Tips for Teaching Writing

How many of you teachers struggle with writing? Be honest! I was the world’s worst at not knowing how to properly teach my students how to write. Then, something terrifying happened! My principal called me into his office to tell me that he wanted me to move to 3rd grade ... a state tested area! Yikes! He gave me the choice of math or writing. I didn’t know which was worse! I told him if those were my only two options then, I would have to choose to teach writing. And secretly, I have always loved to write and journal. I just didn’t know how to teach it and didn’t think that I was great at using correct grammar (and I still am not!) 

So, fast forward. I grabbed the writing curriculum and ran with it. I studied it. I taught it. I revised it to meet the needs of my students. And, our school was a failing school at the time, so we had many literacy coaches and writing experts there to guide us and teach US. I think that was the best thing that ever happened. I now feel fully confident teaching writing. I didn’t say perfect, just confident that I know what to do to help the students to become successful writers. So, I wanted to share some of my best tips to help you help your students. 

1. Have students write EVERYDAY-This can be in the form of a journal, a quick open ended question about what they are reading that day, or a “Quick Write”.
2. Provide model writing-  Model, model, model. Show great examples and poor examples. Have the students to study these to learn what makes them good and what makes them poor. They love if you tell them that they are grading other students’ work! 
3. Partner writing- During the learning process, two (or more) brains are better than 1. Group students with different skills. One student may do a great job with creating an introduction. Another student may do a great job of following the writing steps. And another student may be the “grammar police” to help make sure the writing is free from errors. They love to help each other! 
4. Let them type it out- Our state writing tests are now typed on the computer. So, they need to KNOW how to type. Also, it makes it so much easier to edit and revise in my opinion. Did the student get to the end of their writing and realized they left something important out? No problem! Just insert! Another quick tip, using Google drive or Google Classroom, allows me to see their work AS they are typing it from my computer. How convenient! Can’t read a students dyslexic handwriting? No problem. Type it! 
5. Use a checklist or a rubric- Students need to know how they will be graded. Teach them to understand the rubric. Have them to grade other students’ work with the rubric. Make them familiar with it. If you are using a checklist, it also helps them to go step by step so they have no excuse to leave any part of the writing out! 

I encourage you to use these tips in your classroom, no matter what grade you are teaching. Don’t be afraid to make mistakes. Just have them to write! Practice makes perfect. 

Below is a student friendly rubric I created based off of our state writing rubric. I just reworded it to be in kid-friendly terms that my students can understand and be able to use in the classroom. Once you download it, leave me a rating to tell me how you like it and how it helped in your classroom! 

>>>>Kid-Friendly Writing Rubric<<<<

Happy Teaching! 

Faith, Love, Teaching, and Oils