Writing is my passion. \u00a0Anything writing. Books. Essays. Words. Teaching it. \u00a0Helping teachers learn how to teach it. \u00a0Before I retired, a \u00a0pleasure of mine was watching students improve their writing skills, seeing their confidence grow as they learned to manipulate the language on the page. \u00a0I always was bothered by the murmuring of folks about how poor the writing of students was when, frankly, \u00a0many students were not being taught how to write. Hence, the struggling writers…<\/p>\n
I admit teaching students to write is hard \u00a0work, but it CAN be done. \u00a0I want to share some quick strategies and thoughts about helping the struggling writer. Try one or try them all. \u00a0Monitor progress. \u00a0Build confidence first. \u00a0No one likes to do what he feels he does poorly. Success will breed success.<\/p>\n
Struggling writers don’t see themselves as writers . They generally lack confidence about their writing. As writing ” should be used as a means of thinking, exploring, and increasing academic achievement,” we are failing students, especially struggling ones, if we don’t teach them how to write.<\/p>\n
Struggling writers need help \u00a0with detail, word choice, mechanics, handwriting, finding their own errors, correcting their errors, and fluency. \u00a0They need explicit instructions and practice. \u00a0Struggling writers need writing prompts, visual maps , written plans, lists, perhaps dictation devices, and \u00a0some need word processors.<\/p>\n
They need to set goals and to \u00a0understand \u00a0the differences among genres of writing. For instance, they should be taught that persuasive writing has a position, reasons, evidence, and a conclusion. \u00a0Students need to evaluate their own writing in terms of their own goals, and opportunities for them to revise often should be available. Struggling writers need to do more planning.<\/p>\n
Stay tuned for strategies to use with struggling writers. Until then, check out my previous posts.<\/p>\n
Happy writing.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Writing is my passion. \u00a0Anything writing. Books. Essays. Words. Teaching it. \u00a0Helping teachers learn how to teach it. \u00a0Before I retired, a \u00a0pleasure of mine was watching students improve their writing skills, seeing their confidence grow as they learned to … Continue reading