WHAT IT IS:

From The Writing Strategies Book, Write to Vent is a self-regulation strategy to help students move quickly past frustrations or life distractions.

HOW IT WORKS:

Whether distractions or frustrations are coming from the work or other life realities, students often find such things to be disruptive to focused writing. The teacher should explicitly instruct students on implementing Write to Vent in such situations and provide opportunities for students to practice the strategy.

When facing such distractions or frustrations, the student should pause in the writing task and get out a separate piece of paper. On that paper, for no more than three minutes, write about the source of the frustration or distraction. Vent the feelings in writing.

After three minutes, discard the vent page (may be best to encourage students to destroy it), and turn back to the writing task.