How do you encourage students to write?

How to Motivate Students to Write:

1. Make it personal.
2. Add a visual and/or kinesthetic element.
3. Publish student work.
4. Have them share (collaborative, competitive)
5. Write every day (with a creative prompt)

Ideas
Breakdown the Classroom Walls
To make writing personal and to add both a visual and kinesthetic element, I
have used Instagram to get students to love writing. When examining purpose,
audience, and genre, I had the students choose something concrete in the
school that sent a message about our school. Students were asked to take a
picture, post it to Instagram (or email it to me if they didn’t have an Instagram
account), and write a post about how it represented our school.

This activity gave students choice, got them moving out of the classroom and
into the school, and provided them with an engaging activity to write! Students
took pictures of our new football stadium and talked about ways that activities
support student learning. Students took pictures of classrooms, teachers, and
trophy cases and wrote about how each of these spaces, faces, and artifacts
impacted their lives.

There was an innate collaborative element because students shared their

writing with everyone on their Instagram account, including tagging me as their
teacher. This connected students not only to other students at their school, but
also to friends who follow them from other cities and communities. There was
also an element of publishing their writing by using social media.

Write Every Day: 3 Writing Prompt Examples

Providing students a writing prompt gives them a starting point in their writing,
and it is an activity that can provide a seamless entrance into your plan for the
day. I usually incorporate this writing activity at the beginning of class. It gets
students into their seats and writing about an interesting and engaging topic.
Here are some writing prompt examples:
1. Interview: This is a great way to get students to get
to know each other.
a. Have each students write 3–5 interview questions.

b. Students will pair up and interview each other.

c. Students will write a “feature article” about the person interviewed. You
could include a picture of the student, too!

d. Post around room (this is the publishing factor!).

2. The Super Hero: This is a great way to bring

creativity and imagination into the classroom.
a. Have students answer the prompt: If you could be a Super Hero, who would
you be and why?

b. Draw it, using at least four different colors.

c. Have students share with classmates.

d. Post drawings and writings in the classroom.

3. The Reading Response: Use this if you want to

provide a writing opportunity that is more closely
related to your classroom content.
a. Give students a poem, piece of artwork, or picture.

b. Have students title it and write about it.

c. Ask students, what do you see? or what questions you have?

d. Share with classmates

e. Post around the room, especially as the responses tie to your content or
essential question for the unit of study.