How To Convince Kids That Writing is FUN

Using Publishing and Technology

By

Kristi Sayles

CEO of Smart Author Software

How do YOU feel About Writing?

Do you enjoy creative writing? Why or why not?

Your students can easily assume YOUR perspective toward writing.

If you love it, then they will too!

Attitude is EVERYTHING

For kids to want to do anything, they need to see your excitement over hearing and reading their masterpieces.

The main ingredient for convincing kids that writing is fun is YOUR attitude!

Find something to praise

Kids can write some pretty awful stuff.

But…as teachers, we need to search every piece for something to praise-even if it’s just a certain word or phrase.

Think of the kids as your own. What did you say when little Johnny brought you his very first drawing? I know I put mine right on the refrigerator! Didn’t you???

The more they read and write, the easier we will find it to praise our students’ writing!

Why?

Why is it important for kids to feel that writing is fun?

How could that help us?

How could that help the kids?

Why is loving to write important?

Would you want your child to play on a basketball team if he or she thought the sport was dumb?

Just as a basketball player that dreads playing the game has little chance of winning, kids who hate to write have little chance of writing well.

Why is writing skill necessary?

Adults that have developed writing skills are equipped for today’s society far more than those without such skills.

Being able to organize thoughts into a coherent pattern will impress the boss when he requests that an employee develop a plan of action for the company. Good writers will have no problem with such organization. They are able to present ideas clearly and effectively.

Procrastination Problems

Kids who enjoy writing are less likely to put off doing important school papers and reports.

Is there anyone in the room that ENJOYS cleaning out over-due closets? (If so, “Get a life!”)

To you normal people, I say, “That’s how kids feel that dread writing. They will put those projects off as long as possible-possibly forever like we do!”

Catharsis

Have you ever felt so angry that you just wanted to throw a chair through a window? (Or at your husband?)

Writing about your feelings in a personal journal can help you to feel better just by getting it out of your system.

Kids can be taught to channel their emotions into writing too. Your intervention may even avoid another Columbine situation!

Reading is Fundamental

Reading and writing go hand-in-hand.

Children that love to read acquire a sense of written language that spills over into their writing.

It’s important to encourage all kids to love READING, as well as WRITING.

Again, it’s just like sports. Who follows those endless, boring golf matches on TV? Golfers do..(Sorry, Golfers, no offense meant.)

Sloppy Copies

Teach kids that good writers are never lazy, so they know that their first draft, or sloppy copy, is NOT their last.

They may complain at first. This is remedied by singing the praises of the first student that announces that he or she WANTS to be a good writer and doesn’t mind a little work.

Teach the kids NEVER to erase on their first try. If they must add to or take away from their piece, have them to mark a line through the offensive words or just write the better words above the whole thing. Messy? Yes! Sloppy Copy!

More about sloppy copies

Kids should not have to concern themselves with correct grammar, spelling, and usage when spinning a creative story or poem.

I tell them to just WRITE. Sound out words, write similar words if they don’t know the right one-just get those beautiful ideas onto the paper. Letting the imagination flow is what a sloppy copy is all about!

Ideas to get you started

The following are some of the ways that I’ve motivated my kids to want to write.

(And they do! Just ask them!)

Newspaper Reporters

1.Choose a partner.

2. The one on the right is a reporter. The one on the left is a famous person.

3. The famous person’s job is to create a story about something that happened to him or her.

4. The reporter’s job is to write the story.

5. SWITCH jobs and repeat!

6. Let’s try it!

Power Books

PowerPoint has now made it possible for kids to create their own ebooks-I like to call them “Power Books.”

1. Teach kids to open up PowerPoint.

2. Show them which template to use. The easiest is blank.

3. Have them type their stories onto the page using no more than a few lines per page.(Proofread before-hand)

4. Show them how to record their voices to each page.

5. Add cool animations and hit “slideshow.”

6. Make floppy copies or print out the Power Books.

CharacterDiary Entries

Writing about yourself can be fun, but everybody does that.

Why not try putting yourself in someone else’s shoes?

