Flip through the latest issue of Gulf Weekly.
What makes a reluctant reader is verysimilar to what makes a reluctant writer. The two are very closely linked because they address similar parts of the functional brain and as such call onthe same linguistic cues.
Children hate writing for a variety ofreasons, but some of the classics are:
They have to remember how to spell words which slows down the writing process and makes it frustrating.
They can tell a good story but find it hard to translate it into the written word.
They struggle with imagination and can’t get beyond their first idea.
They forget how their story started and so write disjointed paragraphs that make no sense.We teach writing to students to help them to develop their grammatical understanding, build their word power and to prepare them to function in the world around them but to be honest, itis actually a complex process that whilst drawing on our ability to use imagination, also requires us to have the right tools available to us to express it, words … and if you struggle with words in general, you’re going to struggle to write.So what can teachers do to help reluctant writers to build confidence in themselves and to build the skills needed to write effectively no matter the genre? I’ve seen some of the following techniques used by teachers over the years to wonderful effect:
Starting with a cliff hanger:Giving the children a starting point that sees a principal character in perilcan open up a host of questions that gets creativity flowing.
Record an oral story then put it into the written word: Children who have a vivid imagination but struggle totransfer it onto paper often do so because they tend to forget what they have said and the magic of their flowing imagination is lost when they get stuck with a pencil and paper. By recording the story as it comes to them, you can edit it piece-by-piece and give it a structure with the child, making it easier to write down their thoughts effectively.
Lower expectations of length:Reluctant writers fear the fact that they will be judged by how much they have written but an effective teacher knows that good writing is about quality andnot quantity.
By telling a reluctant writer that you only want three paragraphs, each with five sentences with around eight words in asentence means that they only have to write about 140 words.
Taking away the barriers of expectation and making what is required very specific canmake it easier for reluctant writers to have a go, even if they do count the words as they do it.
