hate writing assignments

Top 5 Reasons Students Hate to Write

Many students, including homeschoolers, have an aversion to sentence writing, creative writing, journaling, paragraph writing, essay writing, formal writing, informal writing, and basically any kind of writing. Students need step-by-step writing instruction beginning with sentence composition, followed by paragraph composition, and finally college level essay composition to help them learn how to communicate better. But, many don’t understand why they need to learn how to write since they think they will never understand or use writing skills. Students who are not ready or willing to write, but are forced with inadequate writing instruction, tend to develop a hatred for writing and avoid anything to do with writing altogether. So why do students hate writing?

How am I supposed to figure out what the right answer is? Many students approach writing emotionally not understanding that a concrete or right way exists.

Insufficient groundwork manifests insecurity and frustration : Preparation should include a good base of Language Arts, especially basic grammar and spelling that are further strengthened as writing skills are developed. Some students fear they must get everything perfect on the first draft, and shut down because they do not know how to spell a word or compose various sentence structures effectively. A solid writing foundation focuses on the step-by-step process from brainstorming to outlining to composing the rough draft and writing the final copy. The Write Foundation teaches the writing process and structure, complemented by Language Arts basics, to develop healthy overall language usage with skillful writing.

No right answers : If there is more than one right answer, how am I supposed to figure out what the right answer is? Writing is tough for many students to wrap their heads around. Every other skill they learn has a right answer and a right way to do it. Many approach writing emotionally not understanding that a concrete or right way exists. Teaching writing structure for various types of essays and the writing process of brainstorm, outline, rough draft and final copy, gives your students the confidence needed to jump into any writing assignment, even advanced level essays. The Write Foundation provides the tools students need to make essay writing a concrete endeavor which produces confident writers, and in turn, better writers.

• “Writing is too hard.” For many students, writing requires too much extra effort. Reality check: any major breakthrough in brain development takes extra effort.
• Students however, need to be mature enough to handle organizing abstract thinking, which happens when most are around 11, 12 or 13.
• Students are often forced to write and rewrite and rewrite, which exasperates them even more when they are already insecure about what they are doing.

Many times, students react and shut down. Some throw their hands up and quit and some melt down, or they disassociate themselves and stop inputting effort. If you are experiencing Chernobyl with passive or aggressive behavior, find a way for your student to re-connect with writing by breaking it down into bite sized chunks, backing up or slowing down, pinpointing how to bring the essay together. Hold their hand until they shoo you away because their confidence is built.

When students are bored, teaching writing is a like trying to drive a car out of gas; you get nowhere.

Fear of failure. How in the world do I complete this assignment? Writing style? What is that? Am I being graded on everything? These questions and more swarm around in a teen’s mind when they are overwhelmed. Teach them how to write using structure and the writing process. Yes, a variety of writing structures exists, but teach them enough about basic structures so they have something to fall back on when writing anything. The fear of failure fades when students have enough Language Arts basics, guidance for their writing creations, and are beginning to understand how to use writing structure and the writing process. Then they can get to the task at hand and write.

“I’m bored.” Your homeschooler couldn’t stand reading about it and now he has to write about it? When students are bored, teaching writing is a like trying to drive a car out of gas; you get nowhere.    

• For Mr. Boredom, let him select his topic within your specifications. A more engaging topic will hold his interest longer.
• When teaching different writing styles, some subjects must be used which will not be your students’ favorite, but avoid making them write about subjects they loathe. Teach them how to write with topics that interest them.
• Break down the assignment into bite-sized pieces. When tackling an assignment, make the work sessions long enough to make progress, but not so long the brain is drained and shuts down.
• Make sure your students are working on the correct level. If the assignment is too difficult, they will shut down and claim boredom. If the assignment is too easy, boredom can also be a challenge.

Build self-confidence by backing up and starting where your child can work successfully before diving into their first daunting essay. Mastering fundamentals alleviates writing roadblocks. Regardless of the roadblocks your homeschooler throws in the way of learning how to write, you can find a way to blast through when you identify them as you listen to your child’s concerns. When you open your children’s horizons by helping them to embrace writing, they gain a skill they will use their entire lives.

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What to do if you dislike writing research or academic papers.

BY DAVID GUTIERREZ

Unfortunately, even if you hate writing academic papers more than anything else in the world, you still have to do it if you want to graduate successfully. However, it is possible to alter one’s attitude towards something – often to a greater degree than you may believe. Here are some techniques that can make writing your next academic assignment bearable, if not outright pleasant.

1.    Take breaks

Taking regular breaks is important in any kind of work, and writing is no exception. Divide your assignment into a number of reasonably small parts and promise yourself to take a break after you successfully complete each of them. Both the parts and the breaks may be as large or small as it is useful for your situation. For example, if you write an essay, you can take 5-minute breaks every 200 words. If you write something more substantial, both the parts and the breaks can be larger. Do something pleasant in the course of your breaks – this will motivate you to complete each part faster.

2.    Eliminate distractions

When you do something you hate, every potential distraction is twice as enticing as it usually is. This means that if you are surrounded by distractions while you write your academic paper, you are likely to get distracted all the time. To prevent this, single out the things that are likely to attract your attention as you work and remove them from you. If it is structure and general layout of the paper that give you trouble, consider custom term papers for sale. Block distracting websites using Leechblock or RescueTime, turn off notifications, switch off your smartphone, block out the external noises by some music in your earphones.

3.    Find a writing place that works for you

If you do something you hate, you should at least do it somewhere you feel comfortable. Where it exactly depends on your preferences: some like to work at home, others prefer a nice café; still others find it inspiring to work in the park. Take your pick.

4.    Don’t try to write like somebody else

One of the reasons why you may hate writing is because you believe that you shouldn’t write in your own voice. You think you need to imitate either someone else or to write in an affected manner that has little in common with your own way of thinking and writing. Most likely, you are wrong, and your writing will only be improved if you choose to follow your heart and write the way you like.

5.    Practice

Another reason why students hate writing academic assignments is that they are not very good at writing. The reverse is true as well – once you learn how to write more or less well, you start feeling pleasure doing it. Do a bit of practice writing assignments of the type you have to write most often. Who knows? Perhaps, it will grow on you.

6.    Don’t be perfectionistic

Perfectionism is equally deadly both for enjoyment received from writing and the results achieved. Don’t try to make every sentence perfect – it is impossible. Write reasonably well, don’t go crazy correcting what you’ve already written because you will never finish doing it.

Learning to love writing is hard and long work, and we don’t claim that everybody is capable of doing it at first attempt. But making writing pleasant is achievable – and you can do it.

David Gutierrez has worked in the field of web design since 2005. Right now he started learning Java in order to get second occupation. His professional interests defined major topics of his articles. David writes about new web design software, recently discovered professional tricks and also monitors the latest updates of the web development.

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Why Students Hate Writing (and How to Change their Minds!)

In today’s digital world, written communication is more common, more transparent, and more permanent than every before. It’s critical that every student is able to express themselves clearly in writing, yet sadly, many cannot.

This is reflected in the statistics. The National Association of Educational Progress estimates that only 27% of 8th and 12th grade students can write at a proficient level. Among high school students who took the ACT in 2016, roughly 40% could not write at a college level according to the company’s data.

One reason why students struggle with writing is that it can often be challenging to foster a love of writing or deeply engage students in the writing and revision process. Why?

• Students do not see the point or the relevance of the topic they are writing about.
• Students feel pressure to write perfectly from the start of their writing process, which slows them down.
• Feedback is important for student learning , and when students receive bad feedback, slow feedback, or no feedback at all, this is deeply demotivating.

How to Help Students Overcome the Intimidation of Writing

Solving this issue can be challenging. That said, there are several strategies that teachers of all content areas can leverage to reduce a student’s dislike of writing.

PRIMING STUDENTS FOR WRITING

It is common for teachers to point out specific concepts or subjects in a given class and state, “This might be on a test someday. Hint, hint!” You’ll see your students’ ears perk up. The same practice could also be used for essays.

For example, let’s say you plan to assign an essay on a book being read in your English class. As your students are working through the novel, you can point out topics and events in the book that could be discussed in a future essay during class readings and discussions.

This can help eliminate student anxiety during the Monday surprise when the essay is assigned, and students can start their essays with a handful of ideas.

ALWAYS HAVE A TOPIC IN MIND

For many students, receiving a writing assignment where they can write about any topic of their choice can be a generally positive experience. Many students view this as an opportunity to write about something in their lives, or the chance to get creative and make up a story.

However, not all students react favorably to choosing their own topic. Some students immediately go into a panic attack of indecision. Others immediately develop writer’s block.

By having a backup plan for those students, teachers can help reduce the anxiety that comes with these types of writing assignments. Some examples of topics that teachers can suggest include:

• Subjects that have been discussed in class
• Events that have happened at the school
• Important news stories, social trends or current events

MAKE WRITING FUN

No matter what, some students will think of writing the same way they think of root canals. But if teachers can have writing clubs and fun names for daily writing time, and provide more in depth feedback on writing, students will have an easier time replacing dread with acceptance.

Engagement and feedback are how people improve at nearly everything. Students, whether they are first graders or doctoral students, need to be able to understand not only what they did wrong and how to fix it, but what they did right and how to leverage their writing strengths. Outsourcing grading for writing assignments can be highly beneficial in such instances.

Helping Students Accept Writing Assignments

Every teacher can agree that strong writing skills are crucial to a student’s long term success, both academically and professionally. There are several tactics teachers and students can employ to make writing more acceptable and fun.

Get in touch with Marco Learning to discover how we can help enhance your student’s writing skills.

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Sat / act prep online guides and tips, getting college essay help: important do's and don’ts.

College Essays

If you grow up to be a professional writer, everything you write will first go through an editor before being published. This is because the process of writing is really a process of re-writing —of rethinking and reexamining your work, usually with the help of someone else. So what does this mean for your student writing? And in particular, what does it mean for very important, but nonprofessional writing like your college essay? Should you ask your parents to look at your essay? Pay for an essay service?

If you are wondering what kind of help you can, and should, get with your personal statement, you've come to the right place! In this article, I'll talk about what kind of writing help is useful, ethical, and even expected for your college admission essay . I'll also point out who would make a good editor, what the differences between editing and proofreading are, what to expect from a good editor, and how to spot and stay away from a bad one.

Table of Contents

What Kind of Help for Your Essay Can You Get?

What's Good Editing?

What should an editor do for you, what kind of editing should you avoid, proofreading, what's good proofreading, what kind of proofreading should you avoid.

What Do Colleges Think Of You Getting Help With Your Essay?

Who Can/Should Help You?

Advice for editors.

Should You Pay Money For Essay Editing?

The Bottom Line

What's next, what kind of help with your essay can you get.

Rather than talking in general terms about "help," let's first clarify the two different ways that someone else can improve your writing . There is editing, which is the more intensive kind of assistance that you can use throughout the whole process. And then there's proofreading, which is the last step of really polishing your final product.

Let me go into some more detail about editing and proofreading, and then explain how good editors and proofreaders can help you."

Editing is helping the author (in this case, you) go from a rough draft to a finished work . Editing is the process of asking questions about what you're saying, how you're saying it, and how you're organizing your ideas. But not all editing is good editing . In fact, it's very easy for an editor to cross the line from supportive to overbearing and over-involved.

Ability to clarify assignments. A good editor is usually a good writer, and certainly has to be a good reader. For example, in this case, a good editor should make sure you understand the actual essay prompt you're supposed to be answering.

Open-endedness. Good editing is all about asking questions about your ideas and work, but without providing answers. It's about letting you stick to your story and message, and doesn't alter your point of view.

Think of an editor as a great travel guide. It can show you the many different places your trip could take you. It should explain any parts of the trip that could derail your trip or confuse the traveler. But it never dictates your path, never forces you to go somewhere you don't want to go, and never ignores your interests so that the trip no longer seems like it's your own. So what should good editors do?

Help Brainstorm Topics

Sometimes it's easier to bounce thoughts off of someone else. This doesn't mean that your editor gets to come up with ideas, but they can certainly respond to the various topic options you've come up with. This way, you're less likely to write about the most boring of your ideas, or to write about something that isn't actually important to you.

If you're wondering how to come up with options for your editor to consider, check out our guide to brainstorming topics for your college essay .

Help Revise Your Drafts

Here, your editor can't upset the delicate balance of not intervening too much or too little. It's tricky, but a great way to think about it is to remember: editing is about asking questions, not giving answers .

Revision questions should point out:

• Places where more detail or more description would help the reader connect with your essay
• Places where structure and logic don't flow, losing the reader's attention
• Places where there aren't transitions between paragraphs, confusing the reader
• Moments where your narrative or the arguments you're making are unclear

But pointing to potential problems is not the same as actually rewriting—editors let authors fix the problems themselves.

Bad editing is usually very heavy-handed editing. Instead of helping you find your best voice and ideas, a bad editor changes your writing into their own vision.

You may be dealing with a bad editor if they:

• Add material (examples, descriptions) that doesn't come from you
• Use a thesaurus to make your college essay sound "more mature"
• Add meaning or insight to the essay that doesn't come from you
• Tell you what to say and how to say it
• Write sentences, phrases, and paragraphs for you
• Change your voice in the essay so it no longer sounds like it was written by a teenager

Colleges can tell the difference between a 17-year-old's writing and a 50-year-old's writing. Not only that, they have access to your SAT or ACT Writing section, so they can compare your essay to something else you wrote. Writing that's a little more polished is great and expected. But a totally different voice and style will raise questions.

Where's the Line Between Helpful Editing and Unethical Over-Editing?

Sometimes it's hard to tell whether your college essay editor is doing the right thing. Here are some guidelines for staying on the ethical side of the line.

• An editor should say that the opening paragraph is kind of boring, and explain what exactly is making it drag. But it's overstepping for an editor to tell you exactly how to change it.
• An editor should point out where your prose is unclear or vague. But it's completely inappropriate for the editor to rewrite that section of your essay.
• An editor should let you know that a section is light on detail or description. But giving you similes and metaphors to beef up that description is a no-go.

Proofreading (also called copy-editing) is checking for errors in the last draft of a written work. It happens at the end of the process and is meant as the final polishing touch. Proofreading is meticulous and detail-oriented, focusing on small corrections. It sands off all the surface rough spots that could alienate the reader.

Because proofreading is usually concerned with making fixes on the word or sentence level, this is the only process where someone else can actually add to or take away things from your essay . This is because what they are adding or taking away tends to be one or two misplaced letters.

Laser focus. Proofreading is all about the tiny details, so the ability to really concentrate on finding small slip-ups is a must.

Excellent grammar and spelling skills. Proofreaders need to dot every "i" and cross every "t." Good proofreaders should correct spelling, punctuation, capitalization, and grammar. They should put foreign words in italics and surround quotations with quotation marks. They should check that you used the correct college's name, and that you adhered to any formatting requirements (name and date at the top of the page, uniform font and size, uniform spacing).

Limited interference. A proofreader needs to make sure that you followed any word limits. But if cuts need to be made to shorten the essay, that's your job and not the proofreader's.

A bad proofreader either tries to turn into an editor, or just lacks the skills and knowledge necessary to do the job.

Some signs that you're working with a bad proofreader are:

• If they suggest making major changes to the final draft of your essay. Proofreading happens when editing is already finished.
• If they aren't particularly good at spelling, or don't know grammar, or aren't detail-oriented enough to find someone else's small mistakes.
• If they start swapping out your words for fancier-sounding synonyms, or changing the voice and sound of your essay in other ways. A proofreader is there to check for errors, not to take the 17-year-old out of your writing.

What Do Colleges Think of Your Getting Help With Your Essay?

Admissions officers agree: light editing and proofreading are good—even required ! But they also want to make sure you're the one doing the work on your essay. They want essays with stories, voice, and themes that come from you. They want to see work that reflects your actual writing ability, and that focuses on what you find important.

On the Importance of Editing

Get feedback. Have a fresh pair of eyes give you some feedback. Don't allow someone else to rewrite your essay, but do take advantage of others' edits and opinions when they seem helpful. ( Bates College )

Read your essay aloud to someone. Reading the essay out loud offers a chance to hear how your essay sounds outside your head. This exercise reveals flaws in the essay's flow, highlights grammatical errors and helps you ensure that you are communicating the exact message you intended. ( Dickinson College )

On the Value of Proofreading

Share your essays with at least one or two people who know you well—such as a parent, teacher, counselor, or friend—and ask for feedback. Remember that you ultimately have control over your essays, and your essays should retain your own voice, but others may be able to catch mistakes that you missed and help suggest areas to cut if you are over the word limit. ( Yale University )

Proofread and then ask someone else to proofread for you. Although we want substance, we also want to be able to see that you can write a paper for our professors and avoid careless mistakes that would drive them crazy. ( Oberlin College )

On Watching Out for Too Much Outside Influence

Limit the number of people who review your essay. Too much input usually means your voice is lost in the writing style. ( Carleton College )

Ask for input (but not too much). Your parents, friends, guidance counselors, coaches, and teachers are great people to bounce ideas off of for your essay. They know how unique and spectacular you are, and they can help you decide how to articulate it. Keep in mind, however, that a 45-year-old lawyer writes quite differently from an 18-year-old student, so if your dad ends up writing the bulk of your essay, we're probably going to notice. ( Vanderbilt University )

Now let's talk about some potential people to approach for your college essay editing and proofreading needs. It's best to start close to home and slowly expand outward. Not only are your family and friends more invested in your success than strangers, but they also have a better handle on your interests and personality. This knowledge is key for judging whether your essay is expressing your true self.

