Annie was a fourth grade student of mine. It was a month after school started that she became a new student in my classroom. She was a “low performing” student, partly due to the many days of school she missed the previous year. Her skills were below grade level in all subjects, making it necessary for her to get out-of-class help from the resource teacher at the school on a weekly basis. She had low self esteem and little motivation. As her teacher, how could I help her work on improving her skills? More importantly, how would I help her to have better self-esteem?
Part of my teaching over the years revolved around teaching writing. I had developed a unique writing method to not only teach students how to write, but one that was enjoyable as well. But would it motivate students like Annie who struggled daily in her school work?
In an article entitled “Journal Writing Every Day: Teachers Say It really Works”, http://www.educationworld.com/a_curr/curr144.shtml , the author, Gary Hopkins states:
“One of the best things about daily journal writing is that it can take so many forms. Teachers can use journal writing to meet specific goals, or the purpose can be wide open. Some teachers check journal writing and work on polishing skills; others use journals as the one “uncorrected” form of writing that students produce. Some teachers provide prompts to help students begin their writing. Others leave decisions about the direction and flow of student journals up to the students.” (As a former teacher myself, motivating students is another by-product of daily writing.)
How true these words ring! Giving a child the freedom to write without the pressure of the teacher “correcting” it, while their imaginations soar and while words poured out on the page is to give them a gift that would last for years beyond the classroom.
So where does it all start? What kinds of motivation would be given to students so they would be “on fire” to write themselves?
The Writing Prompt
Simply put, a writing prompt is a nudge that teachers give their students to start writing. They can be simple: “How did you have fun on your vacation this past summer?” or “What is your favorite sport? Discuss five reasons why you like it so much.” When daily writing is made an integral part of learning, students improve in their writing.
Read below how one teacher, in the same article quoted above, saw improvement in her student’s writing through daily journal writing:
“Daily journal writing has helped Black’s students at St. Mary Elementary School in Winchester, Massachusetts, progress to the point where “they answer questions in complete sentences, begin sentences with capital letters, and end sentences with periods.”
“They are not afraid to take on any writing that may come their way,” added Black, “because they have built up extreme confidence.”
In Annie’s case, this was precisely what she needed! Annie’s self esteem during that year revolved around how she felt compared to her friends in class. She was often frustrated that she couldn’t write more than a sentence or two. This was very evident in both her journal writing and the writing assignments that I gave her throughout the year.
It wasn’t until Spring of that year when the writing assignment took my students through the writing process from beginning to the end. Brainstorming for ideas. Writing a first draft. Editing. Repeat the process. Editing a second time. Rewriting. Their reward was to “publish” their own book and illustrate it. (Wonderful “bare” books can still be ordered from http://www.barebooks.com/about.htm. They come with bare or line drawn covers and empty pages that a child can fill with their writing.) there was no doubt that Annie would have difficulty in coming up with a story.
Then a miracle of sorts happened. One of the boys in the class (he had already finished the project) approached me about helping her with her writing project. After talking to both of them, it was agreed that he would not write the story for her but, instead, encourage what writing she was able to do. It could not have happened better for her. By the due date, Annie had, with her friend’s help, written a story. Granted, it was a short one at only five paragraphs, but it was a story! She earned the prize of being able to write and illustrate her own writing and publish it in a “real” book! The power of motivation!
Storytelling
Prior to my first full time job as a teacher, I substitute taught, for a year, at several school districts in the city where I lived. The purpose was to find out what grade level I wanted to teach. However, it also gave me experience in storytelling.
When I finally did become a full time teacher, I used storytelling to motivate my students to write. It became an integral part in the writing process I taught them. Demonstrating how original ideas and one’s imagination could be turned into stories, students were encouraged to write their own stories. And write they did!
When the story includes adventures where students are the characters, it becomes more appealing! The key was to make them fun to listen to, where students would be drawn into the storytelling.
What’s Next?
To further use writing across the curriculum, here are some ideas:
Math: Have students write their own word problems and distribute them to other students in the classroom.
Science: As an example, if students are learning about weather, have them write about and illustrate different types of weather.
Social Studies/History: Write about a famous historical person. What was this famous person known for? What made him/her so important?
Write letters!
Holidays and Special Days: Students write descriptions of the holiday and what makes the holiday special to them. They can also write original stories about the holidays.
What other parts of the curriculum can benefit from writing?
The possibilities are endless. Suffice to say, motivating children to write will not only improve their writing skills but will help them better understand the world around them and will help keep their imaginations fired up!
