Teaching+Children+To+Write

Teaching Children to Write ** Effective strategies when teaching children to write include-  ** Which involves: o   Teacher demonstrates holding a pen o   Teacher demonstrates how to sit, paper placement o   Teacher goes through thought processes involved in writing o   Teacher demonstrates act of writing
 * [[image:Child_writing.jpg width="414" height="340" align="right"]]
 * __ Modelled Writing __**

Which involves: o   Class develops a piece of writing as a class, teacher acts as a scribe o   Teacher shows students how to organise ideas
 * __ Shared Writing __**

Which involves: o   Children hold a pencil o   Children begin writing on their own, following instruction
 * __ Guided Writing __**

Which involves: o   Children deciding on their own topic and writing on their own
 * __ Independent Writing __**

(Hill, 2006, p. 299)

**Guided Writing. **

David Hornsby (2000) outlines that one useful way of holding a successful guided writing session is through building upon the shared reading done as a class. For example, the class is introduced to a particular genre during the reading. Then, to extend on this children are asked to compose a piece of writing from the genre during shared writing. As the final step in this process, the children are guided to write a piece of text on their own from that genre. Guided writing is useful for a range of teaching purposes, which will vary, depending on the developmental stage and the needs of the students

In order to effectively teach a child to write it is important to first show them how to write, not only in the way of holding a pencil, but also in how to construct and order ideas. This is where the modelling approach is best used because it gives children the opportunity to see all the elements involved in writing. To follow up with shared writing is effective because it gives over more involvement to the children but is still mainly controlled by the educator. The next step in approaching teaching writing is guided writing, guided writing is another step closer to a child writing independently. In this approach the child begins to write on their own, usually on a topic provided to them. The final step, that is the main aim all the approaches, is independent writing. This is where the child writes on their own, with limited instruction and on a topic they have decided on their own.