Choosing a Topic to Teach Writing
Lately, I’ve written a number of articles to help you teach kids, whether you’re teaching in a school or home-schooling your own children. Recently, I was reminded yet again of the importance of allowing children the freedom to choose their own assignments. Thanks to my son, I learned a valuable lesson to make me a more effective teacher, while turning him into a more powerful writer.
Last week, my son was listening to his IEW Student Writing DVD. His lesson was on writing a biographical sketch, outlining someone’s life in five short paragraphs. Well, I already knew the perfect subjects - perhaps writing on an early father of the church would help his recent lessons on Roman civilization to sink in more deeply. As an added bonus, he could delve more deeply into some of the books which we hadn’t time to read in history. I thought it was a perfect topic - he wasn’t convinced.
I could tell his disinterest as we talked about his topic. So, we started talking baseball. He had just finished reading a biography of Derek Jeter, so I suggested doing his paper on Jeter. He didn’t complain and even told me of two other sources he could use. He had to use a minimum of 3 sources and only one could be internet.
We decided that he would write about Derek Jeter, rather than church fathers.
Over the past week, he has studiously collected information on Derek Jeter for his paper. Today, we narrowed his topics down to only three, keeping him from being overwhelmed. Over the next week, he will create an outline 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.
Do you let your kids take leadership, and ownership, in their writing topics? If not, why not? Next week, discuss an assignment and then let your kids choose their own topic. They will be so glad you did and you will be glad when you read their finished paper!