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? asked in Education & ReferenceTeaching · 1 week ago

Teachers....?

I need to plan an activity for a reluctant writer. I am a primary school teacher. The child enjoys school but views writing as a barrier rather than a meaningful and enjoyable activity. Her favourite subject is Science, and often does her own unique experiments at home to bring in to share with the class. She loves public-speaking as is confident in doing so. There is an evident shift in her body language when asked to write, especially in English. What activity could I do to engage her?

2 Answers

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  • 1 week ago
    Favourite answer

    Make it a game. Give her one-sentence story starters, have her add a sentence, than have another student (or you if you're tutoring) add another and give it back. 

    Show her how to record her oral speeches and then transcribe them.

    Do power writings- ask a question, and have her write as many words to answer it in first one minute. She doesn't have to write sentences- just words and phrases. Then she counts the words, and the next time, she tries to write more words. She can take one of these and re-write it with complete sentences. Ask questions about science so she'll be interested. 

    We turn a lot of things that should be pleasurable into chores in school- by constant testing and grading written assignments on surface elements like grammar and spelling. It really discourages students from wanting to do those things. Not everything should be a test, and not every written assignment needs to be graded. There should be times for practice, without a grade. "If you can read everything your students write, you're not assigning enough writing." 

  • Anonymous
    1 week ago

    I would assume their is an underlying problem.  Both my son and I have great difficulty spelling.  We can not hear the sounds of the letters. Kind of like being tone deaf for music. 

    So I never liked writing, I could not spell the words I wanted to use.

    There are many learning disabilities that would affect writing.  

    They are not seeing as enjoyable because they struggle with it.

    Find out the problem. Or have the student evaluated by a professional.  

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