Motivating Students to Write

1
Motivating Students to Write

• Second Grade Workshop

2
Motivating Writers

• This workshop will assist you with ideas,
  strategies, and techniques that will help you
  motivate your students to write.
• The Writing Workshop Resource Manual will be a
  great resource for you and your students

3
Reasons Students are Unmotivated
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Teachers as Writers

• If teachers dont enjoy writing themselves, they
  will
• shy away from it
• provide too few opportunities for students to do
  it
• not evaluate childrens writing carefully
• not be able to teach children the characteristics
  of genre
• A teachers enthusiasm for writing will
  eventually become a students enthusiasm
• As part of their research on writing, The
  National Writing Project has found that if a
  school recognizes the importance of writing, so
  will the students

5
Writing Difficulties

• Many children first show difficulties with text
  transcription (e.g., handwriting and spelling)
• Some kids have self-regulation difficulties which
  make it hard to plan, organize, monitor, and
  evaluate their own writing process
• Many kids have trouble with both
• Overlaying transcription and/or self-regulation
  issues can be motivation problems and a
  persistent reluctance to write

6
Children with Learning Disabilities and Writing

• Kids who struggle with writing often have a hard
  time learning informally or incidentally. For
  example, they dont learn as much about spelling
  correctly just through reading and/or writing.
  Explicit teaching is vital for these children
• A lot of kids who have learning difficulties also
  have difficulties with self-regulation of their
  thoughts or behaviors. Skilled writing requires a
  lot of regulation planning, monitoring,
  evaluating, and revising

7
Children with Learning Disabilities and Writing
(cont.)

• Some kids with learning problems often have an
  incomplete or fragmented knowledge base. For
  example, if they dont have knowledge of the
  story genre, then they are at a disadvantage in
  constructing a good story
• Another issue for kids with learning disabilities
  is motivation. If you struggle with writing, its
  easy to develop an intense dislike for it. And
  the longer that goes on, the more difficult it is
  to deal with
• Often, all these things are interconnected.

8
Instruction to Support Motivation
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Early writing consists of

• Early on, children want to use writing to
  communicate ideas
• In the very early years, provide children every
  opportunity to write letters, recipes, lists,
  ideas
• The writing may be unconventional, but it will
  convey the idea that writing has a function and
  is very important

10
Elements of Good Instruction

• An environment that supports writing (with space
  for children to write and the tools to do so)
• Teachers who read with a writers eye (so they
  can point out strategies that young writers used
  effectively)
• Teachers who model good instruction (so children
  will see how one goes about writing)
• Lots of opportunities to practice, accompanied by
  corrective feedback (praise the expressive aspect
  of the task, while helping the child form letters
  and write accurately and well)
• Writing should become a habit

11
Writing Instruction for ELL Students

• Good instruction for ELLs should include
• dialogue and vocabulary instruction
• oral language modeling
• oral language expression (saying sentences aloud)
  
• talking about the words
• interactive instruction

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The Red Pen

• Marking all over the page can lead kids to think
  that writing is only about capitalization,
  punctuation, and spelling
• Its important for teachers to provide feedback
  on content as well. Dig deeper than word count
  and grammar
• Model good writing, so children can learn by
  example
• Focus on both the medium and the message. Discern
  where children are doing well or need additional
  help

13
Tools to Encourage Creativity

• A pleasant environment where kids feel free to
  take risks
• A clear connection between reading and writing
  (what you read can be a model for what you
  write)
• Process the opportunity to plan, draft, revise,
  and edit
• Opportunities to share writing with peers and
  teachers

14
Intrinsic vs. Extrinsic Motivation

• Students need proper instruction in writing in
  order to feel intrinsically motivated to do so
• Extrinsic motivation may help them to get
  started, however, they must over time become
  intrinsically motivated with an I can do it
  attitude to keep growing as a writer
• With continued support and modeling by the
  teacher, students will become intrinsically
  motivated over time

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Strategies and Techniques to Support Motivation
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Teacher as a Motivator

• The teachers role in motivating students to
  write is vital
• Some things that teachers can do to get the
  children focused on their writing and eager to
  start are
• SHARE, SHARE, SHARE!!!
• Sensory Journeys can help promote the usage of
  sensory details, help focus the mind, and relax
  students
• Teacher/Student Conferencing allowing one-on-one
  time to really go over a students piece and offer
  advice as to what to work on and what they are
  doing well is useful
• Author of the Week Using a frame, the teacher
  can select a writer of the week and frame the
  piece that earned the title allowing for the
  class to see it
• This can be based on all the writing that occurs
  in the classroom and can show the students that
  you dont have to be perfect to be a writer
• According to the National Writing Project,
  students are motivated to write when good
  writing is recognized

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Front Load the Process

• Have the child talk about what theyre going to
  write about
• Write down the words they want to use but dont
  know how to spell
• Help them organize the main points that theyre
  writing about
• Review the goal of the assignment know where
  youre going and how youre going to get there
• Plan something fun for afterwards.
• Give a time limit put the timer on and do the
  hard thing first
• Front loading helps to eliminate the obstacles
  that young writers face during the writing process

18
Writing on Paper vs. Writing on the Computer

• Some kids approach the word processor much like
  they approach their written text Im going to
  change a little something here Ill try to get
  this spelling error there. In these cases,
  writing on a computer is very much like writing
  on a piece of paper
• Some kids come at word processing with big
  ideas. They make many more revisions upfront
  and during drafting, than kids who are writing by
  hand
• Using a word processor is especially useful with
  those students who have difficulty with
  handwriting and have trouble getting the ideas in
  their head down on paper

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How Technology Can be Motivational