Parents or Close Relatives

Your family may be full of potentially excellent editors! Parents are deeply committed to your well-being, and family members know you and your life well enough to offer details or incidents that can be included in your essay. On the other hand, the rewriting process necessarily involves criticism, which is sometimes hard to hear from someone very close to you.

A parent or close family member is a great choice for an editor if you can answer "yes" to the following questions. Is your parent or close relative a good writer or reader? Do you have a relationship where editing your essay won't create conflict? Are you able to constructively listen to criticism and suggestion from the parent?

One suggestion for defusing face-to-face discussions is to try working on the essay over email. Send your parent a draft, have them write you back some comments, and then you can pick which of their suggestions you want to use and which to discard.

Teachers or Tutors

A humanities teacher that you have a good relationship with is a great choice. I am purposefully saying humanities, and not just English, because teachers of Philosophy, History, Anthropology, and any other classes where you do a lot of writing, are all used to reviewing student work.

Moreover, any teacher or tutor that has been working with you for some time, knows you very well and can vet the essay to make sure it "sounds like you."

If your teacher or tutor has some experience with what college essays are supposed to be like, ask them to be your editor. If not, then ask whether they have time to proofread your final draft.

Guidance or College Counselor at Your School

The best thing about asking your counselor to edit your work is that this is their job. This means that they have a very good sense of what colleges are looking for in an application essay.

At the same time, school counselors tend to have relationships with admissions officers in many colleges, which again gives them insight into what works and which college is focused on what aspect of the application.

Unfortunately, in many schools the guidance counselor tends to be way overextended. If your ratio is 300 students to 1 college counselor, you're unlikely to get that person's undivided attention and focus. It is still useful to ask them for general advice about your potential topics, but don't expect them to be able to stay with your essay from first draft to final version.

Friends, Siblings, or Classmates

Although they most likely don't have much experience with what colleges are hoping to see, your peers are excellent sources for checking that your essay is you .

Friends and siblings are perfect for the read-aloud edit. Read your essay to them so they can listen for words and phrases that are stilted, pompous, or phrases that just don't sound like you.

You can even trade essays and give helpful advice on each other's work.

If your editor hasn't worked with college admissions essays very much, no worries! Any astute and attentive reader can still greatly help with your process. But, as in all things, beginners do better with some preparation.

First, your editor should read our advice about how to write a college essay introduction , how to spot and fix a bad college essay , and get a sense of what other students have written by going through some admissions essays that worked .

Then, as they read your essay, they can work through the following series of questions that will help them to guide you.

Introduction Questions

• Is the first sentence a killer opening line? Why or why not?
• Does the introduction hook the reader? Does it have a colorful, detailed, and interesting narrative? Or does it propose a compelling or surprising idea?
• Can you feel the author's voice in the introduction, or is the tone dry, dull, or overly formal? Show the places where the voice comes through.

Essay Body Questions

• Does the essay have a through-line? Is it built around a central argument, thought, idea, or focus? Can you put this idea into your own words?
• How is the essay organized? By logical progression? Chronologically? Do you feel order when you read it, or are there moments where you are confused or lose the thread of the essay?
• Does the essay have both narratives about the author's life and explanations and insight into what these stories reveal about the author's character, personality, goals, or dreams? If not, which is missing?
• Does the essay flow? Are there smooth transitions/clever links between paragraphs? Between the narrative and moments of insight?

Reader Response Questions

• Does the writer's personality come through? Do we know what the speaker cares about? Do we get a sense of "who he or she is"?
• Where did you feel most connected to the essay? Which parts of the essay gave you a "you are there" sensation by invoking your senses? What moments could you picture in your head well?
• Where are the details and examples vague and not specific enough?
• Did you get an "a-ha!" feeling anywhere in the essay? Is there a moment of insight that connected all the dots for you? Is there a good reveal or "twist" anywhere in the essay?
• What are the strengths of this essay? What needs the most improvement?

Should You Pay Money for Essay Editing?

One alternative to asking someone you know to help you with your college essay is the paid editor route. There are two different ways to pay for essay help: a private essay coach or a less personal editing service , like the many proliferating on the internet.

My advice is to think of these options as a last resort rather than your go-to first choice. I'll first go through the reasons why. Then, if you do decide to go with a paid editor, I'll help you decide between a coach and a service.

When to Consider a Paid Editor

In general, I think hiring someone to work on your essay makes a lot of sense if none of the people I discussed above are a possibility for you.

If you can't ask your parents. For example, if your parents aren't good writers, or if English isn't their first language. Or if you think getting your parents to help is going create unnecessary extra conflict in your relationship with them (applying to college is stressful as it is!)

If you can't ask your teacher or tutor. Maybe you don't have a trusted teacher or tutor that has time to look over your essay with focus. Or, for instance, your favorite humanities teacher has very limited experience with college essays and so won't know what admissions officers want to see.

If you can't ask your guidance counselor. This could be because your guidance counselor is way overwhelmed with other students.

If you can't share your essay with those who know you. It might be that your essay is on a very personal topic that you're unwilling to share with parents, teachers, or peers. Just make sure it doesn't fall into one of the bad-idea topics in our article on bad college essays .

If the cost isn't a consideration. Many of these services are quite expensive, and private coaches even more so. If you have finite resources, I'd say that hiring an SAT or ACT tutor (whether it's PrepScholar or someone else) is better way to spend your money . This is because there's no guarantee that a slightly better essay will sufficiently elevate the rest of your application, but a significantly higher SAT score will definitely raise your applicant profile much more.

Should You Hire an Essay Coach?

On the plus side, essay coaches have read dozens or even hundreds of college essays, so they have experience with the format. Also, because you'll be working closely with a specific person, it's more personal than sending your essay to a service, which will know even less about you.

But, on the minus side, you'll still be bouncing ideas off of someone who doesn't know that much about you . In general, if you can adequately get the help from someone you know, there is no advantage to paying someone to help you.

If you do decide to hire a coach, ask your school counselor, or older students that have used the service for recommendations. If you can't afford the coach's fees, ask whether they can work on a sliding scale —many do. And finally, beware those who guarantee admission to your school of choice—essay coaches don't have any special magic that can back up those promises.

Should You Send Your Essay to a Service?

On the plus side, essay editing services provide a similar product to essay coaches, and they cost significantly less . If you have some assurance that you'll be working with a good editor, the lack of face-to-face interaction won't prevent great results.

On the minus side, however, it can be difficult to gauge the quality of the service before working with them . If they are churning through many application essays without getting to know the students they are helping, you could end up with an over-edited essay that sounds just like everyone else's. In the worst case scenario, an unscrupulous service could send you back a plagiarized essay.

Getting recommendations from friends or a school counselor for reputable services is key to avoiding heavy-handed editing that writes essays for you or does too much to change your essay. Including a badly-edited essay like this in your application could cause problems if there are inconsistencies. For example, in interviews it might be clear you didn't write the essay, or the skill of the essay might not be reflected in your schoolwork and test scores.

Should You Buy an Essay Written by Someone Else?

Let me elaborate. There are super sketchy places on the internet where you can simply buy a pre-written essay. Don't do this!

For one thing, you'll be lying on an official, signed document. All college applications make you sign a statement saying something like this:

I certify that all information submitted in the admission process—including the application, the personal essay, any supplements, and any other supporting materials—is my own work, factually true, and honestly presented... I understand that I may be subject to a range of possible disciplinary actions, including admission revocation, expulsion, or revocation of course credit, grades, and degree, should the information I have certified be false. (From the Common Application )

For another thing, if your academic record doesn't match the essay's quality, the admissions officer will start thinking your whole application is riddled with lies.

Admission officers have full access to your writing portion of the SAT or ACT so that they can compare work that was done in proctored conditions with that done at home. They can tell if these were written by different people. Not only that, but there are now a number of search engines that faculty and admission officers can use to see if an essay contains strings of words that have appeared in other essays—you have no guarantee that the essay you bought wasn't also bought by 50 other students.

• You should get college essay help with both editing and proofreading
• A good editor will ask questions about your idea, logic, and structure, and will point out places where clarity is needed
• A good editor will absolutely not answer these questions, give you their own ideas, or write the essay or parts of the essay for you
• A good proofreader will find typos and check your formatting
• All of them agree that getting light editing and proofreading is necessary
• Parents, teachers, guidance or college counselor, and peers or siblings
• If you can't ask any of those, you can pay for college essay help, but watch out for services or coaches who over-edit you work
• Don't buy a pre-written essay! Colleges can tell, and it'll make your whole application sound false.

Ready to start working on your essay? Check out our explanation of the point of the personal essay and the role it plays on your applications and then explore our step-by-step guide to writing a great college essay .

Using the Common Application for your college applications? We have an excellent guide to the Common App essay prompts and useful advice on how to pick the Common App prompt that's right for you . Wondering how other people tackled these prompts? Then work through our roundup of over 130 real college essay examples published by colleges .

Stressed about whether to take the SAT again before submitting your application? Let us help you decide how many times to take this test . If you choose to go for it, we have the ultimate guide to studying for the SAT to give you the ins and outs of the best ways to study.

Anna scored in the 99th percentile on her SATs in high school, and went on to major in English at Princeton and to get her doctorate in English Literature at Columbia. She is passionate about improving student access to higher education.

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Calvin and Hobbes

Calvin and hobbes writing assignments - by bill watterson for february 11, 1993, february 10, 1993.

February 12, 1993

Transcript:.

Calvin: I used to hate writing assignments, but now I enjoy them. I realized that the purpose of writing is to inflate weak ideas, obscure poor reasoning, and inhibit clarity. With a little practice, writing can be an intimidating and impenetrable fog! Want to see my book report? Hobbes: "The dynamics of interbeing and monological imperatives in Dick and Jane: a study in psychic transrelational gender modes." Calvin: Academia, here I come!

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12 Comments

Featured comment.

Dragongirl55   over 2 years ago

I love that unlike many ‘underachiever’ characters, Calvin is actually really smart. He uses words most adults don’t know, he can remember facts that interest him, and such as here, he shows off how smart he can really be. But then he’s marked off as a ‘bad student,’ because his learning style just goes against the school system, and he acts out as a result. I’d also bet money that he has some form of ADHD.

More From Calvin and Hobbes

Understanding Why Students Avoid Writing

On this page:, skill development, overall guidelines to help students avoid the avoidance of writing.

It is common for students in today’s educational system to dislike and/or avoid the writing process. Many students feel writing takes too long. For some, writing is a very laborious task because there are so many sub-components which need to be pulled together. For others, the reason lies in some processing difficulties, such as dyslexia or dysgraphia . Some educators wonder if students no longer enjoy the slower, more refined process of written communication because they spend so much time watching the faster-paced visual modality of television.

Students with learning problems, even those who read well, frequently submit written work which is brief and/or difficult to read. Such students can be victims of misunderstandings, a problem which becomes much more pronounced at the secondary level. “Accusations of laziness, poor motivation, and a reprehensible attitude are often directed toward deficit writers. The results can be a serious loss of incentive, a generalized academic disenchantment and demoralization” (Levine 1998, 363).

There are many reasons students avoid writing. Primary reasons may be one or more of the following:

• They have a hard time getting started and feel overwhelmed by the task.
• They need to concentrate to form letters: it is not an automatic process.
• They struggle to organize and use mechanics of writing.
• They are slow and inefficient in retrieving the right word(s) to express an idea.
• They struggle to develop their ideas fluently (poor ideation).
• They struggle to keep track of their thoughts while also getting them down on paper.
• They feel that the process of writing on paper is slow and tedious.
• They feel that the paper never turns out the way they want.
• They realize that the paper is still sloppy even though substantial time and effort were spent.
• They are dysgraphic, which causes multiple struggles at the basic processing levels.
• They are dyslexic, which causes very poor spelling and interferes with automatic use of writing mechanics.

As parents and teachers, we can help students deal with their lack of enjoyment of the writing process and also with poor skill development. The techniques are twofold. Students need to:

• develop a greater understanding of and appreciation for the purpose of writing.
• develop more efficient skills.

When students have a combination of this understanding and the skills, they are then free to apply techniques and abilities in a wide range of situations. This is especially true and necessary for dyslexic and/or dysgraphic students who are compensating for processing inefficiencies in the language domain.

This graphic represents the necessary steps in developing writing skills. These steps are in a hierarchy: if a student has too many gaps in one (or more) of the lower levels, then the top levels may be shaky and unstable.

The underlying processing skills involve development in a variety of memory, motor, and language areas. Examples include:

• Physical components of writing
• Speed of motor performance
• Active working memory
• Language formulation and ideation

The mechanical skills involve lower level tasks such as automatic letter form, use of space, basic spelling, capitalization, and punctuation. More mature mechanics involve speed, clarity of expression, and appropriate grammar.

The content skills relate to organizing and expressing ideas. The upper level skills include:

• Writing using different writing styles
• Being flexible in the writing process
• Understanding the viewpoint of the reader
• Writing with enthusiasm

There are many reasons a student may avoid writing, but most relate to the concept that writing is not fun or enjoyable. When writing is not meaningful, it is difficult to pull together the variety of skills needed to develop enthusiasm about writing. Students learn to write by writing, which then gives them the confidence to continue to write and continue to develop their skills. Using a variety of modalities can help create enthusiasm for writing and help students view writing as a more meaningful activity.

It is also important to analyze the lower level skills to ensure that the student has appropriately developed automaticity in these skills. When students are frustrated with individual components related to the task of writing and/or when they struggle to get started or to keep track of their thoughts, then the writing process is not fun, and their lack of enthusiasm becomes evident. Writing remains at the level of drudgery no matter how exciting the topic and students may feel threatened by the process of writing.

The goal for these students is to reduce the frustration, struggles, and feeling of threat. Increasing automaticity of skills is required to increase overall writing automaticity for a student. When automaticity, as developed by metacognitive awareness of the writing process and use of specific strategies, is combined with skill development and bypass strategies, the student should be able to deal with the vast majority of written expression tasks. The next step is to integrate purpose and meaning to generate fun and lead to enthusiasm for writing.

Jerome Elkind (The Lexia Institute, Los Altos, CA) “Computer Reading Machines for Poor Readers.” Charles A. MacArthur, Ph.D. (University of Delaware) “Assistive Technology for Writing.” Marshall H. Raskind, Ph.D. (The Frostig Center, Pasadena, CA) “Assistive Technology for Individuals with Learning Disabilities: How Far Have We Come?” Thomas G. West (Visualization Research, Washington, D.C.) “Words to Images: Technological Change Redefines Educational Goals.” Marshall H. Raskind, Ph.D. and Toby Shaw, M.A. (The Frostig Center, Pasadena, CA) “Assistive Technology for Persons with Learning Disabilities: Product Resource List.”

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Acosta, Simone and Richards, Regina G. "Cursive Writing: A Multisensory Approach," in 1999 So. California Consortium Resource Directory , International Dyslexia Association, www.retctrpress.com.

Levine, Melvin D. Developmental Variation and Learning Disorders, 2nd ed., www.epsbooks.com.

Levine, Melvin D. Educational Care: A System for Understanding and Helping Children with Learning Problems at Home and in School , www.epsbooks.com.

Richards, Regina G. The Source for Dyslexia and Dysgraphia , East Moline, IL: LinguiSystems, 800/PRO-IDEA.

Richards, Regina G. When Writing's A Problem , Riverside, RET Center Press, www.retctrpress.com.

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Tips to use if you Hate Writing Essays or Assignments

It is common in today's educational systems to find students who dread, hate, or despise writing papers, most of the time avoiding writing essays. Whether you have your act together, you will end up dreading writing tasks at some point in your academic journey. Many students perceive writing as an arduous task that takes time, requires concentration, and most often has strict deadlines. Therefore, you are not alone if, for one reason or the other, you are developing a hate for essay writing. Students dread writing essays for a hoard of reasons. While it is generally hard to foster the love for writing, there are a handful of proven strategies to address the hate.

This article below discusses all the reasons why you might hate writing essays and what you can do to alleviate the stress of not submitting an essay on time.

Reasons for Hating Essay Writing

Before we delve into the strategies to address why you hate writing, let us explore the root course of why you are certainly developing the powerful tendency to hate writing papers and essays. We have talked to many students, done a survey online, researched, and brainstormed some of the compelling reasons why students hate writing.

Here are some of the reasons why you may hate writing essays.

Fear of Failure

Students who are overachievers usually experience fear of failure, which stems from pressure to succeed. They often ask themselves these questions:

• How can I complete this assignment?
• Which writing styles do I use?
• Which grade will I get?
• Does what I have written count towards the best grade?
• Is it too easy or hard?

Most often, these questions end up leaving you overwhelmed. The fear of failure may also arise when you are unprepared to write an essay.

Poor Writing Skills

Many students underestimate the value of good writing skills even though it's an important skill required in school.

