Literacy | Primary schools

9 strategies for improving writing skills in primary school

By Michelle Casey

06 Jan 2023

Primary students improving writing on a computer

In this article:

The importance of building writing skills in primary years

Understanding 5 basic writing skills, spelling and punctuation, handwriting, reading comprehension, sentence structure, how to improve learners’ writing in primary school, 1. teach the different writing styles, 2. encourage regular reading in the classroom and at home, 3. give learners a real-life situation to write about, 4. encourage students to keep a diary, 5. give learners opportunities to read aloud, 6. use sentence starters and prompts, 7. engage in cooperative writing, 8. get creative with the teaching, 9. encourage parents to help at home, how bedrock helps primary pupils develop strong writing skills.

Learners use writing as a vehicle through which to express themselves and their ideas, both in and out of the classroom, in every subject across the curriculum. By improving learners’ writing skills, you prepare them for success in wider life.

In this guide, you will find practical advice for teachers on developing fundamental writing skills within the primary classroom.

The ability to express ideas in writing is one of the most important of all skills. Good writing is a mark of an educated person and, perhaps for that reason, it is one of the most important skills sought by employers and higher education institutions (Conley, 2003; Schmoker, 2018).

Developing our learners as writers is more than just asking them to remember tricky spellings, handwriting joins or grammatical constructs. It is a process which is intricate and complicated, but if done consistently and thoroughly, gives learners a tool which is vital for their school years, across all subjects and in life after education.

Writing makes learners’ thinking and learning visible. It provides them with the opportunity to clarify and refine their ideas for others and to themselves.

For learners to progress in their writing, they must have a solid understanding of the 5 basic writing skills and plenty of opportunity to practise and develop these skills.

Grammar is the system and structure of a language and comes with certain rules . It underpins how words are put together meaningfully and sentences are constructed. When writers use good grammar, they can effectively communicate what they want the reader to know. Through learning about nouns , punctuation , tense and aspect , brackets , semicolons , and connectors , learners can make their writing clearer and control its impact on their readers.

Spelling instruction helps learners to develop a connection between letters and their sounds. It also helps learners to recognise high-frequency common exception words. Teaching students strategies for spelling supports them in communicating effectively through writing.

While sentences can be written without punctuation, writing becomes a lot more effective if punctuated correctly. Good punctuation allows writers to convey what they mean and enables readers to understand the intended message or meaning. Every piece of punctuation has a particular role; they all work to give clarity and meaning to our written words.

Read more about the rules behind punctuation.

Handwriting is an important skill for learners to develop. Poor handwriting can harm school performance.

If a learner views handwriting as something arduous, this can reduce their motivation to write. This lack of motivation may lead to a reduction in practice which can further compound handwriting difficulties.

When learners can write comfortably, legibly and at a good pace, it gives them more ‘mental space’ to think about the content and creativity of their writing, as opposed to the logistics.

Learn more about handwriting in primary school.

Reading comprehension is the capacity to read a piece of text and understand the meaning or intent. It is important in the development of writing skills. Before learners can write with meaning, they need to be able to read.

The skills developed in reading and reading comprehension activities feed into many skills required for effective writing. It helps them to:

  • Sound out and blend words for meaning
  • Extend their vocabulary and learn how to use it contextually
  • See how words in a paragraph or in a sentence relate to each other

When the concept of reading at a base level has been achieved, learners can then start to think about a text critically ; they can infer meaning and intent and transfer this to their own writing. As well as this, reading comprehension relies on a strong understanding of vocabulary and grammar ; writing skills work together and strengthen one another.

For writing to progress, learners should have a good grasp of sentence structure. They should know the basic types of sentences : simple, compound and complex.

Learners should also be able to modify sentence structure for effect - for example, by using fronted adverbials or passive voice. Learning different ways they can structure a sentence helps learners convey their intended meaning in their writing.

Improve primary learners' writing skills

Explicit vocabulary and grammar instruction through a deep-learning algorithm to support learners of all abilities.

Teaching learners to recognise the different genres of writing and their characteristics and purpose will help them to implement these techniques in their own writing.

Throughout their schooling, learners should be exposed to a wide variety of nonfiction, narrative and poetry texts.

Within nonfiction , they will be exposed to explanation texts to inform; non-chronological reports to explain and persuasive texts to persuade and entertain, to name a few.

Within narrative texts , learners will examine stories with dilemmas, traditional tales and stories in a historical setting, among others.

Learners will also have the opportunity to explore poetry including structured poetry, visual poetry and free verse .

Learners should be given the opportunity to become familiar with a text type and its features. They should examine the language used, sentence structure, grammatical features and layout. They could highlight and annotate features of the text as they identify them - in this way, they form a kind of checklist for their own writing.

Well-chosen texts provide learners with good-quality models for their writing. In this way, they are exposed to rich language structures which lets them see how writing works and the effect it can have on the reader. Students draw on their reading experiences when producing their own writing.

Learners should be exposed to these high-quality texts across a range of genres, demonstrating a variety of writing styles. It is important that the texts chosen reflect the social and cultural diversity of the class while introducing them to a world outside the familiar.

This exposure can involve Independent Reading, Guided Reading, Shared Reading and just good old Reading for Pleasure, where the teacher or the learners take the lead.

According to the Centre for Literacy in Primary Education (CLPE), ‘Reading texts to children that they are not ready to access independently exposes them to language they can own.’ This gives those struggling readers an opportunity to be enriched by high-quality vocabulary with the right scaffolding .

Learners should be given plenty of opportunities for regular reading in the classroom. Some schools implement a whole-school policy whereby one session per week or fortnight is blocked out for Reading for Pleasure.

Reading is often not only encouraged but required as part of homework tasks. It is normal for there to be certain expectations for reading sessions to be carried out at home. This is often a book from a specific level that the teacher has matched to the learner’s reading ability. However, whatever age-appropriate texts students are reading at home is beneficial: magazines, catalogues, leaflets, websites, and books from home.

Parents/guardians should be encouraged to read with students at home too; this gives learners another perspective on the text from their parent/guardian and (hopefully!) helps foster a love, or at least a like, for reading.

When learners are writing, they should be clear on who their intended audience will be. Will it be their peers? Younger students? The headteacher? The King? The MD of a company?

In being clear on their intended audience, learners can further develop their understanding that writing is a tool for communication and expression. And of course, writing is not limited to literacy lessons - writing is used across all subjects, which gives learners even more opportunity to write for an intended audience and purpose.

The teaching of writing is more effective when learners see the purpose of it, and with an audience in mind, they can adapt their tone accordingly.

Some examples of writing students could produce inspired by text or real life:

  • A letter to the headteacher persuading him/her to allow a longer break time.
  • A newspaper report on a school/ local event.
  • Instructions on how to play Minecraft (or another game that is relevant and appropriate to them).
  • Within a topic (e.g., superheroes), learners create their own superhero, then write an explanation text to explain the superhero’s powers, special gadgets, crimes/issues targeted and how they became a superhero.
  • After reading a story or part of a story, learners write about an event from a character’s point of view not presented in the text.

Children could have access to free writing journals and, if possible (in the jam-packed curriculum we are all navigating!), time to develop their own personal writing projects, allowing their personal writing style to emerge.

With the popularity of diary-style series like Wimpy Kid and Tom Gates, the idea of keeping a diary may be very attractive to some learners. It is a good way to get children writing outside the classroom environment. Learners who keep a diary are twice as likely to exceed age expectations in writing .

According to the National Literacy Trust , the vast majority of children state that they enjoy writing more when they can choose what to write about. If learners can begin to derive pleasure from writing in this way, then hopefully this can be transferred to writing in a more formal setting.

Giving learners the opportunity to read aloud enables them to hear how punctuation and sentence structure combine in the sentences they read. It may even help them to think more deeply about perspective as they read from the point of view of new characters.

Reading aloud also provides the teacher with chances to correct misconceptions, such as mispronunciations and new vocabulary. These are all skills that can be channelled into their own writing composition.

As well as this, reading aloud is a good way to celebrate a student’s written work - they can present their achievements to their classmates.

Providing students with sentence starters can help with writing flow. It provides reassurance that they are on the right track in their writing. With all the different writing genres our learners are exposed to and then expected to write, it can be beneficial for some learners to have this scaffold .

Sentence starters could be in the form of a ‘word bank’ on the board or on a piece of paper, generated by the teacher. To give learners a little more ownership, this ‘word bank’ of sentence starters could be generated as a class and left on display.

More independent learners may enjoy coming up with their own word banks as they read texts; they can ‘magpie’ sentence starters they’d like to use for their writing.

Cooperative writing is a useful tool in helping learners on their writing journey.

One aspect of this is shared writing. It involves the teacher crafting a piece of writing on a whiteboard. The learners are encouraged to give input, often aided by teacher questioning and prompts. The result is a collaborative passage which learners can use to help with their independent writing.

Another type of cooperative writing is modelled writing. This requires less student input, but the students get to watch the act of writing. The teacher might write a sentence, and then articulate their thought process as to how the vocabulary in the sentence can be improved or what form of punctuation would work best here. In this way, learners can see the strategies the teacher draws on as he or she writes.

A third method of cooperative writing is guided writing. This involves the teacher working with a smaller group of children within the lesson (when the others are ‘on task’). This usually focuses on a specific objective that this group in particular needs support with, e.g., adding more detail to writing by using fronted adverbials. In this approach, the children usually produce their own writing in their English books with the teacher prompting and questioning.

Where possible, try to connect what the children are interested in with their writing. For example, if you have learners interested in Minecraft, they could write a letter of persuasion to the Prime Minister to persuade him to allow Minecraft lessons in school .

Another way of getting the children interested and excited about writing is to use humour. Show learners two emails to compare - both could be complaining about something. One could be written using formal language and the other could be written informally, bordering on being rude.

Example of formal writing through a letter

This lets learners see the effect of both pieces of writing.

Another way to use humour is in writing an explanation text. It could be about something perceived as mundane such as ‘How a Dishwasher Works’ but could be made humourous in the following way:

Example of humorous writing through instructions

Children can then use this to write their own explanations in a similar way.

Another idea is to set something up to happen, e.g., to use the superhero topic again - have an adult in school dress up as a ‘thief’ and another adult as a superhero. They could burst into your classroom at an agreed time and have a very dramatic ‘chase’ around the room and the superhero could catch the ‘thief’. Of course, you would have to consider the children in your class and if this would be appropriate for them. This dramatic action could be a good springboard to inspire children to write.

It is important to encourage parental support with writing at home . Parents may need guidance in how they can help their children with writing at home. It might be a good idea to put together a list of ways they can help, for example:

  • Allow children to help with everyday writing such as emails, shopping lists, writing birthday cards.
  • Try to make sure your child has an area (no matter how big or small) where they can write, as well as the tools for writing.
  • Let children write about what interests them: a recipe they have helped make, a film review, a similar story to one they have read, similar lyrics to a song they have heard.

Talking homework tasks are a good way to involve parents. Talking homework is used as part of Ros Wilson’s Big Write approach. Big Writing is when learners produce an extended piece of writing independently.

The night before the Big Write, learners are given a homework task to discuss their ideas with someone at home, for what they could write the next day. This means children are getting lots of input and parents are sharing in the learning.

To learn to write, students need a blend of different skills such as vocabulary knowledge, grammar knowledge, an understanding of sentence structure, fine motor skills and more. While some of these skills come down to dedicated instruction in the classroom, such as when transcribing and practising handwriting, some of the fundamental skills of writing can be boosted by a digital literacy curriculum such as Bedrock Learning.

Bedrock’s vocabulary curriculum teaches learners aged 6-16 the Tier 2 vocabulary they need to thrive, from Year 3 level all the way to advanced reading and vocabulary. Tier 2 vocabulary is taught through an intelligent Block system, ensuring each learner is placed into the right Block for their reading level - this ensures the texts are challenging, yet accessible. The smart Block system differentiates teaching for learners of different abilities, stretching confident readers and supporting struggling readers.

In addition to this, Bedrock’s core curriculum teaches vocabulary alongside a complete grammar curriculum, differentiated for primary and secondary learners . Grammar is taught through bespoke fiction and nonfiction texts , engaging teaching videos and mastery tasks , ensuring long-term retention.

Informed by the National Curriculum, Bedrock’s core curriculum not only teaches learners the grammar they need for their KS2 SATs , but also combines grammar and vocabulary instruction to boost reading comprehension and writing skills overall.

Discover how Bedrock’s curricula can support your learners throughout primary school - and beyond!

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How to Improve Writing Skills in Students

Amanda martin.

  • June 8, 2021

High school students sitting at a table and writing on paper.

Why is Writing Important for Students?

Writing skills are such an important part of a student’s education. Writing is a way for students to express and explain themselves adequately, and it encompasses a wide array of skills from grammar and punctuation to clarity and creativity. The perks of writing truly go on and on.

Furthermore, writing skills play an integral role in a student’s future. Potential employers may seek employees who are well versed and competent, but even more so, a written resume may be the first impression given in landing a new job. Imagine submitting an unorganized resume filled with grammatical errors, misspelled words, and half thoughts? Chances are that resume would be “thrown out” pretty quickly. Enhancing writing skills while in middle and high school can set students up for a more successful future, open the door for better opportunities, and make a great impression on those around them.

Grammar and Punctuation

Grammar and punctuation skills are important in both writing and as students progress into adulthood. As mentioned previously, using proper grammar and punctuation presents an excellent first impression for future employers and shows competency. Teachers can help students improve these skills by first providing practice in identifying grammatical errors and correcting them. One of the easiest ways to do this is to use grammar worksheets. Although the use of worksheets is frowned upon at times, they give students the opportunity to practice with grammar skills in a fast and efficient manner. Students may also wish to invest in a grammar dictionary to reference when in doubt.

Another skill that is crucial for students to master for success later in life is spelling ! Students must be able to spell words correctly. As with most skills, spelling can be improved with practice. Teachers may ask students to complete the “ancient” practice of the spelling test! Students must study new words (or words and vocabulary specific to new content) in order to spell them correctly on the test. Teachers may even encourage students to create flashcards to help them study. Additionally, one of the easiest ways to spell correctly in writing is to simply reference the dictionary to find a word’s proper spelling.

In writing, vocabulary is highly important. Students need a large enough vocabulary to properly and adequately describe and explain their thoughts. Teachers can help improve vocabulary skills by introducing new words each week. These words can also be used to help student spelling skills as mentioned before. As each week progresses, students should keep a list of all of their vocabulary words in a notebook or journal so that they can be quickly referenced when writing. As with spelling skills, students may want to reference the dictionary to discover new words and their meanings.

Have you ever read something and didn’t quite catch its intended meaning or what it was trying to get across? That may be because the writing lacked clarity. Writing should be logical, consistent, and coherent. In order to have clarity in writing, thoughts should be fully formed and completed with plenty of detail to aid the reader’s understanding and interpretation of the text. Teachers can help improve student clarity in writing by asking them to proofread their work.

Plagiarism is definitely something students need to avoid! When researching a topic or idea, it is easy to get swept away in the language or thoughts of another; however, students must learn that those ideas should be used as an aid in writing instead of using it as a foundation for their writing. Teachers should encourage creativity in writing and challenge students to think “outside the box.” Each student presents unique thoughts and ideas, and those qualities should be utilized in writing.

Strategies for Improving Student Writing Skills

Grammar race.

This activity requires teachers to create 4-5 stations for students to visit. At each station, there will be examples of various grammatical errors. Each student will need a clipboard or notebook that travels with them. Students will visit each station at their own pace to find one grammatical error, notate it, and move on; however, the name of the activity is “Grammar Race” so students should be challenged to work quickly. Allow students to move from station to station for 20-30 minutes.

Class Spelling Bee

Teachers can help students improve their spelling skills by hosting a class spelling bee once a week. Teachers should provide students with a list of words on Monday. Students will be given the rest of the week to study the words and prepare for the spelling bee. On Friday, students will complete the spelling bee. The spelling bee is completed like a normal spelling bee; however, words may need to be repeated if there are more students than words. Allow the spelling bee to continue for roughly 30 minutes. When time is up, the students remaining are the winners.

Read It Aloud

In this activity, students will proofread the work of classmates in order to provide constructive feedback. The teacher should place students into small groups of 3-4 students or allow students to work with a partner. Students should trade papers so that they no longer have their own. Then, they will read each student’s writing aloud. Reading aloud helps to identify any mistakes (specifically mistakes in clarity or organization of the text) that may not otherwise be caught. Students should check for mistakes (in both grammar and spelling) and to search for any lack of clarity in writing.

Get Organized

Teachers should aid students in the writing process by teaching them to organize their thoughts on paper first. Students can complete an outline or a writing map on paper first to help them identify the main points they would like to address and so on. Planning the steps in the writing process in this manner is extremely beneficial in staying on task in writing. It also helps students write with clarity as it helps them bring their thoughts full circle.

One of my favorite ways of implementing and teaching creative thinking is by writing one word on the board and asking students to respond. For instance, the teacher may write the word “tiger” or “beautiful” on the board. Student responses can be anything from short personal narratives to expository texts involving the provided word. Regardless of the response, students are encouraged to think creatively and respond freely. This activity teaches students how easy it is to create their own ideas and think uniquely.

  • #WritingSkills , #WritingStrategiesForStudents

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How to Improve Creative Writing

Last Updated: April 26, 2024 Fact Checked

This article was co-authored by Melessa Sargent and by wikiHow staff writer, Hannah Madden . Melessa Sargent is the President of Scriptwriters Network, a non-profit organization that brings in entertainment professionals to teach the art and business of script writing for TV, features and new media. The Network serves its members by providing educational programming, developing access and opportunity through alliances with industry professionals, and furthering the cause and quality of writing in the entertainment industry. Under Melessa's leadership, SWN has won numbers awards including the Los Angeles Award from 2014 through 2021, and the Innovation & Excellence award in 2020. There are 7 references cited in this article, which can be found at the bottom of the page. This article has been fact-checked, ensuring the accuracy of any cited facts and confirming the authority of its sources. This article has been viewed 35,914 times.

Creative writing is an outlet to express your imagination by putting it onto paper. Many people enjoy creative writing, but some struggle with it because of how unstructured it can feel. If you have been writing creatively and you’d like to improve your skills, try learning grammar rules and receiving feedback on your work to strengthen your creative writing and boost your confidence.

Creating Polished Work

Step 1 Learn the basic grammar and punctuation rules of your language.

  • Using correct grammar and punctuation will also make your writing seem more polished.

Step 2 Cut down on unnecessary adjectives and adverbs.

  • For example, instead of saying, “He quickly and quietly ate his food,” try saying, “He gulped down his meal.” This sentence is more interesting, and gives the same effect to the reader.

