Writing Basics: The First Days of School

The first days of school are arguably the most stressful for parents, students, and teachers, the holy triumvirate of those really matter in a school community. If you belong to any (or all) of these groups, chances are you are very busy these days getting settled in to the first days of school. I am one of them; I feel your pain.

As a former teacher, I can tell you that your children will be hit with many different demands from their teachers. Not least of all of them will be writing assignments, designed to be simple and informative. Don't sweat it.

Probably they are being asked to write about one of their favorite moments of the summer, or maybe something interesting about themselves. Also on that list will be an essay about something they read, perhaps something on the required reading list sent home in June (which, of course they completed).

It is a stressful time for the kids, because in addition to the academic demands, they are trying to become comfortable in a new environment, making new friends, and just trying to get back into the routine of a school day.

Your child's teachers are also trying to get to their students. These easy-going, casual writing assignments are used to exercise the student's writing muscles before moving on to newer and more difficult material. Much like I need to get back into the gym after this long Labor Day weekend, your children's writing muscles need to be slowly brought back into shape because they haven't been used in a couple months.

In addition, the writing is used as an assessment to obtain baseline knowledge about their writing ability. Classroom lesson plans are built only after knowing where to start, and simple writing assessments can be quite revealing as to whether a student is performing to grade level, or whether remediation will be needed.

The best advice I can give is to relax and let the process take its path. Parents often ask what they can do at home to help their children become better students. Let them read, a lot. Ask them to read to you. Even better, have them explain the story to you, or teach you something they learned from a book, or write an opinion about a character or a concept presented in the book. According to Bloom's Taxonomy, the more a student can analyze or evaluate something they've read, the more they comprehend the material.

That, and relax. Enjoy these last few warm days of September because we don't know how many more of them are left.