Hello, this is a repost because i received over 700 spam messages when i first posted it.
I have found that ninety percent of my students think that they are terrible writers. Some think this because of their hand writing, while others have trouble writing more than a paragraph in one hour. My goal is to unclog their brains from bad attitudes, fear, or general apathy toward writing. I used one of Tom Romano’s ideas from, Crafting Authentic Voice to encourage my students to “Trust the gush,” and just write without being a mean little critic to themselves. I called it “intensive 4 minute writing.” Four minutes is less than five, but enough to get students in a quiet place where they see everyone else around them writing, so they feel like they want to join the group. This seemed to work very well with my collaborative class (special education.) After finishing the four minutes, many students sighed with relief and said their head hurt from thinking so much! As a teacher, I went around and complimented them on ideas and encouraged them to continue. The act of “getting it down” on the page had begun, and the blank page could not torture them anymore. My place was to be their biggest cheerleader, and praise them for any fraction of a good idea. They liked this, and responded very well. So, keep cheering your students on!