writing skill

Tips For Teaching Writing Skills

Learning how to write can be difficult, especially if you are trying to learn both the rules of writing, writing styles, vocabulary, and grammar all at the same time.  These tips can help you to both teach writing skills and help your students to learn.

• Have students write about familiar subjects.  Things like what they did over their Christmas vacation, about the pets they own, and what kind of food they like are great ways to start.  Over time, start making it more specific.  Things like what Native Americans lived in Montana or what did you do for Christmas last year will start to help them develop analytical thinking skills while still developing their writing skills.
• Teach them brainstorming techniques early.  This will help them to develop clear thoughts and stay organized in their writing.
• Have students write letters and stories to each other.  Note passing may become a problem, but if you build it into your lesson plan, where's the issue.  This will show students how others are writing and bring give them new ideas on how to develop their writing.
• Revision is the best way to learn spelling and grammar.  Those who can edit writing can write, and the other way around.
• Start to introduce different styles of writing and tones, giving young writers a more dynamic range they can build on later.
• Encourage Reading.  This is very important.  Students will gain a more diverse pool of examples they can draw from in their own writing.  Students who read will become students who write well.
• Be patient with students.  If you become frustrated with them, they will become discouraged.  Some people learn faster than others, but all students will learn more from a calm teacher than and angry one.
• Writing does not just include one medium.  Make sure your students are familiar with both electronic writing and handwriting.  Even with the advances in computer technology, handwriting is still a key skill to have. 

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