Teaching your child the importance of developing a writing habit will set them up for life-long success. Learning to write well is no easy feat. Writing takes focus and discipline.
By the time children enter the 3rd grade, they are expected to write more than a page of text in 30 minutes. 8th graders are expected to write more than 3 pages in that time. The sad reality is many children can not reach this expectation.
As a classroom teacher, I’ve witnessed countless students struggle with getting their ideas down on paper. Instead of sitting quietly at their desk with their pen pushing along on the paper, the child is doing everything he can to not write by asking a million questions to create a distraction, getting up and down to get his writing tools, using the bathroom, or getting drinks of water. The signs are countless and they all come down to avoiding actually writing at all cost. These reluctant writers generate very little writing during the “writing time” at school or at home.
This is where it might be helpful to look for an online writing tutor. A tutor can partner with the parent to teach writing fundamentals.
Stop Writer Avoidance With A Writing Habit
While no one enjoys staring at a blank piece of white paper, the reluctant writers get so anxious around what to write that their brain freezes and they go into avoidance mode.
While no one enjoys staring at a blank piece of white paper, the reluctant writers get so anxious around what to write that their brain freezes and they go into avoidance mode.
But according to Stephen King, one of the most prolific writers of our time, states “you can not succeed unless you read a lot and write a lot.”
Creating A Writing Habit Takes Practice
So how do we get our children to take Stephen King’ s advice and write A LOT. Our children need to write daily in order to become strong, fearless writers. They have to believe they have something powerful to say.
So get children getting black on white with the following tips:
- Keeping Lists
Let your child know that their voice is powerful and that every experience and/or feeling is a good place to start generating a list of possible writing ideas/seeds. Ask your child to write down all the topics they know about. Then they can move on to listing all the topics or questions they want to learn about. Allowing your children to start with their interest and curiosities is a great way to get them to push that pen right along the paper. Make sure your child has a notebook/journal to house all their wonderful writings and ideas.
- Building Stamina
Setting a timed goal also helps reluctant writers. This way there is no pressure on completing a certain amount of paragraphs or pages. The child just needs to focus on their topic of interest and write what comes to mind during the allotted time. As I stated previously, a child needs to build up to the recommended number of pages for their grade level. The best way to write more is to write daily in their designed writing notebook/journal.
- Setting A Goal
Just like a reluctant reader, a reluctant writer will need to set a writing goal. You want your child to experience success right away so start them off small. A few writing goals can be: ideas I want to turn into writing drafts, ways I want to revise( add, change, delete) my drafts, topics I want to research by taking notes on, author’s I want to read in order to mimic their writing style, etc.
Are you looking for more tips or support on how to help your young, budding writer?
I can help you teach your child to write.
Click the link and download my Freebie- Bye, Bye Writer’s Block- Helping Your Child Get Unstuck. https://www.readinghelponline.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/Freebie-Writers-Block.pdf
And, if you feel your child would benefit from online writing sessions, please contact me.
