Writing can be a difficult subject to teach. Between the fine motor, generation of thoughts, and organization, teaching writing is something I used to dread. Here are some helpful tips for teaching writing.
TIP 1: START SIMPLE
For learners who have fine motor concerns, lack motivation, or have poor handwriting, writing can be a daunting task. The first tip for teaching writing is beginning at the tracing level. Level one of this simple writing bundle includes tracing opportunities with lines, shapes, and letters. Tracing is a great activity for beginning writers, as it sets students up for successful writing experiences. In addition, our sentence builder resource provides a way to teach sentence structure and parts of speech. Overall, this resource is the perfect no-prep option for teachers that is comprised of seven units, breaking down sentence building in a simple way.
TIP 2: PROVIDE STRUCTURED TASKS
I find that learners struggle most with generating ideas during writing activities, making it difficult to teach writing. Providing options such as sentence starters, visuals, and choices can remove the pressure of idea generation. The first level of our simple daily writing curriculum provides a sentence starter and visuals to cut and paste the last word. Each sentence describes a picture and answers a question. Similarly, level two provides a picture and question prompt, but allows learners to cut and paste each word in the sentence in the correct order. Levels three and four continue to encourage learners to be more independent with their writing, with level four providing options for answers and a space for a written sentence.
TIP 3: MAKE WRITING FUN
Finally, writing about special interests is a great way to motivate and engage learners. This is one of the most important tips for teaching writing, because it gives learners control and keeps them engaged. I let learners choose their writing topic as often as possible. I continue to learn about all kinds of dinosaurs thanks to informational writing assignments! Using graphic organizers can make organizing thoughts easier. This site provides many free graphic organizers that are great for printing on the spot. Scented pencils and paper with designs (affiliate links) make the experience of writing more fun!
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