I don't feel like I have ever understood my students as writers more than I do now. Because of SOL I feel like my students, who are faced with the task of writing every single day. It makes me understand the oh so frustrating statement, "I don't know what to write about." There have been days during SOL that I DON'T KNOW WHAT TO WRITE ABOUT! I am writing for 31 days and I expect my kids to write for 187 days. Of course there will be days they don't know what to write about!
There are plenty of days when I have given a prompt or we are writing about specific topics and each child has a "topics" lists in their journal. These things help.
What are other ways to motivate kids to write when they are stuck and don't know what to write about??
I always teach kids based on what I do as a writer, and what I know works for other writers. Drawing helps me a lot, as does reading what other people have written, talking with a writing partner, making timelines (of my day, week, year, best times, worst times, last time, first time...) Sometimes kids are afraid to write about something similar to what sometone else has already written -- I try to help them get over that -- writers ALWAYS write about what other people have written! We do that all the time! That's why we read so much! Also, I find 'freewriting' incredibly, well, freeing. Just write whatever comes to mind--that usually gets the gears turning.
ReplyDeleteAmen! This is exactly why I started my blog, to practice doing what I ask my kids to do. I really believe that those of us who write are better able to give students tools for their toolbox to access when they get suck.
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