How to Motivate Your Students to Write
The most common complaint I hear from parents has to do with their child’s approach to writing. It’s quite normal for children to resist writing assignments. I’m here to tell you that it doesn’t have to be that way. By providing your child with a clear purpose for their written assignments, you will boost their motivation and encourage them to do their best work. Through the process of writing format through publishing, my kids do better work, and are happier about it, too!
All three of my children are published authors. For example, my son wrote an ABC jungle book at the age of 8. It took him a full year studying the jungle and its animals to choose the best plants and animals for his book. He then wrote a paragraph for each letter, referring to the Excellence in Writing style checklist to make sure his writing was of professional quality.
Given his age, it was unrealistic to force him to work on his book every day. It was an ongoing project that he worked on regularly, and completed at the beginning of June. However, he remained motivated through the entire year, an amazing feat for one so young.
There were a couple of reasons for his motivation, which ultimately led to a successful book launch. To start, he was fascinated by the jungle and its creatures, so he was researching something that was already interesting to him. It rarely felt like work! He was also thrilled at the thought of becoming a published author, earning money by writing and publishing his own book. Having a purpose for writing is the key to motivation.
Other purposes for writing assignments may include sending a letter to a friend or relative, entering a writing contest, writing a letter to the newspaper editor, writing a summary of your science fair project, sharing a story about an event in your life, writing a ministry letter, or a myriad of other purposes. Do your children have a purpose for their writing?
Once you have given your child a purposeful writing assignment, help them to first put their ideas onto paper, and arrange those ideas in a cohesive, logical order. There’s a program on the market which, in my opinion (as a mother and former teacher) is the best. Check out Teaching Writing: Structure & Style, which excels in teaching your children how to write effectively for a range of reasons - letters, essays, stories, and more.
You can give your child(ren) a great reason for writing when you use the process of writing format through publishing. Try to integrate writing into any subject you are studying with your child. Writing should never be treated as a separate topic, since it is a valuable skill that transcends the subject material. By encouraging your child to write on a range of topics, he (or she!) will understand the purpose that writing has in all aspects of life.