1. Name a character that you are very familiar with.

2. Now, write a diary or journal entry as if you WERE that person. What would you write?

3. Try it!

Point of View Diary Entries

1. Jill in the Jack and Jill nursery rhyme.

2. Dear Diary,

Today mom sent me and Jack to go get a pail of water. Well, you know that clumsy old brother of mine-he tripped on a rock and fell just after filling the bucket!

If that wasn’t bad enough, he fell on me and made me fall too! I wasn’t hurt as bad as Jack was. He held his sore head all the way home after I went back up to get the water by myself.

Student Exampleof

Character Diary Entry

Invention Ideas

Have kids write about inventions.

1. Discuss problems that people have.

2. Brainstorm solutions to the problems.

3. If money were no object, what could YOU invent that would solve a problem?

4. Is this invention a real possibility? Why or why not?

Student Inventions

Takes away the old flavor of the food you don’t like!

Adds flavors to the food that you DO like!

Sprays on extra vitamins that we all need to be healthy!

Kristi Sayles:

My students entered this invention in the Exploravision Contest.

Kristi Sayles:

My students entered this invention in the Exploravision Contest.

Want to REALLY get your kids excited?

SHOW OFF THEIR WORK!

There’s no better way to keep kids motivated to write more and to write better!

THE AUDIENCE MATTERS!

PUBLISH!

There are lots of different ways that a teacher can publish students’ work.

1. Hang it up in the classroom.

2. Display it on an outside wall.

3. Make books and share them.

Or my personal favorite…

Put it on the WWW

Kids (and parents) light up when they see their very own writing on the internet.

There are several sites that will publish student writings.

My favorite is http://www.kidauthors.com

They will accept both short stories and poems and have an added treat to offer.

Each student gets their very own certificate and banner stating that they are published authors! Now that’s exciting!

Kid Author Certificate

Kid Author Banner

Add to a story online...

http://storytrain.kids-space.org/

Teach Kids to Type

Kids can learn to touch type.

This makes their writing so much more enjoyable.

There are LOTS of good typing programs for kids.

I highly recommend Jump Start Typing. Kids enjoy it because it integrates learning with games involving typing. It makes a great center activity.

Another thing I recommend is a keyboard template for whole group practice. It can be found at http://www.teachnet.com/graphics/powertools/neattools/keyboard.pdf

Show and Write

We have all had “Show and Tell.”

Here’s my twist:

1. Designate one day a week for Show and Write.

2. Allow the students to show an item ONLY if he or she has written a detailed description about it. Be consistent!

3. The student reads the description while I “show off” the treasure. (It doesn’t hurt to put some “Vanna” into it. :)

4. Even reluctant writers will do this to be able to show off their favorite items! Very effective after Christmas!

Set up a writing center

Every classroom should have both a reading center AND a writing center. This is where you can get writings to put on the web.

These are the supplies I suggest for the writing center.

1. Plenty of lined paper for writing.

2. Pencils

3. unlined paper for making books.

4. Crayons

5. A rule sign like the following:

Writing Center Rules

1. No drawing is allowed unless it illustrates writing.

2. Be careful and neat with all supplies.

3. Be respectful and quiet at all times.

4. Do your best work.

More places to publish on the net

http://www.kidpub.org/kidpub/ http://publish.kids.new.net/

ViewtheWorks.html http://www.stonesoup.com/main2/

sendwork.html (This one pays $40 if accepted!) http://www.kidsrunning.com/

krpublish.html

Even More Places to Publish Student Writings

http://www.liswa.wa.gov.au/funhouse/kidswrit.htm

http://www.latimes.com (Kids Reading Room)

Using a Digital Camera

Digital cameras are fun to use in the classroom because kids LOVE to be photographed! It’s a great motivator.

Here’s one of the ways I used my camera:

1. I told the kids that I was planning on taking a picture of three kids holding objects that attract magnets.

2. After the lesson on magnets, I asked that they each write at least one paragraph about what they learned.

3. I pulled three names randomly. These three predicted something in the classroom to be attracted by magnets.

Predicting What Will Attract Magnets

Were they right?

YES!

Each student chose a metal object!

Contests!

http://www.gigglepoetry.com/contests.html

There are currently five different contests on this site alone that are asking for submissions from kids in grades 1-12.

