Happy Hump Day!! So glad it’s Wednesday… can I get an amen?!?
And it’s not just Wednesday, it’s………..
Yahoo!! Today’s topic: How do you keep your writers motivated to WRITE? It seems like it’s all we do all day anymore thanks to Common Core… so how do you get those “I haaaaate to wriiiiiite” kiddos to actually write, and like it? 😛
I have a couple of tricks up my sleeve for sure.
#1: DRAW and write. Oh yes. Most kiddos that don’t like to write seem to LOVE to draw (of course, there are always exceptions). Any time that I can allow them some drawing time before (or after) writing time, it seems to motivate them. In fact, right now, we are making an ABC Book of Science and Social Studies content they learned this year, which I’m using for their “last” grade in Science and Social Studies. First, they used their Science and Social Studies notebooks to brainstorm on an alphaboxes organizer. Now, they are drawing an illustration of the word, and writing a few COMPLETE sentences underneath to tell what they learned this year about the topic. This counts as “routine writing” if you ask me! 😉 If you want to grab the book (with the alphaboxes organizer) while it’s on sale (today’s the last day!!!) you can pick it up here! But as usual, YOU KNOW ME!! Gotta give it away…I will give the book away to the first 3 people to link up to Workshop Wednesday today!
#2: Two Magic Words: Notepads and Clipboards.
I shared with you in this post how all of my students use yellow notepads to write their rough drafts.
It’s good for several reasons: they can distinguish between their rough draft and final draft; it is bigger and has more lines than a composition notebook so they can skip lines like I want them to and not fill 50 pages; and it’s YELLOW! Woohoo!! Writing on yellow paper!!! I don’t know why, but they love it.
And then, there’s the clipboards- I have a class set. Writing at their desk? Boooorrrrrriiiiing. Lay on the floor, or sit against the wall with a clipboard and write? They could write all day! 🙂
As you can see, these aren’t super special extravagant ideas, but they WORK! That is all this linky is about this week- what works for you?
Grab the button, and link your post back here! 🙂 And of course, spread the bloggy love- be sure to comment on and/or follow two other blogs that link up! 🙂
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