Why children can’t write—and solutions to start on right now

Johnny is wriggling on the chair and drumming his feet on the rungs. Both Johnny and his mother know that this piece of writing has to be done and done now. It’s a thank you letter for a birthday present. Johnny’s mother basically has to compose the letter herself, and she can’t help wondering if anything is happening at Johnny’s school. Surely he must be getting writing lessons.

Well, yes he is being taught writing. Just last week Johnny’s teacher, Miss Cantolope, set the class a practice ‘persuasive writing’ essay in preparation for the NAPLAN test. When she asked children to jot down a few ideas there were a lot of blank pages. But there was one topic for which the children had abundant ideas—why they didn’t have any ideas for the essay! Here is a sample: my brain doesn’t work… I didn’t have enough time… I couldn’t think of anything… we haven’t done this before.

Many children use prepared answers

John’s older sister, Elizabeth, is in Year 12, doing Advanced English. She has to compare John Donne poems with a play entitled W;t by Margaret Edson. It’s hard to produce an essay in 40 minutes with the expected 700-900 words. So Elizabeth has hit upon the strategy of writing out a prepared answer and learning it by rote before the examination. She hopes she can make it fit the question. She does not want to face the anxiety of trying to create an answer in the examination room. She also would rather not learn a set of organised notes about the texts, including quotations.

This type of approach is remarkably common even among students at very best schools. Teachers indirectly encourage this by giving children details about the essay question before the exam, or even, in the case of many schools, actually giving them the question. In some schools assessment tasks consist of work set, done at home, and then handed in. These types of practices are a reflection not only of poor teaching but border on unethical behaviour.

However there are solutions to the writing problem, and everyone has to be involved, students, parents and teachers. The beginning point of improvement is to understand that ideas are like the flames and heat of an open fire. These flames are created by a stimulus—more wood being placed on the fire. But if the fire is almost out not much happens. This is why parents and teachers can be frustrated, and perhaps even perplexed that children seem to have no ideas about anything connected with schoolwork. In the case of too many children this may be related to hours and hours sitting in their bedrooms, on the Internet and playing computer games, ironically being so hyper-stimulated that their brains are scrambled, and there is no fire to speak of. These are the children who very often report a great deal of their schoolwork as being extremely boring.

Take children to the library—and talk to them

Parents can help enormously here. Children need be going to the library borrowing books and reading. There needs to be a variety of books and this should be a regular habit. I do place stress on the school library. Many parents I speak to say that there are plenty of books at home, and indeed the parents regularly buy books. But as you might guess these books are not of the same quality as available in the school library, especially in the area of non-fiction. School librarians are very good at choosing books—of all types—which will be interesting to children and will provide an educative experience although Roald Dahl, when alive, certainly had a different view. Parents need then to make regular access to the school library, or the local council library, a priority. Often students are not allowed to borrow from their school library because they haven’t returned books, information they usually don’t share with their parents.

Another aspect of this need for a threshold ‘ideas fire’ is for parents to spend time with their children, talking to them using adult language. Children should be encouraged to present their ideas, giving reasons for things, and thinking about why other ideas might not be correct. Discussing things from an unusual perspective can be very helpful. If for example children complain about homework then you could ask them to explain what the teacher might say about this, or what parents might say. All this can happen while driving the car and it could happen during family dinner time. Children should not be eating by themselves in front of some type of electronic device. They should be developing their own brain, not watching what somebody else’s brain has produced.

Children should be taken out on activities regularly, even taking them to work. If Dad or Mum is a travelling sales representative for example then why not take one or more children, perhaps even missing a day or more of school. What the children learn will be a valuable addition to learning in the classroom. I am reminded here of my experience in hospital for a minor operation, a few years ago. About the time when I was ready to go home, but still a patient in the ward, I was visited by the surgeon, who was actually the head of surgery at that hospital. He wanted to check my situation and discuss it with the nursing unit manager—that’s three of us. But there was one more person. The surgeon had brought his teenage daughter, which was most surprising. I not sure what she learned that day as the surgeon made his rounds but I am quite sure it was valuable, and something which her teacher could never have taught her in the same way. Thus real life conversation and a real life excursion program can help make a difference to thinking and writing.

