If you’re an educator, you probably know that most students hate writing. It isn’t about such concepts as laziness or bad character; in fact, most of the time, people you’ll work with would be greatly motivated.
Through writing, students learn to formulate their thoughts and become better critical thinkers, but persuading them to complete their papers can be challenging. Try these strategies to make them more interested.
1. Explain the professional value
A typical factor that you should always emphasize is the importance of writing for professional growth. People who know English well will undeniably receive much higher results than those who work with the language not well enough. If you feel like it, you can show the job listings with the main requirements.
In most of them, excellent writing skills would be among the non-negotiable aspects. If that doesn’t persuade them, invite an employer or a manager who would explain the importance of writing a lot in the workplace.
2. Show “before” and “after”
It can be really strange, but you can encourage your students by showing them examples of other people’s progress as they write more.
If you have your own students whose development was significant, ask them for permission and use their first and last works to display the improvement. If you don’t have access to such files, you can easily show them the first essay of any famous writer and their last pieces.
Usually, the progress would be pretty noticeable. After that, remind them that only with continuous writing, they can achieve similar results.
3. Reward efforts without too much focus on grammar
It’s an undeniable fact that some students would get discouraged from writing if they fear that their works would be severely criticized.
To encourage your students to write more, promise to rate at least some of their works on the importance of their ideas, not perfect syntax. It would greatly help you find fresh ideas from people who are ready to open up a little, not write in a strict formula.
Read: How to Reward Yourself for Your Hard Work and Effort
4. Inspire through other authors
What can be a better motivation for your students than a desire to sound like the authors they like? Show them the books written by Mary Shelley, William Faulkner, Jane Austen, and any other person whose writing can fascinate them.
Don’t hesitate to experiment with it: ask students about their favorite authors and propose to write in a style similar to theirs, just for fun. Together with them, list some of the interesting takes each of the writers has and propose to cover these topics as well.
5. Do regular workshops
Maybe your students just don’t want to do it all alone in isolation. Creating a great essay may require a lot of time and effort. To make it more comfortable for them, provide regular workshops that would help your students to practice writing in a more detailed way under your guidance.
It would also help you generate a higher response rate and more interest in the subject. Almost everyone works better in teams, after all.
6. Organize regular competitions
Although not all students thrive under pressure, many would appreciate your desire to create a semi-formal competition in your class among those who want a more interactive approach. Propose them to write the saddest, funniest, or longest piece.
Remember that to ensure healthy rivalry, all your students should feel comfortable being a little silly. Don’t focus simply on academic outcomes.
7. Do not think about how to motivate students to write, show them how you do it
Become an example that sets the highest plank for your students. If you don’t like to write, how do you expect them to like writing? Encourage them through being a great writer yourself. Share short facts about your recent works, ask for students’ opinions, and show more passion for writing. It’s true that most educators are role models, so you shouldn’t overlook it.
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If you have been writing for some time, you’ll notice your ideas draining you. The best way to overcome a barrier is to get a paper from such a website. It will greatly help you with your work.
8. Propose writing on diverse topics
Everyone is interested in different things, and you as a professional should realize that. You won’t get anywhere if you offer your students to write only about the issues you find interesting. Make a survey or an open discussion on what students are actually interested in.
If you have a topic related to a specific discipline, give a broad list of suggestions for them to discuss; it will greatly motivate your students.
9. Offer public recognition
Again, this should depend on your students’ personalities. If you feel like your students are too shy and don’t want to attract attention, this idea would only harm them.
However, if you see that your learners want to be recognized for their efforts, do something to publicly praise them, either through any type of brochure or by reading great passages of their work aloud to your class.
10. Suggest creative co-writing
That’s an unusual one, but you can offer your students to write together. Those who work in pairs can create much faster. Supported by their peers, writers often create excellent pieces that they would not have written otherwise.
Co-authoring is a thing for a reason, and it can help them take some part of individual responsibility off their shoulders but still create and develop their skills.
11. Propose shorter pieces
If you always ask your students to write long essays, maybe that’s the reason they aren’t motivated enough. Instead, ask them to write short pieces of text that will collectively be large enough to compare to one huge essay. Just make such writing assignments more often.
Read: Why Start Small? The 5 Important Benefits of Starting Small
12. Base grading on creativity, not rules
Let’s not lie to ourselves: motivation is greatly harmed by the students’ fear of bad grades. It doesn’t help that even if they have really creative ideas, most of them can be graded lower than desired because of grammar.
So, if you see that that’s the case really affecting your class, implement some softer measures when grading the works.
Unlock the path to every student’s inspiration
Although you may think that it’s a lot to take, all pieces of advice here can be concluded to the simplest facts:
- When thinking about how to motivate students to write, start with individuality.
- Try softening your grading for different cases.
- Remember to focus on the team’s efforts.
- Keep in mind different types of rewards.
- And that’s it. You’ll achieve great results.