4 Ways To Get Students To Love Writing

It’s not so easy to get students to LOVE writing these days in this digital world filled with technology overload. Fortunately, I have a true passion for writing and instilling the passion of writing into my students. I have transformed non-writers into writers and students who absolutely despise writing into students who absolutely love writing. Want to know how? Here are a few tricks to get your students lovin’ writing right now!

Choice, Choice, Choice

Your students should have complete control over what they write about. Students should have a choice in choosing the topics they are passionate about. Choice and passion lead to students wanting to write. Maybe you will have a student who is passionate about sports or a student who is passionate about music. You’ll notice that when a child writes about what they are passionate about, their true voice shines through. In whatever genre you are teaching, narrative, persuasive or informative, let your students choose the topic within the writing genre. In an informative writing piece, a student might choose to write about their favorite animal or musician. In a persuasive piece, a student might be passionate about persuading others to help save the planet. Let your students choose because when a student makes a choice to write about something they want to write about, they will write about it.

Write to Publish

I have had huge success with writing to publish. A writer’s workshop in itself takes the students through the entire writing process with the end result of publishing and sharing their writing pieces. We celebrate with an Authors Share, invite parents and other visitors into the classroom to listen to these young authors share their writing. They are so proud of their work and the time and effort it took to create a quality piece that is meaningful. Then we display the published work for all to see. This is really powerful for your students because they actually feel like writers. And they should because they are writers.

Another huge success for my students and I was getting my class motivated with writing competitions. Three of my classes were the proud Scholastic Kids Are Authors Honorable Mention winners for 3 years in a row!!! This competition encouraged reading, writing and artistic skills by writing and illustrating a picture book. My students and I absolutely loved this valuable project. Thousands of entries were submitted each year so to be chosen as one of the top 25 in the country was an amazing accomplishment. Read all about it here. Sadly, Scholastic has ended this competition just last year and it truly broke my heart. But there are other writing competitions to motivate your students to write while reinforcing team-building skills, as well as literacy skills. A little competition is good when it motivates students to write and the end result…they LOVE writing. Check out some other writing competitions at Scholastic.
Check out these other writing competitions for kids too.

Free Write

Give your students some time to free write in a journal. Their writer’s journal is a safe place to draft and illustrate for writing assignments and just for fun. I assign free writing as a choice, after morning work, during quiet time and at the end of the day. You will be surprised at how many students will actually CHOOSE to write instead of doing something else. That is how I measure my writing “magic.” As the year goes on I see more and more students making the choice to write just for FUN!

Okay…Here comes the tough one…

Be a Writer Yourself

The absolute #1 way to make your students love writing is to be a writer yourself. I know many teachers who strongly dislike teaching writing and writing in front of their students, never mind sharing their own writing pieces. But to instill that love and passion for writing in your students, you must set the example. Now I know that this is the hardest one for many teachers. Teachers feel embarrassed to share their writing with others after all writing is very personal and is a tedious task. But you will find that your students will be your best audience. They will love what you write, praise your writing and will be your best critics. I start off each year with teaching personal narratives as our first unit of study. I use my own writing as mentor texts. I shared a piece about a person who really matters to me, my grandmother. When I asked for feedback from my students (my personal writing coaches), I’ll never forget the little boy in my class who raised his hand and said, “Your story about your grandmother warmed my heart.” That had to be the best feedback I ever got. He got it, he felt my writing. What I wrote touched his little heart. Even if my writing piece was not even that “good,” my students think I am the best writer. After all, they did name me the, “writing fairy.” (wink, wink). So write with your students and share your stories with them. Don’t be shy. Don’t be afraid. The more you write the more you will grow as a writer, become a confident writing teacher, and will love writing too. It is contagious!

A Few Things To Avoid

Writing Prompts

There is a lot out there about using writing prompts to encourage kids to write. Writing prompts may be okay to use with the reluctant writer, but if you have an effective writer’s workshop in your classroom, you will have less and less reluctant writers. If you are using writing prompts to assess your students, be sure to give choice. Provide at least 3 writing prompts as options for students to choose from. This way they are not stuck on the one you assigned them and could do some brainstorming on the one they can deliver their best writing ideas. When selecting writing prompts for your students, think about your class as a whole. What are their interests and passions? Then tailor the writing prompts to suit your students. You will have a better chance of them really showing their writing skills through a topic they are not groaning about.

Not Giving Feedback

Everyone loves feedback, and students need your feedback. Feedback is valuable to the writer. Students need to know what was good about the writing and what needs improvement. Years ago, a writing coach came into my classroom and introduced, 2 positive comments about the writing and 1 wish or suggestion for improvement. Since then I use two stars and a wish on EVERY kind of feedback I give to my students and my students to give to their peers. My students love it! Their confidence builds when they get “stars” and they accept the kind, specific and helpful feedback to work on their wish.

These Feedback Sticky Notes are perfect for teachers and peers to give feedback to students.

You can check them out here.

So go get ‘em…make those students of yours love writing. You’ve got this!

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Happy Writing!!!

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