by Sarah James

Created on: July 07, 2010

Writing is an overall term that encompasses a whole range of activities: essays, stories, articles, plays, and even emails or tweets.  Most kids, however, think of writing as that boring period in class when they have to put their thoughts on paper, follow a pattern, or answer a question with a paragraph.  As such, in order to excite kids to write, they must be shown that writing is more than firmly structured assignments and more than just words on paper; rather, writing lets kids be creative and demonstrate their sense of adventure.    

More than Structured Assignments

Children can and will write about anything if given the opportunity.  However, a common mistake made in classrooms and even at home is requiring a child to follow a prompt or script.  Not allowing children to write about their interests turns writing into a chore.  They “have” to write about this topic that is not really that appealing, so they write the minimum required and move on to a more attractive activity. 

As such, during writing activities where children are not specifically fulfilling assignment criteria, make it clear that the students are allowed to write about anything.  If a boy wants to write about trucks every day, let him – so long as he is not writing the same thing for each entry.  Give the children the freedom to write about what they find interesting.  Not only do they have a chance to stretch their creative wings, reading the papers becomes much more fun for the teacher or parent, since the topic becomes a surprise. 

For younger children, some direction is necessary.  Provide prompts as needed, but do not force them.  In classrooms, allow students to suggest prompts or ideas for those having trouble coming up with a topic.  This lets them participate and makes the writing their own activity rather than something directed by the teacher. 

Next, do more than just essays and journals.  Let students write a play, for example, whether individually or in a group.  This sort of writing is completely different from paragraphs or journaling, and the new is always exciting.  Letting the students perform the play also gives them a reason to get involved in the creation of the script.  Another possibility that is new and exciting can be having students write newspaper articles for a classroom or grade newspaper. 

Think beyond the typical writing exercises

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