Why do students avoid writing?
Throughout this blog, we will be referring to specific expectations from the Ontario Language Curriculum.
Why do students avoid writing?
Students are not writing about topics that excite them ...
If you’ve ever read through the comments on an Instagram post related to social justice issues, you can agree that the comment section gets pretty heated. If you start looking closer, you will see that the people participating in this conversation are mostly students. So why is it that they can construct meaningful, powerful messages and publish them on to the comment section of an Instagram photo, but they cant do the same when they are in class?
Perhaps teachers are not giving students the freedom to choose topics that truly inspire them. If students choose the topics in which they write about, they will be intellectually engaged. Students will be more inclined to develop meaningful content. For example, if you asked a student to write a report on Greta Thunberg’s climate change speech. The student might be passionate about this topic, thus they would be able to relate to this topic, ultimately the following specific expectations would be easier to satisfy:
Grade 8 Specific Writing Excitations:
(1.1) Purpose and Audience- The student IS the audience, so identifying the audience is something that they can relate to, so this should engage them.
(1.2) Developing Ideas- Students must form ideas that support the topic.
(1.3) Research- Students can use multimedia resources
I believe that when writing a formal report on Greta Thunberg's speech, the above expectations would be a lot easier for students to satisfy as they can relate to the topic, it is current, and they are involved.
Students are afraid of the grammar police
I have graduated from University, and I am currently pursuing my second degree. Do I still get nervous about my grammar, form, voice and word choice? Yes! Even in the simplest of acts such as sending an email. Can you imagine how this hinders the writing process for students? If teachers focussed on cultivating creativity as much as they do on lecturing proper grammar, I think a lot more of our students would be excited writers. Now, am I saying grammar should be thrown out the window? Absolutely not! Of course, we want our students to be proper grammatical wizards. However, we mustn't make grammar the be-all and end-all of their writing experience.
Picture this, our student chosen to write about a topic of their own and they have beautifully constructed a report on Greta Thunberg's climate change speech. The student has done what we have asked- they wrote a detailed, opinionated and moving report. This is great. However, their grammar is not on point. How can we help students address this before handing this paper in? One way to engage students in learning proper grammatical rules is Grammarly. *fairy godmother noise*
Yes, Grammarly. You’ve seen it on youtube adds, and television commercials. Let us allow students to plug their report into Grammarly, and see where their mistakes are. Students can visibly understand where they went wrong, and Grammarly even provides a debrief on the error. As a component of assessment, I would ask students to write down their errors on a separate document, identify the type of error, and explain how they fixed them. After a couple of times doing this, I would expect that students' grammar improves.
Grammarly can help students satisfy the following curriculum expectations:
Grade 8 Specific Writing Expectations:
Word choice (2.3) , Unfamiliar words (3.2), Vocabulary (3.3) , Punctuation (3.4) and Grammar errors (3.5)
I can vouch for this method. Since using Grammarly at the start of my 8P24 class, I am beginning to understand common errors that I make, why they are errors and how to catch them before I make them. First-hand proof- from a student!
Writing can feel like a lonely pursuit.
It is not some big secret that most students won't jump at the opportunity to sit down with a pen and a blank piece of paper, in a quiet classroom.Teachers must transform traditional methods into fun activities. We focus a lot in our program on making the curriculum engaging. One way to get students engaged in writing is by introducing the writing process to them through social engagement.
Pair students together and have them write a creative story, while simultaneously learning about the proper writing process. This will allow them to challenge each other to create a great story while learning the necessary steps in becoming a strong writer.
A framework that teachers can provide for their students by introducing students to the writing process:
1. Writing Forms
2. Writing Traits
3. Writing Processes
Have students work tighter to write a story of their choice, on any topic but using the proper structure. This will allow them to determine a purpose and audience and develop ideas. (Developing and Organizing Ideas 8.1) Every step of the way they must ensure that they are following the correct writing process as they go. Once they finish writing the story, they can collaboratively edit the piece. This process involves checking sentence fluency (2.4), word choice (2.3).
Chances are that the more uncertainty that goes into a writing piece, the more disengaged the student becomes.
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