Building Blocks of Writing

What is one of the first toys we give our children when they can sit and crawl?

Blocks.

Rubber blocks, wooden blocks, cardboard blocks.

All kinds of blocks.

What do we give kids as they get a bit older into toddler-hood?

Duplo Bricks.

Then as they approach their adolescence...what do we give them?

Legos.

Yes...from the time our children are teeny-tiny, we are giving them building blocks. They build from directions that allow them to create elaborate masterpieces and they free-build forms that are uniquely their own.

This isn't really any different than teaching writing. We need to give our children the building blocks appropriate to their age if we want them to ever free-build or free-write masterpieces of their own creation.

It is essential to begin when our children are toddlers by looking at letters and following along the words in picture books with our fingers. Sing rhyming songs and encourage rhyming games in the car, in the store - everywhere!

Then as bigger kids, give them the tools to write (even when it's not pretty!) Give them lots of paper and pencils of all colors. Let it be fun and let it be creative. Talk about nouns and verbs: the building blocks of sentences.

As children outgrow each set of building blocks, replace them with the next set...the next level of writing. As they grow, provide more direction (like the Lego set that points out where each piece belongs). Show them the formulas for strong introductory paragraphs and the way to assemble an essay.

If we start at the very beginning when our children are very young, writing won't be a scary prospect. It won't be a daunting task to teach or to learn. It will be a natural progression for everyone involved.

And remember that learning never ends. There will always be more to learn about writing and language even as adults!

Have you ever seen an adult hunched over a table under a bright light, poring over 1000 jigsaw pieces and placing them one by one? It's just another form of building and assembling.

After all, it's how our brains are wired...so teach your writing the natural and logical way by appealing to your student's desire for formulas and building blocks - you'll be pleased with the results!

Why are Kids Still Struggling to Write Well?

In an August 2017 article in the New York Times, Dana Goldstein explores “Why Kids Can’t Write.”

What she found is that 3/4 of 8th and 12th grade students lack basic proficiency in writing (National Assessment of Academic Progress). This number is truly astonishing considering the added emphasis placed on writing skills by the implementation of national core standard curriculum.

Ms. Goldstein found that 4 factors were important in understanding why our students continue to lack writing skills:

1. Teachers largely rely on worksheets to teach writing skills.

2. Teachers lack sufficient training in writing specific techniques.

3. Teachers often lack confidence in their own writing ability.

4. Teachers generally focus their feedback commentary on the content and substance of student writing rather than the actual implementation of written skills.

When looked at objectively, these reasons all seem to make sense. Unless a teacher is an outstanding writer themselves, they need to be taught how to teach writing!

The national community of educators are beginning to realize what we at Online Scribblers have known for a long time: the best people to teach writing are writers and the best way to teach it is through consistent practice and trial and error.

Students learn as much from making mistakes as they do from their successes.

Worksheets can teach grammar, but they cannot teach the fundamentals of paragraph organization and descriptive writing. Students need to try their hands at these finer details of writing and experience how it all comes together into one beautiful piece of work. It is also not enough just to assign written work.

The time must be taken to mark up and give feedback on how to improve the writing. Is a student using redundant ideas? Is the student lacking a central focus or main idea? Is a student not presenting ideas in logical order? It is not enough to correct the grammar of a piece of writing and assign a grade. We need to be able to discuss proper writing technique at a deeper level.

Yes, it takes a great deal of time, yes. But the results are well worth the investment.