When I taught Middle School, I had so many boy students say they hated writing and refused to write. I'm going to answer this general question with scenarios and matching answers.
Part 1
- A blank page leaves him stumped. A: Give a page with a motivating topic sentence at the top. For example, "If I had a million dollars, I know how I'd use it."
- He won't sit down and write. A: Put a timer next to him. The first day, set it for five minutes. He has to write for 5 minutes and then, can get up. The next time, increase it to 6 minutes. Keep increasing it daily until he is sitting for 15 minutes of writing.
- What does he spend his time doing? A: Make sure he's doing practical writing. Blogging, e-mailing, social networks, writing letters to Grandma, or a friend all count as writing. Point that out to him. They are motivating. So, the trick is to motivate him to write the essay for school.
- A 5 paragraph essay is too overwhelming. A: Break it down. First, he has to know how to write a good sentence. Every sentence has two things: A something or someone, and what about that something or someone (what he/she/it is doing, did or will do). Next, he needs to be able to write a good five sentence paragraph. Add a second paragraph. Now he can write two paragraphs on a topic. Build up to an Introduction paragraph, three in the Body and a Conclusion paragraph.
- He won't write paragraphs. A: What does he want? If Football is important to him, he doesn't go to Football today until one paragraph is finished. He doesn't play in the Saturday game until the essay is done. What ever is a "carrot" (in front of the proverbial horse) for your son, that is what you motivate him with. (To be continued with some resource suggestions).
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