How to Raise a Writer: Ready-to-Use Ideas to Share with Parents

By Lauren Nizol and Hattie Maguire 

Joining me this week is Hattie Maguire who teaches AP English Language and Composition and English 10 at Novi High School in southeast Michigan. Prior to Novi, she taught English and Spanish at Southfield Lathrup High School and The American Community Schools of Athens, Greece.  She is a National Board Certified Teacher who earned her BS in English and MA in Curriculum and Teaching from Michigan State University. You can connect with her via email at hattie.maguire@novik12.org  or Twitter @TeacherHattie

When writers are writing, it looks messy. Punctuation is off, sentences run on and on, ideas jumble together with little cohesion. That’s true for adult writers, beginning writers, and everyone in between.  Unfortunately, when writing goes home and parents try to help out, that messiness is often tough to navigate.

Many parents have preconceived ideas of what writing should look like.  They are certain that their child isn’t a good writer and struggle to see beyond the technical aspects of writing (by the way, it takes a lot of teacher training to read sentences without punctuation for meaning). Many parents also may recall learning grammar like we did-- using diagrams and worksheets.

These parents are certainly well-intentioned, but when the red pen comes out at home, young writers get frustrated.  Parents need help finding the right kinds of words to talk to their children about writing. As parents ourselves, we get it.  It is hard to see past the errors in your own child’s writing.

Parents need an on-ramp for good writing conversation, so we created a resource to get them started.

Some questions to try out:

• Can you show me a place that makes you proud in this piece?
• Where does this sound like you the most?
• Would you show me a choice you made as a writer?
  • Example:  Where did make a specific choice about your punctuation? Why did you make that choice?
  • Example: Where did you choose this word instead of a synonym? What were you hoping it would do for your reader?
• Can you show me a place where you used lots of detail? What were you hoping your reader would see?
• Can you explain this part to me a little more? I’m a little confused!
• Where is a place that still needs some work? What are you going to try to revise this section?

A few things to remember:

• Writing is a chance to empower your child to make choices about communication and develop a distinct voice.
• Open-ended questions will usually lead to more progress than moving straight to editing.  
• Writing demands engaged and active thinking--- and that’s not easy! Frustration is a normal part of the writing process, and young writers need to know that.
• Sometimes the best thing that you can do is to encourage them to work through writing---even when it seems fuzzy, confusing or hard.

But What About Grammar?
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Many parents would be surprised to learn that language instruction has moved away from traditional approaches that may include learning parts of speech and completing worksheets. Instead, language usage (or “grammar”) is most effective when taught within the context of a writing assignment. Instead of teaching students how to add commas as punctuation through a worksheet, much of the instruction has shifted towards students learning a language move and being able to apply it to their writing in real time.

Research has proven that getting students to see how a writing convention impacts meaning is a far better way to instruct language.  As a result, students see conventions as a choice that has an intentional purpose rather than something to memorize.

Parents Matter

Writers need audiences that go beyond their teacher. Parents are a natural audience because they know their child’s voice better than anyone.  When students are able to share their writing with an important adult in their life, they find ways to consider an audience beyond their teacher.  

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