How is writing improved through motivation and creativity?

Seminar Title

How is writing improved through motivation and creativity?

Motivation and creativity in writing

3rd Grade

3rd Grade

Writing

Language Arts

“I don’t have anything to write about.” “How many pages does it have to be?” “What are we writing about again?” These are the questions all teachers hear during writing time over and over again. I decided I needed a change and so did my students when it came to writing. I am excited to share what I have learned through my research on improving writing through motivation and creativity. I believe that my research can be taken back to a 2nd-5th-grade classroom and is easily adaptable for any writing unit. I will have examples of writing lessons you can use in your classroom right away to get students motivated and let them be creative. We will share writing lessons other teachers have used that have worked for them to get their students motivated during writing. The goal is to get students motivated in writing and let them be creative if that’s your goal also come to this session.

How is writing improved through motivation and creativity? My students weren’t motivated when it comes to writing. I kept having the thought oh I wish my students could be more creative when it comes to their writing?. I knew I had to change how I was teaching writing and what my students were doing in writing. My plan was to take the district assigned writing units and combined them with extra writing projects that would motivate students and allow them to be creative with their own writing while improving their writing. I used the first week of school to fill in a heart that had writing topics that students could use all year long, after that the next 3 weeks were spent on how to start a story, the next 3 weeks were spent on writing a personal narrative (a district unit), finally I came up with 9 different writing projects for the students to work on over the next 9 weeks. The 9 different writing projects ranged from writing postcards to a friend to writing about reindeer. All writing projects reviewed how to use punctuation, capital letters, and using 3rd-grade vocabulary while letting the students be creative. After doing the different projects and writing units I asked students to tell me what they liked about the projects? I asked the students to fill out a survey ranging 1-5 on how they liked the writing project and why? After doing all my research for my ROL and looking at the data I collected from the students I can say that my predictions were right. Students enjoy the quick writing projects where they get to write to someone. Students enjoy getting to share their work with other people. Students didn't like projects that take longer than 2 weeks to finish. I am excited to see how students feel about our next big district writing project, informational writing, because they get to pick who or what they want to write about, but it will be a 3-week writing project. This writing project lets the students be creative but has a lot of steps they have to follow. I am continuing my research all the time on how other teachers have kept their student's motivated in writing while letting their students be creative.