Ask an Expert: Writing Composition

[author][author_info]Our guest blogger for the next two weeks is Diana Thomas, who has taught at The Potter’s School since 2002 and has written the curriculum for Writer’s Workshop, English 2, and Poetry Through Lyrics courses. She also teaches their English 3 Literature Survey and Advanced Composition courses. Diana serves as associate staff at SHARE, and has been consulting with schools in Europe and Asia about their writing programs as well as training national staff to raise writing standards and practices. Diana and her husband Lyle reside in St. Petersburg, Russia, where they are on staff with Church Resource Ministries, serving and training church leadership and working in orphan ministry. They home school their three children – Lydia, Kerith and Simon.[/author_info][/author]

The subject of teaching writing fills shelves and shelves in the bookstores. The following questions themselves are subjects of entire books, but here are a few answers to common questions from my consultations and workshops on writing composition.

My child hates to write. How do I motivate him?

Most of us do not remember learning to talk. We know we made millions of mistakes in our early years, but, thankfully, we do not bear the scars of constant correction of our verbal skills. Moms and dads simply repeated back to us the correct way to say something, and over the months we started to correctly speak on our own. If only written language could be so easy!

Writing certainly takes a lot of time and revisions, as well as being more personal than working on math equations. By the time kids are able to write and learn to craft paragraphs and stories, they realize that speaking is easier and faster than writing the words down. Many find the task of writing arduous and their final product not nearly as satisfying as the talking version. For these kids, some acknowledgement of the task can be helpful. Even sharing personal struggles shows that composition takes perseverance.

I like to compare writing to playing a musical instrument or mastering other kinds of arts or sports. Most kids participate in such extracurricular activities, and comparing writing to one of these helps shed a different light on the need for practice and a longer commitment to improvement. Shorter, but more frequent, writing times throughout the week can yield more success than one or two long sessions.

Writing is social! Giving kids opportunity to share their writing with others often kindles a spark of writing enjoyment. I have seen the most reticent writers blossom when family members and classmates publically praise writing. Of course this takes time, too. One “show-and-tell” session does not a C.S. Lewis make. However, writing in groups taps into the social aspect of writing, which many people view as a solitary exercise.

A steady diet of book reports can bore anybody! Providing a variety of writing to explore can keep writing fresh and renew sagging interest. Remember that writing plays, radio shows, and poetry give creative outlets for written expression.

Next week: Writing for the SAT and university applications.

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