Colleges demand high-quality writing skills to come up with essays, research papers, and other types of academic writing.

Most students lack these skills because they have neglected to learn and practice the ins and outs of the craft.

You will struggle to pass your points and fill your texts with superfluous details and clichés. Writing an essay will seem like a chore if you have poor writing skills.

Procrastination

Procrastination is the voluntary postponement of action until the last minute.

Research has shown that 75% of college students consider themselves habitual procrastinators. Some things can force you to put off an essay assignment until later, which is usually close to the deadline, such as lack of motivation.

When you finally get to it, you will be under pressure. You will rush to complete it only to make things worse.

Perfectionism

The need to be perfect is not a bad thing. It can push you to perform better in school or at work. However, other times it can lead to poor performance.

If you have perfectionism traits, you tend to have unrealistically high expectations of yourself. When you make a mistake, you experience psychological distress.

Someone experiencing psychological distress will find it hard to focus on any assignments, including essays.

Overwhelmed by the Task

A student's life is hectic. Apart from academic life, you will deal with work, family, annoying roommates, romantic relationships, etc.

All this, coupled with the pressure to succeed, can be so overwhelming.

Someone who is overwhelmed will find it hard to work on even the simplest assignment.

Overcoming Essay Writing Aversion

Even if you hate writing an essay, you have to write one. Failure to do this will result in penalties for lateness. It could also lead to last-minute writing, resulting in poor-quality work and low grades. Giving up on college because you hate writing will only worsen things in the future.

Writing an essay is a daunting task that requires lots of time to research and come up with a high-quality paper. However, the process can be fun to do when you have the right strategies. These strategies include:

Change Your Mindset

To stop hating essay writing, you need to change all the small choices you keep making in your mind every day. This means you have to shift your mindset. When your mind has positive thoughts, you will choose to do the right things. To make this possible, do the following:

• Focus on the Process, Not the Product. Writing an essay involves following a process to completion. You first need to do research, come up with a topic and an outline, write a draft, then proofread and edit. Let go of all the expected outcomes and focusing on writing will yield great results.
• Embrace Mistakes. No one likes to make mistakes. However, to develop your essay writing skills, you must embrace the idea of making mistakes. Even our most experienced paper writers make mistakes sometimes, which is why we have a free-revisions policy. Most students view mistakes as a source of shame and stress which shouldn't be the case. Sometimes this is necessary to improve in areas you are struggling with in your writing journey. You enhance learning when you fail at something you are working on. Accept that your first will suck. So do not beat yourself up if your first attempt does not meet expectations.
• Set Realistic Expectations. As a student, you are likely facing pressure from your parents, professors, and yourself to do well. This may lead you to compare yourself to others who are already doing better. Expecting to get straight A's in your assignment when you are a C student is unrealistic. The best thing you can do for yourself is to focus on improving each day.

Find a Topic that Interests You

You will have an easy time writing an essay if it is on a familiar topic that covers concepts that you have studied and know. In addition, choosing a topic that you love will make the readers love it too. Do the following to come up with an interesting topic.

• Brainstorm Topics. Brainstorming is a creative process that will help you come up with amazing topics for your essay. This process involves practicing free writing, which is simply writing whatever comes to mind. Even if these ideas are not properly formed, they will help you come.
• Choose a Topic that you are Passionate About. Choosing a topic you are passionate about will make things easier when it comes to writing. You cannot hate writing about a topic you love. Your arguments would be bad if you chose something you are not passionate about. If you are passionate about children, picking a topic touching on pregnancy and childcare is a good idea. Once you are clear about what you are passionate about, you can come up with the necessary steps to write a great essay.
• Make it Relevant to Your Life . Besides an interesting topic, you should choose something relevant to your life. Does it match something you have experienced? Write about something you are familiar with because you already have access to the resources needed to write a high-quality essay. In a similar vein, select a topic that is relevant to your field of study.

Improve Your Writing Skills

If you hate essays because of your poor writing skills, then working on improving them is a good idea. You will encounter in college several different types of writing styles. Some of these incorporate things like short sentences, direct language, etc., to keep readers engaged. Learning all this can help you overcome your essay aversion.

• Read More. The greatest writers are also the best readers. Reading regularly is one of the best ways to improve your writing skills. It subconsciously helps you take note of the writing styles, grammar, spelling, and punctuation. It will all help you absorb the conventions and sentence structure. Diversify your reading materials, do not just read blog posts.
• Practice Writing. Practice makes perfect! To sharpen your writing skills, you need to make writing a daily habit, just like taking a shower. You cannot expect to be a pro when you do not practice every day. Consider setting up some daily writing exercises. They do not need to be long; even writing a paragraph a day or journaling can greatly make a difference. You can even start your blog and write on diverse topics that you are passionate about.
• Seek Feedback and Guidance. Whether you have written a blog post, or a journal, seeking feedback will help you understand what you are doing right and wrong. You can ask a friend or a teacher to go through your work and give you honest feedback. Have an idea of what you want them to focus on. This could be on sentence structure, punctuation, or grammar.

Manage Procrastination

Avoiding essay writing does not make it go away. In addition, it will hurt your grades more. Staying on top of your assignments is one of the best ways to manage procrastination.

• Break the Task into Manageable Pieces. Most students procrastinate because the task at hand seems too big to handle. Start small by breaking the essay into small pieces. For instance, you select a topic, research it, and come up with an outline on day one. Breaking down tasks is also a good way to improve your performance, according to Melissa Gratias , a workplace productivity coach. Sit down and think about the project and all that is needed, and then break it down like this: (1) decide on a topic, (2) do your research, (3) write an outline, (4), write the introduction, (5) write the thesis statement, (6) draft the body paragraphs, and (7) finalize by editing and proofreading the first draft.
• Use Time-management Techniques. You need to keep track of your tasks and their deadlines to plan your time well. This will also help you avoid working on the essay at the last minute. For instance, if you have an assignment due in two weeks, come up with a schedule for how you will work on it. Now that you have broken the task into manageable pieces, you can work on them individually.
• Eliminate Distractions. Research shows that students are distracted for 5 minutes for every 15 minutes they set out to study. This is mostly due to cell phones, texts, and social media. The best way to manage distractions is to take control of your thoughts and make a daily plan. Other ways you can eliminate distractions are by changing the location of your study, putting your smartphone in do-not-disturb (DND) mode, and setting achievable goals.

Overcoming Perfectionism

There are two kinds of people when it comes to success; the overachiever and perfectionists. The former is motivated to do the best they can, while the latter is driven by fear of failure. You need to shed your fear of failure by doing the following.

• Set realistic goals. As a perfectionist, you will likely set realistic goals for yourself, mostly due to impossible standards. The best way to overcome this is by setting realistic goals. Start by knowing yourself as a writer. What do you consider your greatest strengths, and what is your writing routine? After answering this, use the SMART goals guide to set clear and manageable goals.
• Permit Yourself to Make Mistakes. Allow yourself to fail if you want to increase your chances for success. Do not be afraid to get a lower grade on your essay because it will show you the areas you need to improve. Celebrate these mistakes and remember there is always room for improvement.
• Focus on Progress, Not Perfection. Being a perfectionist can hold you back, increase your anxiety, and prevent you from achieving greatness. Focusing on making progress is about letting go of the need to be perfect. It is about embracing small achievements because it symbolizes that you are making progress.

Strategies for Writing Essays

Communicating effectively through your writing is one way to improve your grades in school. Writing an essay does not have to be a laborious task. With the right strategies, you can come up with a great paper.

Create an Outline

A big part of the essay planning process is creating an outline. This is like a map that gives direction to your work. It will also ensure your essay flows well from the beginning to the end. Additionally, an outline will help you organize your thoughts and present your arguments. A typical essay outline contains the following:

• Introduction. The first paragraph that states your thesis statement. The first few sentences should attempt to grab your reader's attention and keep them wanting more.
• Body. This is where you discuss all the main points. Each point you argue is supported by evidence.
• Conclusion. This is the final part of the essay. It restates your thesis and summarizes all the arguments discussed in the body paragraphs.

Take note of the first step to coming up with an outline in establishing your thesis.

Use a Writing Prompt

A prompt consists of up to three questions that solicit a response in an essay.

Using a prompt is a good way to know how to write an essay and the expectations of the professor or instructor from you as a writer.

It contains instructions that you should follow for the kind of essay you are to write. For instance, you might be asked to analyze something, which is simply writing an analytical essay.

A prompt is a trigger for ideas for your essay, and using it will make your work easier.

Write in Short Bursts

Some students have this rule that they have to write 1500 or 2000 words in one sitting. However, is this smart or helpful? No.

When you force yourself to write a certain number of words, your brain will struggle to function.

If you want your creativity to flow, then try short-burst writing. This is simply writing in tiny sprints of about 15 minutes as a response to anything, including a picture or a question.

When you write in short periods, the quality of your wiring will improve. Practicing short-burst writing can help build stamina, as it will force you to generate more content.

Check out the resources that can help you stimulate short-burst writing.

Take Breaks

When you work continuously on the same project for hours, you can lose your objectivity.

Taking breaks when writing is an important way of improving your mental health and creativity. It will allow you to come back to your work with a new perspective.

You will also stave off writer's block when you take a few minutes to write your essay.

The length of the break could be anywhere between 5- 20 minutes. Use this time to meditate, take a walk, nap, or exercise as a way to relax your mind.

Edit and Revise

Once you write the first draft, you must take time to go through the work before submitting it. Revising and editing are two different tasks you take to improve the quality of your essay.

When you revise your essay, you look at the idea. It involves adding information to your work by cutting, moving, changing, or adding.

Editing involves looking over your work to see the organization, presentation, and flow of ideas. It involves fixing punctuation, grammar, sentence structure, and spelling mistakes. Consider using online editing tools to polish your essay. These tools will improve your academic writing by correcting grammar, punctuation, style, spelling, and sentence structure.

Final Take!

Essay writing is part of college life. You will be required to write various essays to fulfill the requirements of your studies. However, many students hate essay writing because of poor writing skills, fear of failure, procrastination, and feeling overwhelmed by many assignments.

Fortunately, you can stop procrastinating, eliminate the need to be perfect, and take regular breaks as a way to overcome your hate for essay writing. Besides, you can also hire an essay writer to work on your essays, and you will slowly develop the urge to read them as you personalize them to your taste before submitting them.

Lucky for you, we have reliable custom paper writers who work round the clock to ensure that your procrastination does not affect your grades. We are a widely known essay service that has helped tens of thousands of students beat deadlines, overcome writer's block, and fulfill their academic desires. Fill out the order form on our homepage and get help immediately.

• Why you are lazy to write essays and what to do?
• Reasons to hire an essay writer online
• Best steps for writing an essay (A-Z Guide)
• Steps for formulating a good thesis for an essay.

Just remember, if things get hard, you can ask for help from a professional online paper writer to ease the burden.

Gradecrest is a professional writing service that provides original model papers. We offer personalized services along with research materials for assistance purposes only. All the materials from our website should be used with proper references. See our Terms of Use Page for proper details.

Why Students Hate Writing (From Someone Who Teaches It)

Originally published in TEACH Magazine July/August 2019 Issue

By Josh Schultheis

I love literature. That’s why I became a high school English teacher.

Recently, my sister asked me to help edit an essay as part of her medical school application. My sister, just as a brief disclaimer, is a borderline genius. Perfect GPA. Multiple college scholarships. Her task was to explain why she wanted to become a doctor. It couldn’t have been any simpler. I did my part as the English teacher: corrected grammar, fixed passive voice issues, made things sound pretty, and all other typical “make this good” writing help. What confused me however, was that this portion of the application stressed her the most. “I suck at writing. I hate it,” she lamented. I was utterly stunned.

She literally was writing about wanting to become a doctor—her life goal since we were in diapers. How could she hate this? I have come to realize this: it’s not the topic (that my sister could talk about for days) she hated; she, like so many other young people, had been conditioned to hate writing because of the way it was taught.

Every year, almost every student says, “I suck at writing. I hate it.” I hear this phrase far more than “Hello,” “Thank you,” or even “Can I use the restroom?” (Well, maybe not that last one, but you get the idea.)

Students clearly hate writing. This is not an innate human feature. The general hatred of writing is bred into the way students are taught to write throughout their lives. Writing, at its core, is possibly one of the most open-ended avenues in human existence, but it’s taken and subjugated into categories just like math. It’s also graded as such. Teachers assign categorical points from some of the most painstakingly structured rubrics to some of the most subjective topics. It is totally counterintuitive and not fair to the student. I know because I have had to do it myself all too often.

Here’s an all-too-real hypothetical example.

In the rubric, there is a category called “introduction” worth 10 pts, including a bullet point saying something like, “Strong hook that connects smoothly with thesis.” Here is some feedback that is eerily similar to what I have written hundreds of times: “Well, Jace, how you connected the hook to your thesis is pretty weak, so I’m going to have to take off a few points in that category.”

What does “weak” mean? It’s arbitrary. It’s subjective. Another teacher could think something completely different. That is what makes writing beautiful, but now Jace feels his story about turtles in Syria is “bad.” He’s 15! Of course his writing is going to improve the more he works at it, but because he has been told precisely how much his writing is worth from the age of six, Jace hates writing.

Naturally, Jace isn’t going to like being told his writing wasn’t “good” (look at the score), so now he hates it. He shuts down so he doesn’t have to face the feelings that go along with being told that “your ideas are stupid.” That hurts. For anyone. To be told that an original idea you had isn’t very good is emotionally and psychologically worse than getting a random math problem wrong on a test. It makes no sense, so why do it?

“Jace,” of course, is not a real student, but he epitomizes the state of the vast majority of young people in the modern education system. So, what exactly needs to change, and how? Rethinking the rigid grading system is a good start. I’m not saying we should do away with grades, but restructure what is evaluated and how it’s done. It’s really hard to have an exact method and calculated procedure because that is not what literature and writing is, at least not at the secondary level.

Think about the best teachers you had. They were different, and if you think that’s easy, it’s not. A great English teacher needs to be involved, devoted, intensely creative, and a genuinely self-motivated person, because that is what is required by the nature of literature and writing. They should be someone who doesn’t need to fear an impending standardized test to be motivated to do their job because they understand that it is impossible to definitively test.

To understand human nature and communication is confusing no matter your age. Young people need someone at the helm who is exceptionally creative; someone to encourage them to write and flesh out new features of themselves and others; and to consider new thoughts and ideas. That person needs to see most human problems have a lot of answers that can make sense. And that person needs to expose their students to the nature of thought in real ways with which a young mind can connect.

I’ve come to realize this is what it takes to teach students to love writing (at least love it more than they do currently). Not rigid rubrics, and not vague feedback. It’s very hard, but also very rewarding.

Josh Schultheis has a BA from Indiana University. He has been teaching English and writing at Brownsburg High School in Indiana for the past six years.

My Students Simply Hate To Write (And How To Change That)

• January 28, 2024

If you’ve found yourself thinking, “My Students Simply Hate To Write!” and you’d like to change that… keep reading!

This content can also be viewed in video format by clicking the video below.

Reimagine Writing: Transforming Students’ Writing Experience

Today, let’s tackle a common issue: what do you do when your students simply hate to write?

If you’ve ever faced a classroom full of groans when announcing writing time, this post is for you. But fear not! I’ve got a treasure trove of ideas and resources to turn writing into everyone’s favorite subject.

Why Do Kids Hate Writing?

Let’s dive into why some students hate writing. One major reason is writing anxiety. Kids feel overwhelmed by acronyms and formulas, unsure how to navigate the complexities of writing. They feel like they might be drowning in writing acronyms without the knowledge of how they serve them as writers.

That’s where my Reimagine Writing program comes in handy. It’s a process-first framework that guides students through the writing journey with confidence and you’ll have EVERYTHING you need for a successful writing block in ONE click. Let’s see some of that in action… keep reading!

Another issue cause students to hate writing is the misconception that writing is just about responding to prompts or preparing for tests. Writing is so much more! It’s about storytelling, sharing ideas, and making a real impact in the world. Students need to discover the diverse forms and purposes of writing, empowering them to find their voice.

Making Writing Hands-On and Fun

In many classrooms, writing feels like a chore, a mechanical task devoid of creativity. But it doesn’t have to be that way! Writing should feel like making, a joyful process of bringing ideas to life. That’s why I infuse my writing units with hands-on activities and creative projects. From designing class anthologies to hosting open mic nights, every writing task becomes an adventure. If we don’t want students to hate writing, let’s get hands- on with our writing instruction!

Celebrating Student Work

One of the keys to fostering a love for writing is ensuring that students’ work doesn’t end up forgotten in a pile on the teacher’s desk. Shake it up! Consider publishing parties and showcasing student writing in real-world contexts at the end of a writing unit! Writing can be so much fun. Whether it’s creating class magazines or holding book signing events, students deserve recognition for their hard work.

This resource is included in the Reimagine Writing program. Check it out here! 

Join the Reimagine Writing Movement

Ready to transform your students’ writing experience? Check out my comprehensive blog post on running a writing workshop and explore the lessons for launching unit in the Reimagine Writing program. With practical strategies and engaging activities, you’ll revolutionize your approach to teaching writing.

