Giving Compass' Take:

• EdSurge goes over 3 ways to support educators and teachers who struggle with teaching writing to their students. 

• What are some other ways to make writing fun and approachable in the classroom? What programs are there out there to help teachers in need?

• Here's how to make students care about writing. 

“Another English teacher just switched to gym because she couldn’t do it anymore,” a teacher from Georgia recently told me. “I love teaching and helping kids grow,” she added, “but I hate that writing instruction takes up hours and hours of my life.” She’s not alone in her sentiments. A 2016 study of 3rd to 8th grade educators found that only 55% of teachers said they enjoy teaching writing.

9% of writing assignments in grades six to eight include long-form writing. The lack of practice adds up; by 8th grade, just 27% of students are at or above a proficient level of writing.

  1. Challenge: “Kids hate writing.”Solution: Provide students with choice—and topics that interest them. Teachers I talked with said their solution is to “trick” students into writing by giving them engaging choices that make them forget that their writing project is an assignment. Solution: Provide students with choice—and topics that interest them.
  2. Challenge: “I am just not comfortable teaching writing.” According to a 2016 study, only a third of third to eighth grade teachers have taken a college class specifically about how to teach writing. Solution: Give teachers relevant tools, time and training.
  3. Challenge: “I dread grading papers all weekend.”Solution: Establish clear goals and monitoring to help guide instruction.Grading can be a lot faster when it is more objective. Many districts start the process of measuring writing by identifying a consistent writing rubric or student exemplars. Solution: Establish clear goals and monitoring to help guide instruction.

Read the full article on teaching writing by Priya Mathew at EdSurge.