When the Institute for Excellence in Writing was in its infancy, Andrew Pudewa crafted a conference talk he named “Reaching the Reluctant Writer.” A few years later in 2002, he wrote an article called “Writing without Tears.” This article appears in the book However Imperfectly. The theme for both of these resources centered around how parents and teachers can help their reluctant writers develop confidence as they do the difficult work of composing paragraphs.
In podcast Episode 288 Andrew and Julie revisit these foundational resources to help parents and teachers learn more about how to help their own reluctant writers. Andrew explains the complex steps writers must go through in order to capture thoughts from the brain and organize them into cohesive paragraphs. Additionally he shares how the key word outline is a powerful tool that helps students separate the complexity of figuring out what they are going to write from how they are going to write it.
The episode is the first installment, so be on the lookout for the second to be published next week. If you have a reluctant writer in your family or classroom, this series will help you understand the reasons why the reluctance may be there as well as share ways to help you strengthen your student’s ability to write.