See you there!

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The End of the College Essay

E verybody in college hates papers. Students hate writing them so much that they buy , borrow , or steal them instead. Plagiarism is now so commonplace that if we flunked every kid who did it, we’d have a worse attrition rate than a MOOC . And on those rare occasions undergrads do deign to compose their own essays, said exegetic masterpieces usually take them all of half an hour at 4 a.m. to write, and consist accordingly of “arguments” that are at best tangentially related to the coursework, font-manipulated to meet the minimum required page-count. Oh, “attitudes about cultures have changed over time”? I’m so glad you let me know.

Nobody hates writing papers as much as college instructors hate grading papers (and no, having a robot do it is not the answer). Students of the world: You think it wastes 45 minutes of your sexting time to pluck out three quotes from The Sun Also Rises , summarize the same four plot points 50 times until you hit Page 5, and then crap out a two-sentence conclusion? It wastes 15 hours of my time to mark up my students’ flaccid theses and non sequitur textual “evidence,” not to mention abuse of the comma that should be punishable by some sort of law—all so that you can take a cursory glance at the grade and then chuck the paper forever.

What’s more, if your average college-goer does manage to read through her professor’s comments, she will likely view them as a grievous insult to her entire person, abject proof of how this cruel, unfeeling instructor hates her . That sliver of the student population that actually reads comments and wants to discuss them? They’re kids whose papers are good to begin with, and often obsessed with their GPAs. I guarantee you that every professor you know has given an A to a B paper just to keep a grade-grubber off her junk. (Not talking to you, current students! You’re all magnificent, and going to be president someday. Please do not email me.)

When I was growing up, my mother—who, like me, was a “ contingent ” professor—would sequester herself for days to grade, emerging Medusa-haired and demanding of sympathy. But the older I got, the more that sympathy dissipated: “If you hate grading papers so much,” I’d say, “there’s an easy solution for that.” My mother, not to be trifled with when righteously indignant (that favored state of the professoriate), would snap: “It’s an English class . I can’t not assign papers .”

Mom, friends, educators, students: We don’t have to assign papers, and we should stop. We need to admit that the required-course college essay is a failure. The baccalaureate is the new high-school diploma : abjectly necessary for any decent job in the cosmos. As such, students (and their parents) view college as professional training , an unpleasant necessity en route to that all-important “ piece of paper .” Today’s vocationally minded students view World Lit 101 as forced labor, an utter waste of their time that deserves neither engagement nor effort. So you know what else is a waste of time? Grading these students’ effing papers . It’s time to declare unconditional defeat.

Most students enter college barely able to string three sentences together—and they leave it that way, too. With protracted effort and a rhapsodically engaged instructor, some may learn to craft a clunky but competent essay somewhere along the way. But who cares? My fellow humanists insist valiantly that (among other more elevated reasons) writing humanities papers leads to the crafting of sharp argumentative skills, and thus a lifetime of success in a number of fields in which we have no relevant experience. But my friends who actually work in such fields assure me that most of their colleagues are borderline-illiterate. After all, Mark Zuckerberg’s pre-Facebook Friendster profile bragged “i don’t read” ( sic ), and look at him.

Of course it would be better for humanity if college in the United States actually required a semblance of adult writing competency. But I have tried everything . I held a workshop dedicated to avoiding vague introductions (“The idea and concept of the duality of sin and righteousness has been at the forefront of our understanding of important concepts since the beginning of time.”) The result was papers that started with two incoherent sentences that had nothing to do with each other. I tried removing the introduction and conclusion altogether, and asking for a three-paragraph miniessay with a specific argument—what I got read like One Direction fan fiction .

I’ve graded drafts and assigned rewrites, and that helps the good students get better, but the bad students, the ones I’m trying to help , just fail to turn in any drafts at all. Meanwhile, I come up for air and realize that with all this extra grading, I’m making 75 cents an hour.

I’m not calling for the end of all papers—just the end of papers in required courses. Some students actually like writing, and let those blessed young souls be English majors, and expound on George Eliot and Virginia Woolf to their hearts’ content, and grow up to become writers, huzzah. But for the common good, leave everyone else out of it.  

Instead of essays, required humanities courses (which I support, for all the reasons William Cronon , Martha Nussbaum , and Paulo Freire give) should return to old-school, hardcore exams, written and oral . You cannot bullshit a line-ID. Nor can you get away with only having read one page of the book when your professor is staring you down with a serious question. And best of all, oral exams barely need grading: If you don’t know what you’re talking about, it is immediately and readily manifest (not to mention, it’s profoundly schadenfroh when a student has to look me in the face and admit he’s done no work).

Plus, replacing papers with rigorous, old-school, St. John’s -style tribulations also addresses an issue humanities-haters love to belabor: Paper-grading is so subjective , and paper-writing so easy to fake, that this gives the humanities their unfortunate reputation as imprecise , feelings-centered disciplines where there are “no right answers.” So let’s start requiring some right answers.

Sure, this quashes the shallow pretense of expecting undergraduates to engage in thoughtful analysis, but they have already proven that they will go to any lengths to avoid doing this. Call me a defeatist, but honestly I’d be happy if a plurality of American college students could discern even the skeletal plot of anything they were assigned. With more exams and no papers, they’ll at least have a shot at retaining, just for a short while, the basic facts of some of the greatest stories ever recorded. In that short while, they may even develop the tiniest inkling of what Martha Nussbaum calls “sympathetic imagination”—the cultivation of our own humanity, and something that unfolds when we’re touched by stories of people who are very much unlike us. And that, frankly, is more than any essay will ever do for them.

Writing Anxiety

What this handout is about.

This handout discusses the situational nature of writer’s block and other writing anxiety and suggests things you can try to feel more confident and optimistic about yourself as a writer.

What are writing anxiety and writer’s block?

“Writing anxiety” and “writer’s block” are informal terms for a wide variety of apprehensive and pessimistic feelings about writing. These feelings may not be pervasive in a person’s writing life. For example, you might feel perfectly fine writing a biology lab report but apprehensive about writing a paper on a novel. You may confidently tackle a paper about the sociology of gender but delete and start over twenty times when composing an email to a cute classmate to suggest a coffee date. In other words, writing anxiety and writers’ block are situational (Hjortshoj 7). These terms do NOT describe psychological attributes. People aren’t born anxious writers; rather, they become anxious or blocked through negative or difficult experiences with writing.

When do these negative feelings arise?

Although there is a great deal of variation among individuals, there are also some common experiences that writers in general find stressful.

For example, you may struggle when you are:

• adjusting to a new form of writing—for example, first year college writing, papers in a new field of study, or longer forms than you are used to (a long research paper, a senior thesis, a master’s thesis, a dissertation) (Hjortshoj 56-76).
• writing for a reader or readers who have been overly critical or demanding in the past.
• remembering negative criticism received in the past—even if the reader who criticized your work won’t be reading your writing this time.
• working with limited time or with a lot of unstructured time.
• responding to an assignment that seems unrelated to academic or life goals.
• dealing with troubling events outside of school.

What are some strategies for handling these feelings?

Get support.

Choose a writing buddy, someone you trust to encourage you in your writing life. Your writing buddy might be a friend or family member, a classmate, a teacher, a colleague, or a Writing Center tutor. Talk to your writing buddy about your ideas, your writing process, your worries, and your successes. Share pieces of your writing. Make checking in with your writing buddy a regular part of your schedule. When you share pieces of writing with your buddy, use our handout on asking for feedback .

In his book Understanding Writing Blocks, Keith Hjortshoj describes how isolation can harm writers, particularly students who are working on long projects not connected with coursework (134-135). He suggests that in addition to connecting with supportive individuals, such students can benefit from forming or joining a writing group, which functions in much the same way as a writing buddy. A group can provide readers, deadlines, support, praise, and constructive criticism. For help starting one, see our handout about writing groups .

Identify your strengths

Often, writers who are experiencing block or anxiety have a worse opinion of their own writing than anyone else! Make a list of the things you do well. You might ask a friend or colleague to help you generate such a list. Here are some possibilities to get you started:

• I explain things well to people.
• I get people’s interest.
• I have strong opinions.
• I listen well.
• I am critical of what I read.
• I see connections.

Choose at least one strength as your starting point. Instead of saying “I can’t write,” say “I am a writer who can …”

Recognize that writing is a complex process

Writing is an attempt to fix meaning on the page, but you know, and your readers know, that there is always more to be said on a topic. The best writers can do is to contribute what they know and feel about a topic at a particular point in time.

Writers often seek “flow,” which usually entails some sort of breakthrough followed by a beautifully coherent outpouring of knowledge. Flow is both a possibility—most people experience it at some point in their writing lives—and a myth. Inevitably, if you write over a long period of time and for many different situations, you will encounter obstacles. As Hjortshoj explains, obstacles are particularly common during times of transition—transitions to new writing roles or to new kinds of writing.

Think of yourself as an apprentice.

If block or apprehension is new for you, take time to understand the situations you are writing in. In particular, try to figure out what has changed in your writing life. Here are some possibilities:

• You are writing in a new format.
• You are writing longer papers than before.
• You are writing for new audiences.
• You are writing about new subject matter.
• You are turning in writing from different stages of the writing process—for example, planning stages or early drafts.

It makes sense to have trouble when dealing with a situation for the first time. It’s also likely that when you confront these new situations, you will learn and grow. Writing in new situations can be rewarding. Not every format or audience will be right for you, but you won’t know which ones might be right until you try them. Think of new writing situations as apprenticeships. When you’re doing a new kind of writing, learn as much as you can about it, gain as many skills in that area as you can, and when you finish the apprenticeship, decide which of the skills you learned will serve you well later on. You might be surprised.

Below are some suggestions for how to learn about new kinds of writing:

• Ask a lot of questions of people who are more experienced with this kind of writing. Here are some of the questions you might ask: What’s the purpose of this kind of writing? Who’s the audience? What are the most important elements to include? What’s not as important? How do you get started? How do you know when what you’ve written is good enough? How did you learn to write this way?
• Ask a lot of questions of the person who assigned you a piece of writing. If you have a paper, the best place to start is with the written assignment itself. For help with this, see our handout on understanding assignments .
• Look for examples of this kind of writing. (You can ask your instructor for a recommended example). Look, especially, for variation. There are often many different ways to write within a particular form. Look for ways that feel familiar to you, approaches that you like. You might want to look for published models or, if this seems too intimidating, look at your classmates’ writing. In either case, ask yourself questions about what these writers are doing, and take notes. How does the writer begin and end? In what order does the writer tell things? How and when does the writer convey their main point? How does the writer bring in other people’s ideas? What is the writer’s purpose? How is that purpose achieved?
• Read our handouts about how to write in specific fields or how to handle specific writing assignments.
• Listen critically to your readers. Before you dismiss or wholeheartedly accept what they say, try to understand them. If a reader has given you written comments, ask yourself questions to figure out the reader’s experience of your paper: What is this reader looking for? What am I doing that satisfies this reader? In what ways is this reader still unsatisfied? If you can’t answer these questions from the reader’s comments, then talk to the reader, or ask someone else to help you interpret the comments.
• Most importantly, don’t try to do everything at once. Start with reasonable expectations. You can’t write like an expert your first time out. Nobody does! Use the criticism you get.

Once you understand what readers want, you are in a better position to decide what to do with their criticisms. There are two extreme possibilities—dismissing the criticisms and accepting them all—but there is also a lot of middle ground. Figure out which criticisms are consistent with your own purposes, and do the hard work of engaging with them. Again, don’t expect an overnight turn-around; recognize that changing writing habits is a process and that papers are steps in the process.

Chances are that at some point in your writing life you will encounter readers who seem to dislike, disagree with, or miss the point of your work. Figuring out what to do with criticism from such readers is an important part of a writer’s growth.

Try new tactics when you get stuck

Often, writing blocks occur at particular stages of the writing process. The writing process is cyclical and variable. For different writers, the process may include reading, brainstorming, drafting, getting feedback, revising, and editing. These stages do not always happen in this order, and once a writer has been through a particular stage, chances are they haven’t seen the last of that stage. For example, brainstorming may occur all along the way.

Figure out what your writing process looks like and whether there’s a particular stage where you tend to get stuck. Perhaps you love researching and taking notes on what you read, and you have a hard time moving from that work to getting started on your own first draft. Or once you have a draft, it seems set in stone and even though readers are asking you questions and making suggestions, you don’t know how to go back in and change it. Or just the opposite may be true; you revise and revise and don’t want to let the paper go.

Wherever you have trouble, take a longer look at what you do and what you might try. Sometimes what you do is working for you; it’s just a slow and difficult process. Other times, what you do may not be working; these are the times when you can look around for other approaches to try:

• Talk to your writing buddy and to other colleagues about what they do at the particular stage that gets you stuck.
• Read about possible new approaches in our handouts on brainstorming and revising .
• Try thinking of yourself as an apprentice to a stage of the writing process and give different strategies a shot.
• Cut your paper into pieces and tape them to the wall, use eight different colors of highlighters, draw a picture of your paper, read your paper out loud in the voice of your favorite movie star….

Okay, we’re kind of kidding with some of those last few suggestions, but there is no limit to what you can try (for some fun writing strategies, check out our online animated demos ). When it comes to conquering a block, give yourself permission to fall flat on your face. Trying and failing will you help you arrive at the thing that works for you.

Celebrate your successes

Start storing up positive experiences with writing. Whatever obstacles you’ve faced, celebrate the occasions when you overcome them. This could be something as simple as getting started, sharing your work with someone besides a teacher, revising a paper for the first time, trying out a new brainstorming strategy, or turning in a paper that has been particularly challenging for you. You define what a success is for you. Keep a log or journal of your writing successes and breakthroughs, how you did it, how you felt. This log can serve as a boost later in your writing life when you face new challenges.

Wait a minute, didn’t we already say that? Yes. It’s worth repeating. Most people find relief for various kinds of anxieties by getting support from others. Sometimes the best person to help you through a spell of worry is someone who’s done that for you before—a family member, a friend, a mentor. Maybe you don’t even need to talk with this person about writing; maybe you just need to be reminded to believe in yourself, that you can do it.

If you don’t know anyone on campus yet whom you have this kind of relationship with, reach out to someone who seems like they could be a good listener and supportive. There are a number of professional resources for you on campus, people you can talk through your ideas or your worries with. A great place to start is the UNC Writing Center. If you know you have a problem with writing anxiety, make an appointment well before the paper is due. You can come to the Writing Center with a draft or even before you’ve started writing. You can also approach your instructor with questions about your writing assignment. If you’re an undergraduate, your academic advisor and your residence hall advisor are other possible resources. Counselors at Counseling and Wellness Services are also available to talk with you about anxieties and concerns that extend beyond writing.

Apprehension about writing is a common condition on college campuses. Because writing is the most common means of sharing our knowledge, we put a lot of pressure on ourselves when we write. This handout has given some suggestions for how to relieve that pressure. Talk with others; realize we’re all learning; take an occasional risk; turn to the people who believe in you. Counter negative experiences by actively creating positive ones.

Even after you have tried all of these strategies and read every Writing Center handout, invariably you will still have negative experiences in your writing life. When you get a paper back with a bad grade on it or when you get a rejection letter from a journal, fend off the negative aspects of that experience. Try not to let them sink in; try not to let your disappointment fester. Instead, jump right back in to some area of the writing process: choose one suggestion the evaluator has made and work on it, or read and discuss the paper with a friend or colleague, or do some writing or revising—on this or any paper—as quickly as possible.

Failures of various kinds are an inevitable part of the writing process. Without them, it would be difficult if not impossible to grow as a writer. Learning often occurs in the wake of a startling event, something that stirs you up, something that makes you wonder. Use your failures to keep moving.

Works consulted

We consulted these works while writing this handout. This is not a comprehensive list of resources on the handout’s topic, and we encourage you to do your own research to find additional publications. Please do not use this list as a model for the format of your own reference list, as it may not match the citation style you are using. For guidance on formatting citations, please see the UNC Libraries citation tutorial . We revise these tips periodically and welcome feedback.

Hjortshoj, Keith. 2001. Understanding Writing Blocks . New York: Oxford University Press.

This is a particularly excellent resource for advanced undergraduates and graduate students. Hjortshoj writes about his experiences working with university students experiencing block. He explains the transitional nature of most writing blocks and the importance of finding support from others when working on long projects.

Rose, Mike. 1985. When a Writer Can’t Write: Studies in Writer’s Block and Other Composing-Process Problems . New York: Guilford.

This collection of empirical studies is written primarily for writing teachers, researchers, and tutors. Studies focus on writers of various ages, including young children, high school students, and college students.

You may reproduce it for non-commercial use if you use the entire handout and attribute the source: The Writing Center, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

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Home > Homeschool Topics > The Writing’s on the Wall: Teaching a Child Who Hates Writing

The Writing’s on the Wall: Teaching a Child Who Hates Writing

Boy did I touch a nerve in this month’s family seminar when talking about boys and writing assignments – not the creativity, but simply the mechanics of the process. SO MANY wrote to me about this particular issue, that I had to provide you all with my thoughts and some feedback. The emails typically went something like this:

“My son HATES to write – anything. Anything involving a pencil and paper is a fight. Everything is an argument. Help! What should I do?”

