If you are already in the professional world, you understand the importance of being able to communicate in writing. From having to send emails to your co-workers to create a daily report of your activities. However, writing is a skill that one masters with time and practice.
Many students do not find delight in writing or even reading. It feels like an arduous task to many. To add to that, people rarely have to write a lengthy piece in their day to day life.
More so, in an English language classroom, teaching how to write often lacks the purpose of communicating. The nature of writing makes it a single activity that is done in silence. And one that requires the investment of time, effort, and sometimes, paraphrasing help .
But how do we make students enjoy this critical skill?
Tips for Encouraging Students to Love Writing
• Start with Reading
Mastering how to write well helps one to develop critical thinking skills. For one to be a good writer, they have to be able to read well, first and foremost. If one has poor reading skills, it will limit their ability to write well.
Also, it will help the student appreciate what they read. By learning to write and write well, students establish a positive feedback loop. In that, as they get stronger in writing, they become better readers.
An adept reader can write well, too. If you can comprehend an article quickly and easily interact with it, you are likely to be an active reader. The first step to instill the love of writing in your students is to teach them to love reading.
• Adopt reading into your daily routine
This tip targets teachers and parents who deal with young learners. Age is crucial in how we teach and what we teach. We can help children develop an interest in writing at an early stage by reading to them regularly.
To achieve this, we have to tap into their eagerness to learn at an early stage. At the time when children enjoy learning how to write down their name, those of their siblings, or trace letters and words. As a parent, you don’t have to read to them during bedtime only.
You can incorporate a daily reading routine any time in the day. Take your students to the library. If they have a good time, the students are likely to associate it with reading.
• Practice to improve one’s skills
At the university level, many majors involve writing a thesis paper. It usually takes several pages. To a student who may not have previously written a lengthy content as such, it may seem onerous. Practice helps the student to formulate their ideas with ease.
Even if you want to use paraphrasing help, you first need to have an idea of what you want to write. Many students have difficulty in providing a structure for an essay question, at the undergraduate level. Flow and arduousness in paraphrasing is also an issue.
By teaching yourself to write time and time again, you will be able to conquer the necessary skills in writing. That is, knowing how to formulate and organize your thoughts to create a precise piece that communicates your intended message.
• Keeping a Journal
One’s interest in writing will peak once they have confidence in their skills. By writing every day, it will help lessen the painful nature that many students associate with it. Encourage your students to write outside the classroom setting.
Urge students to keep a diary or journal. If you are a parent, only look at what they write, if they ask you. Let the child jot down the ideas that come to mind, note down events that happened, and also reflect.
It will help the child become accustomed to writing and even overcome their fear of doing it. If possible, ask the students to carry their journals to excursions. Encourage them to note down what they think or see.
Later, start discussions on the same. You will have to be patient with them. Don’t point out their spelling or punctuation errors. Let them get comfortable in writing down their thoughts.
• Threading a narrative
If you have been writing for a while, you have an understanding of the term writer’s block. One of the ways to overcome this hurdle is free writing. Where you just write down all that is in your mind. Once you have exhausted your thoughts, you go through the written material and use what you wrote to compose a compelling article.
Sometimes, as you do this, you tend to consider all aspects of an argument. With this kind of writing, your ideas may become disjointed and may make it difficult to thread a narrative. Well, it is ideal to consider both sides of the coin but to create a structure for your article, you need to take a stand.
Taking a position in writing your thesis, will help you articulate your points well, and find the relevant supporting arguments.
What are the Activities to help students enjoy writing?
Whether you are a teacher, student, or parent, there are various ways in which you can promote writing for yourself or a child. Below are some examples to get you started:
Personally, I found my joy in writing by learning how to put my thoughts in writing. This technique will help students consolidate what they learn and the vocabulary too. Assign your students an essay topic that allows them enough creative freedom to bring out who they are in writing.
It can be in the form of a poem or an essay.
Word Clouds and Songs
It is a useful strategy for older students. Here you choose a particular song and create a word cloud using words in the song. Incorporate words that sound similar to the ones you picked, and verbs too. Print out the word cloud and share it with your students.
Play the song to them and ask them to circle the words they hear. It will help them understand the complexity and intricacies or writing.
As you write, it helps you think. It pushes you to learn how to lay out your points in a logical manner. Encourage your students to read by taking them to environments where they will thrive and enjoy reading.
Ask them to discuss and provide arguments for what they read. Help them understand the importance of avoiding plagiarism by using a paraphrase tool online. Push them to keep practicing, and they will get better at it.