Step 3 Proofread your work carefully.

Tip: Take a break from writing and come back to your piece after a few hours or even days. Mistakes will be easier to spot after you’ve taken a break.

Step 4 Revise your first draft as you need to.

  • Revising is similar to proofreading, except you are looking for ways to improve your piece, not just correcting mistakes.

Step 5 Join a writing group to get constructive criticism.

  • Don’t be offended if someone doesn’t like your piece, or has a lot of feedback to give. You can choose whether or not to implement a change that someone else suggests.

Finding Time and Ideas

Step 1 Block off time to write every day.

Tip: If you think you might forget to write, set an alarm on your phone to remind yourself.

Step 2 Read books that you think you will enjoy.

  • Get a library card so that you can check out books for free instead of buying them every time.

Step 3 Look up writing prompts to give yourself inspiration.

  • For example, you might start with a prompt like, “Imagine what it would be like to be a plant,” or "Write about a day in the life of Barack Obama.”

Step 4 Practice people-watching to observe interactions and get story ideas.

  • You can also use people-watching to practice writing down descriptions of behavior and clothing.

Step 5 Write your own take on an existing story.

  • For instance, try writing a fairytale from another character’s perspective, or setting it in today’s era.

Step 6 Set deadlines for yourself.

  • Deadlines that you set for yourself can seem easy to brush off, but you will be disappointed in yourself if you don’t meet them.
  • Make sure your deadlines are realistic. Don’t plan on finishing an entire book by next week if you’re only halfway through.

Expert Q&A

Melessa Sargent

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Write in Cursive

  • ↑ https://www.luc.edu/literacy/grammar.shtml
  • ↑ https://writingcenter.unc.edu/tips-and-tools/editing-and-proofreading/
  • ↑ https://writingcenter.unc.edu/tips-and-tools/group-writing/
  • ↑ Melessa Sargent. Professional Writer. Expert Interview. 14 August 2019.
  • ↑ https://www.urmc.rochester.edu/encyclopedia/content.aspx?ContentID=4552&ContentTypeID=1
  • ↑ https://www.uopeople.edu/blog/why-its-important-to-read/
  • ↑ https://cetl.uconn.edu/about/mission/

About This Article

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9 Easy Ways to Improve Your Child’s Creative Writing Skills

Improve Your Child’s Creative Writing Skills

Creative writing skills boost problem-solving, innovation, and resourcefulness. Helping our kids build these skills is important. Plus, it also gives them an outlet for all their creative ideas. How do you build those skills without making it seem like work?

Here are 9 ways to make creative writing skills fun:

1. Read Often

Books are the best precursor to writing. So get your kids reading! With repeated exposure to words, ideas, and styles, and in books, kids build the ability to mimic and adopt them.

Flood them with exposure to books and watch their skills rise. Yes, it will look a lot like what they’ve read at first. That’s ok! They’re just playing “dress up” with other people’s ideas. They’ll soon start writing like themselves.

Encourage your children to read more than one type of writing. If they gravitate toward non-fiction, maybe try historical fiction. If they only like superhero stories, introduce them to a story with a main character of a different gender or ethnicity.

2. Identify Ways to Practice

Just like anything, improving creative writing skills takes practice. Set your children up for success by making practice easy and fun.  This will only help them in future grades when they are required to write book reports . 

You can piggy-back creative writing off of other imaginative play and encourage your child to write down episodes of the games he plays. Allow the free flow of ideas – the more creative the better!

Focus on this type of activity can be tricky for kids. It’s important to give kids a dedicated writing space. Fill it with fun paper or a kids’ journal, great pencils, and few distractions.

3. Encourage Your Child to Write

Children are often predisposed to wanting to write. Even before they can form letters correctly, many children will say they are “writing.”

Nurture this desire!

When children feel writing is powerful, and their writing matters, they will want to keep trying. However, they want to start writing is how they should write.

If your child struggles with the physical act of writing, consider helping with that part. You can use talk-to-text features in apps or even agree to be their “scribe.” Then they worry less about the act of writing and pay more attention to the ideas they are forming.

4. Encourage Journaling

Journaling is a great way to encourage creative writing. It gives them a concrete way to see their “progress” writing.

A handful of kids’ journals often come preloaded with prompts and ideas, which helps kids get started. It also helps that journaling is usually a daily activity. By having smaller, but more frequent, writing sessions, it helps children develop a perspective on what writing can be.

Journaling also helps build emotional intelligence. By writing about their feelings, children work through their thoughts and emotions and are better able to recognize and accept them. It gives them the opportunity to talk about difficult things without embarrassment, advice, or recrimination.  

5. Use “Feeling” Words

Another benefit of building creative writing skills is children learn to use powerful words to draw in their readers.

You can encourage this development by helping them give their character’s feelings. When writers allow their characters to feel, they make them more relatable and interesting. But since the feelings of the characters don’t necessarily come to mind for kids, direct suggestion may help.  Help them get there by asking questions about the characters. Why was the hero doing that? What was she thinking? How was she feeling?

Additionally, use inclusive language to make readers feel part of the story as it evolves.  Educate children on the diversity of readers and encourage them to introduce characters that are from different cultures and backgrounds. 

6. Use Writing Prompts

Does your kid express an interest in writing only to freeze when they actually try to write? Writing prompts could help your child overcome it.

Writing prompts can be found in many places. Look for interesting signs, funny pictures in advertisements, or even just asking “what if” and “why” questions . You could even play a song to inspire ideas and writing.

The idea is not to make them write about something, but to give them enough of an idea to push past the fear of getting started. Once kids get past the first few sentences and are “in” their story, their ideas will come to the surface.

7. Practice Storytelling

The reason why many creative writers write is their love of story. To help your child build creative writing skills, foster that love.

The key is to focus on telling a great story, not the writing. Let your child’s imagination run free as he piece together details that can complete a tale.

You can build stories together, with each person telling a few lines of the story before passing it along to the next. Or you can “get stuck” telling your story and need their help figuring out what happens next.

Whatever twists and turns in the plot happen are magical because it shows your child is learning they are driving the story. They get to create.

8. Play Games

A robust vocabulary is another important creative writing skill. To help your child build their vocabulary, try playing word games.

Word games are great because they put the emphasis on the game, not the vocabulary learning. The competitive aspect increases their intrinsic motivation to learn the words. The games themselves are great family activities.

If your child isn’t competitive, there are plenty of team-oriented options. You could also try magnetic poetry, other game-like world builders, or even a cool journal for kids where they write down fun words they’ve heard.

9. Provide Inspiration

The best inspiration for kids to write comes from loving the work of other writers. When your child has a book or series they love, keep it going! Encouraging their love of reading – and their love of story – will help them internalize the way their favorite authors write.

Reading to your children helps too. Because you can read higher-level books while your child listens, it allows them to focus on the story. It also gives you a chance to have conversations about meaning, characters, and plot.

As children read, they build vocabulary and understanding of how good stories develop. They will eventually be able to incorporate these ideas into their creative writing.

Creative writing is sometimes seen as a hobby- something to enjoy, but not to be taken too seriously. But building creative writing skills positively impacts children because they learn to express themselves, they practice writing about emotions, and they practice making their writing compelling to their readers.

Whichever strategies you use to help your child improve their creative writing styles, make sure you keep it light-hearted. When it is fun, they’ll want to keep trying, and that’s where the growth happens.

Improve Your Child's Creative Writing Skills

About the Author:

Alexandra Eidens is the founder of Big Life Journal, an engaging resource to help kids develop a resilient growth mindset so they can face life’s challenges with confidence.

Read more about writing and why it’s important to teach your kids cursive writing .

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22 Writing Activities To Help Kids Hone Their Writing Skills

Written by Maria Kampen

  • Prodigy English

Whether you’re writing in class or at home, it’s easy to hit a wall with writing. These activities and games can help young students hone their skills.

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  • Fun writing activities
  • Creative writing activities
  • Academic writing activities
  • At-home writing activities
  • Daily writing activities
  • Simple writing prompts for kids
  • How writing activities can bring reluctant writers out of their shells
  • Try some other educational activities

When kids start writing, they’re unlocking a whole new world of imagination to explore. It’s a great way for them to be creative, express themselves and practice key reading and writing skills. 

But as most kids — and adults — will tell you, writing is hard! It can be intimidating to put pen to paper for the first time, and sometimes the challenge of a blank page seems like too much to overcome. 

Writing shouldn’t be scary for kids. These 22 fun writing activities can help them:

  • Use their imagination
  • Think up new stories and ideas
  • Share their writing with friends and family

Use them in your classroom or at home to get kids excited about writing!

Three students complete fun writing activities at school.

Writing is supposed to be fun! Use these activities to help kids stretch their imagination and record their thoughts on paper in a fun, low-stress environment.

1. Try online ELA games like Prodigy English

Great for: Grades 1 to 6

Online games are a great way to engage students in the learning process — and Prodigy English is bringing the power of game-based learning to language and reading skill practice!

As students build and create, they’re always practicing key reading and language skills that help them write clearly and effectively. Every correct answer gives players more energy to gather resources, complete daily tasks and earn Wishcoins.

Plus, you can send questions about the topics you want them to practice and collect insights about their learning.

2. Poetry scavenger hunt

Great for: Middle and high school students

Words are all around us, so encourage your students to take inspiration from the real-life writing they see every day. Have students collect printed words and phrases from the world around them, including:

  • Magazine ads
  • Graphic novels
  • Newspaper headlines
  • Social media captions

Students can collect and arrange their words on a piece of paper to make a unique piece of poetry. Encourage them to find a key idea and expand on it in creative ways, then have students share their work with the class. 

3. Create your own comic strip

Great for: Grades 4 to 10

Students learn in all sorts of ways. For visual learners, creating a comic strip to accompany their story can help them express themselves in a visual medium. 

Give students a set number of panels and challenge them to come up with a quick story — just a few sentences. Then, they can illustrate their scene in the style of comic books. 

Remind students the point isn’t to be the best artist — it’s to write a story that’s short and exciting. 

4. Create your own Madlib

Great for: Elementary and middle school students

Give students vocabulary practice and help them write a silly story at the same time!

Fill a sheet with the outline of the story, then remove key words like:

For younger students, add a word bank to get them started. As students fill in words, they’ll craft a unique story filled with unexpected twists and turns.

Young student sits at a table with pencil and paper during creative writing activities.

Once students start getting in the habit of writing, these creative writing activities can pull new ideas out of their heads and encourage them to experiment with different genres. 

5. Acrostics

Great for: Grades 3 to 8

Acrostic poems are a great way to introduce your students to poetry! Start with a meaningful word or name and use it as a theme for the poem. 

Writing the word vertically, students can go down the letters and write a short word or phrase that starts with each letter. Acrostic poems help students write within a structure and theme, so it’s easier for them to get started. 

6. A letter to your future self

Great for: Middle school and high school

Where do your students see themselves in a year? Five years? Ten years?

A letter to their future selves is a great way for students to explore their own story, and brainstorm what they want to achieve. Not only can students practice their letter-writing skills, they can use their imaginations to develop a growth mindset . 

For extra nostalgia, store the letters for students and mail them out once the right amount of time has passed. 

7. Write a “Choose your own adventure” story

Great for: Grades 5 and up

Whether it’s a fairy tale, detective story or drama, chances are you’ve had a student tell you they don’t know how their story is supposed to end. 

A “Choose-your-own-adventure” story lets students brainstorm different storylines and endings. Once they’re done, encourage them to share their stories with the class so their peers can go on the adventure too.

8. Write a fake advertisement

Great for: Grades 6 and up

Good writing doesn’t just happen in books — it’s all around us!

Whether students are writing advertisements on their own or as part of a project-based learning assignment , this activity helps them build key media literacy skills and practice their snappy storytelling. 

Have students make up a new product and advertisement, or encourage them to re-imagine an ad for something they love. It’s also a great way to bring media literacy and interdisciplinary learning to your classroom. 

9. Make a story map

Great for: Grades 2 to 8

Not every student is going to be comfortable putting pen to paper right away. Story maps can help students brainstorm details like plot, characters and setting in a way that makes sense for visual learners. 

Have students use charts to set out the beginning, middle and end of their stories. Mind maps can also help them plot out details about their characters or setting. 

Encourage students to present their story map as a finished product or use it to start writing!

Students works with a textbook, pencil and paper in the classroom.

Writing isn’t all fairy tales and short stories — it’s also an important part of learning in middle school, high school and college. Use these academic writing activities to help students understand proper essay structure, grammar and more. 

10. Story chains

Great for: Grades 4 to 8

Stories are better when they’re enjoyed with friends and classmates. And story chains encourage every student to get involved!

Put students in small groups of three to six. Give each student a blank piece of paper and have them write the beginning of a story. Then, pass it to the next student in the group so they can write what happens next. 

For extra educational value, have students work together to summarize a story from your lesson or an important historical event. 

11. Persuasive essays

Sometimes writing is about more than just telling a story. It’s about convincing your readers of your point of view. 

Have older students practice their debate skills with persuasive essays. Start with a prompt, then let students make their case. Some of our favorite prompts for this writing assignment include:

  • Is it more important to be right or to not hurt someone else’s feelings?
  • What important historical figure do you think belongs on the ten-dollar bill and why?
  • Do you think you’re born with your personality traits, or do you gain them as you grow up?

Most importantly, make sure students back up their opinions with solid facts and arguments that convince readers to care. 

12. Solve a real-world problem

Great for: Grade 6 and up

Climate change, litter, bullying, bad cafeteria food — no matter what students pick, there are lots of real-world problems for them to solve. 

Challenge students with a writing assignment that addresses a problem they see in their world. How would they fix it? Whether it’s a short paragraph or a longer essay, encourage them to find something they’re passionate about. After all, that’s where good writing comes from!

13. Vocabulary challenge

Great for: Elementary school students

Vocabulary challenges combine vocabulary strategies with student writing to make your next language arts lesson plan even more engaging. 

Give students a new word (or two or three). Once you’re done practicing it and they know what it means, challenge them to use it in a story as creatively as possible. 

14. Teach citations

Great for: Grades 1 to 12

Footnotes, endnotes and bibliographies are the least exciting part of writing, but they’re essential skills. As students write more complex research papers, they need to know how to give credit where credit is due. Thankfully, there are lots of online resources to help!

The Purdue Online Writing Lab offers teachers and students resources for all stages of the writing process, including citations. To practice, students can write an annotated bibliography as part of a project-based learning assignment or the first step in writing a longer research paper. 

Young girls works with her father on writing activities on their couch.

Writing isn’t just something happening in the classroom. These at-home writing ideas can help you support your child as they experiment with prose and poetry.

15. Write letters to a pen pal

Great for: Grades 3 and up

Everyone likes getting mail! Got a friend with kids in a different part of the country, or far-away family members? A pen pal can be a great way for kids to build friendships and practice their writing skills at the same time. 

16. Bring a home object to life

“It’s as big as a mountain!”

“That’s the fluffiest thing I’ve ever felt!”

The ways kids describe things can crack us up sometimes. Full of wonder and hyperbole, it’s the perfect spark for creative writing, too.

Encourage kids to practice their figurative language skills with a description of something in your home. Let them pack as much alliteration and exaggeration into the description as they can, then do a dramatic reading out loud.  

17. Write reading reactions

If you want to boost reading comprehension and writing skills at the same time, this is the perfect activity. After your child is done reading, encourage them to write a few sentences about what they just read. 

Did they like it? What do they think happens next? Which character was their favorite and why? Learning how to express opinions in writing is a valuable skill. 

18. Document family stories

Great for: Grades 4 and up

Every family has a unique story, including yours. Make memories with your child when you share stories about important family events or your childhood. 

Kids can even interview grandparents, aunts and uncles to record their memories. When you’re done, store them in a shared space so everyone can go back and reminisce.

A person sits at a desk with a notebook, paper, pen and coffee cup.

Writing is a muscle, and you have to flex it every day to get stronger. Use these daily writing activities to make writing part of your everyday routine. 

19. Journaling

Great for: Everyone

Sometimes, you’ve just gotta write it out. 

Whether you’re trying to make sense of life or just need a place to organize your thoughts, journaling is a great way to unwind, practice mindfulness and build social emotional skills . 

All kids need to get started is a notebook and a pen. Let them know you’re not going to read it, but they’re welcome to come to you if there’s something they want to talk about. 

20. Blog about your interests

Great for: High school and up

Everyone’s passionate about something. Whatever your students love, encourage them to share it with the world! Blogging is an accessible and fun way to express themselves, nerd out about the things that bring them joy and share their opinions with the world. 

Sites like WordPress and Wix offer free website builders to help students get started. This is a great way for kids to build computer skills and digital literacy .

21. Free writing

Write, write, write and don’t stop. That’s the premise behind free writing, a writing practice that can help unlock creativity, discover new ideas and take the pressure out of a blank page. 

Give students a five-minute timer and challenge them to write continuously, without worrying about formatting, spelling or grammar. They can write about whatever they want, but there’s only one rule: don’t stop. 

22. Answer daily writing prompts

Make time to exercise your brain with daily writing prompts! At the start of the day or as a quick brain break , set aside time for students to respond to a quick daily writing prompt. 

Students should have a dedicated journal or binder to make it a seamless part of your lessons. Whether or not you choose to read their writing is up to you, but it’s important to build good daily habits. 

Teacher and child sit in the classroom and work on writing activities together.

A blank page can be a scary sight for a student who doesn’t know what to write about. 

Use writing prompts to:

  • Kickstart a student’s imagination
  • Start your lesson with a fun writing activity
  • Give students a topic to debate in writing

Some of our favorite simple writing prompts include:

  • Write a story about a wooden door, a can of soda and a blue shoe. 
  • If you met a monster looking for new friends, what would you do?
  • What’s your favorite season? What makes it the best?
  • If you could live anywhere in the world, where would it be and why?
  • Describe your dream birthday cake. 
  • Write a story about being cold without using the word “cold.”
  • If you could decorate your bedroom any way you wanted, what would it look like?
  • Is it better to have lots of friends or just a few really good friends?
  • Write a story in 10 words or less.
  • Write a story about the best surprise you’ve ever received. 

For more writing prompts you can use in and out of the classroom, check out our full list of 225 writing prompts for kids .

Writing activities can bring reluctant writers out of their shells

Writing is hard and can be intimidating for a lot of students. 

But even the quietest and most reluctant students have lots of stories to tell! You just have to encourage them to get their words out. 

Writing activities help remove some of the pressure and give students:

  • A fun way to approach writing 
  • A starting point for their stories
  • Chances to share their writing with students

No two stories are the same, just like your students. Every story can start in a different way, and that’s the beauty of writing prompts.