My first suggestion to you all is to consider your child’s age . Motor skills for boys are sometimes late in developing. They will get there eventually, but don’t make this the mountain you want to take regardless of the cost.

Much of my advice is from my own experiences – but first a disclaimer – duh, duh, duh! We do need to have legible writing skills. We, as homeschool parents MUST CONTINUE TO TEACH THOSE SKILLS. Those of you saying, “My child does everything on the computer/iPad/you fill in the device,” must recognize that even as technologically sophisticated as our society now is, AP subject tests, SATs and ACTS ALL require written content, done on the spot, in a time constraint. So you cannot duck it – but you can mitigate the fallout in the meantime. We all have to write sometime .

(And we still need to be able to READ things that are handwritten or all of our historical documents in their original form will be lost to us.)

I am not above frank bribery . I have been known to reward with everything from money to chocolate (Start small so you don’t lose the farm!). Recognize too that this (writing) is a muscle – it must be exercised. I spent a good deal of time wondering how in the heck boys could play Legos for hours and then howl when you asked them to construct one sentence that contained a subject AND a verb!

But, when I go back to my own developmental psychology roots, the answer becomes a little clearer. Much of the Right Brain – Left Brain theory has been debunked in the past several years, but at its root, there is still some truth. To keep the explanation simple, those right-brainers are playing Legos easily because they are in the creative, nuanced side of the equation. No rules. Creativity … But shove a pencil in their hands and they now have to translate that creative thought into IDEAS ON PAPER? Omigosh – explosion! You would think that nuclear fission just occurred on the floor in your den!

That is when I go back to my idea of bribery. “Give me five good sentences, that contain nouns with adjectives and verbs with adverbs, and I will remove the thumb screws.”

The younger the student, the less I would ask, but I would ask. For instance, “On this worksheet, you answer the even ones in your own handwriting, and I will allow you to dictate the odd answers to me.” You can gradually up the ante. Keep the early, messy assignments, and show your children their progress. They will probably be as surprised as you are!

Calvert includes handwriting as part of the second grade writing and spelling course.

Through the last 20 years, I have been through it all with regard to handwriting – my eldest son’s handwriting was SO abysmal that we told him he would either have to become a pharmacist or a doctor so someone could read what he wrote. Now, as a college graduate, he has astonishingly beautiful handwriting, and actually majored in graphics and typography. If you had told me that 15 years ago, when we were hammer and tongs on a daily basis, I would have sworn you’d been in the cooking sherry.

My middle son needed more than a year of occupational therapy to be able to write his name. He is 14 now, and his handwriting is legible – not the beautiful scrollwork of a typical Calvert kid, but it gets the job done – and I am delighted because I know how far we have come. See, THAT is one of the gifts of homeschooling: you know the road because you walked it!

My youngest son, age 8, has beautiful handwriting – after three years of Tasmanian devil fighting. He would not choose a hand in Kindergarten, so we chose for him – and long story short, we chose wrong! So after enduring a year of dreadful behavior, we had to re-teach him to use his other hand. The tears that year were copious – from both of us. But fortunately, we look back now and laugh (which is the hallmark of a homeschool parent – bear in mind that phrase “this too shall pass” applies to almost everything in schooling).

So there you have my long answer, and thanks for asking. Keep persevering. He (or she) will need those skills. Sometimes the best weapons in a homeschool mom’s arsenal are a thick skin and a persistent attitude!

Gretchen Roe is the Calvert Community Liaison and has been homeschooling for 20 years. She has used and continues to use the Calvert curriculum to educate her 6 children.

Gretchen hosts a variety of free webinars. She offers Calvert Online Information Sessions once a week as well as family seminars on topics ranging from dealing with digital addiction to kick-starting a new school year.

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If you Hate Writing Papers or Essays, Here’s what to Do

Hate Writing Papers or Essays

It is very common for students to hate writing papers and even avoid writing college essays. Some students perceive writing as a laborious task that takes much time to complete.

For a student to write a complete paper, they must first understand the various writing components, making the process difficult.

I have been there when I was a student. I used to hate writing essays. However, I am now a seasoned writer and offer academic writing services here at Grade Bees. You can seek our services whenever you need them. However, I will teach you how to handle the problem and practice what I did to become a good writer.

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What to do if you Hate Writing College Papers

As noted, some students hate writing papers because of the process and the time used to complete them. Since writing papers is inevitable for students, there are some things you can do if you hate writing papers.

If you hate writing papers or college essays, you can hire writers. The other best approach is to plan your work, write informally, try using pen and paper first, create your own deadlines, and avoid distractions that take you away.

1.     Use Informal Language

One of the things you can do if you hate writing papers is to use informal language. What this means is that you should write the same way you talk.

Do not try forcing yourself to write using a formal communication style you are not used to.

This will make you hate the writing process even more. Once you are done with putting words into a page, you can formalize the language as you proofread and edit your paper.

Another tip is to record yourself talking about the contents of your paper and then write a transcript based on what you have said.

2. Start Writing with a Pen and Paper

Another thing you can do if you hate writing papers is to start with pen and paper. You can write your work on paper and later type what you have written by hand.

The good thing about starting with pen and paper is that it allows your thoughts to flow freely.

This is because writing using a computer makes the process feel official, creating a tense atmosphere. You will feel at ease when using pen and paper.

3. Create your own Deadlines

You can also create an artificial deadline if you hate writing papers. There is a tendency for students to procrastinate until the due date reaches.

It is best to create artificial deadlines by which you will be tackling your paper in parts. You can set a timer whereby you must complete a paragraph or a subtopic within the allocated time.

When the designated time is over, you can give yourself a break and continue later. Try to write something even when it is not perfect.

4. Plan in Advance

Planning in advance can also help if you hate writing papers. For example, if you must develop a formal paper, it is best to create an outline before you write.

Just imagine staring at a blank screen that you will have to populate with, let’s say, 5 pages of content.

5. Create an outline

Creating a comprehensive outline for the different sections of your paper will help you know exactly what to do and what will follow next. Let the outline be your starting point.

6. Avoid social media

Another thing you can do if you hate writing papers is to get rid of anything that distracts you, especially social media and the internet.

While the internet is a valuable source of research for papers, it can also divide your attention. When writing, stick to the internet sources that provide content for your paper and avoid wandering into other websites.

It is also important to avoid visiting social media sites such as Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, or Instagram while writing your papers. Also, silence your phone to avoid further distractions.

7. Start with the End in Mind

Finally, do not start at the beginning if you hate writing papers.

Though your paper should be structured in such a way that it begins with an introduction, followed by body paragraphs, and finally, a conclusion, there is no rule that you should begin with an introduction while writing.

You can start with the body paragraphs followed by an introduction. However, do not start with a conclusion.

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Why Students Hate Writing Papers and Essays

When a student says that ‘I hate writing,’ he or she means they are not motivated and are negative about the writing process. Well, there are several reasons why students hate writing essays. Let us explore each of these in detail.

Writing Papers is Uncomfortable

One of the reasons is that students may feel uncomfortable while writing. The writing process, which includes reading, researching, typing, creating citations and references, formatting, editing, and proofreading, can be taxing to students.

Students who lack the proper writing skills will find the process uncomfortable and therefore hate it.

The second reason students hate writing essays is that they lack proper spelling and grammar skills.

Student’s writing skills are tested when instructed to write essays, and they may be afraid to look bad if they possess weak spelling and grammar skills.

They are afraid to look stupid, thus the reason they may hate writing essays.

However, the good thing is that writing programs such as MS Word and online editing platforms such as Grammarly can help students correct their spelling and grammar.

Do not see the Purpose of writing papers

Another reason why students hate writing essays is that they do not see the need to write. This especially applies to students pursuing technical subjects such as mathematics, chemistry, etc.

They perceive writing as irrelevant to their career paths. Students pursuing subjects that require writing essays may end up loving writing.

However, those dealing with statistics, data, or numbers may find writing unnecessary and therefore decide that they hate it.

 Some Topics are Irrelevant

Another reason why students hate writing essays is that some essay topics may feel irrelevant. Most essay topics given to students may be boring and completely irrelevant to students’ day-to-day lives. Again, those topics may deviate from the topics or issues students love and can relate to.

Students view writing as Subjective

Students hate writing essays because it is subjective. There are no right or wrong answers. Students have to present arguments and support them in writing.

It is up to the instructor to decide which paper presents the best argument. Finally, the editing and revising process is boring and repetitious. This attitude of viewing writing as a subjective task makes students hate writing essays.

Why I Hate Writing College Essays

One of the reasons why I hate writing papers is that I have a hard time starting the whole writing process. This especially applies to long papers requiring much background information and content.

This is very overwhelming. When it comes to actual writing, I find it difficult to organize my thoughts and utilize writing mechanisms. In fact, I prefer to use legal ghostwriting services , which leaves me with more time to do my chores.

A good paper should be organized in such a way that the reader understands what the writer is trying to communicate. Organizing a paper to appeal to the reader is difficult, hence why I hate writing papers.

Another reason I hate writing papers is finding the most appropriate words to express myself. This is a slow process that requires much thought and practice.

Sometimes, I may be stuck trying to find the right words or phrases to communicate my thoughts. This brings in the issue of developing ideas. I find ideation to be a very difficult process.

At the same time, keeping track of those ideas is a struggle. I might forget some ideas while writing. I realized that the best remedy is to outline the different ideas to avoid forgetting them.

How to Love Writing College Essays

Now that we have discussed what to do if you hate writing papers let us explore how to love writing papers. As noted, writing papers is inevitable for students because writing papers is part of the curriculum. The following are some strategies you can utilize to help you love writing papers.

One of the strategies to help you love writing papers is to ensure that you do not worry about other things during the writing process.

When you begin writing, it is imperative to clear your mind and focus on your writing objectives and goals.

You should sit silently and meditate on the paper for a few minutes to achieve this. Ensure that whatever you think about and do is centered on the topic.

The next strategy you can utilize to help you love writing papers is to discover the style of writing you love and the topics that interest you.

However, the topics administered to write about may not align with the topics you love. In such cases, you should stick to the writing style you love.

If, for instance, your instructor has given you several topics to choose from, select the topic containing the areas and genres you love.

Various writing formats are used in writing papers. Select the format you are most comfortable with and one that you love to avoid boredom. You can learn how to select research topics and know how to pick the one that interests you and has content.

Another method to help you love writing papers is to devise a reward system when you achieve your writing goals. For example, if you must submit a 10-page paper within a week, you can decide to divide the task as per the deadline.

You can decide to write 2 pages every day. If you achieve the goal of writing the two pages, reward yourself. The reward does not have to be something big.

It can be, for example, taking a walk, laying down, taking your favorite snack or drink, and so on. Doing so will subconsciously connect writing with something you look forward to and love.

The next strategy you can use to help you love writing papers is to put on the music of your choice while writing. This especially applies to students who prefer background music while performing other tasks.

Your favorite music can help put you in the correct mindset and even inspire your thought process. However, you should avoid loud or distracting music.

To sum up, it is undeniable that writing papers and essays are sometimes a pain in the ass for some students. They constantly seek ways to escape their assignments and get good grades. Writing essays presents a job that requires writing competencies and skills.

Because of this, students tend to have and even avoid the writing process. Since writing is inevitable for students, embracing it and finding ways to love it is important. If you still cannot like it, think of ways to escape doing your homework and earn the grade.

Jessica Kasen is experienced in academic writing and academic assistance. She is well versed in academia and has a master’s degree in education. Kasen consults with us in helping students improve their grades. She also oversights the quality of work done by our writers.

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Writing Activities for Reluctant Writers

Colleen beck otr/l.

• by Colleen Beck OTR/L
• November 29, 2023

Here, we’re talking all about reluctant writers. We’ll cover WHY kids hate to write, and we’ll discuss strategies to engage kids that are reluctant to write. You’ll also find TOYS and TOOLS to engage and motivate children that hate writing.

We’ve already covered  fine motor toy  ideas and pencil grasp toys , which can be a resource for reluctant writers. Today is all about play–based strategies to support reluctant writers.    Our related blog post on name practice in kindergarten offers more strategies to support the child who is reluctant to write, particularly for beginners struggling with underlying skills needed for handwriting.

Amazon affiliate links are included in this blog post. As an Amazon Influencer, I earn from qualifying purchases.

Reluctant Writers

It’s very common for kids of all ages to be a reluctant to write. Challenges such as not knowing letter formation, struggles with dysgraphia, or difficulties with visual perceptual skills or visual motor skills that impact legibility can mean that kids just hate to write.

They hate to practice handwriting.

Motivating struggling writers to actually practice the underlying areas in which they struggle can be a challenge. For kids that HATE to write, meaningful and motivating is key! These writing activities for reluctant writes will make handwriting fun so that kids can work on the skills they need to work on.

Practice writing?  “But Mom! I don’t like to write!”  Sound familiar?  Many kids (Many, many!) just aren’t into practicing their handwriting at home.  School and homeschooling can be exhausting for kids when they have to do certain topics that they just aren’t interested in.  And handwriting is often one of those topics.  

Hopefully, you’ll find some motivating handwriting activities in today’s post that will help your reluctant writer pick up that pencil and start writing!

How to engage reluctant writers

{{This post contains affiliate links.}}

You can throw in the fun colored ink pen for extra smiles from your reluctant writer, but we wanted to share ideas to work on functional skills like handwriting using mainly items you can find around the home.  Try a few of these fun ideas with your student or child:

• Write Jokes. Look up jokes in a joke book and write them on index cards.  Send them to a friend in the mail, drop one in a neighbors mailbox (if you know the neighbor and first let them know to expect something in the mail!) or give one to teachers.  Find a buddy who would be interested in exchanging jokes.
• Write letters to favorite celebrities.  Use those interests and look up addresses to your child’s favorite artist, musician, or sports hero.  Kids can compose a letter and address the envelope.
• Exchange letters with a pen pal.  Kids can exchange letters with friends and relatives in other states or towns.  Getting mail addressed to themselves is very rewarding for a child.
• Pass notes.  Write short notes to members of the family.  Leave them in places where they will be found, like on bedroom dressers or in shoes.  Notes might be simple things like, “Don’t forget about soccer practice today.” or fun things like, “Do you want to play checkers?”
• Plan a scavenger hunt.  Write out hints on slips of paper.  The child can plan the steps and hide notes for family members or friends.
• Practice letter formation during fun games like Tic Tac Toe.  Instead of x’s and o’s, write printed or cursive letters in the squares.
• Write your own comic books.  Draw large rectangles on a page for a comic story. Students can draw pictures and write comic bubbles for handwriting practice.
• Make a  creative journal  full of creative handwriting ideas.  We did ours with a cursive handwriting, but you could use these ideas for printed handwriting, too.
• Tape paper to a window and write on the paper.
• Location, location, location! Change spaces for something fun and different: go to the library and try the tables there.  Write outside with a clipboard.  Where can you go to write that is new and fun?
• Change positions.  Sit on the floor and write on the chair seat.  Lay on couch cushions and write on the floor on a clipboard. 
• Take brain breaks .  Every 3-4 minutes, take a mini-break for jumping jacks or wall push-ups.
• Write to classical music.

Toys for Reluctant Writers 

Looking for more ways to help your reluctant writer get more “into” writing?  These toys, tools, and games will inspire and encourage your child to want to pick up the writing tool and play.  

The best thing is, they won’t even realize they are practicing handwriting and doing “work”!  While these tools and toys are not free, they are ideas to try.  If you have family asking for gift ideas, you might want to pass a few of these ideas along.  Here’s to writing and loving it!

Amazon affiliate links included below.

• Kids love a dry erase board and this Crayola Dry Erase Activity Center (affiliate link) will be fun for them to practice letter formation and writing. 
•  The Crayola Dry-Erase Activity Center Zany Play (affiliate link) can be a fun way to practice individual letter formation. Ask your child to practice letters in each box. Kids can also work on starting/stopping the writing tool on the dots, which is great pencil control practice and needed for handwriting legibility. 
•  Writing on this Crayola See Thru Light Designer (affiliate link) is bright and colorful and a great way to really work on letters while your child is captivated by the light animations and color effects. 
•  For students who love to draw (or have a slight interest in drawing), this Crayola Light Designer (affiliate link) will be a huge hit. Even though they will not be writing letters and words, kids can draw with the writing tool to create 3D images of their drawings.  This is a motivating tool for reluctant writers, and beneficial for pencil control and dexterity, helpful in handwriting. 
•  For kids who say “I can’t think of anything to write!” (sound familiar?) This creative storytelling game, Rory’s Story Cubes (affiliate link), will be a fun way to inspire. Play the game and write out stories as a family. This sounds like a great Family Night activity! 
•  Make writing fun with Washable Window Chalk Markers (affiliate link) by writing on windows, glass, and mirrors.
• Completing mazes are a great way to practice pencil control, line awareness in handwriting. 
•  Try a maze book like this Extreme Mazes (affiliate link) with your reluctant writer. 
• Mad Libs Game (affiliate link) is a great way to practice handwriting on lines and in smaller spaces. For kids who can not write as small as needed to write in the book, use a piece of paper for filling in the answers. 
•  The handwriting practice that kids get with a Spirograph (affiliate link) is big: Pen control, bilateral hand coordination, and proprioceptive feedback. Creating these fun art pieces are motivating and fun!

