How often should students write?

Everyone has the ability to write, and teachers can help students become better writers by supporting students through carefully designed writing instruction that helps students acquire new strategies and skills. Teachers need to give students the time to write and actively teach writing.

Classroom writing should be done with focus and daily diligence. Why should writing be a daily activity?

First of all, writing improves communication skills. It provides a forum for expression and communication. Diligent daily writing practice will improve your students' skill and comfort level with writing.

Secondly, writing helps student review and remember recently learned material. Just like it's easier for me to remember my own daily tasks, it's easier for students to remember to key concepts, strategies, key lesson points and develop writing skills if they are writing every day.

The most common reason for having students write every day is so that the teacher can assess the student's understanding. Writing helps teachers see what students have mastered at a quick glance.

Daily writing encourages a creative writing flow that helps students use their imaginations, explore possibilities, problem-solve, and engage in storytelling.

Not all writing should be "serious" writing. Yes, some pieces should be more formal pieces that are reviewed and graded, but it's also important to assign "free" or "creative writing time so that students can explore vocabulary, different roles of a writer, and different writing styles.

Daily writing helps students understand and make sense of their own experiences and make discoveries about their own thoughts and feelings.

Teachers will learn a great deal about their students' personality, writing style, and skills when writing is given on a daily basis. Teachers can see students experimenting with learned vocabulary or practicing a new technique.

Allowing students the opportunity to write every day is an opportunity for the teacher to assess their learning each day.

It's a situation where everyone is a winner.

Check out my October writing prompts for a great way to incorporate writing on a daily basis.

Melissa Reese Etheridge