Best Practices for Teaching Writing in the Primary Schools

 

I have never met you, but I am going to read your mind. I know you are asking yourself right now, what are the best practices in teaching writing? and am I employing those best practices with your students?

Writing is not simply a way for students to demonstrate what they know, but to help students understand what they know. 

Now that we have gotten why writing is important out of the way let us get to the nitty gritty of this blog, which is the best practices teachers can use in the classrooms for writing. I will be explaining some best practices which are being employed in the classrooms to teach effective writing.

 

Effective teaching of writing involves the emphasis on the writer's craft ( in this case will be students), ensuring that students have time to practice their writing and also includes thoughtful reflections before, during and after writing. 

You may be wondering how can you get the students to reflect? One can use the 5 W's and H for effective reflection method in the classroom (Who is it about, what happened, when did it happened, where did it take place, why did it happen and how did it happened).  Using this practice will help students to better organize their thinking and give them a sense of direction in their writing.

Another practice is providing opportunities for students to experience the complete writing process. When students learn that the writing has stages the process is demystified and simplified. this mean that once students understands that they can pass through each stage at their own pace they are a better able to manage their writing.

Teachers can also provide a classroom context of shared learning. Students need a safe and not a critical place where they can take risk and try new things that will drive their growth as a writer. Many of us can relate to this practice. If we think about our time in primary schools we would realize that our classroom environment was not very inviting for us to share our writing because of the teasing and ridicule we would face from the other classmates. 

Using different strategies like read and think aloud, questions, prompts and modelling can be used to enhance the writing process. Students should understand the importance of using tones and different techniques in their writing to capture the reader attention.

Have students read a variety of texts. This will help the students to get a grasp and understanding of when to use certain tones, languages and other techniques in their writing. 

It is also important to note that giving feedback to students is one of  the most important practice in teaching writing. giving feedback will help the students to understand what is needed of them and also help boost their confidence in their writing ability.

Allowing students the opportunity to choose their own topic to write on is also a practice that be adopted in the classroom. This will generate more students interest in writing, inspire them to be inventive and bolster their confidence in their writing ability.

My hope on returning to the classroom and even before, that is to see teachers attempting or using some  if not all  of these practices to help students become the great writers they are destined to be. I know your thinking that will not be easy. No it will not. In order for this to be effective teachers need to be exposed on how to implement these practices properly, resources need to be readily available to teachers and most importantly teachers, students and parents need to help each other to accomplished this.👊👊👊