Toys for Letter Formation

Helping kids to work on letter formation can help them to become more confident in their handwriting. Try these engaging toys to support written work:

Chuchik Magnetic Drawing Board -(affiliate link) Use the magnetic pen to “write” letters and then erase them, adding repetitions in letter formation.

Coogam Wooden Letters Practicing Board – (affiliate link) Use the wooden board to trace and form letters. Then place a paper over the board and use a crayon to form the letters using the textured letters.

Naturskool Sand Writing Tray for Letter Formation with Alphabet flashcards – (affiliate link) Work on letter formation and copying skills with a sensory tray and pencil-like writing stylus.

More Fun toys to practice pencil formation and handwriting . Below are Amazon affiliate links.

• Erasable Drawing Doodle Screen Board
• Crayola Colored Gel Pens
• My First Crayola Double Doodle Board
• Crayola Glitter Crayons
• Color Changing Magic Pens

More Developmental Toys for Therapy

Be sure to check out these developmental toys, too. These are top-rated occupational therapy toys to support child development of skills.

• Fine Motor Toys  
• Gross Motor Toys  
• Pencil Grasp Toys  
• Toys for Reluctant Writers  
• Toys for Spatial Awareness  
• Toys for Visual Tracking  
• Toys for Sensory Play
• Bilateral Coordination Toys  
• Games for Executive Functioning Skills 
• Toys and Tools to Improve Visual Perception  
• Toys to Help with Scissors Skills  
• Toys for Attention and Focus

PRINTABLE LIST OF TOYS FOR Reluctant Writers

Want a printable copy of our therapist-recommended toys to support reluctant writers?

As therapy professionals, we LOVE to recommend therapy toys that build skills! This toy list is done for you so you don’t need to recreate the wheel.

Your therapy caseload will love these handwriting toy recommendations.  (There’s space on this handout for you to write in your own toy suggestions, to meet the client’s individual needs, too!)

Therapist-Recommended ​ RELUCTANT WRITER TOYS HANDOUT

Colleen Beck, OTR/L has been an occupational therapist since 2000, working in school-based, hand therapy, outpatient peds, EI, and SNF. Colleen created The OT Toolbox to inspire therapists, teachers, and parents with easy and fun tools to help children thrive. Read her story about going from an OT making $3/hour (after paying for kids’ childcare) to a full-time OT resource creator for millions of readers. Want to collaborate? Send an email to [email protected].

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Words Will Never Hurt You

Kids with adhd hate writing. well, at least half of them do, according to research. and is it any wonder, considering the executive functions needed to generate ideas, outline, research, and physically write here, adhd education expert chris dendy, m.s., shares her tips for making writing less painful..

Kids with ADHD Struggle with Writing

Studies suggest that more than half of children with ADHD struggle with writing . Despite an overflow of creative ideas, they struggle when it comes to getting these ideas down on paper. Children with ADHD have a hard time getting started, picking essay topics, locating appropriate resources, holding information in their memory,  organizing and sequencing the material, and getting it down on paper — all before they forget what they wanted to say.

Allow Enough Time

Students with ADHD, especially those with the inattentive subtype, may take longer to process information — and they need writing strategies that accommodate this need. Be sure to make sure your child has extended time to complete written assignments as an IEP or 504 accommodation.  Alternatively, ask the teacher to consider a shorter assignment.

Help Topic Selection

Children with attention or learning difficulties have a tough time narrowing down choices and making decisions. Students who get stuck trying to pick an essay topic may use up all their time and energy before they even start writing. Help your child by listening to all of his ideas and writing down three or four of his topics on cards. Next, review them and have him eliminate each topic, one by one — until only the winner is left. If he can't decide, flip a coin.

[ Self Test: Could My Child Have a Learning Disability? ]

Teach Brainstorming Skills

Because children with attention or learning problems often cannot hold their ideas in mind for very long, you might serve as a “scribe” and record ALL the student's thoughts on the assigned topic. Let them brainstorm and avoid making judgments or grammatical corrections, since that would interrupt the flow of ideas. The trick is to capture all the ideas first and correct or edit them later.

Set Up a Note System

Or, alternatively, set up a note system. Ask the student with ADHD to write her notes about a topic on individual sticky notes. That makes it easy to spread out and group the notes together that feature similar ideas so she'll be able to easily identify the major concepts of the subject from the groupings.

Organize Ideas Visually

To organize, and sequence those thoughts and ideas consider using a graphic organizer such as a mind map: Write the main idea in a box in the center of the page and surround it with bubbles containing subtopics and supporting ideas. This helps organize her thoughts when it’s time to write.

He Talks, You Type

If your child is struggling to start writing, sit down with him to talk about the assignment. Review his notes from the brainstorming session and ask, “How you could write the first sentence in the second paragraph?” If he doesn't have an answer, say, “Here’s an idea for the first sentence. How would you write that in your own words?” To prevent writer's block, type his thoughts as he expresses them. His skills will improve over time and require less involvement on your part.

[ Free Download: 18 Writing Tricks for Students with ADHD ]

Flesh Out the Details

During the process, ask questions and refer to her brainstorming ideas to stay on topic.  Once the main part of the essay is complete, you might give one instruction at a time — write an exciting opening sentence, for example, or describe the setting in greater detail — and have her fill in the rest.

Chidren with attention and learning difficulties often write more slowly than their classmates. Encourage your child to start the writing process on a computer. This way, she'll keep her work organized and won't misplace her essay or assignment before it's finished. Also, by working on the computer, she can easily rearrange the order of sentences and paragraphs in a second draft.

Help Add Details

Your child may have a hard time writing to length and may produce essays that are too short and lacking in details. Explain how the use of adjectives and adverbs can enhance his or her composition. Show your child how to use a thesaurus, too.

Have Her Say Words as She Writes Them

Auditory feedback helps students with ADHD and learning difficulties stay focused and monitor their efforts. Children are less likely to miss errors in their work if they hear their writing spoken aloud.

Tap into Tech

Ease writing challenges by using language disability friendly software. Speech-recognition programs allow students to read aloud into a microphone and see their words appear on a computer screen. Word-prediction software helps with spelling and builds vocabulary, providing a drop-down list of words from which a student can choose.

Edit, Polish, and Revise

This is often the most difficult task for many students with learning challenges because they tend to "read" what they intended rather than what they wrote. Use one of these mnemonics to focus a child’s efforts:

• COPS — Capitalization, Organization, Punctuation, Spelling
• C-SOOPS — Capitalization, Sentence Structure, Organization, Overall format, Punctuation, Spelling

A child should go through his assignment multiple times, focusing on one of these components at a time.

Encourage Writing at Home

Have your child write down his thoughts about outings to the movies, visits with relatives, or trips to museums in a journal. Add some fun to the activity by asking your child to e-mail you his thoughts or text-message you from his cell phone.

[ Writing Made Easy: Tech Tools to the Rescue ]

Learning Challenges: Read These Next

Famous People with Dyslexia, Dyscalculia & Other Learning Differences

Twice the Challenge: Getting the Right Diagnosis

The Truth About Dyslexia in Children

How to Treat the Symptoms of Dyslexia

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Please Don’t Make Me Write

Kathy oehler, ms, ccc-slp, offers strategies to help the reluctant writer, low cost / no cost sensory strategies for the classroom  , cheryl boucher,ms,otr & kathy oehler, ms, ccc-slp, offer sensory strategies for the classroom. autism aspergers digest., ipad apps notes 2017, here’s a visual support for kids who have trouble getting started on writing assignments:.

Your student will have an easier time Getting Started if he can see:

…..exactly what he needs to do …..exactly how much he needs to do …..exactly what he can do when he is finished

Here’s an example:                           (Parent fills out this part)

USE THIS AT HOME: Print several copies of this blank “What Do I Do” chart.  When it’s time to write, fill out one of the charts and tape it to the student’s desktop.  Be concrete, and don’t write lots of words – just the essentials!  Use a fresh chart for each writing assignment.

(Parent fills out this part)

Kathy Oehler, MS, CCC-SLP, offers strategies to help the reluctant writer in “Please Don’t Make Me Write!”

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Smart Kids Who Hate to Write: Figuring Out What’s Going On!

Overview: does your child hate writing does he refuse to write or struggle with the act of writing it could be a physical issue., it could be a maturity issue. or it could be a disconnect between your child’s fingers and his brain., learn straightforward ways to change your approach so that your child will no longer hate to write.

I’ve always known that my boys were smart.

They started talking before they were one-year-old. They started learning to read when they were three.

They’ve always been able to come up with intricate stories in their heads, carry on wonderful conversations, think logically, and remember many facts.

The one thing they have always struggled with in our homeschool was that they didn’t want to write anything down. Can you relate?

Does your child hate to write?!?

This is a big deal! Writing is one of those skills that you use in all of your subjects.

• We typically teach spelling by having kids write their words several times.
• We teach lots of subjects by having the child fill out a workbook page to see what they remember.
• We give tests where we ask students to write things down.
• Even notebooking and lapbooking require the child to write out what they remember about certain subjects.

My boys could talk to me endlessly about what they remembered, but as soon as I would ask them to write anything down, they would freeze up and balk at having to write even a short sentence or two.

My Child Refuses to Write

Sometimes the issue is that we’re trying to get our kids to write when they are simply not ready.

We expect children who are ages 4-6 to color and to learn to write their letters, but sometimes they aren’t mature enough to do these things, yet. This is especially true for boys who can lag behind in this area.

The best thing to do in this circumstance is to put some of the writing aside and create learning experiences which don’t involve a paper and pencil . Give them time and allow them to complete most of their work orally.

Physically Struggling with Writing

Sometimes the issue is that our kids haven’t yet developed the fine motor skills necessary to write.

This is the case in older and older children, as technology takes a more prominent place in the lives of our kids. They are simply not doing the same types of activities which develop our hand muscles as much as children did in generations past.

If you suspect this is the case, having your child do some fun, fine motor activities to build up the strength in his fingers will make a tremendous difference in helping him to struggle less with writing.

Some kids who physically struggle to write with a pencil will do much better using a pen. It takes less strength to make a mark with a pen than it does with a pencil.

These kids also do well learning how to type at a young age. My boys tried many typing programs geared for kids, but they didn’t become touch typists until they went through the Mavis Beacon program .

Do Their Finger Joints Hyperextend?

A reader told me about another physical issue that can cause writing difficulty for children. If a child has hypermobile joints , they don’t know to tell us because they assume everyone has the same experience.

If their finger joints hyperextend, they will experience pain in the pincer grip that doesn’t exist for non-hypermobile children.

This pain will quickly cause them to avoid writing, especially extended periods of it. It’s also common for these children to have orthostatic intolerance, which leads to fast fatigue.

The easy fix for hyper-extended finger joints is ring-splints which allow the full range of normal motion but prevent the hyperextension. You can read more about this issue here .

Not Interested in Writing

Not all adults enjoy writing.

In fact, quite a few adults avoid writing like the plague. They certainly wouldn’t want to sit down and write a book report after they finish a book.

And they wouldn’t choose to spend their free time writing stories or essays about their life.

Guess what?!? Your child may never enjoy writing. That doesn’t mean that they can’t write. Or that they won’t learn how to write well. But it may not be something they choose to do.

For these kids, it’s important to do what we can to help them at least learn how to write to the best of their ability.

• 4 Tips to Help Your Reluctant Writer  – Tips for kids who simply are not interested in writing
• Teaching Writing to Older Kids  – Ways to help older kids who are still trying to master the skill of writing
• 7 Simple Ways to Help Kids Overcome Writer’s Block  – Ideas to help kids who are struggling to know what to write

Sometimes simply giving our children the space to write about subjects that interest THEM will be enough to help them overcome their writing issues. Also, taking away the looming threat that you will grade their work may help as well.

Over time, they may even decide that they love to tell stories and they want to become authors as my oldest son has. You can read all about his experience in this post co-written by him called How to Motivate a Child to Write .

Is There a Disconnect Between Your Child’s Fingers and His Brain?

The information contained on this website is for informational purposes only. it is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment..

If your child is learning but refuses to write or seems like he has to work really hard to write anything down, we can wonder if it’s laziness or a character issue. I know I struggled with this with my own sons.

And I wondered if they would ever grow out of it.

Fortunately, a few years ago, I finally learned the answers to my questions. While attending our state’s homeschool convention, I attended a workshop taught by an amazing woman named Dianne Craft.

She has a master’s degree in special education, she’s a certified nutritional health professional, and she was a homeschool mom.

She taught several workshops this weekend; but the first one that caught my eye was called Smart Kids Who Hate to Write . I knew I needed to attend this workshop.

I was just hoping that I might learn one or two things that could give my boys some relief in this area.

Why Is Writing Such a Struggle for Some Kids?

Dianne said that writing is an activity in which we should use both hemispheres of our brain.

Once we learn how to do something, after 6 months, it is supposed to transfer over to the automatic processing part of our brain. If children are struggling to write, often it is because this doesn’t happen.

For these kids, they continue having to think about the letters they’re forming and the words they’re writing instead of that being an automatic process.

She gave the analogy of learning to drive a car. She reminded us of what an arduous task this first was when we first started to learn.

We had to think about where our feet should be and how to push the different pedals.

We had to think about when to use our turn signals and which lane to drive in.

We had to remember to check behind, around, and in front of us before changing lanes.

There were so many things to think about that we had to use all of our focus to drive. We couldn’t talk at the same time, and it wasn’t enjoyable.

In fact, it was quite stressful.

That was the case until we had practiced long enough that the various processes necessary for us to drive transferred over to our automatic hemisphere. Then driving became enjoyable.

We could carry on a conversation while driving.

We could sing along with the radio.

It was a whole different ballgame. We could turn our head to look at the sights.

It became a relaxing experience! (Driving on country roads, anyway.)

This is what some of our kids feel like when they are writing. Instead of being able to write and think about anything else, they have to focus very hard just to write anything down.

This takes a tremendous amount of energy and focus and having to write anything down zaps much of their strength.

Sometimes this problem is caused by your child having a mixed dominance.

Normally, if your child is right-handed, their right eye will be dominant. If they are left-handed, their left eye will be dominant.

For some kids, this isn’t the case.

One of my sons is left-handed but his right eye is dominant. This can cause confusion in the brain while he is writing and can cause the writing process to be stopped from entering the automatic hemisphere.

Sometimes a child’s brain is hard-wired for left-handedness even though they are right-handed or vice versa. This can also cause major stress in their writing system.

 How can you tell if there is stress in your child’s writing system?

• If they hate to write or take a long time to do so
• If they have a mixed dominance
• If they occasionally reverse their letters or numbers after age 7
• If they are right-handed but they make the letter ‘O’ clockwise
• If they form some letters from bottom to top
• If their copy work takes a long time and is labor intensive
• If they do their math problems in their head to avoid writing them down
• If their writing looks sloppy
• If they tell great stories orally but write very little down
• If they have a hard time lining up their math problems
• If they press very hard when writing
• If they are a teenager but they avoid writing at all costs
• If they mix their capital and small letters when writing

How Do I Help My Child?

If your child is exhibiting even one or two of these symptoms, then he or she would benefit from going through some  Brain Integration Therapy . This sounds complicated, but it’s actually very simple and inexpensive and it’s something you can do at home with your child.

This therapy was developed by Dr. Geteman and Dr. Paul Dennison. This exercise not only helps your child to overcome their dysgraphia, but it will also improve their hand-eye coordination and their awareness of their body in space.

This will help them perform better in sports and to write with ease.

The Brain Integration Therapy is simple, yet it involves lots of steps. I can’t detail how to do them in this article because I don’t want to take the chance of missing a step and making you waste your time.

I recommend that you purchase the following products by Dianne Craft:

• Brain Integration Therapy Manual   – $58.00
• Smart Kids Who Hate to Write  – $39.99

I purchased these products myself and am thrilled with what I have discovered so far. Her Brain Integration Therapy Manual is easy to understand and easy to follow.

The Smart Kids Who Hate to Write DVD includes the entire workshop that I attended, which explains the reasoning behind this therapy. It also includes examples of kids who are a variety of ages doing the Writing Eight exercise, which is the main therapy that she recommends for overcoming dysgraphia (see picture above.)

There are so many other exercises which are beneficial in her brain training manual, however, that I would HIGHLY recommend you purchase that as well.

If your child is struggling to write, purchasing these items will be a small price to pay to see their suffering end in this area. I can’t tell you how relieved I was after finding this program!

My boys were also very excited about starting this therapy.

Dianne says that your child might consider these exercises boring, and that’s true. If your child is struggling, however, you may find that they will be excited to do exercises that might help them overcome something which has been causing them grief for many years.

Dianne says that you will start to see results after a few months; but that you need to do the therapy for 6 months to a year so that the brain is permanently trained. Dianne said that in her over 30 years of teaching this to children, she has never met a child she wasn’t able to help.

My boys did all of Dianne’s brain training for about seven months, and it did help them. They stopped reversing letters and writing things from bottom to top.