Whether it’s writing activities or math problems, there are lots of ways to get reluctant learners excited about your lessons with educational activities. 

Here are some of our favorites:

  • 37 Quick & Easy Brain Breaks for Kids
  • 30 Virtual School Activities Students & Educators Love  
  • 27 Best Educational Games for Kids to Play Sorted by Subject  
  • 15 Geometry Activities to Engage Students Across Grade Levels
  • 36 Fun Word Games for Kids To Help with Vocabulary & Literacy
  • 15 Fun, Free & Effective Multiplication Games For Your Classroom
  • 20 Exciting Math Games for Kids to Skyrocket New Math Skills On-The-Go
  • 21 Classroom Games to Boost Teacher Effectiveness and Student Learning
  • 25 Social Emotional Learning Activities & How They Promote Student Well-Being

Which ones can you use in your next lesson?

Prodigy English is a brand-new game-based learning platform helping students build key math skills. As students explore and build a world of their very own, they’ll answer curriculum-aligned reading and language questions that help build essential skills and encourage a love of learning. 

Sign up for your free teacher account and get access to teacher tools that help you differentiate learning and track student progress as they play.

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  • Story Writing Tips

How to Improve Creative Writing Skills: 10 Fun Ways for Kids!

Want to be a novelist when you grow up? But worried that your English skills may not be up to scratch. Or maybe you just can’t seem to find the right inspiration to get you started! Here’s a list of 10 ways to improve your creative writing skills this summer. Guaranteed to leave you inspired and ready to write your next big novel or a super sweet short story!

What are Creative Writing Skills?

Before we tell you how to improve your creative writing skills, you need to know what exactly this means. Creative writing refers to fictional writing or storytelling. Take, for example, a newspaper article is not an example of creative writing, as it must include facts about a situation. While with creative writing you can use your imagination to make stuff up. Generally, the purpose of creative writing is to produce something which is entertaining, engaging and even personal. 

Many writers use creative writing as a way of expressing their feelings and thoughts. It is a type of art form which uses words instead of pictures to connect with people. Examples of creative writing may include:

  • Song lyrics
  • Short Stories
  • Movie scripts
  • Scripts for plays

But not all creative writing is fictional. Some like memoirs can be non-fictional and based on true stories. But could be written using imaginative language or have a dialogue between characters . 

10 Ways to Improve your creative writing skills

1. read everything you can find.

Let’s start with the obvious one! Read a lot! Read anything you find lying around your house from old storybooks to newspapers. While reading this stuff, pay attention to the words being used by the writer, the use of metaphors, adjectives, characters, the plot, the conflict in the story etc. If you come across a word you don’t understand, use a dictionary to find its meaning and then practice using it in a sentence to gain a better understanding of that word. For more ways to get kids reading, check out this cool article .

2.  Find inspiration in everyday things.

The world around you is full of interesting events. Go for a walk and ask yourself questions, such as what is that person doing? What is that dog looking at? Why are those people arguing? Write a summary of something that is happening on the TV or a video game you just finished playing. Write about everything and anything you see, hear, smell or feel! You’ll be surprised at what pops up in your head.

3.  Use writing prompts to inspire you.

There are tons of resources on the internet that can inspire you, in magazines, newspaper headlines and any other words you find lying around. Why not check out our writing prompts for kids or sign-up for our newsletter for monthly creative writing resources?

4.  Criticise the work of others.

When reading a book, try to identify the flaws in that story and list a couple of improvements. Also, note down the best parts of that story, what did you enjoy while reading that book? This can help you to understand the elements of a great story and what to avoid when writing. You can aim to do weekly or monthly book reviews on the books you read. Soon you’ll be able to master the secrets of great creative writing like a master!

5. Keep a journal and write something in it every day.

Even if you think your life is boring and nothing interesting ever happens in it. You can write about your goals and inspirations or what you did for lunch today. Anything is better than nothing! One day you’ll look back at these notes and they’ll inspire you to write an awesome story – you never know.

6.   Play imaginative games.

Games such as cops and robbers or pretending to be a character from your favourite TV show or movie can be really inspirational. You can use our printable Red Riding Hood paper finger puppets to role-play the story of Red Riding Hood! Link a writing activity with these games, such as writing a day in the life story for a character you are playing or sending an imaginary letter to your favourite character in the story.

7.   Rewrite a famous story.

Sometimes creating new characters or a story plot from scratch can be difficult. To improve your creative writing skills you can take a well-known story, such as Cinderella or any other fairy tale and change it slightly, so it has a different ending or comes from a different character’s perspective. For example, you can write from the point of view of the ugly stepsisters and how they felt when Cinderella found her Prince Charming! Or what if Prince Charming chose the stepsisters over Cinderella, what would she have done to escape?

8. Use image prompts to inspire you!

Image prompts, such as photographs, paintings, or a picture in a magazine can be great. You can even take your own pictures when on a day out or on holiday. When you come home, for each picture you can write an interesting caption to describe it. You can even try creating a whole story from all your holiday photos!

9. Incentivise your writing!

When writing, try setting yourself some small goals. For example today I will aim to write 100 words. Once you achieve this goal, give yourself a reward. This can be anything you like, such as going out with your friends, watching your favourite film or playing your favourite game. The important thing is that you stay motivated when writing. This is most important when trying to improve your creative writing skills.

10. Connect writing with your interests.

If you love football, why not write about your favourite footballer? How would you feel if you met them? What would you say to them? Why not write an imaginary letter to them? Whatever you enjoy doing, you can link any writing activity to it!

Check out our list of over 100 creative writing exercises for more ideas on how to improve your creative writing skills. 

Bonus Creative writing Tips

  • Don’t worry too much about spelling or grammar. You can fix these afterwards, once you have your story in place. Focus on developing creative story ideas and how wacky your stories can become!
  • Ensure you have a comfortable place to write your stories. Check out our Pinterest for suitable reading and writing nooks! The perfect writing nook should have pens, paper, pencils, a dictionary, a thesaurus, a bookshelf and anything else that you love!
  • Plan your story before writing. Check out our cool, printable storyboard template here .
  • Schedule some time every day to focus on reading or writing activities.

See over 26 creative writing tips that will turn you into a professional writer!

Top 5 Skills for Creative Writing

Interested in creative writing? The skills of a creative writer include:

  • Imagination: You need a great deal of imagination to excel in creative writing. No one wants to read the same old story again, they want to see a unique take on a topic – Something that makes them go wow!
  • Persistence:  Writing takes time. Whether it’s a poem or a novel, you need to be able to spend hours, days and even weeks and months perfecting your ideas and working out a plot. And then comes the editing and publishing process. Let’s just say you can’t be a great creative writer in one day – that’s for sure. 
  • Resilience: T he life of a creative writer is hard. You will be faced with a lot of criticism from all sorts of people. Some might think your story is not realistic, others might say your plot is a little dull. But you need to be able to handle criticism and build from it. Remember criticism is not a bad thing, it helps you become a better writer. 
  • Writing Ability: Your words have to make sense, grammatically. You can be a professional creative writer if you’re not sure how to use commas or don’t know how to format dialogue properly. For this reason, it is important to understand the basics of writing in general before you become a creative writer. 

Got any more tips to improve your creative writing skills? Let us know by commenting below!

10 ways to improve your creative writing skills for kids - Imagine Forest

Marty the wizard is the master of Imagine Forest. When he's not reading a ton of books or writing some of his own tales, he loves to be surrounded by the magical creatures that live in Imagine Forest. While living in his tree house he has devoted his time to helping children around the world with their writing skills and creativity.

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6 Effective Ways to Improve Writing Skills

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Step 1: Cultivate a Reading Habit

Step 2: encourage writing regularly, step 3: focus on vocabulary expansion, step 4: teach grammar and syntax, step 5: practice different types of writing, step 6: create a supportive environment.

Have you ever wondered why some children seem to excel at writing while others struggle to put their thoughts on paper? It’s a common concern among parents and educators alike, especially in a world where communication skills are more important than ever. Finding effective ways to improve writing skills for kids is a goal we all share, but how do we achieve it?

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This blog will cover a structured approach to developing your child’s writing skills . By the end of this guide, your child will be equipped with the tools they need to express themselves more effectively and confidently through writing.

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  • Start Early:

One of the most effective ways to improve writing skills in kids is to introduce them to the world of reading as early as possible. When children are exposed to reading from a young age, they not only learn new words but also understand how sentences are structured , and stories are built. This early exposure lays a solid foundation for their writing skills. 

  • Diverse Materials:

To keep their interest alive and kicking, it’s crucial to offer children a variety of reading materials. By diversifying their reading materials, children explore different writing styles, learn new vocabulary, and understand various perspectives. This opens their minds to different ways of expressing thoughts, which is a key component in how to improve writing skills. SplashLearn offers a variety of books for kids to read according to their reading levels :

  • Decodable Books
  • Leveled Readers
  • Bedtime Stories
  • Story Books Featuring Fun Characters

Track Your Kid’s Reading Progress:

Splashlearn reading books resources

Talking about what they read is as important as the reading itself. When you discuss a book or any reading material with your child, you encourage them to think critically about the story, the characters, and the message. Ask them questions like, “What do you think will happen next?” or “Why do you think the character did that?”

This engages them in a way that mirrors the writing process. They learn to form opinions and articulate their thoughts, which are essential skills in writing. Engaging in discussions about reading materials is a powerful strategy as it teaches kids to connect with the material on a deeper level and express their insights effectively.

Begin with these reading skills enhancing games :

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Encouraging kids to write regularly is a cornerstone in developing writing skills. When children make writing a habit, they improve their ability to express thoughts clearly and become more creative and confident. Here’s how you can support this habit:

  • Creative Worksheets

Creative worksheets are a fun and effective way to engage children in writing. These worksheets can include word puzzles , word matching , and sentence completion exercises that make writing enjoyable and reinforce writing skills and strategies. By solving these worksheets, children learn to think creatively, structure sentences, and use new words, all of which are essential components of writing.

Begin here:

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  • Daily Journal

Maintaining a daily journal offers numerous benefits. It provides a personal space for children to express their thoughts, feelings, and daily experiences. This practice helps develop writing skills and encourages them to reflect on their day, fostering a habit of mindfulness and self-awareness. 

  • Writing Prompts

Using writing prompts is a fantastic way to stimulate creativity in young writers. Prompts can range from imaginative scenarios to questions about their daily life, encouraging them to think outside the box and explore different writing styles. This exploration is crucial in developing writing skills, allowing children to experiment with their voice, tone, and narrative structures.

  • Letters and Emails

In today’s digital age, teaching kids the value of writing to communicate with others is more important than ever. Writing letters and emails to friends and family members not only practices formal and informal tones but also emphasizes the importance of clear communication. It’s a practical application of writing in real-world scenarios, showing children the power and impact of their words.

Vector graphics of vocab

Expanding a child’s vocabulary is a key factor in ways to improve writing skills for kids. A rich vocabulary allows kids to express themselves more clearly and creatively in their writing. Here are some effective methods to enhance their vocabulary :

  • Vocabulary Building Worksheets

Adding vocabulary-building worksheets to your child’s learning routine is an effective method to enhance their word bank. These worksheets can range from matching words with their meanings, filling in blanks with appropriate words to creating sentences with new vocabulary. 

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  • Word of the Day

Implementing a “Word of the Day” strategy is a simple yet powerful way to expand your child’s vocabulary gradually. Each day, introduce a new word, its meaning, and how it can be used in a sentence. Encourage your child to use this new word throughout the day in their conversations or writing. 

Reading aloud to children, or having them read aloud to you, offers dual benefits. Firstly, it exposes them to new words in context, which is crucial for understanding usage and nuances. Secondly, reading aloud improves pronunciation and helps in retaining new vocabulary. This interactive activity also allows for immediate explanations of unfamiliar words, enhancing comprehension and the ability to use these new words in writing. 

Grammar categorisation

Understanding grammar and syntax is crucial for children to write correctly and effectively. Here’s how you can help lay a solid foundation and improve their skills in this area:

  • Basic Grammar

Starting with the basics of grammar is essential. This includes understanding parts of speech, sentence structure, and punctuation. Teaching basic grammar helps children form correct sentences and express their ideas clearly. By knowing how to construct sentences properly, children can communicate their thoughts more effectively, making their writing not only correct but also more engaging. 

Start here:

Card Image

  • Editing Practice

The importance of self-editing cannot be overstated. Encouraging children to review and edit their writing teaches them to pay attention to detail and critically evaluate their work. This practice not only helps in correcting grammatical errors but also in refining their writing over time. You can start with focused practice, such as looking for and correcting only punctuation errors, and gradually move to more complex aspects like sentence structure and word choice.

Different types of writing

Diversifying the types of writing your child practices is key to developing well-rounded writing skills. Here’s how to approach this:

Exposing children to different writing styles and formats includes storytelling , descriptive essays , book reports, and persuasive essays , among others. Each style serves a different purpose and helps children learn to adjust their tone, vocabulary, and structure accordingly. For instance, storytelling encourages creativity and the use of descriptive language, while persuasive writing teaches them to present arguments logically. 

  • Guided Writing

Structured guidance in writing is important, especially when children are exploring new types of writing. Guided writing involves providing a clear framework or outline for a writing task, which can help children organize their thoughts and focus on the task at hand. This could be as simple as giving them a template for a book report or a step-by-step guide for crafting a story. 

Through guided writing, children learn how to structure their work, develop ideas, and link thoughts coherently, which are essential skills for any type of writing. 

Constructive feedback is a powerful tool for fostering improvement in writing. When giving feedback, focus on both strengths and areas for improvement. Highlight what they did well to encourage them, and offer specific suggestions on how they can make their writing even better. 

For example, if a child writes a story, you might compliment their imaginative plot but suggest they develop their characters more deeply. Feedback should be a balance of encouragement and constructive criticism, helping children understand that writing is a process of continuous learning and growth.

Vector graphics of kid writing

Creating a supportive environment is crucial for children, especially for those who may be struggling with writing. A nurturing atmosphere can significantly enhance their learning experience and contribute to their writing development. Here’s how you can create such an environment:

  • Setting Goals: The Importance of Achievable Targets

Setting clear, achievable goals is another essential aspect of creating a supportive environment for children learning to write. When setting goals, it’s important to ensure they are specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and time-bound (SMART). For a child struggling with writing, this could mean setting a goal to write a short paragraph each day, learning five new vocabulary words a week, or completing a simple story over a month.

  • Encouragement: The Power of Positive Reinforcement

When you acknowledge their efforts and progress, no matter how small, you validate their hard work and encourage them to keep trying. Highlighting what they’ve done well before addressing areas for improvement can make them more receptive to feedback and eager to improve. This approach is fundamental as it builds a positive association with the learning process.

  • Writing Space: Creating a Conducive Space for Writing

Designating a specific area for writing that is quiet, well-lit, and comfortable can help your child concentrate better and feel more inclined to write. This space doesn’t need to be large or elaborate; a small desk with organized supplies can make a big difference. A dedicated writing space signals to your child that writing is an important activity deserving of its own special place, thereby supporting them in their efforts to improve their writing skills.

  • Be a Role Model: Demonstrating the Value of Writing in Everyday Life

By incorporating writing into your daily routine you demonstrate that writing is a valuable skill beyond the classroom. Whether it’s writing a shopping list, sending an email, or jotting down notes for a project, showing your child that writing is a part of everyday life can inspire them to explore writing outside of academic assignments. Being a role model in this way is one of the most effective ways to improve writing skills for kids, as it provides them with a tangible example to emulate.

Conclusion 

Improving your child’s writing skills is a journey that involves patience, practice, and support. By following these steps and consistently applying these ways to improve writing skills for kids, you can help your child become a confident and capable writer. Remember, every effort counts in nurturing their growth and love for writing.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

How do you help a child who is slow in writing.

To help a child who is slow in writing, encourage them with positive reinforcement, break writing tasks into smaller, manageable steps, and provide them with plenty of time to practice without pressure.

How can I get my 5-year-old to practice writing?

To get your 5-year-old to practice writing, make it fun by using colorful markers, engaging in activities like tracing letters in sand or with finger paints, and praising their efforts to keep them motivated. Incorporating writing into playtime activities can also be very effective.

What causes poor writing skills in students?

Poor writing skills in students can be caused by a lack of reading, insufficient practice, limited vocabulary, and inadequate feedback on their writing. Sometimes, it’s also due to a lack of interest or confidence in their writing abilities.

How can students improve their writing skills?

Ways to improve writing skills for students include reading regularly to enhance their vocabulary and understanding of sentence structure, practicing writing consistently, seeking feedback to learn from mistakes, and engaging in exercises that focus on different aspects of writing, such as grammar, punctuation, and style.

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How to Teach Creative Writing | 7 Steps to Get Students Wordsmithing

how to improve creative writing skills in students

“I don’t have any ideas!”

“I can’t think of anything!”

While we see creative writing as a world of limitless imagination, our students often see an overwhelming desert of “no idea.”

But when you teach creative writing effectively, you’ll notice that  every  student is brimming over with ideas that just have to get out.

So what does teaching creative writing effectively look like?

We’ve outlined a  seven-step method  that will  scaffold your students through each phase of the creative process  from idea generation through to final edits.

7. Create inspiring and original prompts

Use the following formats to generate prompts that get students inspired:

  • personal memories (“Write about a person who taught you an important lesson”)
  • imaginative scenarios
  • prompts based on a familiar mentor text (e.g. “Write an alternative ending to your favorite book”). These are especially useful for giving struggling students an easy starting point.
  • lead-in sentences (“I looked in the mirror and I couldn’t believe my eyes. Somehow overnight I…”).
  • fascinating or thought-provoking images with a directive (“Who do you think lives in this mountain cabin? Tell their story”).

student writing prompts for kids

Don’t have the time or stuck for ideas? Check out our list of 100 student writing prompts

6. unpack the prompts together.

Explicitly teach your students how to dig deeper into the prompt for engaging and original ideas.

Probing questions are an effective strategy for digging into a prompt. Take this one for example:

“I looked in the mirror and I couldn’t believe my eyes. Somehow overnight I…”

Ask “What questions need answering here?” The first thing students will want to know is:

What happened overnight?

No doubt they’ll be able to come up with plenty of zany answers to that question, but there’s another one they could ask to make things much more interesting:

Who might “I” be?

In this way, you subtly push students to go beyond the obvious and into more original and thoughtful territory. It’s even more useful with a deep prompt:

“Write a story where the main character starts to question something they’ve always believed.”