Technology can be a barrier

Technology can be a distraction and barrier to developing the ability to write effectively. Not only is there hyper-stimulation but also an encouragement to mental laziness. Children don’t want to try, and certainly don’t want to be alone with their own thoughts. Then on top of that there is the fear of failure and lack of confidence generally. It isn’t surprising that children start running when they see a blank sheet of paper in front of them. I have known high school children become so stressed about this they actually need regular medical attention and treatment.

The example of Sydney Grammar School’s approach to learning and technology—reported by Natasha Bita in The Australian 26 Mar 2016—is most instructive. This is one of the highest achieving schools in Australia, and at the time of the article the headmaster was Dr John Vallance. He considers that computers in the classroom rob children of the chance to discuss ideas. He describes the current high levels of investment in classroom technology as “a huge fraud” which doesn’t really bring any benefits. In this unusual and innovative school students are not allowed to bring their own computers to school and they must “handwrite assignments and essays until Year 10.” This is certainly something for parents to think about. A pencil and paper is all your child needs to write. Of course there is a place for technology and writing—a very important place actually— but not when children are learning how to write.

Writing requires relaxation and following the inner voice

The writing process requires a degree of concentration, but ironically before this can happen there has to be relaxation. Children must listen to, encourage, and follow their inner voice. Sometimes teachers spend too much teaching time reminding children that paragraphs have to have topic sentences, evidence, links to the purpose of the writing and other unmentionable things, and this can handicap children’s efforts. While these things are true they are better left to the editing stage, and besides this when children have created ideas and organised them, and have some passion about what they are doing, then many of these structural types of requirements simply fall into place automatically.

Parents again are in a position to help by building a good foundation. As far as the writing process is concerned children should be able to spend time alone, ideally walking in the countryside, free of technology. Too often it seems children just cannot enjoy their own company. They are too worried that unless they’re constantly plugged into cyberspace they might miss out on something, and their precious self identity might be tarnished through lack of attention. Rules about technology do need to be set at home and children given the chance to find that writing voice, which ultimately really can only come from themselves.

With older children there is a need to answer the examination essay question, using an appropriate structure with evidence. Ideas do have to be organised, and it takes patience and commitment over the planning period to be able to do this. So often children become discouraged and even paralysed when clever ideas don’t immediately tumble out onto the page. They become far too anxious and any creative flow is cut off. Actually, in the marking of the NAPLAN writing examination the quality of the ideas is only a small part of the total assessment grading. Of course in the senior school years the quality of the ideas become extremely important, as the basics of writing will have been mastered by then.

Being patient and realistic

Parents can help by showing children that building anything takes time, and if children are to achieve writing success they must patiently keep trying. This is so different to the slick finished products produced on the electronic devices. Sometimes writing can become a painful slog that has to be endured if the final product is to be achieved. Professional writers know that sometimes ideas can come quickly, but improving and extending those ideas can take time. First draft writing is just that. Sometimes sections may have to be rewritten over and over again to achieve publishing standard. This is the real world of writing.

Despite children then relaxing, creating, organising, persisting and doing their best the writing can sometimes turn out to be quite disappointing. This is another thing that parents can help their children understand. Not every endeavour turns out to be as successful as was hoped. In examinations, perhaps with six writing questions, turning out six excellent pieces may require an element of luck. This can never be removed from the process, but with a wide life experience and a rich background of reading, luck can be more common.

So parents need to get busy and give their children’s writing ability a chance to grow. This doesn’t mean parents have to give their child regular writing lessons but it does mean that parents have to lay a good foundation by creating and exposing their children to the type of environment which will keep a steady fire going in their brain. Regular reading, real life experience, conversation, patience and encouragement will work wonders. Many parents are already doing these things but everyone can do them a little better.