Build on
earlier skills. Just because your students should have learned basic grammar
or spelling when they were younger does not mean that those skills should be
neglected now. Continue to build on and maintain skills like grammar, spelling,
parts of speech, voice, tense and writing style. This will keep their skills
sharp, as well as helping any students who may have fallen through the cracks.
Encourage
creativity. By this older stage, many people will have a reduced capacity
for creativity. Creative thinking skills, however, lead people to be better
problem solvers and innovators, so such skills should be fostered in any way
possible. Writing is one of the best opportunities for students to bring
creativity into their academics. Encourage them to take new approaches to
assignments and methods of reading.
Emphasize
critical thinking. During this time in their lives, children should be developing
the skills necessary to prepare them for higher learning. This will ensure that
they have the most opportunities possible. An absolutely necessary skill for
higher education, as well as a vital life skill, is critical thinking.
Encourage your students to really think about the things they
are reading and writing. This will prepare them to do everything from analyze
news stories to participating fully in the political process.
- Have your students ask questions about what
they are reading. Who wrote this book? Why did they write it? Who did they
write it for? What impact did the environment around them have on the text?
There are many questions like these which can serve to illuminate information
hidden within the things they read.
-
Have your students ask
questions about their own writing. Why did I choose this voice? Why do I have
the opinion I've expressed? Why is this something I care about? What would I
rather be writing? These kinds of questions can lead your students to learn a
lot about themselves but it will also help them make more conscious decisions
about the things they write.
Prepare for
real, academic writing. If you want your students to have a real opportunity at
getting a higher education, they will need to be able to do the more complex
types of writing which are common in colleges, universities, and training
programs. This means employing argumentative skills, expressing themselves
clearly, using logic, and following proper formats. Give them opportunities to
practice these skills while pursuing topics that interest them.
Encourage reading. We often become better writers by reading excellent examples
of the craft. Get your teens reading well written, classic literature. Give
them books in widely varying styles so that they can see differences in voice,
description and word choice. They should be given older works which remain
classic, in order to see why certain techniques are timeless and hold wide
appeal. They should also read newer material, so that they have solid models to
build on for their own writing.
Teach
careful word choice. Many
inexperienced writers will often use far more or far fewer words than they need
to. Guide them until they learn to balance description, dialogue, detail and
information. This is a very difficult skill to learn and will take time as well
as a great deal of practice.
Develop
handwriting skills. An important
skill for teens to develop is adult-level handwriting. While rounded, uneven
characters with childish shapes are acceptable for beginning students, teens
will want to develop a more “adult” appearance to their handwriting if they
want to be taken seriously in future academic and professional endeavors.
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