Here students could ask:

  • What sorts of beliefs do people take for granted?
  • What might make us question those beliefs?
  • What happens when we question something we’ve always thought is true?
  • How do we feel when we discover that something isn’t true?

Try splitting students into groups, having each group come up with probing questions for a prompt, and then discussing potential “answers” to these questions as a class.

The most important lesson at this point should be that good ideas take time to generate. So don’t rush this step!

5. Warm-up for writing

A quick warm-up activity will:

  • allow students to see what their discussed ideas look like on paper
  • help fix the “I don’t know how to start” problem
  • warm up writing muscles quite literally (especially important for young learners who are still developing handwriting and fine motor skills).

Freewriting  is a particularly effective warm-up. Give students 5–10 minutes to “dump” all their ideas for a prompt onto the page for without worrying about structure, spelling, or grammar.

After about five minutes you’ll notice them starting to get into the groove, and when you call time, they’ll have a better idea of what captures their interest.

Did you know? The Story Factory in Reading Eggs allows your students to write and publish their own storybooks using an easy step-by-step guide.

The Story factory in Reading Eggs

4. Start planning

Now it’s time for students to piece all these raw ideas together and generate a plan. This will synthesize disjointed ideas and give them a roadmap for the writing process.

Note:  at this stage your strong writers might be more than ready to get started on a creative piece. If so, let them go for it – use planning for students who are still puzzling things out.

Here are four ideas for planning:

Graphic organisers

A graphic organiser will allow your students to plan out the overall structure of their writing. They’re also particularly useful in “chunking” the writing process, so students don’t see it as one big wall of text.

Storyboards and illustrations

These will engage your artistically-minded students and give greater depth to settings and characters. Just make sure that drawing doesn’t overshadow the writing process.

Voice recordings

If you have students who are hesitant to commit words to paper, tell them to think out loud and record it on their device. Often they’ll be surprised at how well their spoken words translate to the page.

Write a blurb

This takes a bit more explicit teaching, but it gets students to concisely summarize all their main ideas (without giving away spoilers). Look at some blurbs on the back of published books before getting them to write their own. Afterward they could test it out on a friend – based on the blurb, would they borrow it from the library?

3. Produce rough drafts

Warmed up and with a plan at the ready, your students are now ready to start wordsmithing. But before they start on a draft, remind them of what a draft is supposed to be:

  • a work in progress.

Remind them that  if they wait for the perfect words to come, they’ll end up with blank pages .

Instead, it’s time to take some writing risks and get messy. Encourage this by:

  • demonstrating the writing process to students yourself
  • taking the focus off spelling and grammar (during the drafting stage)
  • providing meaningful and in-depth feedback (using words, not ticks!).

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2. share drafts for peer feedback.

Don’t saddle yourself with 30 drafts for marking. Peer assessment is a better (and less exhausting) way to ensure everyone receives the feedback they need.

Why? Because for something as personal as creative writing, feedback often translates better when it’s in the familiar and friendly language that only a peer can produce. Looking at each other’s work will also give students more ideas about how they can improve their own.

Scaffold peer feedback to ensure it’s constructive. The following methods work well:

Student rubrics

A simple rubric allows students to deliver more in-depth feedback than “It was pretty good.” The criteria will depend on what you are ultimately looking for, but students could assess each other’s:

  • use of language.

Whatever you opt for, just make sure the language you use in the rubric is student-friendly.

Two positives and a focus area

Have students identify two things their peer did well, and one area that they could focus on further, then turn this into written feedback. Model the process for creating specific comments so you get something more constructive than “It was pretty good.” It helps to use stems such as:

I really liked this character because…

I found this idea interesting because it made me think…

I was a bit confused by…

I wonder why you… Maybe you could… instead.

1. The editing stage

Now that students have a draft and feedback, here’s where we teachers often tell them to “go over it” or “give it some final touches.”

But our students don’t always know how to edit.

Scaffold the process with questions that encourage students to think critically about their writing, such as:

  • Are there any parts that would be confusing if I wasn’t there to explain them?
  • Are there any parts that seem irrelevant to the rest?
  • Which parts am I most uncertain about?
  • Does the whole thing flow together, or are there parts that seem out of place?
  • Are there places where I could have used a better word?
  • Are there any grammatical or spelling errors I notice?

Key to this process is getting students to  read their creative writing from start to finish .

Important note:  if your students are using a word processor, show them where the spell-check is and how to use it. Sounds obvious, but in the age of autocorrect, many students simply don’t know.

A final word on teaching creative writing

Remember that the best writers write regularly.

Incorporate them into your lessons as often as possible, and soon enough, you’ll have just as much fun  marking  your students’ creative writing as they do producing it.

Need more help supporting your students’ writing?

Read up on  how to get reluctant writers writing , strategies for  supporting struggling secondary writers , or check out our huge list of writing prompts for kids .

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Watch your students get excited about writing and publishing their own storybooks in the Story Factory

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Greater Good Science Center • Magazine • In Action • In Education

How Creative Writing Can Increase Students’ Resilience

Many of my seventh-grade students do not arrive at school ready to learn. Their families often face financial hardship and live in cramped quarters, which makes it difficult to focus on homework. The responsibility for cooking and taking care of younger siblings while parents work often falls on these twelve year olds’ small shoulders. Domestic violence and abuse are also not uncommon.

To help traumatized students overcome their personal and academic challenges, one of our first jobs as teachers is to build a sense of community. We need to communicate that we care and that we welcome them into the classroom just as they are. One of the best ways I’ve found to connect with my students, while also nurturing their reading and writing skills, is through creative writing.

For the past three years, I’ve invited students in my English Language Development (ELD) classes to observe their thoughts, sit with their emotions, and offer themselves and each other compassion through writing and sharing about their struggles. Creating a safe, respectful environment in which students’ stories matter invites the disengaged, the hopeless, and the numb to open up. Students realize that nobody is perfect and nobody’s life is perfect. In this kind of classroom community, they can take the necessary risks in order to learn, and they become more resilient when they stumble.

Fostering a growth mindset

how to improve creative writing skills in students

One of the ways students can boost their academic performance and develop resilience is by building a growth mindset. Carol Dweck, Stanford University professor of psychology and author of the book Mindset , explains that people with a growth mindset focus on learning from mistakes and welcoming challenges rather than thinking they’re doomed to be dumb or unskillful. A growth mindset goes hand in hand with self-compassion: recognizing that everyone struggles and treating ourselves with kindness when we trip up.

One exercise I find very useful is to have students write a story about a time when they persevered when faced with a challenge—in class, sports, or a relationship. Some of the themes students explore include finally solving math problems, learning how to defend themselves, or having difficult conversations with parents.

I primed the pump by telling my students about something I struggled with—feeling left behind in staff meetings as my colleagues clicked their way through various computer applications. I confided that PowerPoint and Google Slides—tools (one might assume) that any teacher worth a paperweight has mastered—still eluded me. By admitting my deficiency to my students, asking for their help, and choosing to see the opportunity to remedy it every day in the classroom, I aimed to level the playing field with them. They may have been reading three or four grade levels behind, but they could slap a PowerPoint presentation together in their sleep.

For students, sharing their own stories of bravery, resilience, and determination brings these qualities to the forefront of their minds and helps solidify the belief that underlies a growth mindset: I can improve and grow . We know from research in neuroplasticity that when students take baby steps to achieve a goal and take pride in their accomplishments, they change their brains, growing new neural networks and fortifying existing ones. Neurons in the brain release the feel-good chemical dopamine, which plays a major role in motivating behavior toward rewards.

After writing about a few different personal topics, students choose one they want to publish on the bulletin boards at the back of the classroom. They learn to include the juicy details of their stories (who, what, when, where, why, and how), and they get help from their peers, who ask follow-up questions to prompt them to include more information. This peer editing builds their resilience in more ways than one—they make connections with each other by learning about each other’s lives, and they feel empowered by lending a hand.

In my experience, students are motivated to do this assignment because it helps them feel that their personal stories and emotions truly matter, despite how their other academics are going. One student named Alejandro chose to reflect on basketball and the persistence and time it took him to learn:

Hoops By Alejandro Gonzalez Being good takes time. One time my sister took me to a park and I saw people playing basketball. I noticed how good they were and decided I wanted to be like them. Still I told my sister that basketball looked hard and that I thought I couldn’t do it. She said,“You could do it if you tried. You’ll get the hang of it.” My dad bought me a backboard and hoop to play with. I was really happy, but the ball wasn’t making it in. Every time I got home from school, I would go straight to the backyard to play. I did that almost every day until little by little I was getting the hang of it. I also played with my friends. Every day after lunch we would meet at the basketball court to have a game. … I learned that you need to be patient and to practice a lot to get the hang of things. With a little bit of practice, patience, and hard work, anything is possible.

Originally, Alejandro wasn’t sure why he was in school and often lacked the motivation to learn. But writing about something he was passionate about and recalling the steps that led to his success reminded him of the determination and perseverance he had demonstrated in the past, nurturing a positive view of himself. It gave him a renewed sense of investment in learning English and eventually helped him succeed in his ELD class, as well.

Maintaining a hopeful outlook

Another way to build resilience in the face of external challenges is to shore up our inner reserves of hope —and I’ve found that poetry can serve as inspiration for this.

For the writing portion of the lesson, I invite students to “get inside” poems by replicating the underlying structure and trying their hand at writing their own verses. I create poem templates, where students fill in relevant blanks with their own ideas. 

One poem I like to share is “So Much Happiness” by Naomi Shihab Nye. Its lines “Even the fact that you once lived in a peaceful tree house / and now live over a quarry of noise and dust / cannot make you unhappy” remind us that, despite the unpleasant events that occur in our lives, it’s our choice whether to allow them to interfere with our happiness. The speaker, who “love[s] even the floor which needs to be swept, the soiled linens, and scratched records,” has a persistently sunny outlook.

It’s unrealistic for students who hear gunshots at night to be bubbling over with happiness the next morning. Still, the routine of the school day and the sense of community—jokes with friends, a shared bag of hot chips for breakfast, and a creative outlet—do bolster these kids. They have an unmistakable drive to keep going, a life force that may even burn brighter because they take nothing for granted—not even the breath in their bodies, life itself. 

Itzayana was one of those students who, due to the adversity in her life, seemed too old for her years. She rarely smiled and started the school year with a defiant approach to me and school in general, cursing frequently in the classroom. Itzayana’s version of “So Much Happiness” hinted at some of the challenges I had suspected she had in her home life:

It is difficult to know what to do with so much happiness. Even the fact that you once heard your family laughing and now hear them yelling at each other cannot make you unhappy. Everything has a life of its own, it too could wake up filled with possibilities of tamales and horchata and love even scrubbing the floor, washing dishes, and cleaning your room. Since there is no place large enough to contain so much happiness, help people in need, help your family, and take care of yourself.   —Itzayana C.

Her ending lines, “Since there is no place large enough to contain so much happiness, / help people in need, help your family, and take care of yourself,” showed her growing awareness of the need for self-care as she continued to support her family and others around her. This is a clear sign of her developing resilience.

Poetry is packed with emotion, and writing their own poems allows students to grapple with their own often-turbulent inner lives. One student commented on the process, saying, “By writing poems, I’ve learned to be calm and patient, especially when I get mad about something dumb.” Another student showed pride in having her writing published; she reflected, “I feel good because other kids can use it for calming down when they’re angry.”

To ease students into the creative process, sometimes we also write poems together as a class. We brainstorm lines to include, inviting the silly as well as the poignant and creating something that represents our community.

Practicing kindness

Besides offering my students new ways of thinking about themselves, I also invite them to take kind actions toward themselves and others.

In the music video for “Give a Little Love” by Noah and the Whale, one young African American boy—who witnesses bullying at school and neglect in his neighborhood —decides to take positive action and whitewash a wall of graffiti. Throughout the video, people witness others’ random acts of kindness, and then go on to do their own bit.

“My love is my whole being / And I’ve shared what I could,” the lyrics say—a reminder that our actions speak louder than our words and do have an incredible impact. The final refrain in the song—“Well if you are (what you love) / And you do (what you love) /...What you share with the world is what it keeps of you”—urges the students to contribute in a positive way to the classroom, the school campus, and their larger community.

After watching the video, I ask students to reflect upon what kind of community they would like to be part of and what makes them feel safe at school. They write their answers—for example, not being laughed at by their peers and being listened to—on Post-it notes. These notes are used to create classroom rules. This activity sends a message early on that we are co-creating our communal experience together. Students also write their own versions of the lyrics, reflecting on different things you can give and receive—like kindness, peace, love, and ice cream.

Reaping the benefits

To see how creative writing impacts students, I invite them to rate their resilience through a self-compassion survey at the start of the school year and again in the spring. Last year, two-thirds of students surveyed increased in self-compassion; Alejandro grew his self-compassion by 20 percent. The program seems to work at developing their reading and writing skills, as well: At the middle of the school year, 40 percent of my students moved up to the next level of ELD, compared to 20 percent the previous year. 

As a teacher, my goal is to meet students where they’re at and learn about their whole lives. Through creative writing activities, we create a community of compassionate and expressive learners who bear witness to the impact of trauma in each others’ experiences and together build resilience.

As a symbol of community and strength, I had a poster in my classroom of a boat at sea with hundreds of refugees standing shoulder to shoulder looking skyward. It’s a hauntingly beautiful image of our ability to risk it all for a better life, as many of my ELD students do. Recognizing our common humanity and being able to share about our struggles not only leads to some beautiful writing, but also some brave hearts.

About the Author

Headshot of Laura Bean

Laura Bean, M.F.A. , executive director of Mindful Literacy, consults with school communities to implement mindfulness and creative writing programs. She has an M.F.A. in Creative Writing and presented a mindful writing workshop at Bridging the Hearts and Minds of Youth Conference in San Diego in 2016.

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  • HOW TO GET STUDENTS WRITING IN 5 MINUTES OR LESS

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  • Writing Strategies for Middle School Students

Oct 13, 2022

Writing strategies for middle school students that help them break through writer’s block – your middle schoolers can use these strategies for the rest of the school year and, quite frankly, for the rest of their lives.

Why I teach writing strategies to my middle school students

Year after year, I ask my students if they had ever been taught these strategies before they were in my classroom. Often, they say that some teachers make them do one or two of these strategies once in a while. However, after using the writing strategies I teach and we use throughout the year in my class, these strategies have become a part of their writing process.

For instance, this school year Nicholas admitted something to me during a writing conference. He said, “I wasn’t doing some of them during your lesson, but then I got stuck when I got to my computer. Then, I remembered what you taught me, and so I pulled out my journal and used one of your writer’s tricks. I used to think it was a waste of time to plan before I write. But it really helps.”

Another student, Eva, had pages of lists, mind maps, etc. all unassigned by me. During her writer’s conference, she told me that she had this story in her head for a very long time and didn’t know how to get it onto paper. “With this class, I can now!” Her enthusiasm was all I needed to keep teaching these “magic” tricks to break writer’s block.

To have students internalize which strategy works best for them in a particular moment – that is gold! You taught them a life-long skill!

How to teach writing strategies for middle school students

First, I use a writing workshop in my classroom. Also, these strategies are used before we read as well, to allow students to think and connect with the topic or theme of a text we will study. For more information on writing workshop, click here for: Writer’s Workshop Middle School: The Ultimate Guide

Start with the five most used strategies first. Those are: asking questions, listing, mind mapping, writers sprints (freewriting), and drawing to write.

In order to get the best results, teach each writing strategy to your middle school students step-by-step, and practice a lot. 

When you employ these strategies, you will see a difference in your student writers in less time than it might have taken to teach writing before you taught these strategies and with less stress, too.

The two secrets to teaching these strategies are using a timer and making it common practice .

I like to call my 5 best writing strategies “the 5 writer’s tricks.” Using a magical theme helps it stick in the student’s mind, and what middle schooler doesn’t like a little magic?

This is what I do: I teach one trick per day for five days, and then after that I use them almost every day in bell ringers, reading annotations, pre-writing, reviewing concepts, etc. Therefore, any time I want my students to think and write down their thoughts, I employ one of these strategies. I always use a timer, too.

On my YouTube channel, I have created a playlist of videos that walks you through how I teach these 5 writing strategies or “writer’s tricks.” Each Monday, I will publish a video covering one of the tricks in depth. 

Click here to watch those:

My Five Top Writing Strategies

Blog Posts that Go Deeper into the 5 Tricks Writing Strategies for Middle School Students

Click on any of the blog post links below to read more about how I use these “magic” tricks with my students:

List Building

Mind Mapping

Writing Sprints

Drawing to Write

As I add more writing strategies to my classroom this year, I will add them here for you.

Click here for the 5 tricks that Break Writer's Block Teacher's Guide

https://www.teach2write.com/5tricks

This contains:

  • PDF Teacher guide with links to:
  • Engaging Magic themed Worksheets
  • Digital Worksheets
  • Videos for you about how to use and teach these strategies

For TPT products that use these 5 writing Strategies for middle school students, click on these links:

Writing Description Sensory Details Flip Book with Writing Activities

Listing Strategies

Writing Strategies Mind Mapping Practice

Journal Freewriting Activities Presentation Slides

Digital Mind Maps and Notebook 

mind-mapping-writing-strategy-resource

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  • Research-Based Teaching Tips

Efficient Ways to Improve Student Writing

Strategies, Ideas, and Recommendations from the faculty Development Literature

General Strategies

  • View the improvement of students’ writing as your responsibility. Teaching writing is not only the job of the English department alone.  Writing is an essential tool for learning a discipline and helping students improve their writing skills is a responsibility for all faculty.
  • Let students know that you value good writing. Stress the importance of clear, thoughtful writing. Faculty who tell students that good writing will be rewarded and poor writing will be penalized receive better essays than instructors who don't make such demands. In the syllabus, on the first day, and throughout the term, remind students that they must make their best effort in expressing themselves on paper. Back up your statements with comments on early assignments that show you really mean it, and your students will respond.
  • Regularly assign brief writing exercises in your classes. To vary the pace of a lecture course, ask students to write a few minutes during class. Some mixture of in-class writing, outside writing assignments, and exams with open-ended questions will give students the practice they need to improve their skills.
  • Provide guidance throughout the writing process. After you have made the assignment, discuss the value of outlines and notes, explain how to select and narrow a topic, and critique the first draft, define plagiarism as well.
  • Don't feel as though you have to read and grade every piece of your students' writing. Ask students to analyze each other's work during class, or ask them to critique their work in small groups. Students will learn that they are writing in order to think more clearly, not obtain a grade. Keep in mind, you can collect students' papers and skim their work.
  • Find other faculty members who are trying to use writing more effectively in their courses. Pool ideas about ways in which writing can help students learn more about the subject matter. See if there is sufficient interest in your discipline to warrant drawing up guidelines. Students welcome handouts that give them specific instructions on how to write papers for a particular course or in a particular subject area.

