Writing

Let's Find Meaning

As students learn and develop their writing skills, it is clear that the idea of "good writing" can be a daunting task. Students are often unable to connect to their writing, leading to disengagement and unimaginative writing products. Through the use of the following resources, I hope to bring positive energy into classroom writing activities.

Digital Writing

Students can have a difficult time writing fluent sentences as they see writing as a task, more than a meaningful activity. For students to find meaning in their writing, they need to connect to their own lives and experiences. Due to the fact that we live in a technologically advanced society, using applications, websites and online resources, can assist students in making connections. 

Digital writing can also be beneficial for students with exceptionalities, such as physical disabilities, dyslexia, or visual impairments. Applications and resources that allow students to use a keyboard or dictation tools can ensure students' ideas are making their way onto the paper.

Sentence Builder is an amazing application that students can use when learning how to write. The purpose of the application is to teach students how to effectively communicate their thoughts through well-build and comprehensive sentences. Sentence Builder ensures students are learning through a series of levels and a variety of information.

Introducing an application such as Sentence Builder into the classroom will allow students to independently learn about sentence building, fluency and word choice. The incorporation of this game into the classroom will engage and interest the students. It can be easily incorporated into a language lesson, by giving students IPads and asking them to reach the highest level they can in the game.

Inspire Writing Through Reading Analysis

This short article, Learning to Write by Reading, discusses how learning how to write can be influenced by reading. Through the analyzation of writing techniques, tone, voice and more through other writers' work can be beneficial and influential to students writing abilities.

For example, using a picture book like The Day the Crayons Quit by Drew Daywalt, will allow students to analyze voice and point of view. After reading through the text as a class, students can pair up with a peer and take on the analysis of one character in the book. The Day the Crayons Quit features letters speaking from the points of view of Duncan's "resigning" crayons. Each letter can be analyzed by the students to understand how point of view can be depicted through writing. By using the picture book as an exemplar, students can make their own letter to Duncan as one of the unspoken colours, explaining why they have decided to quit today.

Incorporating reading into our writing activity allows students to see final products of comprehensive writing; inspiring them to write on their own and connecting their beliefs about writing to texts they enjoy.

Make It "Short & Sweet"

Concise writing is not an easy concept to grasp for students. Writing should not always be about meeting word counts or page requirements, the content being explained should be easy to comprehend and follow. By incorporating activities such as six-word stories into the classroom, students can understand the power even just a couple of words can have on our minds.

Six-word stories are short stories made up of six-words that invite readers to connect and imagine where these words would lead them. This activity can be brought into a writing lesson to focus on elements of writing such as vocabulary, voice and intended audiences. By using prompts to inspire students six-word stories, the classroom will be amazed by the directions and connections students can make will just six-words.