Teacher Discussion Forums

[natkingcole]

Hi there all,

Does anyone have any advice, ideas on how to introduce students into diary and SA writing. I have students who are 8 years old and their mothers want them to start writing full on diaries as thats what other kids are doing in Seoul.
So any titles of books that you feel are good on this subject I would love to know about.

Cheers,

Nat

[joshua2004]

what is SA writing?

To get people starting writing, you have to realize that it is a skill that is built up over a long period of time in short sessions. The mistake many writers make is "binge" writing. Like when you decide to write a term paper all on one weekend. What is far more successful and the technique very successful writers use, and which gives us an idea on how to do diary writing, is to start with small amounts of regular writing.

I suggest you start your students out with idea starters or sentence starters. "the most interesting thing that happened yesterday was...." "My favorite song is..." "Friends are good because...." Choose sentence starters that you know your students can do. Google search for writing lessons for your age group. Vary the types of writing assignments and then move into free writing once the students are comfortable writing a little bit everyday. This is when they write whatever is on their mind. Tell them it could just be: "I have nothing to write, I have nothing to write, I like mochas, I have nothing to write" The important thing is that they are writing and it is not an unpleasant experience.

With time and the right amount of pressure and freedom, the students will be able to write more and more everyday.

[emile]

I would think at that age it would be more appropriate to get them to start scrapbooks. Like if they visit a fair, they can paste in the ticket stubs and photos and write a little about it.

When they get older, get them blogging.

[joshua2004]

I agree. In fact, after posting I suddenly realized the same thing.