3 Things to Avoid When Teaching Writing (From a Student’s Perspective!) with Anna Brekken

Listen to the full episode to hear from Anna Brekken:

You all know that I love writing and enjoy sharing tips when it comes to teaching writing. But I have a treat for you today! On today’s episode, I have guest Anna Brekken, who is a very accomplished 15 year old student! Anna is sharing three things teachers should avoid when teaching writing. 

Anna is a high school student and creative writer. She believes everyone has an incredibly important story to share, and creative writing is the tool to uncover your voice and stand out. When Anna started high school, she was disappointed in the way English was taught, so she did a TEDx talk about how to improve it.

Before that, Anna launched a blog, built her greeting card shop on Etsy, and pondered major life questions like, “Which font is worse, Comic Sans or Curlz?” 

If she’s not connecting with other teen business owners, you might find Anna chasing Pickles (her cat) or making every school assignment aggressively creative. Anna is an aspiring speaker and writer– new ideas flood her notes app daily!

One of the reasons I enjoy this episode is because our conversation revolves around a student perspective instead of the typical teacher or adult perspective. Anna is open about the three things teachers should avoid when teaching writing, which are: shy away from basic retell of texts repetitively, focus more on a specific audience, and not prioritizing grammar over the actual content and writing. 

There are so many takeaways from this episode, but a major takeaway is to create an environment that allows students to express themselves through their writing. Develop writing assignments that encourage students to embrace their personalities and provide opportunities that explore their ideas. 

Teaching writing can be a difficult task to tackle, especially with so many different foundations that students come into your classroom with. However, after listening to Anna’s things to avoid when teaching writing, I hope you take the time to reflect on your approach and techniques when it comes to writing in your classroom and focus more on students and their creative process.

In this episode with Anna Brekken, we discuss:

• 3 tips teachers should avoid when teaching writing
• How to incorporate a student’s personality in their writing
• Encouraging teachers to have students get creative with writing assignments and explore their own ideas

Related Resources:

• Listen to Anna’s Ted Talk 
• Check out Anna’s Etsy Shop 
• Follow Anna on Instagram

Connect with Megan:

• Check out my TpT Store
• Subscribe to my E-mail list
• Instagram Posts
• Blog Posts
• Facebook Posts
• Watch my YouTube channel 

About The Literacy Dive Podcast:

Do you find yourself seeking new ideas when it comes to literacy instruction in elementary classrooms? The Literacy Dive Podcast was created to offer actionable steps and to share information for teachers, like you, who are always looking to improve their craft! ELA is our jam and we are excited to dive into all things reading and writing with you!

Your host, Megan Polk, is the creator and owner behind The Literacy Dive and loves to support students and their teachers with curriculum, literacy instruction, best practices, and engaging literacy activities.

Dive in with us every Monday for a new episode from Megan! She, and her guests, will chat about various literacy topics and will bring you tips and tricks that can easily be implemented in your classrooms. You can tune in wherever you get your podcasts! Listen to The Literacy Dive Podcast on platforms like Apple, Spotify, Stitcher, Google, and more! If you find value from listening to this podcast, please rate this show, leave a review, and follow!

You can tune in wherever you get your podcasts! Listen to The Literacy Dive Podcast on platforms like Apple, Spotify, Stitcher, Google, and more! If you find value from listening to this podcast, please rate this show, leave a review, and follow!