Below are four recommendations on how to slowly introduce writing to students as early as the preschool years. Believe it or not, writing is a skill that can be learned very early on in a child’s development. This article hopefully imparts some suggestions that can encourage students to overcome writing roadblocks.

This article is for teachers, tutors, writing coaches, and parents–those who wish to teach and improve a student’s writing skills. Everything that will be discussed in this article is aimed toward providing tips to help students become comfortable with writing and to help them communicate their thoughts and ideas effectively.

Recommendations

1. Write every day. Much is said about devoting one hour per day to read. The same should be done for writing. Dedicate one hour to writing during the school day. For young students, at least thirty minutes out of the one hour should be devoted to instruction, and the rest for practice. During instruction time, teach the students different writing styles, techniques, strategies. Writing is not restricted to English class. During Science class, teachers can teach students about how to write scientific research and lab reports.

2. Write with a purpose in mind. Any piece of writing starts with a purpose, whether it is to describe, inform, express inner thoughts, or sell something. The teacher needs to guide the students to plan what they write in order to communicate effectively with the readers. Teach students about the drafting, evaluating, revision, and editing—all processes that will take place in writing.

3. Work on the fundamentals: handwriting, typing, spelling, and sentence construction. Young writers should devote time and practice towards learning and understanding basic writing skills such as grammar, sentence construction, and use of vocabulary. Teachers and parents of young students should make sure that the student practices handwriting, spelling and does activities and quizzes about grammar. As students become more comfortable with writing, the focus will shift towards communicating their thoughts and ideas. They will need to master the fundamentals in order to become effective writers.

4. Build a community. Create a community of writers who are on the same journey of learning and improving their skills.  This is an environment where teachers, parents, and peers participate as writers, not experts who are there to critique the student’s writing output. By doing this, the adults are indirectly communicating that as much as writing is important, it is also a process in which can be enjoyed by everyone.  One way to do this is during a writing activity, the teacher will also share their writing draft with the class. Everyone in the class will be given a chance to share their own output. After each reading, everyone in the class will have the freedom to share their thoughts and comments about the text.

Final Thoughts

To be effective writers, children have to start learning the basics starting from a young age. Fundamental writing skills should be taught carefully and continuously so that by the time the students advance, they become more comfortable with writing.