Includes a Fun “Spin” to Assigning Topics
Sparking a love of writing in the hearts of 10-year-olds seems like it requires bags of candy and intense prayers. Finding a way to enrich student writing, as a teacher or parent, can feel impossible.
I have always loved to write. My grandmother was a teacher and during the summers I had two options, write stories or practice fractions. Writing won every time! In fact, I enjoyed writing much so I earned a degree in journalism before finding my passion in education.
Enrich Student Writing with 3 Easy Rules Steps
Below are three “rules” I keep in mind with every piece of student writing I assign, each one helping to keep students focused and engaged.
1- Expectations! I have discovered to best way to engage and enrich student writing is to give them clear expectations. Although we discussed the differences between narratives, opinions and informational pieces, it wasn’t until I had students grade each other with a rubric that they realized what was expected for each type of writing.
Scroll to the bottom for the specific “spin” I use to engage students and assign random writing topics in a fair way.
2- Excitement! With each major piece of writing, I try to add an element of excitement to keep it kid friendly. When we worked on informational and procedural writing, I assigned a STEAM project where student teams worked to create a haunted house using only the materials I provided. When we worked on opinion writing, students had to not only read pros and cons for their given opinion, but also be prepared to fully debate their opinion with another student.
3- Exhibition! Students need a place to show off their work. In my class that could be reading what they wrote to the class, having me print their final copy to take home to mom and dad, or simple rewarding them with a “writer’s prize” (sucker or eraser) in front of the class. Recently, I create a class blog to post student work.
Enrich Student Writing with the
Spin-a-Writing bundle on TeachersPayTeachers!
Using the spinner linked on the first document, I allowed each student to spin a color. Each color is a different writing topic that covers 4th grade writing standards. Next, once they had their topic, I set a timer for 45 minutes and instructed them to brainstorm, type, and edit their writing. In both my blocks students worked hard! I’ve never seen 43 fourth-graders so focused and engaged in their writing.
If you try this assignment with your kiddos, please let me know how it went! I’m working on developing this with more topics for various grade levels. Reach out through Instagram: @inspired.to.enrich
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