• The ease with which one can move text
• The abatement of transcription difficulties
• In searching for ideas for writing
• www.plinky.com
• Technology is familiar to students, therefore is
  more appealing
• www.xtranormal.com
• www.wordle.net/create
• PowerPoint Books

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Oral Tradition

• Many cultures practiced oral tradition before the
  concept of writing histories or stories down came
  into play
• Students can share this same practice by telling
  stories orally, either to the entire class or a
  partner, to get out everything they want to write
  down
• If students become stuck then they can ask what
  they said for a certain part in their story,
  chances are someone will remember
• Students could also tape record their oral story
  telling to use for later transcription

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The Authors Chair

• No matter what level of writing development your
  young authors are at its important that they
  share their work with an audience
• Incorporating the Authors Chair into the
  classroom gives students the opportunity to share
  their work with their classmates
• Authors Chair can help boost self-esteem and
  decrease anxiety about writing because of the
  reaction received by classmates and teachers

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Journaling

• Safe writing that is not graded or
  correctedhelps students focus on themselves as
  writers
• Creative prompts that excite students and get
  them thinking on a higher level
• Can be used as a tool for students to express
  thoughts, feelings, beliefs
• Reactions to texts can be recorded here
• Amelias Notebook
• Diary of a Wimpy Kid

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Morning/Afternoon Message

• Talk about what is happening in the class,
  providing an opportunity for children to write
  about it
• Say something really exciting or ask a
  thought-provoking question about a timely issue
  or event (e.g., the upcoming election)
• Can be done as an interactive writing lesson

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Interactive Writing

• Strategy to teach writing to students in which
  the teacher shares the pen with the students
• Teacher guides students in creating a piece of
  writing
• Can be done in small group or whole class format
• Writing is done at a higher level because the
  teacher is there to support the process, in turn
  allows students to increase reading abilities
• Provides a wonderful opportunity for modeling of
  thinking by both teacher and students
• Displays how the writing process takes time, as
  an interactive piece takes longer than just a day
• Each day pieces are reread and edited/revised to
  also model theses processes as well
• Allows for inclusion of all students in the
  lesson
• Useful in classrooms with students with special
  needs
• Can be used across the curriculum
• Final products can be hung up and used for
  students later on when they do a follow up
  activity or for reading around the classroom

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Describe This

• Children want to learn, they are knowledge
  seekers. Provide opportunities for children to
  absorb information and then write
• Ask them to describe this and they will come up
  with wonderful language and ideas
• The act of describing will not only help them in
  using sensory details, but will also help them to
  carry over the knowledge they have learned
  because writing is an aid to memory
• Essential and useful to incorporating writing
  across the curriculum

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Using Images to Spark Ideas

• Students may have less difficulty getting started
  if they have a visual focal point for their
  writing
• There are a variety of ways this can be
  implemented into the writing workshop or writing
  centers
• Paintings Students can describe the painting
  from the perspective of someone seeing it in real
  life. This is an opportunity to incorporate
  sensory details
• Photographs Students can use these to write an
  article based on the story the picture is telling
• Comic Strip/Comic Book Page By whiting out the
  words used in the original, the teacher can
  reproduce the comic in a blank for for the
  students to interpret what the characters are
  saying

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Innovations

• Take a favorite text like Brown Bear, Brown Bear,
  What Do You See? and create a new text using the
  same language model
• Students integrate new words and make stories
  their own
• These texts can become an independent publication
  or a page in a class book
• Text Talk Strega Nona
• Take a favorite text and write a sequel when the
  ending leaves you hanging
• Using a well written text, rewrite the ending so
  that the outcome is more favorable to the reader
• Texts that contain little or no words are also
  great opportunities for students to develop their
  own story based on what the illustrations tell
  them
• The Snowman
• Tuesday

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Writing About Literature

• Writing about texts that students read or listen
  to actually enhances comprehension
• Vygotsky thought and language are virtually
  inseparable, i.e. comprehending and composing are
  similar, if not identical
• Students often have strong reactions to the
  stories they hear or read, so its important they
  are given the opportunities to share what they
  feel or think about the text or situations within
  the text
• National Writing Project states that students
  write best about what concerns them
• The Flat Stanley Project making an experience
  with literature come to life

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Vocabulators

• Designed by Melissa Forney, they are intended to
  be used for interaction with words
• Can be used independently or in small groups
• Vocabulators can be used to give students ideas
  of what to write about
• Can be used in conjunction with Houghton Mifflin
  themes
• can get the students thinking about the stories
  they have read in the theme and encourage them to
  practice different genres

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Real-Life Writing

• Writing can become more meaningful when it is put
  in a real-world perspective
• Real-Life writing can be used across the
  curriculum providing for ample opportunities to
  write throughout the school day
• There are a variety of real activities that
  students can do to encourage writing and promote
  enthusiam
• Classroom Mailbox
• As part of its TEN Ideas to Get Kids Writing,
  The National Writing Project recommends that
  Focusing on important communication with a
  friend, students are thinking not at all about
  the writing proficiency test, yet with most every
  exchange they are becoming demonstrably more
  proficient writers.
• Classroom Newspaper
• Lists
• Recipes
• E-mail

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Publishing

• When students have the opportunity to make a
  piece of writing something more tangible, in
  published format, they will be more motivated to
  complete their assignment
• The National Writing Project points out that a
  published student writer is a motivated student
  writer
• There are a variety of ways that books can be
  published in the classroom
• Blank books and bound books
• Studentreasures.com
• Student-made books
• http//teacherweb.com/tx/cadwallader/cchavez/index
  .html
• http//www.canby.com/hockmanchupp/student_folder_w
  ebsites.html
• http//www.bookmakingwithkids.com/?cat5