Writing is a really tough skill to learn. There is so much to remember with spelling, punctuation, and capitalization. Add in writing a sentence that actually makes sense and students often are overwhelmed and frustrated! However, writing is a skill that students will use all throughout their life. Therefore, it is so important to build the confidence that students have about writing. In order to do this, the Building Writing Stamina resource shows students how fun writing can be. Furthermore, it is the perfect way to show the importance of building writing stamina.
Writing in all Content Areas
Oftentimes, it is thought that writing can only occur in reading and writing. When building writing stamina, it is important to remember that writing occurs in all content areas! Therefore, students may be writing a sentence about a science experiment, reflecting on a social studies topic, or how they solved a math problem. Even better, students can write in several content areas in order to write multiple times a day. The most important aspect is that students are practicing writing. When students are developing writing skills, the topic truly does not matter. The most important aspect is that students have time to write.
In order to build writing stamina, start on day one in all content areas. It is essential that students see the correlation between practice and writing for the full amount given. However, students may have a tough time understanding this. Therefore, they need to put this strong statement in action! This resource includes a chart where students can track their writing stamina each day of the week. This can be done as a class or personally by each individual. By doing this, students will visibly see their growth, which will motivate them to push themselves. Then, have students set a goal for the class on how many minutes they will write without stopping. This is a great way to build classroom support and relationships.
Topics: When building stamina, the focus is on truly that: stamina! Therefore, the topics should be open-ended and most opinionated. By doing this, students will not feel pressure for a right or wrong answer. Instead, they will be focused on explaining their own thoughts. For instance, students may write about their favorite season or why sleep is important.
To help all students build writing stamina, this resource includes a variety of prompts!
Additionally, these freewriting prompts will help prevent writer’s block. Everyone knows how stressful writer’s block can be. When it happens to students, they start to think they are unable to write. Therefore, freewriting prompts will help students truly focus on writing stamina instead of stress over a content-specific question.
Sharing: If students are struggling with freewriting prompts, provide time for them to share responses with each other. This can be done in small groups, with partners, or a few sharing with the class. This can be greatly beneficial in order to help students generate more ideas. Furthermore, it is a great way to build relationships among classmates!
Mistakes: Everyone makes mistakes! It is important for students to know this. Therefore, when developing writing stamina, remind students mistakes will happen! The point right now is to improve stamina and generate ideas. Let students know it is okay to make mistakes and just to keep writing.
Whether students transition back to school, writing can seem so overwhelming. However, it is so important to start writing on day one. Therefore, the Building Writing Stamina resource is here to ensure every student gains confidence as a writer. With this resource, students are going to beg for more writing time!
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