Using Great Topics to Teach Writing

This summer I’ve been posting reviews of our writing products as well as some articles about writing. This is an article that I wrote last summer that I thought you might find helpful.

Despite all the articles I wrote to teach kids to write, the children often teach me more than I teach them. Thanks to my son, I learned another powerful lesson, one that makes me a better writing teacher while helping him become a better writer. Here's what happened.

Last week, my son's lesson was writing a biographical sketch in five paragraphs. We had recently been studying the Roman Empire, and I hoped that he would write on one of the church's founding fathers - not only would this reinforce those lessons, but he would also have the chance to delve more deeply into books which we had not had time to read earlier. Despite my excitement, I could see he was less than eager.

He was clearly not interested in the topic which I found so fascinating. Once we talked about baseball, that all changed. He had been reading about the life of Derek Jeter, and wanted to learn more. When I suggested that he write his biography on Jeter, his whole attitude changed - suddenly, he could not wait to get started! He already knew of three sources for more information, and could not wait to get started.

We decided that he would write about Derek Jeter, rather than church fathers.

Here’s a video review of one of our writing products,
“Student Writing Intensive.”

This week he found interesting and important information about Jeter. Today we narrowed his paper to three topics about Derek Jeter. Next week, he will outline his paper and begin writing.

He is much happier and more enthusiastic about his assignment, since he is writing about a topic that interests him. This keeps him motivated, and his writing is most effective when he has the freedom to choose a topic. He'll learn more, and retain more, this way.

Wherever possible, let your kids choose topics which interest them. They will take ownership of their work, and be more motivated to boot. Try it soon - simply talk with your kids to find a topic which interests them, and then let them choose. They'll love the chance to follow their passions, leading to better papers which will be a joy to read.

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Copyright Kerry Beck, 2009
You have permission to reprint this article, as long as you don’t make any changes and include the bio below.

Kerry Beck helps homeschool moms and classroom teachers with writing strategies. Grab her free mini-course about Teaching Writing Easily at http://www.howtoteachwriting.com/ today.