Helping Students Overcome Writer's Block

Tools for Students to Use in Writing Class

Dec 23, 2008

Teaching students how to write is important, but teaching them what to do when they complain that they have nothing to write about is just as important.

Helping students overcome writer’s block is just as important as teaching them to write. When some of the traditional helps for overcoming writer’s block are not reasonable for use in the classroom, teachers must use creativity to help. Students may not be allowed to take a break to clear their heads, but allowing them to peruse the classroom library or pick from a list of writing prompts may help.

Using the Classroom Library to Prevent Writers Block

In order to have a useful classroom library, you must have a variety of book genres as well as a variety of reading levels. It is important to have books of poetry, science books, and other non-fiction books alongside story books and fairy tale books and even chapter books. Keep biographies, autobiographies and picture books. The more varied your library, the more effective it will be in your classroom.

When your students have expressed an inability to come up with a topic to write about, consider giving them 10-15 minutes to peruse the classroom library for ideas. Looking through a children’s encyclopedia or finding a biography about an interesting person from history may spark their interest and give them something to write about.

Using a list of Writing Prompts to Prevent Writers Block

Whether you set up a writing center in the classroom, or provide a sheet of prompts for each student’s notebook, a list of prompts can help prevent or cure writers block. A writing center is a table or desk set up that provides a place for students to store journals, get a piece of blank paper or an extra pencil. There can also be a notebook or binder with a list of writing prompts for students to choose from. Having students spend five minutes looking through prompts, or writing random thoughts in a journal can help provide ideas for them to write about.

Provide your students a list of writing prompts or sentence starters to keep in their writing binder. The prompts can be as simple as ‘tell me about your weekend’ or as complex as ‘tell me about what you would do if you woke up and found yourself in a strange new world’. Sentence starters do not take long to create. Some examples are:

Allowing time each day for students to write is of great importance in any classroom, even though it may cause many students to experience the dreaded writer’s block. Teach students how to overcome this mental block, by specifically walking them through how to use the classroom library and a writing center or prompt list in their binder.

The copyright of the article Helping Students Overcome Writer's Block in Lesson Plan Help is owned by Jennifer Wagaman. Permission to republish Helping Students Overcome Writer's Block in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.