"Whose Writing is it Anyway"? Kids Love To Write

The age of innocence. Primary school is so much fun, and we have to learn how to transfer this fun to secondary level. By the time children reach seventh grade, the joy of school is gone. Is it the fault of teachers? I believe so.

Most language teachers are language teachers. Many don't read a piece of work for the joy of reading it; they look for ERRORS. This is an automatic reflex. No one likes to get a paper covered in read, and this hinders a student's writing. However, I've learned to stay away from that during my first semester. I tell my ELL students to write the word as they pronounce it. I tell them that I'm not looking for errors--I'm looking for a story.

However, as much as I try to stay away from giving students prompts, it's very hard for me to do so because they have to get used to writing with a given prompt.

This coming year I plan to have writers in my classroom. I'll be using as many strategies possible from this summer's institute--one of them letting my students write about whatever (as long as it's appropriate). I will get my ELL students to write. I'm really looking forward to August.