Teachers often claim that writing among students is worsening. They blame this on modern technology like the internet and mobile telephony. Due to that, students writing careers are continuously lacking proper spelling grammar and vocabulary. However, the truth of the matter is “Learning is an extraordinarily difficult and teaching people how to read is just as hard” (David Labree).
Some students get allured by online writing companies. These services offer writing help for students who are ready to pay and get a good essay. Students often choose this path because writing can be difficult and frustrating. But this shouldn’t be the case; teachers can assist students to learn to write.
To successfully teach writing, one has to be aware that successful writing is a process that takes time and focus. Give students the time, guidance and support and they will improve their writing skills. Teachers must also fight the urge to expect perfection from their students. As long as the student’s drafts show insight and bits of improvement teachers should celebrate and encourage these little victories.
Below are 4 strategies that are most likely to help students to write better.
1. Reading should be emphasized
“You learn to read by reading, and you learn to write by reading,” wrote Frank Smith in his Title ‘reading Without Nonsense.’
One of the basic requirements to writer better is through reading other people’s works. By being an avid reader one will be able to pick ideas, styles and other forms of writing to learn from.
Therefore, reading should be emphasized. This should be encouraged from as early as possible in the academic development of students. Teaching writing to high school students is something every school should seriously take part in. Teachers should emphasize reading and encourage students to read widely. The more students read magic happens; they start to assimilate ideas, words, and sentences which will come in handy when assigned something to write.
Reading great masters like William Shakespeare, Charles Dickens, George Bernard Shaw among and many other writers will help students gain skill and great wisdom that will help guide their pens as they will be engaged in writing.
2. Let Students Feel Free To Take Risks
Negatively criticizing students and blaming them for not being good at writing well will discourage them and make them afraid to write. Students should feel free to write and make mistakes. From these mistakes, they will learn and improve their writing skills.
It’s a good idea to free students from the constraints of being correct all the time. One way to do this is by giving them permission to break some writing rules that they have been taught in the past. By doing so you grant them the opportunity to approach writing with a sense of creativity and freedom from writing fears.
By letting students take liberty in their writing you will make writing lessons for high school fun, learnable and enjoyable. This will encourage students to explore new ways of writing in areas they are passionate about therefore leading them to become better writers.
3. Show Students the Importance of Writing
Why is writing important for students? Writing is important to students, not only to help them pass exams but it also creates avenues for self-expression and sharing of thoughts and feelings with others.
Motivating students to write should not be an impossible task. Teachers can motivate students by showing them the importance of writing as a means of expressing their unique thoughts and feelings. When students understand why is writing important they will be motivated to write more and better their writing skills.
Teachers can do this by letting students understand that, through their writing, they can communicate their ideas to others. When the students know that their words will reach and influence others in one way or another they will desire to develop their skills in expressing their experiences on paper. This will give a boost to their desire to learn more and write more hence make great improvements.
4. Addressing each individual’s feedback
Most teachers spend too much time in grading students and spend less time reading, editing and proofreading individual writings to help identify problems and give guidance to students.
“Teachers should dedicate time to each student, especially at the early stages of their writing. This will help the teacher get individualized feedback,” said Christopher Mansfield, a perfect academic writer at PerfectEssay. For instance, using Google Docs the teacher can further give additional help to assist and encourage and support the students improve their final drafts.
When a teacher takes the work of each individual and corrects and guides the student, it becomes easier for the student to know what they need to do. Teachers should allow their students to see mistakes as a normal thing and part of the learning process.
How to develop writing skills in students is something that teachers ought to take one step at a time. In the beginning, students may find writing a daunting task and think of giving up. But with the help of a teacher who works close to his/her students, the task will be simplified and easy to do.
The teacher should emphasize on reading among his/her students because the more the students read the more they learn from various writers. Teachers should also let the students take liberty at writing on topics which the students are passionate about. In order for students to love writing, they should also know that writing is a medium of communicating and sharing their ideas with others.
Teaching to write is a difficult task but not an impossible one. When a teacher is dedicated to helping students learn to learn students will improve their writing. As a student learns to put thoughts and feelings on paper they will gradually master the intricate skills that make one a better writer. With practice, their writing will get better. How to teach writing skills takes patience skill and dedication to help students in their challenging times. The idea that writing should be something one has to learn quickly will often scare the students from giving up too soon.
