Is there copious weeping when you say, “Write an essay”?
Do your students get a pit in the bottom of their stomachs when faced with a writing assignment?
When I was a little girl (yes, this was a long, long time ago), I had the same reactions when I was told to clean my room. I shared a bedroom with my two sisters who were just as neat-challenged as I was, and blackness would always descend upon us as a truly physical weight when the edict came down to clean our room.
Why was it so gut-wrenching? 
It’s too big
Because we had no idea of how to break a task down into smaller parts. We became frozen—and not the fun Disney kind of frozen. We were unable to do anything and didn’t even know where to begin. We didn’t know how to sort, make decisions about keeping or tossing, or how to organize.
This feeling of heavy blackness might also descend on your students with a thud when they are faced with writing an essay. So let’s make it easier for them and for us.
Now it’s just right
The following graphic is a writing schedule taken from a hand-out for a class I’m teaching. As you can see, the homework is to write the body of an essay on the topic of why teachers should not assign homework. This topic always gets a lot of participation!
Each task is broken down into smaller components—very achievable tasks—so students know exactly what to do each day.
For a PDF of the Suggested Writing Schedule, click here.
In this case, my students did not have to write an introduction or conclusion. If they did, that would probably be on Wednesday.
Use this schedule or devise your own. Check at the end of each day to see if your student has completed that day’s task. That way, the essay isn’t one huge assignment; it is a series of small, achievable steps.
You’ll find a version of this schedule and easy-to-use grading grids in the middle school writing curriculum Jump In and in The Power in Your Hands: Writing Nonfiction in High School.
Yours for a more vibrant writing class,
.
Actually, my 8 and 10 yr old boys tell me that writing makes them tired (physically). and my daughter has no desire to ” draw out a story or essay ” with details. etc…She is 11 and writes it short and to the point.
Any ideas?
I know what you mean, Jenny. Many of my students, especially the boys, report that writing hurts their hands. Would they be willing to brainstorm and organize their ideas on sticky notes (one idea to a note) or write them on a white board? Writing ideas on a board instead of on paper really had a positive effect on one of my sons. Your sons can practice brainstorming/organizing for a while without actually writing the essay.
As to your daughter, I am so glad to see that she is writing! You’ve helped her overcome this huge hurdle!
Would she like to write, say, a letter to a librarian trying to convince that person to put a particular book in the library or to pull a certain book out? She could write about two reasons to buy or pull the book. She wouldn’t have to send it, but this would give her a chance to see that her writing has an audience, can change people’s minds, and can really DO something.
Keep up the good work!