Teaching Writing When You Are Not an English Teacher

  • Remind students that writing is a process that helps us clarify ideas. Tell students that writing is a way of learning, not an end in itself. Also let them know that writing is a complicated, messy, nonlinear process filled with false starts. Help them to identify the writer's key activities:
  • Developing ideas
  • Finding a focus and a thesis
  • Composing a draft
  • Getting feedback and comments from others
  • Revising the draft by expanding ideas, clarifying meaning, reorganizing
  • Presenting the finished work to readers
  • Explain that writing is hard work. Share with your class your own struggles in grappling with difficult topics. If they know that writing takes effort, they won't be discouraged by their own pace or progress. One faculty member shared with students their notebook that contained the chronology of one of his published articles: first ideas, successive drafts, submitted manuscript, reviewers' suggested changes, revised version, galley proofs, and published article.
  • Give students opportunities to talk about their writing. Students need to talk about papers in progress so that they can formulate their thoughts, generate ideas, and focus their topics. Take five or ten minutes of class time for students to read their writing to each other in small groups or pairs. It's important for students to hear what their peers have written.
  • Encourage students to revise their work. Provide formal steps for revision by asking students to submit first drafts of papers for your review or for peer critique. You can also give your students the option of revising and rewriting one assignment during the semester for a higher grade. Faculty report that 10 to 40 percent of the students take advantage of this option.
  • Explain thesis statements. A thesis statement makes an assertion about some issue. A common student problem is to write papers that present overviews of facts with no thesis statement or that have a diffuse thesis statement.
  • Stress clarity and specificity. The more the abstract and difficult the topic, the more concrete the student's language should be. Inflated language and academic jargon camouflage rather than clarify their point.
  • Explain the importance of grammar and sentence structure, as well as content. Students shouldn't think that English teachers are the only judges of grammar and style. Tell your students that you will be looking at both quality of their writing and the content.
  • Distribute bibliographies and tip sheets on good writing practices. Check with your English department or writing center to identify materials that can be easily distributed to students. Consider giving your students a bibliography of writing guides, for example:

Crews, F.C. Random House Handbook. (6th ed.) New York: McGraw-Hill, 1992.

A classic comprehensive textbook for college students. Well written and well worth reading.

Lanham, R.A. Revising Prose . (3rd ed.) New York: Scribner's, 1991. Techniques for eliminating

bureaucratese and restoring energy to tired prose.

Tollefson, S. K. Grammar Grams and Grammar Grams II . New York: HarperCollins, 1989,

1992. Two short, witty guides that answer common questions about grammar, style, and usage. Both are fun to read.

  • Science and Engineering Barrass, R. Scientists Must Write. New York: Chapman and Hall, 1978. Biddle, A. W., and Bean, D. J. Writer's Guide: Life Sciences. Lexington, Mass.: Heath, 1987.
  • Arts and Humanities Barnet, S. A Short Guide to Writing About Art . Boston: Little, Brown, 1989. Goldman, B. Reading and Writing in the Arts. Detroit: Wayne State University Press, 1978.
  • Social Sciences Biddle, A. W., Fulwiler, T., and Holland, K.M. Writer's Guide: Psychology . Lexington, Mass,:

Heath, 1987. McCloskey, D. N. The Writing of Economics . New York: Macmillan, 1987.

  • Ask a composition instructor to give a presentation to your students. Invite a guest speaker from the composition department or student learning center to talk to your students about effective writing and common writing problems. Faculty who have invited these experts report that such presentations reinforce the values of the importance of writing.
  • Let students know about available tutoring services. Individual or group tutoring in writing is available on most campuses. Ask someone from the tutoring center to give a demonstration in your class.
  • Use computers to help students write better. Locally developed and commercially available software are now being used by faculty to help students plan, write, and revise their written work. Some software available allows instructors to monitor students' work in progress and lets students collaborate with their classmates.

Assigning In-Class Writing Activities

  • Ask students to write what they know about a topic before you discuss it. Ask your students to write a brief summary of what they already know or what opinions they hold regarding the subject you are about to discuss. The purpose of this is to focus the students' attention, there is no need to collect the summaries.
  • Ask students to respond in writing to questions you pose during class. Prior to class starting, list two or three short-answer questions on the board and ask your students to write down their responses. Your questions might call for a review of material you have already discussed or recalling information from assigned readings.
  • Ask students to write from a pro or con position. When presenting an argument, stop and ask your students to write down all the reasons and evidence they can think of that supports one side or the other. These statements can be used as the basis for discussion.
  • During class, pause for a three-minute write. Periodically ask students to write freely for three minutes on a specific question or topic. They should write whatever pops into their mind without worrying about grammar, spelling, phrasing, or organization. This kind of free writing, according to writing experts, helps students synthesize diverse ideas and identify points they may not understand. There is no need to collect these exercises.
  • Have students write a brief summary at the end of class. At the end of the class period, give your students index cards to jot down the key themes, major points, or general principles of the day's discussion. You can easily collect the index cards and review them to see whether the class understood the discussion.
  • Have one student keep minutes to be read at the next class meeting. By taking minutes, students get a chance to develop their listening, synthesizing, and writing skills. Boris (1983) suggests the following:
  • Prepare your students by having everyone take careful notes for the class period, go home and rework them into minutes, and hand them in for comments. It can be the students' discretion whether the minutes are in outline or narrative form.
  • Decide on one to two good models to read or distribute to the class.
  • At the beginning of each of the following classes, assign one student to take minutes for the period.
  • Give a piece of carbon paper to the student who is taking minutes so that you can have a rough copy. The student then takes the original home and revises it in time to read it aloud at the next class meeting.
  • After the student has read their minutes, ask other students to comment on their accuracy and quality. If necessary, the student will revise the minutes and turn in two copies, one for grading and one for your files.
  • Structure small group discussion around a writing task. For example, have your students pick three words that are of major importance to the day's session. Ask your class to write freely for two to three minutes on just one of the words. Next, give the students five to ten minutes to meet in groups to share what they have written and generate questions to ask in class.
  • Use peer response groups. Divide your class into groups of three or four, no larger. Ask your students to bring to class enough copies of a rough draft of a paper for each person in their group. Give your students guidelines for critiquing the drafts. In any response task, the most important step is for the reader to note the part of the paper that is the strongest and describe to the writer why it worked so well. The following instructions can also be given to the reader:
  • State the main point of the paper in a single sentence
  • List the major subtopics
  • Identify confusing sections of the paper
  • Decide whether each section of the paper has enough detail, evidence, and information
  • Indicate whether the paper's points follow one another in sequence
  • Judge the appropriateness of the opening and concluding paragraphs
  • Identify the strengths of the paper

Written critiques done as homework are likely to be more thoughtful, but critiques may also be done during the class period.

  • Use read-around groups. Read-around groups are a technique used with short assignments (two to four pages) which allows everyone to read everyone else's paper. Divide the class into groups no larger than four students and divide the papers (coded for anonymity) into as many sets as there are groups. Give each group a set and ask the students to read each paper silently and decide on the best paper in the set. Each group should discuss their choices and come to a consensus on the best paper. The paper's code number is recorded by the group, and the same process is repeated with a new set of papers. After all the groups have read all the sets of papers, someone from each group writes on the board the code number from the best paper in each set. The recurring numbers are circled. Generally, one to three papers stand out.
  • Ask students to identify the characteristics of effective writing. After completing the read-around activity, ask your students to reconsider those papers which were voted as excellent by the entire class and to write down features that made each paper outstanding. Write their comments on the board, asking for elaboration and probing vague generalities. In pairs, the students discuss the comments on the board and try to put them into categories such as organization, awareness of audience, thoroughness of detail, etc. You might need to help your students arrange the characteristics into meaningful categories.

The Strategies, Ideas and Recommendations Here Come Primarily From:

Gross Davis, B. Tools for Teaching . San Francisco, Jossey-Bass, 1993.

And These Additional Sources…

Boris, E. Z. "Classroom Minutes: A Valuable Teaching Device." Improving College and

University Teaching, 1983,31(2), 70-73.

Elbow, P. "Using Writing to Teach Something Else." Unpublished paper, 1987.

Hawisher, G. E., and Selfe, C. L. (eds.). Critical Perspectives on Computers and

Composition Instruction.  New York:  Teachers College Press, 1989.

Holdstein, D. H., and Selfe, C. L. (eds.). Computers and Writing: Theory, Research,

Practice. New York: Modern Language Association, 1990.

Lowman, J. Mastering the Techniques of Teaching . San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 1984.

Petersen, B. T. "Additional Resources in the Practice of Writing Across the Disciplines."

In C. W. Griffin (ed.), Teaching Writing in All Disciplines . New Directions in Teaching and Learning, no. 12. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 1982.

Professional and Organizational Development Network in Higher Education.

Bright Idea Network , 1989. (For information contact David Graf, Iowa State University, Ames.)

Pytlik, B. P. "Teaching Teachers of Writing: Workshops on Writing as a Collaborative

Process." College Teaching , 1989, 37(1), 12-14.

Tollefson, S. K. Encouraging Student Writing . Berkeley: Office of Educational

Development, University of California, 1988.

Walvoord, B. F. Helping Students Write Well: A Guide for Teachers in All Disciplines.

(2nd ed.) New York: Modern Language Association, 1986.

Watkins, B. T. "More and More Professors in Many Academic Disciplines Routinely

Require Students to Do Extensive Writing." Chronicle of Higher Education, 1990, 36(44), pp. A13-14, A16.

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The Write Practice

100 Writing Practice Lessons & Exercises

by Joe Bunting | 50 comments

Want to become a better writer? Perhaps you want to write novels, or maybe you just want to get better grades in your essay writing assignments , or maybe you'd like to start a popular blog .

If you want to write better, you need practice. But what does a writing practice actually look like? In this post, I'm going to give you everything you need to kick off your writing practice and become a better writer faster.

100 Top Writing Practice Lessons and Exercises

What Is Writing Practice?

Writing practice is a method of becoming a better writer that usually involves reading lessons about the writing process, using writing prompts, doing creative writing exercises , or finishing writing pieces, like essays, short stories , novels , or books . The best writing practice is deliberate, timed, and involves feedback.

How Do You Practice Writing?

This was the question I had when I first started The Write Practice in 2011. I knew how to practice a sport and how to practice playing an instrument. But for some reason, even after studying it in college, I wasn't sure how to practice writing.

I set out to create the best writing practice I could. The Write Practice is the result.

I found that the best writing practice has three aspects:

Deliberate . Writing whatever you feel like may be cathartic, but it's not an effective way to become a better writer or build your writing skills. You'll get better faster by practicing a specific technique or aspect of the writing process each time you sit down to write.

This is why we have a new lesson about the writing process each day on The Write Practice, followed by a practice prompt at the end so you can put what you learned to use immediately.

Timed . It's no secret writers struggle with focus. There are just too many interesting distractions—Facebook, email, Kim Kardashian's Instagram feed (just kidding about that last one, sort of)—and writing is just too hard sometimes.

Setting a timer, even for just fifteen minutes, is an easy and effective way to stay focused on what's important.

This is why in our writing practice prompt at the end of each post we have a time limit, usually with a link to an online tool egg timer , so you can focus on deliberate practice without getting distracted.

Feedback . Getting feedback is one of the requirements to deliberately practice writing or any other craft. Feedback can look like listening to the reactions of your readers or asking for constructive criticism from editors and other writers.

This is why we ask you to post your writing practice after each lesson, so that you can get feedback from other writers in The Write Practice community. It's also why we set up The Write Practice Pro community , to provide critique groups for writers to get feedback on each finished piece of writing.

How to practice writing

Our 100+ Best Creative Writing Practice Exercises and Lessons

Now that you know how we practice writing at The Write Practice, here are our best writing practice lessons to jumpstart your writing skills with some daily writing exercises, for beginner writers to even the most expert writers:

All-Time, Top 10 Writing Lessons and Exercises

These ten posts are our most viewed articles to boost your writing practice:

1. What is Plot? The 6 Elements of Plot and How to Use Them . Great stories use similar elements in wildly different ways to build page-turning stories. Click here to read what they are and learn how to start using them !

2. Top 100 Short Story Ideas . Here are over a hundred writing prompts in a variety of genres. If you need ideas for your next story, check this out!

3. How To Use Neither, Nor, Or, and Nor Correctly . Even good writers struggle figuring out when to use neither/nor and either/or. In this post, our copy-queen Liz Bureman settles the confusion once and for all. Click to continue to the writing exercise

4. Ten Secrets To Write Better Stories . How does Pixar manage to create such great stories, year after year? And how do you write a good story? In this post, I distill everything I've learned about how to write a good story into ten tips. Click to continue to the writing exercise

5. 35 Questions To Ask Your Characters From Marcel Proust . To get to know my characters better, I use a list of questions known as the Proust Questionnaire, made famous by French author, Marcel Proust. Click to continue to the writing exercise

6. How a Scene List Can Change Your Novel-Writing Life . Creating a scene list changed my novel-writing life, and doing the same will change yours too. Includes examples of the scene lists from famous authors. Click to continue to the writing exercise

7. Why You Need to be Using the Oxford Comma . Most people I've met have no idea what the Oxford comma is, but it's probably something that you have used frequently in your writing. Click to continue to the writing exercise

8. Six Surprising Ways to Write Better Interview Questions.  The interview is the most-used tool in a journalist's bag. But that doesn't mean novelists, bloggers, and even students can't and don't interview people. Here's how to conduct a great interview. Click to continue to the writing exercise

9. Why You Should Try Writing in Second Person . You've probably used first person and third person point-of-view already. But what about second person? This post explains three reasons why you should try writing from this point-of-view. Click to continue to the writing exercise

10. The Secret to Show, Don't Tell . You've heard the classic writing rule, “Show. Don't Tell.” Every writing blog ever has talked about it, and for good reason. Showing, for some reason, is really difficult. Click to continue to the writing exercise.

Book Idea Worksheet

12 Exercises and Lessons To Become a Better Writer

How do you become a better writer? These posts share our best advice:

  • Want to Be a Better Writer? Cut These 7 Words
  • What I Mean When I Say I Am A Writer
  • How to Become a Writer: 3 Simple Steps
  • 72% of Writers Struggle With THIS
  • 7 Lies About Becoming a Writer That You Probably Believe
  • 10 Questions to Find Your Unique Writing Voice
  • The Best Writing Book I’ve Ever Read
  • The Best Way to Become a Better Writer
  • The Creative Writer’s Toolkit: 6 Tools You Can’t Write Without
  • Should You Write More or Write Better: Quantity vs Quality
  • How to Become a Better Writer in One, Simple Step
  • 11 Writing Tips That Will Change Your Life

6 Lessons and Exercises from Great Writers

If you want to be a writer, learn from the great writers who have gone before you:

  • 23 Essential Quotes from Ernest Hemingway About Writing
  • 29 Quotes that Explain How to Become a Better Writer
  • 10 Lessons Dr. Seuss Can Teach Writers
  • 10 Writing Tips from Ursula Le Guin
  • Once Upon a Time: Pixar Prompt
  • All the Pretty Words: Writing In the Style of Cormac McCarthy

12 Genre and Format Specific Writing Lessons and Exercises

Here are our best writing lessons for specific types of writing, including essays, screenplays, memoir, short stories, children's books, and humor writing:

  • Writing an Essay? Here Are 10 Effective Tips
  • How To Write a Screenplay: The 5 Step Process
  • How to Write a Great Memoir: a Complete Guide
  • How to Write a Short Story from Start to Finish
  • How to Write a Thriller Novel
  • How to Write a Children's Book
  • How to Write a Love Story
  • How to Write a Coming of Age Story or Book
  • How to Write an Adventure Book
  • 5 Key Elements for Successful Short Stories
  • 4 Tips to Write a Novel That Will Be Adapted Into a Movie
  • Humor Writing for People Who Aren’t Funny

14 Characterization Lessons and Exercises

Good characters are the foundation of good fiction. Here are our best lessons to create better characters:

  • Character Development: How to Create Characters Audiences Will Love
  • Writing Villains: 9 Evil Examples of the Villain Archetype
  • How NOT to Introduce a New Character
  • The Strongest Form of Characterization
  • The Most Important Character Archetype
  • How Do You Build A Strong Character In Your Writing?
  • 75+ Antihero Examples and How to Use Them
  • How to Explore Your Characters’ Motivations
  • 8 Tips for Naming Characters
  • The Protagonist: How to Center Your Story
  • Heroes vs. Anti-Heroes: Which Is Right For Your Story?
  • The Weakest Form of Characterization
  • How to Write With an Accent
  • How To Create a Character Sketch Using Scrivener

15 Grammar Lessons and Exercises

I talk to so many writers, some of whom are published authors, who struggle with grammar. Here are our best writing lessons on grammar:

  • Is It Okay To End A Sentence With A Preposition?
  • Contractions List: When To Use and When To Avoid
  • Good vs. Well
  • Connotation vs. Denotation
  • Per Se vs. Per Say
  • When You SHOULD Use Passive Voice
  • When Do You Use “Quotation Marks”
  • Polysyndeton and Asyndeton: Definition and Examples
  • The Case Against Twilight
  • Affect Versus Effect
  • Stop Saying “Literally”
  • What Is a Comma Splice? And Why Do Editors Hate Them?
  • Intra vs. Inter: Why No One Plays Intermural Sports
  • Alright and Alot: Words That Are Not Words
  • The Poor, Misunderstood Semicolon

4 Journalism Lessons and Exercises

Want to be a journalist? Or even use techniques from journalism to improve your novel, essay, or screenplay? Here are our best writing lessons on journalism:

  • Six Ways to Ask Better Questions In Interviews
  • How Should You Interview Someone? Over Email? In Person?
  • What If They Don’t Want to Talk to You?
  • Eleven Habits of a Highly Effective Interviewers

16 Plot and Structure Lessons and Exercises

Want to write a good story? Our top plot and structure lessons will help:

  • The Ten Types of Story and How to Master Them
  • Points of a Story: 6 Plot Points Every Story Needs
  • How to Shape a Story: The 6 Arcs
  • 7 Keys To Write the Perfect First Line of a Novel
  • The Secret to Creating Conflict
  • 4 Tips to Avoid Having Your Short Story Rejected by a Literary Magazine
  • 7 Steps to Creating Suspense
  • 5 Elements of Storytelling
  • 3 Important Rules for Writing Endings
  • A Writer’s Cheatsheet to Plot and Structure
  • Overcoming the Monster
  • How to Satisfy Your Reader With a Great Ending
  • Pow! Boom! Ka-Pow! 5 Tips to Write Fight Scenes
  • The Dramatic Question and Suspense in Fiction
  • How to Write a Memorable Beginning and Ending
  • How to Write the Perfect First Page

6 Lessons and Exercises to Beat Writer's Block

Writer's block is real, and it can completely derail your writing. Here are six lessons to get writing again:

  • How To Write Whether You Feel Like it Or Not
  • This Fun Creative Writing Exercise Will Change Your Life
  • When You Should Be Writing But Can't…
  • What to do When Your Word Count is Too Low
  • 7 Tricks to Write More with Less Willpower
  • When You Don’t Know What to Write, Write About Your Insecurities

7 Literary Technique Lessons and Exercises

These writing and storytelling techniques will teach you a few tricks of the trade you may not have discovered before:

  • 3 Tips to “Show, Don’t Tell” Emotions and Moods
  • 3 Reasons to Write Stream of Consciousness Narrative
  • 16 Observations About Real Dialogue
  • Intertextuality As A Literary Device
  • Why You Should Use Symbolism In Your Writing
  • 6 Ways to Evoke Emotion in Poetry and Prose
  • 3 Tips To Write Modern Allegorical Novels
  • Symbol vs. Motif: What’s the Difference

3 Inspirational Writing Lessons and Exercises

Need some inspiration? Here are three of our most inspiring posts:

  • Why We Write: Four Reasons
  • You Must Remember Every Scar
  • 17 Reasons to Write Something NOW

3 Publishing Blogging Lessons and Exercises

If you want to get published, these three lessons will help:

  • The Secret to Writing On Your Blog Every Day
  • How to Publish Your Book and Sell Your First 1,000 Copies
  • How to Get Published in Literary Magazines

11 Writing Prompts

Need inspiration or just a kick in the pants to write. Try one of our top writing prompts :

  • Grandfathers [writing prompt]
  • Out of Place [writing prompt]
  • Sleepless [writing prompt]
  • Longing [writing prompt]
  • Write About Yourself [writing prompt]
  • 3 Reasons You Should Write Ghost Stories
  • Road Trip [writing prompt]
  • Morning [writing prompt]
  • The Beach [writing prompt]
  • Fall [writing prompt]
  • How to Use Six-Word Stories As Writing Prompts

Is It Time To Begin Your Writing Practice?

