Writing is difficult for so many students. In this article, I explain how monthly journal prompts can help you transform your writing block – and get your students excited to write!
Short on time? Learn more about my monthly journal prompts bundle here.
As a teacher, you know it’s not enough for students to be able to write; you want for them to be excited to write.
But it’s a Catch 22 – because if a skill is hard to master, it can be frustrating to spend time developing it.
To keep students motivated to keep writing, and to help them enjoy writing more, they need to develop a writing practice.
And this all starts with building a habit in the classroom.
The key to building this habit and practice is monthly journal prompts.
Hi there! I’m Melissa, the creator behind The Teaching Q.
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The Importance of Writing for Students
When students write, they aren’t just learning how to respond to a prompt.
They’re learning to organize their thoughts, articulate their ideas, and think critically.
Some teachers might wonder if teaching writing is worth the allotted time in a school day since there’s already so much to cover – and not enough time to do it.
But writing really helps students learn how to think and express themselves – so it’s worth the effort!
Even with all of the advances of artificial intelligence, writing will remain as a core way to express and organize one’s ideas.
How to Identify and Overcome Challenges When Teaching Students to Write
Developing a new skill is hard for everyone.
We know that as teachers – since we’ve been through school ourselves, and we work with students every day.
But it helps for us to put ourselves in the shows of our students – to consider just how much they’re learning on any given day.
When students spend a lot of time struggling, it’s difficult to stay motivated.
Lack of Motivation
Every student wants to do well, but it can be hard to stay motivated if they don’t see progress.
Make it Relevant
If you see apathy in the classroom, or if students express that writing doesn’t seem relevant to them, find what they’re interested and relate it to that.
Some students have an interest in pursuing a career that, from first glance, doesn’t seem like it uses writing.
But on a closer look, we can see that they do!
Video games? They use writing for dialogue and storylines.
YouTube videos? YouTubers use writing for idea generation and script writing.
Streaming on Twitch? The creators need to pitch to brands in order to get sponsorships and make money.
On top of all of the writing they’ll do throughout K-12 schooling, their careers, and college, it’s motivating for them to see that writing helps them achieve their own goals.
Make it Fun
Writing should be enjoyable!
When your writing block is a time that students look forward to, they’ll naturally want to do more of it.
And the more they practice, the better they get.
That’s exactly why I made these Monthly Journal Prompts!
These writing journal prompts even come with fun color-by-code activities.
You’ll find 24 engaging, kid-approved prompts that students will want to write about!
That really is half of the battle.
Once students look forward to the habit of writing, teaching writing becomes easier for you, too.
How Monthly Journal Prompts Can Help
On top of having something fun and engaging for your students, having monthly journal prompts can help you, too.
It takes the guesswork out of what you’ll focus on, and the consistent format helps students know what to expect.
I know how busy you are.
It takes so much time, energy, and skill to get through just the bare minimum of required activities during the day.
This is why I’ve created these writing prompts for you!
Planning for writing can take a lot of time – and you don’t get enough planning time as it is.
My monthly writing prompts include:
- Built-in student choice
- Highly engaging and fun kid-approved writing prompts
- Motivational aspect to keep students eager and thrilled to write
- Focuses more on writing with plenty of writing lines
- Included essential brainstorming
- Writing prompt printed on the page for quick reference during writing
- Contains a small area for the picture
You can use them during whole-group instruction or small-group time, or you can even include them in plans for your sub.
Conclusion: Monthly Journal Prompts Make Writing Easier
Monthly journal prompts really do make writing easier for everyone.
They get the students accustomed to habit so they can build the practice of writing.
They save teachers time with planning.
And, they help writing become more accessible and enjoyable for students – so they look forward to learning more and developing their skills.
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