Knowing the essence will give you confidence in writing.
Elementary writing that starts happily and finishes in your own way

“A book that will make children really love writing.”
Kang Won-guk (former Blue House speech secretary, author of "The President's Writing")

The learning environment our children face today is more complex and demanding than ever before.
The importance of essay-based admissions in college admissions is increasing, and the importance of descriptive assessments is growing in schools.
This means that reading and writing skills are essential to getting good grades.
But ironically, children's literacy is declining every year.
Many parents buy and read books claiming to contain writing tips and visit AI-managed reading and writing academies, but their children's writing skills remain stagnant.
What's the problem? What are we missing? Where should we start to teach children proper writing skills?

The author, a reading and writing expert who started out as a children's book editor, says that we must first establish the essential goal of writing education.
It is difficult to say that you are a good writer just because you wrote something that looks good.
Writing 'secrets' packaged in shallow methodology cannot make children truly good writers.
Real writing begins when a child questions and thinks for himself, and expresses his thoughts in his own way.
If you want your child to use writing as a healthy means of self-expression rather than as a piece of homework to be put off, writing must be enjoyable above all else.
If you enjoy writing, you will continue to write, and if you continue to write, your skills will improve, and as your skills improve, confidence will naturally follow.
Writing should be inherently enjoyable.
"Elementary Essential Writing" is a study on the "mind" that allows children to discover the joy of writing and write tirelessly.


Elementary school years are an important period that determines one's writing throughout one's life.
The author emphasizes that what children at this age need more than anything is not 'writing well' but 'the experience of writing comfortably'.
This is because children's thinking skills develop as they play, express negative emotions as they are, and pursue their own thoughts without being bound by the moral standards presented by adults.
These experiences become the foundation for a child's writing skills.
"Elementary Essential Writing" is filled with concrete methods and practical know-how to help children observe the world with curious eyes, ask questions, and grow.
Rather than providing a forced, model answer, it shows step-by-step how to bring out the true story that comes from within a child.
Children who learn the essence of writing will write spontaneously without being told to do so, and will grow into adults who know how to heal themselves through writing at every critical juncture in life.
If you use this book as a guide while writing, you will soon discover that your child is growing up and communicating with the world in his or her own language.

Living in an age where writing is so important, if we view it simply as a means to achieve grades or dreams, we will not be able to teach our children proper writing skills.
We need to start by thinking about what is important.
We must first establish what the essential goal of writing is.
--- From the "Prologue"

Writing is fun.
If the teacher knows that it is fun, the children who learn it can also learn it.
When you find it fun, you keep doing it, and as you keep doing it, you improve, and as you improve, you gain confidence.

--- From the "Prologue"

I show my children repeatedly clenching and unclenching their fists, likening it to brain exercise.
Our brain develops while constantly moving like this, and answers like 'just' or 'I don't know' are signals that stop that movement.
Just as our heart moves to pump out new blood and absorb the returning blood to sustain life, our brain also moves constantly to develop intelligence, and the answer above is what interferes with this movement.
--- From "Creating an Essential Writing Environment"

Even if the handwriting is a bit crooked, the child who expressed his thoughts accurately did well.
Even if the spelling is a bit wrong, if you expressed your own unique thoughts and feelings that are different from others, you did well.
Even if the sentence structure is a bit messy or doesn't resonate, if you wrote something with honest feelings and emotions, you did well.
Sitting upright while writing, writing neatly, or holding the pencil correctly are all good things! "Even so, one area where you did well, one area where you see potential for improvement" is your writing potential.
--- From "Creating an Essential Writing Environment"

The first thing a writing teacher must do is win the hearts of children.
Writing teachers especially need to be friendly with children.
You need to give your child the impression that he or she will be safe to express any thoughts or feelings.
It's the impression that it's okay to be a little bad, a little bad, and a little ridiculous.
--- From "Creating an Essential Writing Environment"

It is especially important to develop your writing skills by writing in your own unique way.
Because writing is something that you can write well just as you are.
I think writing is a field where 100 people can run in 100 different directions and all of them can come in first place.
Please focus more on what you're good at rather than what you're lacking! There's a child in the text.
And in the case of young children, not only the results of their writing, but also their writing attitude and habits should be viewed as part of their writing.
Find your child's unique strengths and praise them generously.
--- From "Creating an Essential Writing Environment"

Through various writing activities, children discover, "Wow! I can play with words!" and "Wow! Writing is more fun than I thought!"
These positive experiences help to reduce the vague fear of writing and make writing an enjoyable activity rather than a burden.
As with any other genre, writing practice through play has a positive impact on children's cognitive development and is also very helpful in building writing confidence.
--- From "Part 2: The First Step to Essence Writing: Playing with Words and Observing"