It's clear that if you want to become a writer, you need to practice writing. We've created a proven process to practice your writing at The Write Practice, but even if you don't join our community, I hope you'll start practicing in some way today.

Personally, I waited  far  too long to start practicing and it set my writing back years.

How about you? Do you think practicing writing is important?  Let me know in the comments section .

Choose one of the writing practice posts above. Then, read the lesson and participate in the writing exercise, posting your work in the Pro Practice Workshop . And if you post, please give feedback to your fellow writers who also posted their practices.

Have fun and happy practicing!

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Joe Bunting

Joe Bunting is an author and the leader of The Write Practice community. He is also the author of the new book Crowdsourcing Paris , a real life adventure story set in France. It was a #1 New Release on Amazon. Follow him on Instagram (@jhbunting).

Want best-seller coaching? Book Joe here.

book writing strategies

50 Comments

Kristen

You have THE BEST content for writing on this blog!!

Joe Bunting

Thank you, Kristen. This made my morning. 🙂

Mitch Hamilton

Thanks Mitch. 🙂

George McNeese

I can’t remember when I started following this website. I have to look in my notebooks because that’s where I did these practices. I didn’t have access to a computer when I did them, so I wrote them out, setting the time limit. But even when I do get to a computer, I have my reservations about putting my practices on the page. even though it’s practice, I want them to be the best, almost perfect. But I know it won’t be. I’ve gotten feedback before that says so. It still gets to me that I didn’t put something together that not everyone liked. I need to get over it. After all, that is what these practices are about: to learn and improve on our craft.

I don’t know either, George, but it’s been several years. Perfectionism is something so many of us face, and it’s made worse when you don’t have a critique community as warm and encouraging as ours is. I hope you and everyone here are always willing to try something new, even if it comes out a little messed up, because you know we’ll support you and try to make you better.

Elizabeth Varadan

What a great share! Thanks so much!

You’re so welcome, Elizabeth. Thank you for commenting.

Patience

when I ran writing classes I wrote. when I am “a member of writing classes” the teacher/leader/facilitator is NOT MY AUDIENCE and so I don’t write as well/as much. I don’t get the feedback I need from fellow students because most of them have never run their own writing projects/workshops. So many people expect you to write their story for them. I’ve actually got quite a few stories of me own. I have finally decided I like owning them. 😉

It sounds like you need a new critique group, Patience! Hope you can find a place where you get the feedback you need.

Stephanie Ward

Wow! Terrific round-up of resources. 🙂

Thanks Stephanie. 🙂

Carrie Lynn Lewis

Practice is necessary, period. It doesn’t matter what you want to learn. If you want to improve, practice is vital.

It’s odd. I’ve known and applied that principle for years on a variety of things. Painting. Drawing. Blogging. Gardening. Laundry.

But never writing.

Like you, I had the notion that just writing every day was all it took to improve. Why not the same level of dedication to writing?

Perhaps it’s time to change that!

I can relate, Carrie. It’s easy to confuse the craft of writing with journaling, thinking that you can just write whatever you feel like and you’ll get better, write something worth reading. The truth is that writing interesting things to read is a skill, but the good news is that you can get better at it with practice. Thanks for practicing with us! 🙂

Debra johnson

I love these suggestions , and have set Writing Practice as my homepage so the first 15 minutes of my day is spent writing, whether its a practice or exercise here or another that is sprinkled through out this site, Thank you for all you do everyone here at The Write Practice

marlita

This is great Debra. I want to write the first 15 minutes of my day too!

I agree with Joe, Do it. Could be your to do list… ( that could lead to something else story wse later)

I love that, Debra. Such a good way to start your day.

Thanks Joe!

Hyacinth Fidelis Joaquin

The best! Thank you so much for this.

You’re very welcome!

nobody geek

I simply LOVE all the tips and suggestions given on this blog. They are super helpful!

THANK you. We love sharing them with you. 🙂

Thiago d'Evecque

Hi! You forgot the link to How to Write a Story a Week: A Day-by-Day Guide.

Thanks a lot for your work! This post is amazing.

It’s a great post Thiago. Definitely one of our most shared. Thanks for mentioning it! BTW here’s the link:

https://thewritepractice.com/a-story-a-week/

Harsh Rathour

Wow!! There are so many exercises…. I just love it..! I am gonna really enjoy it..!

Awesome! Thank you for reading and practicing with us. 🙂

Macau Mum

I only read halfway , My tootie is jumping all over me, and typing this is a struggle when a 3yr old wants his Toy Story movie on Youtube in this computer. Thank you for this article, will come back later to finish reading.

I know the feeling! Good luck!

Beth

Can’t wait to get stuck in with this! 🙂

LaCresha Lawson

Very helpful! Thank you!

strictlynoelephant

I’ve just bookmarked this page. Thanks for this wonderful list.

fireandparchment

This is awesome! So many helpful tips. I will be coming back to this often. Thanks for posting this!

Jessica M

Wow, so many goodies! Thank you for always providing such amazing content!!

Jacqueline Nicole

I have enjoyed all these articles. Thank you for the help an inspiration to get my writing on its way. My creativity is boosting with confidence. Tootle loo.

Emmanuel Ajayi Adigun

Amazing contents for beginners like me Joe. I am highly inspired by your commitment. Thank you.

Hey, thanks!

Sondra

Although I have only read half of thisc article, the practice exercises are excellent. Some of them are exactly what a beginning writer like myself needs. I am committing to at least try ALL of them. Thanks Joe!!

Kbee E. Betancourt

very helpful! thank you..

Celia Costa

Amazing articles! Thanks so much for sharing!

The Black Hearth

My god this article made me love this site . You know it’s kinda hard for a beginner writer, who don’t know where to start and fixing goals, even samll ones give us a direction . A place to go , an aim for our creativity so thanks you , this community and this site. Love you all . At your pens ! 😉

carmelle

Wow. This is great. I find all your posts informative, but this one is the best for me to use as a guide to get my self starting to write….Thank you.

aurora1920

I’m an old lady who wants to publish one more book before I die — have published several, all non-fiction, and done two under contract to a major publisher (reference books). So help me, the BIGGEST problem I have all along, is keeping track of the damned paper work and research that goes into a book!!! Yet I never ever see articles on something as simple as “How to file” — Oh I know, there’s wonderful software these days so probably I will never find a way to get paper organized — everybody will use software and do it on the computer. I’m too old for that — just one look at the learning curve for software, even putting the damned stuff into computer files is even MORE frustrating than paper!! Oh well, somehow I managed in the past to get books published, I may be able to do it one more time.

Hamzah Ramadan

you enjoy writing more than anything else and you do indeed care to help others write. I love writing but translation from Arabic into English and English into Arabic is taking all of my time from the early hours of the morning till the evening. I will soon get all of your books in order to read them as soon as possible. One thing I am sure of. You know what you are doing very well. Hamzah

Dusan

Excellent! Many useful tips. Many thanks!

Mark Bono

Liz and Joe, I have only looked at a few exercises. Already, I am convinced that your site is one of the best sites out there. Thank your for sharing your wisdom.

aparna WWeerakoon

Wow, these are the best lessons and exercises for writing. Actually i’m participating in a compitition this wendsday. so, i’m quite nervous and exited. this helped me a lot

Mehedi

Magnificent post ever I have read. This article will help me a lot to write a right way. Thank you.

Alexiss Anthonyy Murillo

i need your help to improve to become a better writer please. i think i usually commit moist of these errors and i don;t pay attention to many advices too.

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How to Improve Your Child's Creative Writing Skills

Last Updated: February 17, 2024 Approved

This article was co-authored by Kathy Slattengren, M.Ed. . Kathy Slattengren is a Parent Educator and Coach and the Founder of Priceless Parenting. With over two decades of experience, Kathy specializes in helping parents build strong, loving relationships with their children. She has helped thousands of parents around the world through Priceless Parenting's online classes, presentations, coaching, and books. Kathy holds a Bachelor's degree in Computer Science and Psychology from The University of Minnesota and a Masters degree in Education and Instructional Design from The University of Washington. Kathy is a member of the National Parenting Education Network, the US Alliance to End the Hitting of Children, the International Society for Technology in Education, and a founding member of Parent Learning Link. Priceless Parenting has been featured on ABC News, Komo News, King 5 News, National PTA, Parent Map, and Inspire Me Today. There are 8 references cited in this article, which can be found at the bottom of the page. wikiHow marks an article as reader-approved once it receives enough positive feedback. In this case, several readers have written to tell us that this article was helpful to them, earning it our reader-approved status. This article has been viewed 254,935 times.

The ability to write well is vitally important to your child's success in life. Writing well can help your child succeed academically and professionally. Moreover, creative writing can be an important therapeutic outlet for your child to imagine new worlds and to express his or her feelings. Help your child improve their creative writing skills by supporting creativity, by playing word games, and sparking their imagination with clever writing prompts.

Encouraging Your Child to Love Writing

Step 1 Read to your child every night.

  • In addition to reading to your child, have your child read to you if they are old enough.
  • Ask your child questions about their favorite books. Why do they like some books and not others? Help them to develop their tastes as a reader and to be thoughtful about words, characters, settings, and plots. [2] X Research source
  • If your child has a favorite author or book series, you might also consider taking your child to see the author speak or to a book signing in order to inspire your child to write.

Step 2 Create time for reading and writing.

  • A notebook or journal
  • Pens, pencils, and erasers
  • A bookshelf to keep inspiration nearby
  • An age-appropriate dictionary
  • A thesaurus. A thesaurus isn't necessary for very young children, but it can be helpful for older children who wish to expand their vocabularies.

Step 4 Focus on creativity, not grammar.

  • You can also work with your child to make a special "book" out of their stories, including homemade illustrations and decorations. Stitch the book together with ribbon or yarn to create a special archive of their creativity. [12] X Trustworthy Source Reading Rockets Online resource supported by PBS providing research-based strategies for assisting children to become confident readers Go to source

Step 7 Play stenographer.

Playing Creative Writing Games

Step 1 Incorporate writing activity into imaginative play.

  • Encourage them to write a letter from the perspective of a character that they like to play
  • Suggest that they write about "a day in the life" of their imaginary friend
  • Help your child invent an imaginary country and ask them to write about what people do there
  • Ask your child to create a "mashup" story that includes their favorite characters from completely different worlds [17] X Research source

Step 2 Play word games.

  • Magnetic poetry
  • Catchphrase

Step 3 Play a collaborative story-writing game.

  • Write a story by switching after each sentence. First you write a sentence, then your child continues with the next sentence, then you take over again, etc. Try to add unexpected surprises and goofy twists to keep the story fun and exciting. [19] X Research source
  • Draw a picture and ask your child to imagine a story behind the picture. [20] X Research source
  • Make a list of words by having you and your child point to random words in a dictionary. Then brainstorm a way to use all of those words in a single story.

Step 4 Keep the games short.

Helping Your Child Find Things to Write About

Step 1 Ask questions about the world around you.

  • Ask your child to look out a car window and think about where people on the sidewalk are headed
  • Point out animals while you're walking and ask your child to think about what the lives of these animals are like
  • Ask your child to come up with a new name for their favorite park
  • Ask your child what their favorite building is and why they like it so much

Step 2 Ask your child to rewrite a famous story.

Building Essential Writing Skills

Step 1 Encourage daily writing.

  • Recognize, however, that sometimes children will be reluctant to write. Let them take some time away from writing if they need to (unless they have to complete a school assignment). [29] X Research source

Step 2 Encourage your child to keep a journal.

  • For example, you could underline the words they have misspelled without giving them the correct spelling. Ask them to look up the correct spelling in the dictionary.
  • Be sure that you provide your child with positive feedback as well as gentle suggestions for improvements.

Step 5 Provide fun opportunities for revision.

Expert Q&A

Kathy Slattengren, M.Ed.

  • Be aware of your child's writing training in school. Many schools provide excellent writing coaching. You can have a better sense of your own role in your child's writing skills if you know what your child's teachers are focusing on in class. [36] X Research source Thanks Helpful 0 Not Helpful 0
  • Remember that, as a parent, you are a creative writing helper: not a coach or a teacher. Do not act as though creative writing is a chore or obligation. If your child is going to be an effective creative writer, they must be passionate about it. Thanks Helpful 0 Not Helpful 0
  • Stay positive. You can point out where your child has made grammatical errors, but you should keep most of your commentary positive and enthusiastic. Be honest with your compliments, but try to emphasize what your child is doing well more than where they needs to improve. Thanks Helpful 0 Not Helpful 0
  • Don't force a particular form of writing on your child (short story, poetry, etc) if your child shows no interest in it. Encourage your child in the areas of writing they show an interest in. Thanks Helpful 1 Not Helpful 0
  • Some children show little interest in writing because they happen to enjoy other activities more. However, some children are nervous about writing because of an underlying learning disability. If your child is consistently behind her peers on spelling, writing, and vocabulary, talk to your child's teachers and learning specialists to see if perhaps a learning disability is at the root of these problems. Thanks Helpful 0 Not Helpful 1

You Might Also Like

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  • ↑ http://www.readingrockets.org/article/launching-young-writers
  • ↑ http://www.oxfordowl.co.uk/pages/encouraging-writing
  • ↑ Kathy Slattengren, M.Ed.. Parent Educator & Coach. Expert Interview. 23 June 2021.
  • ↑ http://www.ncte.org/positions/statements/howtohelpenglish
  • ↑ http://www.greatschools.org/gk/articles/seven-ways-to-encourage-kids-writing/
  • ↑ http://www.education.com/reference/article/ways-encourage-child-creativity/
  • ↑ http://www.scholastic.com/parents/resources/article/writing-activities/prompt-your-child-to-be-better-writer
  • ↑ http://www.greatschools.org/gk/articles/your-teen-and-writing/

About this article

Kathy Slattengren, M.Ed.

The ability to write well can help your child academically and professionally as well as offer an outlet for their feelings and imagination. To help improve your child’s creative writing skills, encourage them to love writing by reading to them every day so they can experience a variety of styles and subjects. Ask them about their favorite books to help them think about what kinds of writing they enjoy. You'll also want to give your child the tools to create their own stories, like a journal, pens, an age-appropriate dictionary, and a thesaurus. Encourage your child’s creativity by focusing on their ideas, not their spelling, grammar, or handwriting. If your child has a hard time starting a story, spark their imagination by asking them to write a letter from the point of view of a favorite character, or help them invent a new country and ask them to write about what people do there. To learn how to help your child revise their writing, keep reading! Did this summary help you? Yes No

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Classroom Q&A

With larry ferlazzo.

In this EdWeek blog, an experiment in knowledge-gathering, Ferlazzo will address readers’ questions on classroom management, ELL instruction, lesson planning, and other issues facing teachers. Send your questions to [email protected]. Read more from this blog.

Four Strategies for Effective Writing Instruction

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(This is the first post in a two-part series.)

The new question-of-the-week is:

What is the single most effective instructional strategy you have used to teach writing?

Teaching and learning good writing can be a challenge to educators and students alike.

The topic is no stranger to this column—you can see many previous related posts at Writing Instruction .

But I don’t think any of us can get too much good instructional advice in this area.

Today, Jenny Vo, Michele Morgan, and Joy Hamm share wisdom gained from their teaching experience.

Before I turn over the column to them, though, I’d like to share my favorite tool(s).

Graphic organizers, including writing frames (which are basically more expansive sentence starters) and writing structures (which function more as guides and less as “fill-in-the-blanks”) are critical elements of my writing instruction.

You can see an example of how I incorporate them in my seven-week story-writing unit and in the adaptations I made in it for concurrent teaching.

You might also be interested in The Best Scaffolded Writing Frames For Students .

Now, to today’s guests:

‘Shared Writing’

Jenny Vo earned her B.A. in English from Rice University and her M.Ed. in educational leadership from Lamar University. She has worked with English-learners during all of her 24 years in education and is currently an ESL ISST in Katy ISD in Katy, Texas. Jenny is the president-elect of TexTESOL IV and works to advocate for all ELs:

The single most effective instructional strategy that I have used to teach writing is shared writing. Shared writing is when the teacher and students write collaboratively. In shared writing, the teacher is the primary holder of the pen, even though the process is a collaborative one. The teacher serves as the scribe, while also questioning and prompting the students.

The students engage in discussions with the teacher and their peers on what should be included in the text. Shared writing can be done with the whole class or as a small-group activity.

