How to Motivate Your Children to Write Well

Many parents wonder how to motivate their children to write their best. Some believe in begging, pleading, and threatening. "Write because I told you to!" or "Please, please just write for me. That's all I ask." But that doesn't usually work, and it's not much fun for the parent or the student.

Then there are those who rely on rewards. "Finish this writing assignment and I'll buy you whatever you want." But in the end these motivators fade in their effectiveness. "Write this poem and I'll give you a bowl of ice cream" only works for so long.

And of course, there is that all-time famous motivator of getting a good grade. "If you want an A+ you better do this." Writing (and all education) should be about more than just getting a good grade. This article will give you some concrete hints and ideas as to how to help motivate your writer, and help you help your child produce the best work he or she can.

 
So What Can I Do?

One important key in encouraging your writer is a positive attitude. It is easy to get excited when your baby utters her first word, even if it is garbled and barely audible. But when your child ages and her work is filled with spelling and grammar errors, it's not quite as cute, and it can be a little more difficult to be a cheerleader. Your children need to see you smile in excitement when they write, no matter the quality. You can (and will) work on improving the mistakes. But at first make sure to give them the praise they need.

Even if the writing is poor, work to affirm something specific about every piece of writing. If you read an absolutely horrible paper and can only find one good thing, even if it seems minimal, start with that. If all you can say is, "I really like the title you chose," say it. Sincere enthusiasm will work wonders, even with older kids.

At Learning Discoveries we believe in the MSA© Multi Sensory Approach to Learning. Here are some more suggestions on how to inspire your readers^:

1. MSA © Approach to writing - To inspire your child to write a descriptive piece, go outside and try to find an item. Touch it, smell it, listen to it, look closely at it, and if it's safe, taste it. If you want your child to write about a tree, go spend some time in a forest and observe. Climb some trees. Smell them. Hug them. Look up at their huge branches and all of the leaves and animals living in them. Have your child stretch and pretend he is a tree. Your child will have much more success writing if he or she experiences what he is writing about with his or her senses. You'll get much better results than if you just say, "write about a tree."
2. Use literature to inspire writing. Go to the library and pick some interesting books and then ask your child to write about the worst day he's ever had. Or write about what would be the best day ever. Or write about how to treat someone who is having a bad day.
3. Find some inspirational poetry that will interest your child. Read the poems in dramatic fashion and then have your child mimic the style, changing key nouns and verbs to create his own poem. The book Love That Dog by Sharon Creech is a great example (as well as a wonderful book) of how this works well with kids.
4. Listen to wordless music as you write. Find the type of music you want for your specific assignment. You can also use songs with words and then change the words or add a new verse.
5. Use paints, crayons or markers to color banners or posters. Then look at the colors and see what they inspire. You could write a poem about a picture or a particular color
6. Read some poems about warnings. Some suggested books are Warning or Early Bird by Shel Silverstein, If You Should Meet a Crocodile, or Jack Prelutsky's Don't Ever Seize a Weasel by the Tail. Then have your child write his own warning for anything. It could be as dangerous as a shark or as silly as a potato.

 
Create an Audience

While all of these steps help will inspire your writer, in my humble opinion the best motivation is to give your writer readers and he will want to do a good job.

In LD when our students knew they were going to share an assignment with the class, they worked much harder on those assignments than ones just for the trainer. When our trainer told them they would post their work in the classroom, they put extra effort into what they had to do, because they knew others would read it.

When writers have readers they try harder and do their best work. It's human nature. People want to look good in front of other people. When you have an audience, you do your best.

More Home Activities ideas: Here are a few suggestions on how to create readers at home.

1. Display your child's work in the home. Especially for young children, this works as a terrific motivator. In the same way you probably post your preschooler's artwork on the refrigerator, post your child's writing in your home. You could use a section of wall space and decorate it to display each child's best writing for the week/month/semester.
2. You could also take one night a week to have a family recital where every member (maybe even Mom and Dad) share their favorite piece of writing for the week. This gives each family member a deadline, a motivation to work hard, and most importantly, an audience.
3. You could work with your children to create a family newsletter. Many families write Hari Raya letters displaying the achievements and exciting moments in the last year for every member of the family. Wouldn't it be fun if your children each wrote an article of their own for this letter? And there is no need to wait until the next Eid. You can write a family newsletter once a semester or more if your kids enjoy it. This gives them a goal for writing, as well as an even larger audience than your immediate family.
4. You could get together with other parents in your area to form a writing club where you share your best work. Give your children a chance to share what they are proud of.
5. At the end of the semester or year you could create a book of the best piece of writing for every individual in your club or family and publish it. Have your children illustrate their work and find a way to type it up and put them all together for a professional looking publication.
6. Encourage your child to write a story and then made it into a book, drew pictures and made a hardback cover then share his book with other children and read theirs.
7. Create a family web page devoted to your children's best writing. Let your children help you design the appearance, layout and format. This allows them to share their writing with friends and family, and even strangers across the world.
8. Find a pen pal for your child to write to. While friendly letters may not be formal and edited, they do give your children practice to write regularly for an audience.
9. Encourage your child to write a letter to an editor of your local paper. Think of an issue she cares about, and work together to compose a letter that expresses what she feels. There is a chance the letter could even end up in print!
10. Suggest your child write to a celebrity or other hero. Kids work really hard to create a great letter to impress their heroes, and more often than not they actually get a response, which inspires them to write even more.

Every kid is different, and there is no magical, surefire way to inspire your child every time. But try out some of these ideas, and see what works for you. With practice you will find many other ways to inspire your writer. Do what works for your children, and watch them grow in their writing.

Learning Discoveries conducts a 2.5 hours triap session on how to write creatively and SCORE in Compo. $35 .

To Register Call : 67414 344 / SMS 8126 7755  www.learningdiscoveries.net

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