We still chose to let them type most of their assignments, but after going through this therapy, it gave them the ability to write more efficiently.

I think the exercises also helped one of my sons with his balance and coordination. It was worth our time!

If you suspect your child has a disconnect between his fingers and his brain, do yourself and your children a favor. Get Dianne’s material. Read some of the articles on her website . Check out her sample audio and video files.

I think you’ll be as happy as I am that you took the time to make writing easier for your children.

Fun Writing Resources

If you are looking for resources to make learning to writing more enjoyable for your child, I have some really fantastic suggestions for you!

Make Your Own Comics (Ages 6+) – Making comics is a great, non-intimidating way to motivate kids to start writing. This awesome activity pad is jam-packed with everything children need to design their very own comic strips. Create comics about swashbuckling pirates, a space adventure, a rogue robot rampage, and many more. With lots of hints and tips on drawing characters, showing emotions, setting the scene, and adding speech bubbles and sound effects.

My Year of Writing (Ages 8 and up) – A year’s worth of imaginative prompts for word associations, stories, jokes, and more help young writers discover their own personal creativity, fire up their imaginations, and hone their writing skills.

Write and Draw Your Own Comics (Ages 10+) – This is for kids who want to tell stories but who gravitate toward pictures. It has a mix of partially drawn comics and blank panels with intro comics as instructions – lots of space for kids to draw their own comics, but they’re never left fully alone with a scary blank page.

Write and Design Your Own Magazines (Ages 10+) – This book explains how to make homemade magazines or ‘zines’ from scratch. With step-by-step instructions and tips on everything from making comics or writing advice columns to printing magazines and finding readers.

Write Your Own Scripts (Ages 10+) – This book will help you write all kinds of scripts–scary ones, exciting ones, and hilariously silly ones. It’s full of tips and ideas that will help you every step of the way–from planning and writing to putting on your very own shows.

Write Your Own Poems (Ages 10+) – A write-in book filled with a wide range of poetry writing activities, tips, and advice to inspire a new generation of young poets. This book aims to make poetry accessible and exciting for beginners.

A Year in my Life (Ages 9-13) – A kids’ journal quite unlike any other, this beautifully illustrated book invites children to record a year of their life by filling in the 365 quirky drawing and writing activities—one for every day of the year.

Activities are fun, quick—so no excuse to miss any days!—and imaginatively offbeat, so kids might be invited to “Draw a scene that happened today, but give the people animal heads” or “Write every feeling you remember feeling today” or simply just “Sum up today in a single word.” At the end of the 365 days, children will end up with an amusing, creative, and offbeat record of a year in their life to treasure in years to come.

Question: Does your child hate to write? Do you have any other tips you could share? Please leave a comment below.

90 thoughts on “Smart Kids Who Hate to Write: Figuring Out What’s Going On!”

My son is 6 years old and I noticed he hates writing. He is very smart. While I was reading the first part of your article, I felt you are talking about me and my son. This is very helpful. I will get the material and help my child. Thank you very much

Thanks for letting me know, Enam. It’s encouraging to me when I’m able to help someone else. I hope the materials help your son! Take care and have a great night!

Hi My son is 3 years 8 months now. He cant write after several time practice…not even a single alphabet properly and without help. We don’t feel he is not interested …he tries but couldn’t understand how to write

He can recognize all alphabets and number 1to10 but can’t write and I also feel sometimes he doesn’t remember things very easily Can anyone help.

That’s incredibly young to have him writing. Some kids can handle it but it isn’t common. There are different skills involved with recognizing the alphabet versus writing it out. If he’s recognizing all of the letters and numbers 1-10, that’s wonderful for his age. Just keep learning fun for him and try not to stress about it. 🙂

Thank you for this! My 7 year old is having writing issues. He started Prek with nice handwriting. His writing was good at KG then 1st grade came and he just got really messy? Does that mean its dysgraphia? I compare his writings from the Summer before he started 1st grade and wrote well just bigger letters and did spacing. Now he wants to write fast and everything looks messy. When he writes slow he writes nice. I am just trying to figure out if this is considered dysgraphia. If you don’t mind telling me what kind of brain exercise you did..maybe some examples before I buy the book? Appreciate it. Thanks so much!

If his handwriting USED to be neat and then it got messy, I would guess that he’s just in more of a hurry to be done writing and to get on to other things. Dysgraphia has to do with certain connections in the brain not being made – so signals aren’t crossing over from the left hemisphere to the right hemisphere as easily as they should be. But if that were the case, your son wouldn’t have been able to write neatly before. And if he’s still capable of writing neatly when he slows down then he probably just feels like he has better things to do. Boys don’t normally like to sit still for long periods of time – especially at that age. I hope that helps! 🙂

Thank you for this article. What I might add is to find projects where they can go after their true passions. My kid loves wolves, so she researched found out the biggest issues they had, and wrote a letter to her favorite author if he could write a children’s book about wolves to impact young kids to love wolves. She absolutely loved to do this, as it had meaning. Plus she did it with other children. I let my child work together with others over http://www.TheStory-Weavers.com – this is where mine really changed from pushing her to writing to her loving it.

Great suggestion, Geraldine!

You may have just saved us! Thanks for sharing this. Both my boys have similar struggles with physical writing which makes homeschool a challenge for us. Thanks again.

You’re welcome. Glad I could help! 🙂

We just got out of a meeting with our 7 year olds teacher…she is really pushing getting him to write and he hates writing! We have spent hours on spelling homework that could have been done in 10 minutes…tears, tantrums, etc. this is good information! Hopefully we can figure something out over the summer so he is more prepared for 2nd grade!

Yes, I hope you’re able to use some of these tips. 🙂

Some students do better with cursive, however, One of the best spelling techniques is to print (manuscript) each word. Then, do it 2-4 times underneath one another. This way The child can catch his mistake as each letter should be under one another! Cursive writing does not make it easy to catch errors. Another way is to break the word up into syllables (or parts that the child says) each on their own line. These may be done next to one another in a vertical manner with space between. End with the correct spelling underneath. Some words like colonel can be broken up in a manner and pronounced so that the child can see all the correct letters even though they are not syllabicated or pronounced that way. Ex. Co-lone-l or col-one-l each on their own line and total word on last line.

If the child does not have to write out his spelling words but only learn them here is a good technique that kids love. Look at the word, say the word, spell the word, say the word again. Then, clap hands twice slap thighs twice (or desk top) stomp feet each one, clap hands twice again. For some reason the physical activity helps it stay in the brain. Plus, kids need to move. That’s how they grow. Have fun and don’t forget to smile and laugh. I always let my kids tell jokes before their tests. It releases pent-up energy, the laughter sends good hormones through their body and it relaxes them. If they are taking major tests, ask the teacher if they’re allowed to suck on a peppermint lifesaver. This is proven to excite the brain and help the memory. I also did jumping jacks, running in place, hands up and touch toes, any kind of little physical activity to help the circulation and the oxygen to flow in between subjects or the tests.

TY! TY! TY! Our son is 10 and I knew enough to know that his penmanship issues had to be the symptom of something else but basic education degrees don’t cover this sort of thing. And our daughter has Down syndrome so she is, of course, delayed and is truly ambidextrous. Getting anything on paper around here is painful. I feel like a prayer was just answered! Book ordered and I paid an extra $3 to get it here faster.

I’m so glad to hear that, Amy. I hope this info helps your kiddos a bunch! 🙂

Thank you for your honesty in being so open about your boys & their writing problems. I have 2 sons, the older of whom I’m currently home-schooling. He’s twice exceptional, identified as Gifted w/ a high IQ & also having ADD (with a lot of the emotional, sensory, physical issues that are part & parcel of this diagnosis)!

I have learned so much from my son & his challenges with writing. I can share some of my lessons. His pre-school teacher identified him as delayed in fine-motor skills. We tried everything to help him strengthen his little muscles, but it didn’t really work. Fast forward a few yrs (summer between 2nd & 3rd grade), we took him to a Developmental Pediatrician (Melmed Center, AZ) who was so supportive of our decision to medicate or not to medicate! Regardless, she said, he’ll need lots of individualized care, educational objectives & therapies. We walked away armed with a lot of solid recommendations especially resources for educating ourselves to the iceberg that is AD/HD (we only see the top part of it in terms of hyperactivity or impulsivity).

We found a private Occupational Therapy clinic, specifically Scribbles2Script (AZ) specializing in writing problems (I never even knew that Occupational Therapists had different specialization! Actually, I never even knew what an OT was, lol!). Meagan did an extensive evaluation. It takes about 15 different muscle movements for the physical act of writing to take place. My son was not able to do half of them. Right away, she fitted him for a Pediatric thumb splint, recommended a Slant board (to write on), and gave him some Jumbo pencil grips. Like a sports athelete, when my son donned these items, he was ready to write! As he started on homework that day, he casually comments, “It doesn’t hurt anymore!”. I was beside myself. “So, it used to be physically painful for you write? How come you never told me that… We’ve been having discussions about writing for so many years !!!”

Meagan explained that usually kids won’t dwell on the physical pain that writing is causing them because they don’t know any different. They assume everyone feels the same pain when writing, or that is what the process of writing entails: physical pain! So, we corrected that wrongful assumption for my son. He was under strict orders to stop writing if he felt physical pain & consult with the OT. We saw the OT for 7 months about 1xwk. She did so many fun & interesting fine-motor excercises with him & gave wkly hmwk to learn & improve & then, finally gain speed in his writing! This time, the excercises worked because they were done under the care of a trained medical professional who paid attention to the issue of physical pain. During the course of therapy, my son (just for fun) started using scissors to make crafts, showed interest in different writing utensils (markers, colored pencils, etc), and became more confident about controlling his butter fingers during everyday household tasks!

To all those moms whose kid is great with Legos: My biggest question to Megan was, “But this kid spends hours making and breaking his Lego inventions?” to which she replied, “It only takes about 1 of those 15 muscle movements to play with Legos!”.

I’m so thankful to God for what He taught me & humbled by what I do not know!”

Wow! Thanks so much for taking the time to leave this comment. I think it has to potential to help LOTS of kids. I’m going to go research those 15 muscles right now. 🙂

Hi Amena, where did you get your thumb splint. Can I buy it anywhere? Can you provide the name and type the one your son had? Thank you in advace for your help. Thanks for your input, so helpful. I’m happy I stumbled upon it.

Btw, I’m getting no compensation from companies I mentioned. I’m so grateful to them for their help & guidance & answering my millions of questions with such kindness, I want to mention them!

Another item that was added to my son’s writing “equipment” was a Pencil weight. This was done for sensory issues. He said he couldn’t really “feel” his pencil, but rather that seemed to be “floating”. The OT was able to understand this from the wavy/ shaky/ trembling lines she saw him making especially with his cursive connections! His explanation came later, after we asked him, “What is your feeling/ sensation while you are writing?”

My son is now writing without most of his aids. Although, if he writes more than a couple of words (which he still doesn’t really want to– I’ll explain why down below), his hand starts hurting again. Therefore, we keep the equipment ready & nearby in case we need it.

Another aspect of his treatment at Scribbles2Script was the Vision therapy. Upon assessment with a 2nd OT who specialized in Vision therapy & a Developmental Optometrist, my son’s vision was diagnosed as having choppy tracking, inability for both eyes to work as a team, etc. There had been signs & clues all along including lots of eye rubbing especially after periods of reading, constantly walking in front of the shopping cart whenever we were at the store, etc. I just never knew this was all because of Vision problems. Moms, keep in mind that vision problems do not mean kids need glasses. And they are usually not diagnosed at the regular Eye doctors. In fact, many Opthomologists consider Vision therapy to be bogus or controversial at best. However, more & more research is available to show that it is an effective & superior means of treatment (than surgery or even patching for hours for problem such as cross-eye).

After all that therapy, spelling homework that should have taken 10 minutes did NOT take hours or produce tears BUT writing was still something my son tried to avoid. My son had made major progress from refusing to picking up a pencil to easily writing words & short (I mean VERY short sentences). I attributes this behavior to anxiety or writing-related trauma for having been made to write all those years when it was physically hurting him. But, was there something more?

As we said goodbye to Megan & her awesome team of ladies, I was told that my son’s remaining hesitation to write had to do more with his ADD than anything else. His thoughts were firing off faster than he could capture them on paper (kind of like popping popcorn).

After much trial & error during homeschooling to further work on his writing, I finally got my son an appointment with Speech & Language therapists (Anita Werner’s clinic in AZ). This has been the HUGEST blessing ever! After 4 hours of intensive testing (divided over 2 days), my son was diagnosed with Expressive Language Disorder & Secondary Writing Disorder! I never would have guesses in a million years because this boy can talk a whole lot, be very expressive & precise, and generally communicates pretty well, according to me (his mom). Obviously, I have a biased perspective! My son has started therapy with a Speech & Language Therapist… I’m so excited because it seems that this IS going to deal with the remaining writing difficulties we still are dealing with. The therapist never promised a cure, but said that my son would walk away from working with her with enough strategies, formulas, concepts, practice& problem-solving skills to be able to make his away around & easily navigate through any writing problems !!!

Believe me, these private companies, pioneering in practice research & treatment, have been life-savers for us! Although we pay lots for them in monetary, time, & mileage value, they are worth the cost in the long-run!

Moms, please don’t rely exclusively on school personnel as my son was interviewed by both an OT & a Speech Therapist at his public school! Neither one of those therapists, nor the IEP team of professionals found anything of concern in the case of my son. Their main yardstick was his excellent standardized test scores (in Reading & Math, areas in which he naturally excels due to his Giftedness!). All other issues were ignored. It’s sad, but what happened to the 3 R’s = Arithmetic, Reading & WRITING ?!?

I’ll end this really long post by once again thanking God for all the gifts He has bestowed on my family through His guidance, His resources & His hope!

I have a nephew who was helped by Vision Therapy… Thanks again for all of the detail. I hope it will help lots of other parents who are struggling to find solutions for their kiddos.

Thank you so much for your candor. You have described my recent experiences. I tried getting the school to help with no avail. Luckily my son’s doctor took my concerns seriously and has made the referrals I am hoping and praying to get answers for my son

I just read the above bullet points to my almost 14 year old son. He was laughing by the end, then said, “Have they been following me around?” The symptoms list described him to a T. We homeschooled for years but by Jr a High he needed more help than I am trained for. Our local, rural jr high/highschool has 100 kids total. We are comfortable with him schooling there, but would love to overcome the problem not just deal with it. I’m going to show this to my husband, and will surely be ordering!

My son is 7 years old he hates so much writing and reading. i dont understand something why he doesnt like to study if i guide him hes sleepong and very slow writing specially his reading the book very slow. he really likes to play like biking, playing his cars. omg please I need your advise what ca I do to make him matured. I make everything but Im sorry Because im not a perfect mom.

Your son is still very young. He probably wonders why you don’t like to play with cars. 😉 There’s a bunch of advice on my site about teaching boys and meeting them where they’re at. One post you might find particularly helpful would be How to Teach Your Son When He Won’t Sit Still . Hang in there! It will get better. Maturity takes time.

Wow!! This is my son to a T. He also was motor delayed as a younger child and although the pediatrician say he has “caught up” is still all butter fingers and will agonize over a sentence for what seems like forever until he figures out how to capture his thought in the fewest possible words that then get agonizingly set on paper. He has everything on that list except the teenage thing, since he is only 10. We have looked into vision therapy for his older sister, but I never thought it would help a writing issue. We will have to re-evaluate. Thanks for this article!!

You’re welcome, Melody! I’m glad I could help. FYI – I’ve also got posts about helping to develop gross motor and fine motor skills. If you feel that your son is still struggling (especially with fine motor) that could also be part of his reluctance to write. You may want to have him practice some of these skills as well. 🙂

My three sons are grown but I wish I’d known some of this info when they were young as all three hated to write. The third son took keyboarding in seventh grade to avoid having to write reports etc. but he did go on to become a doctor of medicine (radiologist.) Even my daughter could have benefited from this book so I may order it for her children as they are the right age and my grandson also hates to have to write anything out but can text and use the computer better than I can! Thanks for this information.

It’s so encouraging to hear from people who have gone before and whose children have succeeded in spite of their struggles. Thanks so much for sharing your story!!!

After searching on Amazon I did find the manual for $58, but the link above still took me to a page listing it for $200.

Thanks for the heads up, Natalie. I fixed the links! 🙂

Hi there! So you are still seeing improvements in your sons’ handwriting and writing abilities? I am just now starting to see if this is what our son also struggles with. He’s gifted and tests very well, just has terrible. sloppy handwriting, spacing problems, indention problems, trouble lining up math problems, and writes about half of his letters and numbers bottom to top (or in one continuous stroke; doesn’t like to pick up his pencil mid-letter).

Dianne’s materials are pricey and so I want to make sure I am not self-diagnosing him incorrectly. Talking to my homeschool advisor to make sure I should’t look into getting him professionally evaluated first. But he’s in 5th grade and I don’t want to persist any further. I’m shocked and frustrated that I didn’t realize this was such a big issue until now (we’ve homeschooled since day one). Thanks in advance!

