Teaching Kids to Write

I tell my (school) kids: unless you put something
down (on paper-in a writing assignment) we
can't correct it--we can't correct "nothing"--
so then I tell them get started--I don't care what
you write, just write something down. And then
write something else down. And keep going.
I even say sometimes, write: "I don't know what
to write about or I don't have any ideas right
now but if I keep writing I'll remember, "Oh, yeah,
now I remember what I could write about..."
and then they can go on from there and once they
get started like that a couple of kids once wanted
to stay in from recess to continue writing 3 times
what I asked for they were so charged! They
were on a roll not unlike a runner's high I would
imagine, heady with the euphoria of successful writing
they may have not thought possible to do in the initial
stages.
It's the law of inertia, I guess, and once they get over
the initial resistance and start to write (i.e., succeed)
it's much easier to keep going. And if I see them
staring into space or paused as if frozen in an
emptiness of mind I go over and give them a little
nudge and they keep going.  Very resistant cases
I work with them until they get something done
and confidence begins to be built.  Most kids in a
classroom don't need that kind of support.
Sometimes they're facing some kind of internal
block of growth: they just need to see that it isn't
all that fearful or hard to do something they might
not be accustomed to doing or trying to justify
the effort in terms of the potential reward offered--
i.e. is it worth it to do this thing I may not be all that
naturally inclined to do for what he's offering when
I get done.
Teaching writing is a lot of fun.  People young enough
want to learn how to spell words they know and
can speak and use correctly in speech.
It's a great joy to teach 6-year-olds how to express
themselves in writing.  They have a lot of heart to offer.
And they say it simply and succinctly and very naturally
oftentimes, unembellished by what some of their older
peers and brothers and sisters have already learned
from the adults in our world as the "politically correct"
way to write.



Copyright ©  2013 Gary Frates