There are two reasons why I love using shared writing. One, it is a great opportunity for the teacher to model the structures and functions of different types of writing while also weaving in lessons on spelling, punctuation, and grammar.

It is a perfect activity to do at the beginning of the unit for a new genre. Use shared writing to introduce the students to the purpose of the genre. Model the writing process from beginning to end, taking the students from idea generation to planning to drafting to revising to publishing. As you are writing, make sure you refrain from making errors, as you want your finished product to serve as a high-quality model for the students to refer back to as they write independently.

Another reason why I love using shared writing is that it connects the writing process with oral language. As the students co-construct the writing piece with the teacher, they are orally expressing their ideas and listening to the ideas of their classmates. It gives them the opportunity to practice rehearsing what they are going to say before it is written down on paper. Shared writing gives the teacher many opportunities to encourage their quieter or more reluctant students to engage in the discussion with the types of questions the teacher asks.

Writing well is a skill that is developed over time with much practice. Shared writing allows students to engage in the writing process while observing the construction of a high-quality sample. It is a very effective instructional strategy used to teach writing.

sharedwriting

‘Four Square’

Michele Morgan has been writing IEPs and behavior plans to help students be more successful for 17 years. She is a national-board-certified teacher, Utah Teacher Fellow with Hope Street Group, and a special education elementary new-teacher specialist with the Granite school district. Follow her @MicheleTMorgan1:

For many students, writing is the most dreaded part of the school day. Writing involves many complex processes that students have to engage in before they produce a product—they must determine what they will write about, they must organize their thoughts into a logical sequence, and they must do the actual writing, whether on a computer or by hand. Still they are not done—they must edit their writing and revise mistakes. With all of that, it’s no wonder that students struggle with writing assignments.

In my years working with elementary special education students, I have found that writing is the most difficult subject to teach. Not only do my students struggle with the writing process, but they often have the added difficulties of not knowing how to spell words and not understanding how to use punctuation correctly. That is why the single most effective strategy I use when teaching writing is the Four Square graphic organizer.

The Four Square instructional strategy was developed in 1999 by Judith S. Gould and Evan Jay Gould. When I first started teaching, a colleague allowed me to borrow the Goulds’ book about using the Four Square method, and I have used it ever since. The Four Square is a graphic organizer that students can make themselves when given a blank sheet of paper. They fold it into four squares and draw a box in the middle of the page. The genius of this instructional strategy is that it can be used by any student, in any grade level, for any writing assignment. These are some of the ways I have used this strategy successfully with my students:

* Writing sentences: Students can write the topic for the sentence in the middle box, and in each square, they can draw pictures of details they want to add to their writing.

* Writing paragraphs: Students write the topic sentence in the middle box. They write a sentence containing a supporting detail in three of the squares and they write a concluding sentence in the last square.

* Writing short essays: Students write what information goes in the topic paragraph in the middle box, then list details to include in supporting paragraphs in the squares.

When I gave students writing assignments, the first thing I had them do was create a Four Square. We did this so often that it became automatic. After filling in the Four Square, they wrote rough drafts by copying their work off of the graphic organizer and into the correct format, either on lined paper or in a Word document. This worked for all of my special education students!

I was able to modify tasks using the Four Square so that all of my students could participate, regardless of their disabilities. Even if they did not know what to write about, they knew how to start the assignment (which is often the hardest part of getting it done!) and they grew to be more confident in their writing abilities.

In addition, when it was time to take the high-stakes state writing tests at the end of the year, this was a strategy my students could use to help them do well on the tests. I was able to give them a sheet of blank paper, and they knew what to do with it. I have used many different curriculum materials and programs to teach writing in the last 16 years, but the Four Square is the one strategy that I have used with every writing assignment, no matter the grade level, because it is so effective.

thefoursquare

‘Swift Structures’

Joy Hamm has taught 11 years in a variety of English-language settings, ranging from kindergarten to adult learners. The last few years working with middle and high school Newcomers and completing her M.Ed in TESOL have fostered stronger advocacy in her district and beyond:

A majority of secondary content assessments include open-ended essay questions. Many students falter (not just ELs) because they are unaware of how to quickly organize their thoughts into a cohesive argument. In fact, the WIDA CAN DO Descriptors list level 5 writing proficiency as “organizing details logically and cohesively.” Thus, the most effective cross-curricular secondary writing strategy I use with my intermediate LTELs (long-term English-learners) is what I call “Swift Structures.” This term simply means reading a prompt across any content area and quickly jotting down an outline to organize a strong response.

To implement Swift Structures, begin by displaying a prompt and modeling how to swiftly create a bubble map or outline beginning with a thesis/opinion, then connecting the three main topics, which are each supported by at least three details. Emphasize this is NOT the time for complete sentences, just bulleted words or phrases.

Once the outline is completed, show your ELs how easy it is to plug in transitions, expand the bullets into detailed sentences, and add a brief introduction and conclusion. After modeling and guided practice, set a 5-10 minute timer and have students practice independently. Swift Structures is one of my weekly bell ringers, so students build confidence and skill over time. It is best to start with easy prompts where students have preformed opinions and knowledge in order to focus their attention on the thesis-topics-supporting-details outline, not struggling with the rigor of a content prompt.

Here is one easy prompt example: “Should students be allowed to use their cellphones in class?”

Swift Structure outline:

Thesis - Students should be allowed to use cellphones because (1) higher engagement (2) learning tools/apps (3) gain 21st-century skills

Topic 1. Cellphones create higher engagement in students...

Details A. interactive (Flipgrid, Kahoot)

B. less tempted by distractions

C. teaches responsibility

Topic 2. Furthermore,...access to learning tools...

A. Google Translate description

B. language practice (Duolingo)

C. content tutorials (Kahn Academy)

Topic 3. In addition,...practice 21st-century skills…

Details A. prep for workforce

B. access to information

C. time-management support

This bare-bones outline is like the frame of a house. Get the structure right, and it’s easier to fill in the interior decorating (style, grammar), roof (introduction) and driveway (conclusion). Without the frame, the roof and walls will fall apart, and the reader is left confused by circuitous rubble.

Once LTELs have mastered creating simple Swift Structures in less than 10 minutes, it is time to introduce complex questions similar to prompts found on content assessments or essays. Students need to gain assurance that they can quickly and logically explain and justify their opinions on multiple content essays without freezing under pressure.

themosteffectivehamm

Thanks to Jenny, Michele, and Joy for their contributions!

Please feel free to leave a comment with your reactions to the topic or directly to anything that has been said in this post.

Consider contributing a question to be answered in a future post. You can send one to me at [email protected] . When you send it in, let me know if I can use your real name if it’s selected or if you’d prefer remaining anonymous and have a pseudonym in mind.

You can also contact me on Twitter at @Larryferlazzo .

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how to improve creative writing skills in students

5 Secrets for Helping Middle School Writers Succeed

Even though I spent 19 years as a middle school teacher, I frequently ask myself what makes a middle school writing classroom work. I know successful teaching is a series of flexible moving parts. I know it’s one part inspiration and a bigger part organization. I know that every middle school teacher struggles to achieve more good days than bad.

In  Traits of Writing: The Complete Guide for Middle School , I share meaningful and practical ideas for using what I’ve learned about teaching writing in middle school. My aim is to validate what you already know and give you new ways to support students. I also point out obstacles to watch out for and ways around them, so you don’t sacrifice the integrity of your teaching or the writing lives of your students.

As teachers, our greatest challenge may not be understanding best practices, but implementing those practices in classrooms where writing skills vary, time is precious, and the demand for high test scores can smother even the most creative teaching. But take heart. Teaching writing well is not impossible. Here are 5 secrets I know work in middle school and will help your young writers succeed:

1.     The teacher must model how to learn.

If we want our students to write, we have to show them we are writers ourselves, which means opening ourselves up to scrutiny.

2.      Learning should be infectious.

Look for inspiration everywhere and revise you lesson plans accordingly to foster a fascination with language, not just an understanding of terms. Who knows where this might lead?

3.     Students must be active.

Engaging in lively activities, working in small groups, sitting on the floor, listening to music, using the computer, and talking about works in progress keep students moving, and therefore, learning.

4.     Students will work hard if we give them rigorous, relevant tasks.

Let students take a giant leap forward and come up with their own projects and use the skills they have learned over the years to accomplish it. What they write matters less than the fact that they choose to write with such passion and determination.

5.     Students deserve honest, detailed feedback.

Get serious about providing feedback. Students will appreciate your suggestions for making their writing smoother, clearer, and more interesting, and, like any serious writers, won’t always agree or follow them. But your students trust you to tell them the truth because they know your feedback, as difficult as it sometimes will be to convey, will help propel their work forward.

The secrets of writing, once locked away in the writing teacher’s vault, must be revealed and explored. How else will we sort out what works from what doesn’t? But you know this already. The writing lives of your middle school students depend on our getting it right.

To learn more about  Traits of Writing: The Complete Guide for Middle School , you can purchase the book  here.

About the author:

Ruth Culham, Ed.D.,  has published more than 40 best-selling professional books and resources with Scholastic and the International Literacy Association on the traits of writing and teaching writing using reading as a springboard to success. Her steadfast belief that every student is a writer is the hallmark of her work. As the author of  Traits Writing: The Complete Writing Program for Grades K–8 (2012), she has launched a writing revolution.  Traits Writing  is the culmination of 40 years of educational experience, research, practice, and passion.

4 Activities to Help Middle School Students Uncover New Ideas for Writing

No matter how old you are, no matter how much writing you do, no matter how much you improve over time, finding ideas and writing about them clearly and compellingly is a challenge. Small wonder, then, that middle school writers find the ideas trait difficult to master.

Writing must make sense, and that’s what the ideas trait is all about—choosing a topic, narrowing it down, and supporting it with enough details to make the message clear and engaging. In  Traits of Writing: The Complete Guide for Middle School , I outline the ideas trait’s 4 key qualities:

1.     Finding a topic

2.     Focusing the topic

3.     Developing the topic

4.     Using details

The following activities will help your students develop these qualities. Each is a creative, classroom-tested idea that allows students to try out skills and strategies that you share in warm-ups and focus lessons. These activities can take 5 minutes or 50, depending on your students’ needs and interest levels, and can be carried out by students independently or in small groups.

Finding a topic | Writer’s Notebooks

Often, the best topics are the ones students come up with themselves. As you work with students, encourage them to jot down in a notebook possible ideas for use in writing later—ideas that occur to them during science, social studies, health, fine arts, or English, or in everyday life. Let students select a notebook that makes them feel comfortable. Keep your own notebook and model how you jot down ideas for writing, words and phrases you like, intriguing information and observations, and questions to ponder.

Focusing the topic | The Best and the Worst Activity

Have your students brainstorm a list of real-world jobs that require a great deal of writing: a writer for a late-night talk show, a fund-raiser for a charity, a developer of video games, an author of children’s books, and so on. Write the jobs on a chart. Divide the class into small groups and assign one of the jobs to each group. Ask group members to prepare a panel presentation explaining the best and worst parts of the job and present it to the class, using some sort of visual aid that illustrates key points, such as a chart or diagram. Hang their creations in a prominent place for everyone to read and think about. This activity teaches students that writing is a big part of most professions—a lesson they will come to learn on their own soon enough.

Developing the topic | Top-Ten List

Ask students to write a top-ten list of things every adult should know about middle school students. Encourage them to develop each point in a fun, truthful, and interesting way. Here are examples of 2 developed points:

We don’t like to be told what to do. But if you don’t tell us, we won’t do it. And even when you do tell us, many times we don’t do it unless you get mean about it. We’re kinda flakey.

Remembering to put our names on our papers is harder than being blindfolded and sending a text message with our thumbs.

Using details | Getting Into the Details Activity

Give students a general statement, such as “I love Friday,” and ask them to work with a partner to brainstorm at least 10 details that explain why Friday is their favorite school day. Have pairs share those details with the whole class and make one long list. Now ask students to select their favorite details, at least 5 but no more than 10, and choose the one they consider the most important. From there, have pairs write a paragraph describing all the great things about Friday, emphasizing one detail they feel is most important. When they’re finished, ask students to put their paragraphs on their desks and invite their classmates to walk about and read them. Later, discuss the techniques students used to focus the reader’s attention on one detail more than others.

The time you spend teaching students where ideas come from and how to develop them effectively is critical to their success as writers. Finding a topic, focusing it, developing it, and using precise details to support it is where the writing begins.

Learn more about the ideas trait and other traits critical to writing success with  Traits of Writing: The Complete Guide for Middle School . You can purchase the book  here .

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MISSION STATEMENT

As the CUNY SPS Creative Writing Club, we will come together once a month and answer writing prompts. We will use our creativity to enhance our writing skills and create an environment of safety. We will gain new writing skills and showcase our talent. We will share our love for writing and creating new stories. 

VISION STATEMENT 

As a club, we hope to inspire others to engage with one another and share our love of writing. We will create a safe space where all opinions and values matter. This club is for everyone, whether you are a strong writer or a novice. We respect everyone’s writing capabilities and welcome all. We hope to get to know each other in a deeper level through our writing, whether it is within short stories, poetry, etc. Additionally, our school’s c relative writing club wants to bring together a vibrant community of empowering minds were imagination and artistry knows no bounds.

This Club or organization will:

  • Have Poetry Slams 
  • Have Short Stories Contests 
  • Have Creative Writing Prompts 
  • Engage in lively discussions surrounding different topics 

JOIN THE CREATIVE WRITING CLUB

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6 Schoolwide Strategies to Improve Reading Skills

Helping students build their identities as readers and explicitly teaching the mechanics of reading can yield big gains across grade levels.

Photo of two elementary age boys reading books

Teaching children how to read is one of the most important tasks we undertake as educators in elementary school. Being able to read efficiently opens up opportunities for all children to succeed in school, in work, and in serving our communities. It is more than just about good instruction: It is a social justice issue that begins in our schools.  

Last year, my school district aimed to raise literacy scores by 10 percent as measured by DIBELS (Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills), a formal, standardized reading assessment used by many schools in the United States.  

This led to a schoolwide goal of finding ways to help our students become more proficient readers. Our school district as a whole saw reading scores increase by three, and our school saw scores rise by 9 percent. We almost got there! Results were not consistent schoolwide, and we still have a long way to go to get all of our students to read proficiently. As an instructional coach, assessing which strategies were successful matters to me. Here are the strategies that helped our students become more engaged and successful in their reading.

6 Strategies That Contribute To Increasing Reading Proficiency 

1. Invest in research-based Tier 1 (whole class) literacy programs. Our school adopted two programs rooted in the science of reading that helped our students build literacy skills in all aspects of Scarborough’s Reading Rope . (We use EL Education and UFLI ). By providing teachers with professional development, coaching, and peer observations, we built their confidence and prepared them to teach these programs. Teachers with the most success had a positive outlook on the programs, taught them daily, and followed pacing guides to the best of their ability. 

2. Build your decodable text library. One of the first things I did as an instructional coach was create an organized book closet as a shared resource for teachers to find books to put in kids’ hands that they could read. Decodable books have come a long way in quality and engagement for kids, and our school has loved the ones we found from Flyleaf and High Noon books. After we built up our library, we created individual book bags for students. 

We found ways to give them more time to read decodable texts independently that were targeted to their reading level so they could practice the skills they were learning during literacy instruction. This is where we saw the most student engagement in reading. Having their own book bag filled with books they could read on their own was so exciting for many of our students, and to see them partnered up reading to each other or a classroom visitor was a highlight of the year and something we definitely will continue next year.  

3. Regularly monitor progress. Involve academic support teachers, reading specialists, and instructional coaches to help progress monitor students regularly and manage MTSS (Multi-Tiered System of Supports) instruction. Using DIBELS, we monitored all students’ reading progress every two weeks for those not meeting benchmarks. Each grade level had a team of support staff meeting weekly to look at this data and other diagnostic assessments (such as the LETRS Phonics and Word-Reading Survey ) to monitor students’ growth.

Using this data, we adjusted reading instruction and created flexible Tier 2 literacy skills groups that were directly targeted to meet students’ needs. These small groups met five times a week for 30 minutes and were where we targeted instruction based on the data we collected. In this skills block, we could give those who needed more instruction a little more individual attention. Having a team to collaborate with the classroom teacher, progress monitor students, reflect on the data, and teach targeted skills  groups was a key to our success.  

4. Provide frequent distributed practice of skills. This can happen in many ways, such as doing a daily phonemic awareness warm-up during morning meetings, calling kids to line up by asking them to define a vocabulary word, or having kids wear a lanyard with high-frequency words they are learning. Any way you can incorporate literacy skills throughout the day helps build kids’ competency with language. Our school uses Lexia (an online reading program) to give kids additional independent practice with foundational reading skills. The program has built-in certificates to celebrate students’ success and reteaching worksheets to help review skills that children struggle with. It has proven to be an invaluable resource, especially for early readers.  

5. Create cozy reading corners in classrooms. Give kids inviting spaces that encourage them to curl up with a book. These spaces can also be a good place for kids to take a break from the business of the classroom and discover new interests through a carefully developed classroom library. I used my weekly newsletter to highlight the creative reading corners in our building and provide ideas for teachers who may want to create new ones. 

6. Host joyful schoolwide celebrations. As a school, we took time to celebrate our reading success by having all-school celebrations such as a Read-A-Thon, where kids were invited to cozy up in their pajamas, bring a stuffie to school, invite guest readers into the classroom, and spend the day doing reading-related activities. We had a School-Wide Reading Challenge, where kids kept track of how many hours they spent reading to work toward having an all-school celebration. We also involved parents by providing them with information on ways to celebrate reading and build literacy skills with their children at home. 

What worked

Overall, we found that providing more high-quality resources and support for teachers, implementing schoolwide systems to progress monitor students, and giving students more time and instruction to develop reading skills all contributed to our success. Our most successful teaching teams had a positive outlook, were open to the benefits of core programs, were highly knowledgeable about reading development and instruction, participated in district-wide professional development, and had strong support teams to navigate MTSS so that classroom teachers could focus on Tier 1 core programming. It was a team effort.  

Helping kids become more proficient readers also improved our school culture by building excitement around reading as we found ways for students to cozy up with a good book they could read successfully. This helped build their identities as readers and brought joy as we celebrated our successes together. And what can be more valuable than working together to ensure that all our students leave our school knowing how to read proficiently? This is a goal we will keep striving for so that we can send all our students off into the world as independent readers prepared for success.  

