Writing Skills

 One of the most challenging aspects of teaching writing skills is the fact that sometimes our students see writing as some kind of mysterious art, something that only the chosen ones can perform correctly. It's our job as teachers to grow inside each of our students enough confidence to make them feel like part of the "chosen ones" We must show them that all of us can write. If we begin with this idea the strategies will flow easily, here are some: 

One of the most important things to improve writing skills is practice and more practice. But, how can we achieve that our students practice without feeling bored or overwhelmed? One of the strategies I like to use is to bring some challenges for them, for example, to write something related to aliens, to write a poem only with words starting with certain letters, etc. You can use all your creativity to develop these challenges and make them in 15-20 minutes each class. 

When we write we need some feedback, peer feedback is really useful also because it helps them to read and have a critical point of view while doing it. One interesting idea is to implement anonymous peer feedback, let's do a class blog where students can publish their writings anonymously and also give feedback the same way. 

These are only some ideas that have helped me in my classes. I'd like to hear some of your strategies!