5 Creative Ways to Get Kids Writing Over the Summer

The Persistence of Memory, Salvador Dali, 1931. Getting children to write over the summer can be quite a hurdle. When I went away to summer camp, we had to mail a letter home as the entry fee to the dining hall on Friday nights. This tradition probably originates as a way to encourage writing skills and communication with our parents, but most of us surreptitiously found a way to get out of it. We’d mail empty envelopes home, for example. Yes, that’s right; my mother would eagerly sort the mail, find an envelope with my handwriting, open it up and see … nothing. Sorry, Mom! The point is—if required writing didn’t motivate someone who eventually became a writing teacher, we definitely need to think outside of the box for those who struggle with it. Writing letters, postcards and journal entries remain fairly standard ways to encourage acquiescent children to write. However, I created five stealthy ways to encourage students to hone their writing skills this summer—tailored especially for those a little more reluctant. Keep it social: Social media, that is! Snapchat, YouTube, Instagram, Facebook and Twitter all offer opportunity for written content in disguise. Coming up with imaginative hashtags and captions is actually quite fun. Urge students to use their five senses, the writing Ws (who, what, when, where, why and how), as well as fun facts to craft captions for summertime pictures and videos. Then, post away on their own personal account. Scrapbook or ...
Source: American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA) Press Releases - Category: Speech Therapy Authors: Tags: Speech-Language Pathology Autism Spectrum Disorder Language Disorders Schools Social Media Source Type: blogs