write the story while making it more dynamic. This will help students become more comfortable with the idea of writing. Brenda from Tejeda's Tots suggests these ideas below for your students:
Take turns reading their writing to each other, leaving feedback other students
Have one student share their story with the entire table
Invite another class in and pair up students to share their writing.
Celebrate success: Have a celebration after each writing completion
Every major piece of writing should be celebrated with a celebration. You can have a pizza party, play a sports game, or do anything else to celebrate the success of your student's writing. Not only does this give your students a chance to celebrate with each other, but it also gives you a chance to congratulate them for a job well done. If you are having difficulty coming up with things to celebrate, try thinking about the themes your students’ writing pieces covered or consider spirit week activities. Have students come to school and write in their pj’s about rest, sleep, or sleepovers. I love writing because you can be so creative.
Student expressions through writing
Kids have a natural ability to express themselves through writing, there are so many ways to get students excited about writing. These tips will help you find the right path to get your students excited about writing. Keep in mind that creative writing is beneficial for students of all ages and abilities. As educators we are always finding ways to get students excited about writing, we know if will help them develop a lifelong skill with maybe a future career in writing.
Citations:
Findley, J. (2021, June 22). How to get students excited about writing. Teaching with Jennifer Findley. Retrieved November 10, 2022, from https://jenniferfindley.com/get-students-excited-about-writing/
Brenda. (2022, May 11). How to plan a writing celebration in Writing Workshop. Tejeda's Tots. Retrieved November 10, 2022, from https://www.tejedastots.com/planning-a-writing-celebration-in-writing-workshop/
Incorporating technology provides new ways to engage with students. What are some fun ways teachers are using technology to challenge students?
Reference
J Wilson, C. A. (2021). Elementary teachers' perceptions of automated feedback and automated scoring: Transforming the teaching and learning of writing using automatic writing evaluation. Computers & Education.
K Clarke, G. P. (2022). Open Dialogue compared to treatment as usual for adults experiencing a mental health crisis: Protocol for the ODDESSI multi-site cluster randomized controlled trial. Contemporary Clinical Trials.
Sawyer, R. (2022). The Dialogue of creativity: Teaching the creative process by animating student work as a collaborating creative agent. Cognition and Instruction.