When your child has a writing assignment from their teacher, here are some ways to support them:
- Before your teenager starts their writing assignment, ask how you can help. Make sure they understand the assignment. Ask them to explain the assignment to you. If they can’t ask to see the assignment and work with your child to figure it out.
- Brainstorm ideas to help teens get started on their writing assignments. Creating list or web of ideas and talking through their thoughts is very helpful.
- Spending some time (approx. 15 min) writing anything and everything about the topic can lead to the ideas they need to get started.
- Help your teenagers clarify what they going to write about – what is their main point? One way to do this is to ask them to explain their ideas verbally; this will make the writing easier. As they explain their ideas ask them to give you examples of how they are going to support their main point. Help them think their ideas through.
- After they have finished their writing assignment, encourage your teens to review their work. Ask them to read it out loud, to pay attention to how it sounds and to make the revisions based on what they think.
- It is important to respect your teen’s writing. What and how to revise is their choice. Offer suggestions, but remember they must learn to do the thinking and writing. This will give them ownership of their learning.