Create class newsletters

Teach the kids how to use the newsletter templates on Microsoft Word or Works.

Allow THEM to write their own class newsletter to send home each week.

What If?

This is a game that uses what kids know and then adds the spice of, “what if?”

1. Write a word about something you know about.

2. Now take that word and write a sentence about it.

3. Now take that sentence and add a creative “what if?” to it.

What If? Examples

1. Math

2. I know that I don’t like to do math problems.

3. What if an alien came down from outer space and helped me to do my Math problems?

4. I will create a story about that!

More What If Examples

1. Basketball

2. I like to play basketball.

3. What if I made the winning shot for the team?

4.The team was counting on me

The ball was in my hand

I threw it up and hoped that it would land

In the basket where it should

Swoosh! Man, I’m good!

Writing Clubs

You can organize a writing club in your classroom.

Just ask for volunteers to use their center time once a week to get together to listen to and comment on each other’s writings

Be available as a facilitator with ideas and helpful hints.

Or you can join an online writing club….

Writing Clubs Online

Real Kids is a web site that is dedicated to encouraging young writers.

Kids can join an online writing club.

They read and comment about other kids’ stories and then submit their own for a the same kind of critique.

The site also contains information on how to become a better writer, how to get published, how to contact authors, and other interesting facts for young writers.

Http://www.realkids.com

Author Dinner

Organize an Author Dinner for the parents to view and listen to their children’s writings.

Be sure to treat each student as a real author.

Ask the parents to collect “autographs.” :)

Who knows? One of your students may be famous someday!

Limit the use of rubrics

We all know about rubrics.

They are those pesky standards that someone else sets for us to assign to our students.

Although it is NECESSARY for us to use rubrics for evaluations, we should use them sparingly.

Kids should not always strive to write to someone else’s standards. They should be allowed to develop their own “inner critic.”

Inner Critic?

Every writer needs to listen to their “inner critic.”

This little voice tells you when you’re writing is good-and when it needs improving.

Kids develop their “inner critics” as they practice reading and writing their own and other people’s works.

Extensive use of rubrics discourage individuality.

Don’t take the fun out of writing!

Editing

When you want to help a child to improve what he or she has written, show respect for the author.

Try to say, “Would you like some help editing this?”

Instead of “This has lots of mistakes. Let me fix them for you!”

Then, carefully use the correct grammar such as, “I love the way you used the adjective of “cozy” in your sentence. I can just feel that warm blanket!

That’s the trick to teaching correct grammar. Just use it in context.

Dialogue

Teach kids how to write dialogue.

Writing dialogue helps kids to develop a sense of voice and character.

Motivated kids learn it pretty easily.

Try it! You may be surprised how quickly young ones catch on!

Write Songs

Have reluctant poem writers?

Try asking them to write songs!

The same kids that think poems are “sissy” will enjoy writing their own song lyrics and performing them before the class!

Even “tough” guys like music!

Keep Reference Books Handy

The following books should be readily available for the kids to use:

1. Kid-friendly dictionaries

2. A young people’s Thesaurus

3. Rhyming Word Books

BE SURE TO TEACH THE KIDS HOW TO USE THESE IN FUN WAYS SO THAT THEY WILL ENJOY USING THEM!

*What ways could YOU suggest?

Don’t Forget...

Writing should be fun!

Teaching writing should be fun!

Above all….if you don’t remember anything else about this whole thing….

PRAISE IS THE BEST MOTIVATOR IN THE WORLD!

THE TEACHER’S ATTITUDE IS EVERYTHING!!!

HAVE FUN AND YOUR KIDS WILL HAVE FUN!

Now, Let’s Have Some Fun!

A Note from the Author…

At the time of this writing, I am an elementary teacher, freelance writer, and writing software creator. I like to stay busy!

I created the Instant Story Creator for KIDS program because I just could not find a software tool that had all the benefits that I was looking for.

I KNEW what I wanted, so I created it.

Now, your child or student can learn how to write fun, interesting, and best of all… complete stories with a beginning, middle, and

end.

Just click on the banner to check out my Instant Story Creator for KIDS.

Instant Story Creator Software