Awww, your homeschool advisor?!? You’re so sweet. 🙂

Yes, we really are seeing improvements. Dianne’s techniques helped my boys with their writing – especially forming letters correctly from top to bottom and from left to right – and I believe they also helped one of my sons to become more coordinated with playing basketball as well. My boys still don’t like to physically write stuff down – but it doesn’t seem to be quite as “painful” for them as it used to be. They still prefer typing papers as opposed to writing them down, though. I think that’s from being born in our technological age. They just feel more comfortable behind a keyboard than they do with a pad of paper and a pencil.

I think that if you compare the cost of Diane’s materials with the cost of a professional evaluation, you’ll find that they’re quite reasonable. Maybe get them now and work with your son from now until fall and then see if you think he still needs to be evaluated or if he’s on the right track. 🙂

For trouble lining up math problems, try using graph paper. (This was even suggested in a major math curriculum for upper elementary, so I wouldn’t worry too much even though he is in 5th grade.) Maybe next year he will be ready to try math without the graph paper. Another thing you could do is have him turn a spiral notebook sideways; then they will have columns to write in.

I just wanted to say something about vision therapy… I can see why it is controversial. We paid over $2400 for about a year of weekly visits (which wasn’t easy for us) and had great hopes that it would help a number of issues, because we were promised this. Personally, I would’ve been thrilled if only a few issues were improved, including the struggles with writing. We went to a facility that came highly recommended, and all the therapists there seemed to be very good at what they do. Their initial evaluation diagnosed my daughter with a slight convergence insufficiency and she needed help with tracking. They convinced me, of course.

Honestly, I can’t say I see any difference, at all, in anything, after so much effort and time (over a year) put into this therapy.

Might I advise parents to evaluate more than one possible issue before choosing a therapy route? You will definitely run into multiple diagnoses, because when you go to ANY place to evaluate an issue, they will definitely find reasons why you need their services. But the smart parent will evaluate more than one possible cause, and in being able to see what each therapy offers based on specific need, and (so important) finding out how progress will be determined AND SHOWN regularly, a parent can make a better decision/choice of where to put their time and money.

With this vision therapy, I never knew what they were really working on… it was always sort of vague, even my daughter had a hard time telling me… prism glasses and such… chasing a dot, placing pegs… and they never had any way to visually show me what specific progress was actually being accomplished. Be wise and careful with your time and money. Parents of children with struggles are already emotionally and financially taxed enough; they don’t need to sign up for time consuming therapies that are costly and show little to zero results. Do lots of research first, and make sure it’s very clear to the therapist (who may be casually promising you so much) that you will be wanting to see measurable results routinely and/or often. If you see a twitch in their eye or they look away – even for a moment – or hum and haw some generic response, keep looking for the right solution.

Good to know, Angela. Wow, that’s a lot of money to spend not to see any difference. That’s another reason I like Dianne Craft’s methods. You do them at home with your child so you know exactly what’s happening and they’re a tiny fraction of the cost!

Can you tell me which publication is best to start with? or do I need both? I have 2 boys that I suspect have dysgraphia (1st grade and 6th). I just finished paying thousands of dollars for vision therapy for my 6th grader with “meh” results. And now my younger son’s teacher is recommending vision therapy too for the same issues.

Another note, my children are allergic to Milk and Eggs and the other just eggs. Do these books discuss the absence of nutrients contributing to the dysgraphia? I suspect Omega 3’s which their diet (without eggs and seldom eating fish) is lacking or completely void of. Thank you!

If you want to start with only one resource, I would start with the Brain Integration Therapy Manual.

By the way, these resources don’t talk about nutritional deficiencies but Dianne has other resources which do. I wrote a post about that called Is Your Son’s Brain Starving? that you should definitely read!!! She talks about Omega 3’s and the importance of this nutrient – especially for our boys.

I hope that post helps you as well! It certainly made a difference for my boys.

Hi, I read your article. I have 2 kids, i homeschool with them, and a notice for 2 years that they hate writing. They have 11,and 9 years. I wish i could buy yje dvd, and the manual….but unfortunatly they don t shipp to Romania the country we live. thank you for the article….it really helped me.

I’m glad it helped you, Ramona. Hopefully, you’ll be able to find some other resources that will help you as well. 🙂

thank you so much. i thought i was the problem. that he just don’t like doing homework with me. but most of the symptoms you listed i’ve noticed in my son. now i have a different approach to try.

You’re welcome. I hope this helps your son!!! 🙂

My bright, homeschooled 9 year old hates to write but he loves to draw! does that mean that hes unlikely to have disgraphia? Thanks Beth.

I think that writing and drawing would be using different sides of his brain, since writing is more analytical and drawing is more creative. But I’m not 100% sure on that. I would contact Dianne Craft and see if she can give you more insights for your son! 🙂

Hi. My 5 yrs old son is non verbal and autistic but he takes instructions very well Can this book help him?

You should really ask Dianne that question. She is the expert on whether or not this book will help your son. Her website is http://www.diannecraft.org . I hope she’s able to help you! 🙂

What a great article. I have a 13 year old daughter with dysgraphia and I was starting to think our 6 year old might also have it as he really struggles with writing and remembering what the letters are and how they are supposed to be written. I will look into these resources. Cheers!

Thanks, Sarah! I hope they help your kids. 🙂

I first noticed my 7 year old son’s trouble with writing when he moved from preschool to grade 1. What was until then limited to just one or two words in preschool suddenly changed to long sentences and paragraphs. This is Indian schooling system which can be quite demanding. Soon my son developed school aversion simply because school meant writing. I had read this blog post earlier too and that helped me discuss the issue with his pediatrician who suggested talking to his teachers. I did that and asked them to be patient with his writing, giving get him more time to finish his work. That has helped.

However, he still finds something else very difficult: drawing, especially the ones that involve human figures. To make matters worse, my husband and father in law are artists themselves insist that the kid learn to draw. They introduce him to human figures that requires him to maintain certain ratios and proportions for body parts and the kid struggles in achieving it. Its painful for him. I have tried explaining to the husband the kid’s trouble with writing and drawing but in vain.

What should I do? Is this also symptoms of dysgraphia?

I’m not sure. It may just be that he’s being pushed faster than he is ready. And it’s actually fairly common for boys to dislike sitting still and writing, even if they don’t suffer from dysgraphia.

I cannot thank you enough for this article! After seeing this article, I looked at Dianne’s website and other sites as well, and I believe two of my three children have dysgraphia. My middle child (11) is mixed dominant (right side dominant in everything except writing). He is a smart kid who hates to write! All of his development since preschool makes sense now. He also has always complained about getting hurt (tripping, bumping into things), and I am excited that these exercises might help with his spatial awareness too. I wish I had known this sooner, but am glad I can address it now. My six year old struggles with pencil grip, pressing hard, writing letters from bottom to top, letter reversal, laborious writing, etc. I plan to test him for mixed dominance as well. I will be purchasing Dianne’s DVD and manual and am so relieves to be able to help them. I’m so glad your article popped up in my search!

You’re welcome, Heather! I’m glad I was able to point you in the right direction. 🙂

Hi, I am Karthika from India. My 4 -yr old doesn’t like writing. She asks me to hold her hands while writing alphabets and numbers. She writes 1, 2 and some capital letters. What should i do?

She’s really young and possibly not mature enough to handle writing, yet. You can try to work on her fine motor skills to better prepare her hand muscles and hand-eye coordination for writing. I’ve written a blog post about fine motor skills to give you some ideas.

I am Krithiga from India. My 9 year old daughter brings all her work incomplete from school and even hate to write exams fully. She hardly attend any details Q&A but she knows the answer very well. She understand the lessons excellent as if even in midnight she can answer any Q. ONly problem is writing. I am really worried as she is moving higher classes.Kindly let me know how to handle this.

You can always try out Dianne Craft’s methods that I describe in this blog post. What do her teachers think? If she’s in school, they should have some ideas for ways to help her.

Wow! Do you think both the manual and the cds are needed ? My son was diagnosed by an OT with dysgraphia. We use a home based charter school but apart fro then sending ya some work books we haven’t had a lot of help.

This sounds hopeful

I purchased both but you may be able to get away with just getting the manual. The DVD pretty much shows kids using the figure 8 technique, which was helpful to me since I wasn’t familiar with it at all. But you may be able to figure it out by watching a YouTube video which shows that part of the process. I hope it helps!!!

My Son is 4years old and he hates writing.he cannot follow the lines. He started reading when he was just 2 years old. Is it normal for his age to be uninterested in writing and colouring?

Yes, it’s completely normal. The fine motor skills which are required for writing normally lag behind a bit in boys.

This is encouraging to read! We are beginning Kindergarten with my five year old, and while she is incredibly bright and has a large vocabulary, I can’t get her to write anything down without a struggle and tears. I’m thinking that maybe she’s still a bit young to have developed the fine motor skills. So, we will work on some different motor skill activities, and do more orally or with stamps. Thanks for sharing this information.

Yes, I think that’s a wise plan. Keep it light and fun and she’ll likely be ready before you know it! 🙂

Hello I’m Grace from the Philippines I came across to this blog cause I’m seeking information to help my son. His is 6 years and now in his first grade in elementary. Just like you all said, my son also refuses to write in school. But at home he writes with me and he knows letters too. But I noticed that he somethings write letter differently. I want to purchase the book so i can give him this Therapy. I can you tell me where can i buy this books?

Either click on the blue, bolded links above in the blog post or you can go to Dianne Craft’s website (I also have that bolded as well.) I hope that helps! 🙂

If you are unsure of how to purchase items on Amazon and have them shipped to the Philippines, this blog post should help you! 🙂

http://www.borderlinx.com/PH/en/pages/buy-on-amazon-com-and-ship-to-philippines/

Oh my gosh, I wish I had found this years ago. My 16 year old has always avoided writing. He was tagged as TAG in grade school yet his teachers would get so frustrated when he understood the material but wouldn’t write anything down. He does math in his head but won’t write out the problem work, avoids essays and would rather get a failing grade than do note taking. He isn’t off to a good start in 10th grade with F’s in classes that he should be getting A’s in. Is it too late??

It’s never too late. I would definitely check with Dianne at http://www.diannecraft.org or just get the materials and give them a try. Our brains can retrain themselves even into adulthood. I hope this helps him!

My child is 6yrs old hate to writer at school teacher called us now and again.

I’m so sorry. When your child is in school you don’t have as much flexibility to work with him/her as you do as a homeschooler. I hope the teacher gives you encouragement and advice for things to try.

I have just started the figure eights exercises with my son. I have some technical questions about the process– how slowly does he need to go? I remember hearing that too fast will not help the brain, but just HOW slowly does he need to go? It’s taking him forever just to do half of the alphabet in one sitting. Also, I wrote down that we can listen to classical music while we do it — do you know if we can listen to music with words? Or an audio book, or me reading?? I want this to be effective, but also would like to make it less boring than it is :-). Thanks!

I’m not sure. I would go to http://www.diannecraft.org and ask her for the details. I think that may have been covered in her DVD instructions but I watched it a while back and I can’t remember. Dianne is super helpful, though, and I would think she would be happy to answer your question! 🙂

My son is six years old, he has difficulties in learning, he knows how to write few letters, but he refuses to do his own homework. yesterday he had a homework to write letter T, he wrote on a scratch paper but he refused to write it on his note book. I spend two and half hours trying to convince him to write it down, but he refused, today morning he told me that there were a girl who beats him in school, I told his school teacher, do you think this is the reason for his refusal?

Oh my goodness! I’m sure that doesn’t help. What did his teacher say? Are they going to do something to protect your son? Sounds like he’s under a lot of stress. So sad! Give him lots of love, hugs, and reassurance and be sure to be his advocate to keep him safe.

Thank you for this article. My 6 year old chil stopped writing 2 years ago. He had the misfortune of meeting a JK teacher who had issues with single parents. After Children services got involved, I found out he was being dragged to a corner and forced to write apology letters to the teacher for not having his father in his life. I never thought these kind of things could happen in 2016. It has been two years, but he still thinks of writing as punishment and I don’t know how to help him get out of this mind set. I still can’t run up to him to give him a hug, because he freezes and thinks he is going to get punished. I tried encouraging him with a letter to Santa last year and I could see how stressed he got as soon as the pen touched the paper.

Any ideas to help him would be greatly appreciated.

Oh my goodness. That’s horrible! Your poor son. I’m so sorry that happened. I hope that the teacher was punished in some way.

Your idea about writing a letter to Santa is a great one. Does he like sports? If there’s a sports star that he loves, maybe writing a letter to him would be another good idea? Whatever you can think of that will be fun for him – a reward for him. Try to come up with ideas like that. Your son is young but you could try brainstorming ideas with him as well. He probably has great ideas, if he’s able to express them. And you may also want to offer him other rewards that he would enjoy for writing as well. I have a list of reward ideas that might help. Read them to him and ask him what he would like to earn.

Thank you for a well written information about dysgraphia. Our child is a lefty, been holding a pencil since he started practicing his letters. His writing was better when he was younger and each year his writing was getting worst and he was complaining. When I took pictures of him doing his writing from the past 5 yrs years I noticed that in each picture he was holding the pencil with a tight grip. Thankfully I noticed all of the dysgraphia signs. I never heard of it before until my best friend said the name because she had it her whole life. I recently found a different kind of pencil grip on Amazon. It has helped his hand hold the pencil better and it decreased the pain so much. But I knew I needed to do my own research instead of taking him to a OT. I found some good reviews about Diane Craft on different sites including You-Tube. I was impressed how compassionate she is towards others. I recently got the DVD Smart Kids who Hate to Write. I could not believe how much I learned. I have been doing the method with our son and he said he likes it. It has only been a week but hopefully it will help him in 3 mos. Even though I may have to continue for 6 mos. I do not mind because he has been doing the same way of writing for 5 yrs. Doing this method for 6 mos seems reasonable.

Yes, Dianne is amazing, isn’t she?!? We’ve benefitted from using her materials as well. I hope they help your son!

My son who is 7 now doesn’t write in class while the teacher dictates or writes on the board. My wife struggles hard to get his class work completed at home. This is happening since from four years of his schooling.No improvements yet. We could see that he understands and grasps the subject but he is least interested in writing. Please suggest me simple ways to make him to write and follow teacher’s instructions in the classroom.

I’m sorry, I’m a homeschool mom so I don’t have much advice for kids who are in school beyond what I’ve already talked about in this post. I would suggest talking to his teacher to see what advice she can give to you. 🙂

I have something similar to Ganesh Bhat. My daughter who is 4 now doesn’t write in class while the teacher writes on the board. She writes at home when we work through her homework together. This started only this term in school. Before this term, reluctance to write was not a problem. It’s clear to my wife and I that she understands and grasps the subject but she is least interested in writing at school for the most part. Kindly advise, please.

Thank you so much dear for the meaningful sharing. In deed very much helpful for struggling parents like me. My girl also doesn’t seem to be enjoying writing. She is in traditional school and she get stressed and pressured to write fast and catch up with work as her peers do better. I m trying to help her as much as I can and now definitely your guidance would create better awareness and understanding. I m not sure whether she has dysgraphia but definitely she need some support and encouragement to discover her potential in writing. thank you so much and keep bringing light to everyone’s darkness.

You’re welcome! Hopefully right now, while most of us are educating at home, you’ll be able to make some accommodations for her so that it isn’t so frustrating for her. You didn’t mention her age. But your understanding of what she’s going through will go a long way toward helping her.

I wanted to like this because $50 therapy book sounded fantastic. And then…I checked Amazon link. $450. Wow. It cost an entire homeschool curriculum for one book. I can’t even.

Oh no! It didn’t used to be that expensive on Amazon. You can go directly to Dianne Craft’s website and purchase from her store instead: https://diannecraft.org/shop/

THANK YOU!! My child is already 14 and has had an aversion to any sort of hand use since they put a paint brush in her hand at preschool. One swipe of paint and she was done. Your article is more helpful than any of her teachers have been. I wish I had started my google search before our long summer started!

You’re welcome, Laura. I’m sorry you and your daughter have had to struggle with this issue for so long… but am glad I’ve been able to use our experience to give you hope and some new ideas. It’s always encouraging to know that we aren’t alone. Take care and don’t give up!

This is exactly what I have been experiencing with my son. He’s very smart and loves learning, but hates school. He can express himself so well and give verbal answers quickly but writing is such a struggle for him and causes a lot of stress and anxiety. He just can’t seem to get his thoughts down on paper. Even copying things down is a struggle (Like from a board or computer screen to paper). I have him scheduled to see an occupational therapist in 2 months but I think the methods you mentioned are worth trying in the meantime. Thanks!

You’re so welcome. I hope they help! I’d love to hear how it goes with the occupational therapist if you have a minute to let me know. 🙂

Thank you for writing this and recommending Diane’s programs. I can’t wait to check them out. My 9 year old son is 2e and what you are describing explains what is going on for him. When he was in school, he was being forced to write a ton and would have sensory meltdowns/explosions almost every day. We pulled him out to homeschool and although he’s a voracious learner, it’s very difficult to get him to put pencil to paper. He showed left-handed dominance until he started school then has always written with his right hand. Thank you for helping us on this journey!

You’re so welcome. Glad to share what has worked for us! Keep me posted on how it’s going.

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