Resources on academic writing

For academics, faculty and staff at any level, academic writing skills can be the difference between being published in academic journals, funded or employed or their hard work going unrecognised. From writing journal articles, peer review reports and grant proposals to feedback for students and exam questions, the hard graft of crafting meaningful prose reaches every aspect of university life. These resources look at how to improve academic-style writing in different contexts and for different audiences in research and teaching, as well as how to tap into creativity for better results.

Young female academic writing on laptop illustrating spotlight on academic writing

Exercises to brush up on your academic writing

It’s tempting when you’ve finished a piece of writing to breathe a sigh of relief and rush towards the next deadline. But reflecting on your process, what went well and less well and whether a particular strategy worked for a particular type of piece will move your writing forward and develop your instinct for what works, writes Anne Wilson of the Royal Literary Fund in her piece outlining three exercises that will help you improve your academic writing. 

how to improve creative writing skills in students

.css-7qmtvr{overflow:hidden;max-height:108px;text-indent:0px;} Three ways to refresh your academic writing

Anne Wilson

Royal Literary Fund

Improve your own and your students’ academic writing

In our podcast on writing and publishing, academics, authors, publishers and postdocs share their advice on how to improve academic writing. Learn how to establish a consistent writing practice, find the hook in your work and introduce a range of voices into your material, among other strategies. 

Teaching in higher education institutions  requires educators to empower students to become better writers. At the University of Glasgow, all 11,000 incoming undergraduate and postgraduate taught students complete a compulsory writing course, receiving feedback and guidance on their writing within the first four weeks of enrolment at the university. The institution’s writing and study skills coordinator explains how to implement a similar intervention to improve students’ academic writing.

how to improve creative writing skills in students

THE podcast: pointers on writing and publishing for academics

Campus contributors

how to improve creative writing skills in students

Improving academic writing skills to boost student confidence and resilience

Andrew Struan

University of Glasgow

Narative writing in academia

Creative writing activities that help students develop their critical thinking skills

Creative writing to hone critical thinking

Parag Dandgey

Xi’an Jiaotong-Liverpool University 

Image depicting a world vision emanating from the pages of a book

Using poetry to solve problems

Sam Illingworth

Edinburgh Napier University

Triple-write ice cream cones

Stretch your work further by ‘triple writing’

Matthew Flinders

University of Sheffield

Image depicting a story emerging from the pages of a book

The transformative potential of narrative writing explained

Steven Beschloss

Arizona State University

Identify your academic writing style

Many early career researchers struggle to write enough. The key is to move away from an abstract notion of productivity and towards a productive writing process, explains Rachael Cayley . In her resource on how to identify your academic writing style, she argues that common productivity advice often overlooks structural barriers, and that understanding one’s writing process is crucial for effective productivity.

how to improve creative writing skills in students

What is your academic writing temperament?

Rachael Cayley

University of Toronto

How to write a research proposal

Image showing two academics working together on a grant proposal

A guide to writing grant proposals

Kaycie Butler

Butler Science Communications

Advice on drafting effective proposals for interdisciplinary research projects

All together now: how to write an interdisciplinary research proposal

Catherine Healy, Catherine Lyall, Isabel Fletcher

Trinity College Dublin, The University of Edinburgh

Rubber ducks in a row illustrating reproducible research

How to publish responsible reproducible research

Laurent Heirendt

University of Luxembourg

Academic publishing: how to pitch

Our resources on how to navigate the world of academic publishing include advice from authors and editorial staff.  Victoria Pittman , editorial director at Bristol University Press, suggests key considerations for researchers when choosing an academic publisher and preparing their pitch.

Video maker and science communicator Simon Clark explains exactly what a book proposal is and what you should include in it. After all, “having an interesting concept for a book is not enough to guarantee success. You are not just selling your idea, but also your abilities as an author and salesperson,” he argues.

how to improve creative writing skills in students

How to pitch a book to an academic publisher

Victoria Pittman

University of Bristol

how to improve creative writing skills in students

Six tips for writing a successful book proposal

Simon Clark

Independent academic

Writing assessment and feedback

A young woman working in a library

Five common misconceptions on writing feedback

Rolf Norgaard, Stephanie Foster

University of Colorado Boulder, Colorado State University

Young woman recording audio on her phone

Hear this: a guide to writing an academic English listening test

Anna Ziomek

University of Reading

Illustration of man in suit hurdling ahead of robots

Effective assessment practices for a ChatGPT-enabled world

Georgia Tech’s Center for 21st Century Universities

Pile of exam papers

Writing exam questions in a six-step process

Fiona Lifen Liu

Macau University of Science and Technology

Writing for academic journals

Publishing an academic journal article for the first time can be a daunting and sometimes disappointing experience. In her article on how to prepare your manuscript, Elsevier Researcher Academy’s Jing Tang gives insight into what makes one stand out and how to choose an appropriate home for it.

When you put your work out there, you invite scrutiny, and on many occasions, this manifests as a rejection of your paper. Catherine Léglu, vice-rector for academic affairs at the University of Luxembourg, argues that “‘no‘ gives you a chance to think carefully about the quality of what you wrote”. In her resource, she explains how to see the rejection of your article by a peer-reviewed journal as an opportunity.

how to improve creative writing skills in students

Are you ready to publish? Top tips on how to prepare your manuscript

how to improve creative writing skills in students

What to do when an academic journal rejects your article

Catherine Léglu

Request info

Oregon state ecampus releases new tool to help students improve their learning strategies and skills.

Joann Malumalemu

Every year, Oregon State Ecampus supports thousands of students who are pursuing degrees, certificates and microcredentials online. Joann Malumaleumu, pictured above, earned her B.S. in Human Development and Family Sciences online from Oregon State.

The Learning Skills Journey Tool is the result of an in-depth research study, conducted by OSU Ecampus and Brigham Young University, and is now freely available under a Creative Commons License.

As a longtime student advocate, Oregon State University’s Kyle Whitehouse knows the skills and strategies that most contribute to online learning success.

Back in 2019, Whitehouse reached out to Oregon State’s Ecampus Research Unit asking for help. She wanted to find a research-backed assessment tool that could help students develop the skills most needed to succeed in an online learning environment. For example, measuring things like a student’s motivation to complete their coursework, their ability to communicate with classmates and instructors, and their comfort level with common technologies used in online courses.

“Adult learners have so much going on,” says Whitehouse, the OSU Ecampus associate director of student services. “So, when it comes to online learning, they really want to understand from the beginning what skills and strategies it takes to be successful.”

Whitehouse wanted a self-evaluation tool to empower students with these insights and then link them to support resources — and she wasn’t alone.

Around that same time, Carolyn Andrews, associate dean of continuing education at Brigham Young University, was on the hunt for a similar tool. She also mentioned her interest to the OSU Ecampus Research Unit.

“A lot of our very bright students don’t want to chance failure,” Andrews explains. “If there’s a perception that they won’t do as well in an online environment, they’ll avoid it.”

From these conversations, and after a further survey of the existing tools at the time, the Ecampus Research Unit recognized there was a clear opportunity to create a better assessment tool in support of students.

To address these challenges, Oregon State Ecampus and BYU embarked on a highly collaborative and research-backed development process. All of their hard work recently came to fruition with the launch of the Learning Skills Journey Tool , which helps students identify their key areas of strength as well as areas for growth and improvement.

How the tool works

Now freely available for anyone to download, the Learning Skills Journey tool can be used in three ways:

  • By administrators, advisors and coaches to more quickly and accurately assess where a student might be struggling, so they can offer targeted interventions and recommendations.
  • By students to self-assess their skill sets and pinpoint growth areas.
  • By researchers to better measure student readiness.

The team stresses that while their study is rooted in the online learning readiness literature, the tool was never intended to define and divide people as “ready” or “not ready” to learn. Rather, it’s all about personal empowerment, increasing confidence, and having a growth mindset. The overall goal is to better equip 21st-century learners with the attitudes, skills and strategies they’ll need not just for college, but for a lifetime of learning.

“To me, a learner readiness tool is not about weeding people out,” explains Andrews. “The process is about identifying where you can improve, and then having the resources and mentoring available to be able to do that.”

How are OSU Ecampus and BYU using the tool?

The Ecampus and BYU teams both built digital iterations of the Learning Skills Journey tool that they are currently using with students.

In each case, the tool offers students an evaluation of their strengths and where they can improve, based on their responses. The digital versions offer students customized links to support resources that can help them learn more on their own. Students can also connect with success coaches for advising and support. These teams are already deploying the tool in some of their one-on-one sessions.

“Some students will say ‘I’m having a hard time managing my time,” says Whitehouse. “This tool helps pull apart the why. Is it about balancing priorities? Is it about their motivation to do things? Can they reach out to an instructor with questions when they have them?”

Our methodology

Building the Learning Skills Journey Tool was a labor of love, but it was also a technically sophisticated accomplishment, led by Oregon State’s Ecampus Research Unit — a division that’s dedicated to actionable online education research.

The process began with an extensive literature review that included online learner readiness tools and studies from as far back as the year 2000. Simultaneously, the Ecampus Research Unit worked with the Ecampus student success team to get their perspective and insights.

“We led focus groups with the success team to discuss what would be most useful,” says Mary Ellen Dello Stritto, director of the Ecampus Research Unit. “Through that process, we updated, added and dropped questions. They really informed the language of the tool.”

After undergoing validity testing, the team arrived at 41 questions for the initial instrument. They then tested that instrument with over 10,000 students  — a truly significant effort.

“Often scale validation studies involve a few hundred participants at most,” says Dello Stritto. “So, the fact that this study was validated with over 10,000 students is very rare.”

Furthering the uniqueness and credibility of the study, the findings were cross-validated in two different student populations — OSU and BYU.

“In research, we often build a scale and try it out,” explains Dello Stritto. “But it’s important to know if we take it to another population, will we get similar results? In this case, we did.  So that gives us confidence that we have a good measurement scale.”

If you want to read more about the statistical analysis involved, the Ecampus Research Team and Andrews recently published their findings in the December 2023 issue of the Online Learning Consortium’s Online Learning Journal, where you can read their full journal article .

All of the teams are excited about the latest implementation and possible future developments.

“The work of our success team is so individualized and relational, so it can be hard to put metrics that matter behind our work,” says Whitehouse. “How do we measure whether what we’re doing is effective or not? For the research team to help us out with even a sliver of that — it feels amazing.”

Want to use the tool with students at your university?

The OSU Ecampus and BYU teams made the Learning Skills Journey Tool available under a Creative Commons License. You can download a PDF version that’s designed for advisors, coaches and administrators to use with students.

Download the tool

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COMMENTS

  1. How To Improve Writing Skills For Kids: 14 Easy Tips

    Create Story Prompts. A fun way to improve kids' creative writing skills is to have them write short stories. Cut out pictures from a magazine with different characters or locations, or write down different words. Place these in a container or glue them to cards to use as writing prompts for creating a unique story.

  2. 9 strategies for improving writing skills in primary school

    8. Get creative with the teaching. Where possible, try to connect what the children are interested in with their writing. For example, if you have learners interested in Minecraft, they could write a letter of persuasion to the Prime Minister to persuade him to allow Minecraft lessons in school.

  3. How to Improve Writing Skills in Students

    Teachers can help students improve their spelling skills by hosting a class spelling bee once a week. Teachers should provide students with a list of words on Monday. Students will be given the rest of the week to study the words and prepare for the spelling bee. On Friday, students will complete the spelling bee.

  4. Easy Ways to Improve Creative Writing: 11 Steps (with Pictures)

    Download Article. 1. Block off time to write every day. Your writing skills will improve with practice. Set aside 20 to 30 minutes (or longer, if you can) to write about anything you want to. Try keeping a journal and writing about your day, or use a notebook to sketch out character ideas and book plots.

  5. 9 Easy Ways to Improve Your Child's Creative Writing Skills

    Here are 9 ways to make creative writing skills fun: 1. Read Often. Books are the best precursor to writing. So get your kids reading! With repeated exposure to words, ideas, and styles, and in books, kids build the ability to mimic and adopt them. Flood them with exposure to books and watch their skills rise.

  6. 22 Writing Activities To Help Kids Hone Their Writing Skills

    Once students start getting in the habit of writing, these creative writing activities can pull new ideas out of their heads and encourage them to experiment with different genres. 5. Acrostics. Great for: Grades 3 to 8. Acrostic poems are a great way to introduce your students to poetry!

  7. 10 Ways to Improve Writing Skills for Elementary Students

    Try to make the journals fun by adding color and/or glueing in pictures. The journals are a great place to let students become creative by writing their thoughts or telling a funny story in their own words. Here are 10 ideas of what you can do to improve any student's overall writing skill: 1. Write everyday.

  8. How to Improve Creative Writing Skills: 10 Fun Ways for Kids!

    10 Ways to Improve your creative writing skills. 1. Read everything you can find! Let's start with the obvious one! Read a lot! Read anything you find lying around your house from old storybooks to newspapers. While reading this stuff, pay attention to the words being used by the writer, the use of metaphors, adjectives, characters, the plot ...

  9. Creative Activities to Develop Writing Skills for Students

    Storytelling exercises like role-playing and picture prompts help spark creativity. Ways to integrate fun writing games like story chains and story cubes can improve student writing skills and foster a positive learning environment. How to use writing prompts to show understanding and develop technical writing skills while being creative.

  10. PDF 4.Creative Writing as a Best Way to Improve Writing Skills of Students

    348 CREATIVE WRITING AS A BEST WAY TO IMPROVE WRITING SKILLS OF STUDENTS and students at the universities (Ganobscik, 2004, p. 28). Students Learn to Write by Reading, Interpreting Texts, and ...

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    Related Reading: Best Writing Apps for Kids. Creative Worksheets; Creative worksheets are a fun and effective way to engage children in writing. ... Ways to improve writing skills for students include reading regularly to enhance their vocabulary and understanding of sentence structure, practicing writing consistently, seeking feedback to learn ...

  12. How to Teach Creative Writing

    We've outlined a seven-step method that will scaffold your students through each phase of the creative process from idea generation through to final edits. 7. Create inspiring and original prompts. Use the following formats to generate prompts that get students inspired: personal memories ("Write about a person who taught you an important ...

  13. 12 Strategies to Support Struggling Writers in Elementary

    These are really helpful for triggering ideas in struggling writers. Often times a student will say, "I don't know what to write about," and a sentence starter can help guide them with their writing. 4. Writing Warm-up. Writing warm-ups are great to help students get their creative juices flowing.

  14. How Creative Writing Can Increase Students' Resilience

    Reaping the benefits. To see how creative writing impacts students, I invite them to rate their resilience through a self-compassion survey at the start of the school year and again in the spring. Last year, two-thirds of students surveyed increased in self-compassion; Alejandro grew his self-compassion by 20 percent.

  15. Writing Strategies for Middle School Students

    Start with the five most used strategies first. Those are: asking questions, listing, mind mapping, writers sprints (freewriting), and drawing to write. In order to get the best results, teach each writing strategy to your middle school students step-by-step, and practice a lot.

  16. 3 Ways to Improve Students' Writing

    2. Consider voice and word choice. In standard writing, informal word choices are less effective than formal word choices. To improve your students' writing, circle words like "kids, mom, dad," and suggest replacements, i.e., children, mother, father. Encourage use of the active voice over the passive.

  17. Efficient Ways to Improve Student Writing

    Writing is an essential tool for learning a discipline and helping students improve their writing skills is a responsibility for all faculty. Let students know that you value good writing. Stress the importance of clear, thoughtful writing. Faculty who tell students that good writing will be rewarded and poor writing will be penalized receive ...

  18. 100 Writing Practice Lessons & Exercises

    Our 100+ Best Creative Writing Practice Exercises and Lessons. Now that you know how we practice writing at The Write Practice, here are our best writing practice lessons to jumpstart your writing skills with some daily writing exercises, for beginner writers to even the most expert writers: All-Time, Top 10 Writing Lessons and Exercises

  19. How to Improve Your Child's Creative Writing Skills

    3. Play a collaborative story-writing game. If your child is shy or uncomfortable coming up with their own creative writing ideas, propose a game where the two of you can write a story together. Try to keep the story silly and light-hearted in order to keep your child interested and engaged.

  20. How to Improve Writing Skills for Students » JournalBuddies.com

    Here are just a few of the ways reading helps students improve their writing skills: Exposes students to new vocabulary and nuances of language. Expands a student's worldview and teaches him or her about the experiences of others. Offers inspiration and promotes imagination and creativity.

  21. Four Strategies for Effective Writing Instruction (Opinion)

    The Four Square is a graphic organizer that students can make themselves when given a blank sheet of paper. They fold it into four squares and draw a box in the middle of the page. The genius of ...

  22. Creative Writing as a Best Way to Improve Writing Skills of Students

    The survey revealed that the most popular creative writi ng activity was writing detective, horror, and what-if. stories (45% of the students agreed with that) whereas poetry writing scored 27% ...

  23. Traits of Writing: The Complete Guide for Middle School

    Here are 5 secrets I know work in middle school and will help your young writers succeed: 1. The teacher must model how to learn. If we want our students to write, we have to show them we are writers ourselves, which means opening ourselves up to scrutiny. 2. Learning should be infectious.

  24. Creative Writing Club

    MISSION STATEMENT As the CUNY SPS Creative Writing Club, we will come together once a month and answer writing prompts. We will use our creativity to enhance our writing skills and create an environment of safety. We will gain new writing skills and showcase our talent. We will share our love for writing and creating new stories. VISION STATEMENT As a club, we hope to inspire others to engage ...

  25. Strategies to Increase Literacy Levels

    1. Invest in research-based Tier 1 (whole class) literacy programs. Our school adopted two programs rooted in the science of reading that helped our students build literacy skills in all aspects of Scarborough's Reading Rope. (We use EL Education and UFLI).By providing teachers with professional development, coaching, and peer observations, we built their confidence and prepared them to ...

  26. Resources to improve your academic writing| THE Campus Learn, Share

    Improve your own and your students' academic writing. In our podcast on writing and publishing, academics, authors, publishers and postdocs share their advice on how to improve academic writing. Learn how to establish a consistent writing practice, find the hook in your work and introduce a range of voices into your material, among other ...

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    W hen it comes so easy to write something using AI tools like ChatGPT or similar, it is important to use and improve your writing skills. Despite the active use of AI writing tools, teachers can ...

  28. Oregon State Ecampus releases new tool to help students improve their

    Now freely available for anyone to download, the Learning Skills Journey tool can be used in three ways: By administrators, advisors and coaches to more quickly and accurately assess where a student might be struggling, so they can offer targeted interventions and recommendations. By students to self-assess their skill sets and pinpoint growth ...

  29. King's Speech 2024: background briefing notes

    Government activity Departments. Departments, agencies and public bodies. News. News stories, speeches, letters and notices. Guidance and regulation