Writing is about remembering and discovering thoughts that have been inside me or that have passed by in my daily life.
I call this 'Aha!'
It refers to the moment when I discover that my thoughts are clear and specific enough to be put into words.
In essence, writing play is also a place to share the "Aha!" experience with children.
--- From "Part 2: The First Step to Essence Writing: Playing with Words and Observing"

Observation is not the same as just seeing.
It's a matter of looking closely.
I look at it with curiosity, wondering why this is like this and why that is like that.
I keep watching it out of curiosity.
It's about comparing and seeing if anything has changed between yesterday and today.
I'm just looking through it to see if I missed anything.
Observation is observing while asking questions like, 'Why is that so?' and 'What will happen?'
--- From "Part 2: The First Step to Essence Writing: Playing with Words and Observing"

It is human nature to want to share what we know, what we like, and what interests us.
The reason blogs and Instagram have been so successful is probably because they are the optimal venues for expressing such human desires.
We live in an age where the desire to show, inform, and awaken becomes writing, and such writing as a form of communication is the greatest pleasure on earth and a means of making money.
Once you get a taste of the fun and communication, you will start writing diligently without anyone telling you to.
The same goes for children.
--- From "Part 2: The First Step to Essence Writing: Playing with Words and Observing"

Observing the five senses allows us to see the world in a strange way and find our own perspective and expression in familiar things.
This training is not simply about enriching your expressions, but also about developing the ability to trust your own senses and think in your own language.
That's where the essence of writing begins.
Because the power to make visible not only the visible but also the invisible comes from here.
--- From "Part 2: The First Step to Essence Writing: Playing with Words and Observing"

In essential writing, observation and description are inseparable partners.
Because you have to look closely to be able to write in detail.
Description means looking at something in detail and writing about it in detail.
A well-written piece of writing makes the reader feel immersed and makes the writing come alive.
Not only that, but as you practice descriptive writing, your sense of language will naturally develop and your expressive power and vocabulary will grow.
In the process, your own unique perspective may emerge.
--- From "Part 3: The Second Step to Essence Writing: Describing and Writing About Experiences"

The biggest goal in the second step of writing is to instill in children the joy of writing and the confidence that "I can do it too."
As I write, finding my own identity between what I learned from other children's already completed writing, what I want to emulate, and what I want to express, I gain a sense of accomplishment that I have "done it," regardless of whether I write well or not.
That sense of accomplishment will soon lead to confidence in writing.
--- From "Part 3: The Second Step to Essence Writing: Describing and Writing About Experiences"

By transcribing the conversations we had exchanged into words, I was able to quickly create a piece of writing that was fun to read.
This experience not only helps children with writing difficulties overcome their fear of writing, but also helps them realize that every moment can be a valuable piece of writing.
I also learn what it is like to capture the feelings and thoughts that pass through me.
--- From "Part 3: The Second Step to Essence Writing: Describing and Writing About Experiences"

Writing training that follows the Six Ws principle goes beyond simple writing skills; it can become a life skill that helps children develop the ability to clearly look into their own minds and create their own stories.
--- From "Part 3: The Second Step to Essence Writing: Describing and Writing About Experiences"

Hoping that children's writing skills will improve by leaps and bounds when their critical thinking skills are weak is like trying to build a beautiful building on a foundation that hasn't even been laid.
No matter how splendid the exterior may be, if the foundation collapses, everything will inevitably collapse.
Literacy is the foundation of writing.
This soil must be firm so that the seeds of thought can take root, grow, and bear abundant fruit in the form of sentences.
--- From "Part 4: Going Beyond AI with Essential Writing"

Questions provide direction for writing, motivate writing, and, most importantly, help children become active explorers and discover what they want to write about.
It is not writing that is ordered to be written, but writing that involves setting a direction and exploring methods.
--- From "Part 4: Going Beyond AI with Essential Writing"

Essentially, writing is writing that explores the meaning of one's life through writing.
The process of children creating their own questions, reading, thinking, and writing to solve those questions, and finding their own essential answers, is training that helps our children grow into active writers.
This is why question writing is essentially writing.
--- From "Part 4: Going Beyond AI with Essential Writing"

There is a saying that 'the most personal is the most creative'.
Only when each person's unique memories, senses, and fragments of life come together can a unique story emerge.
This type of writing is a uniquely human domain that AI cannot keep up with.
Ultimately, teaching children to write isn't about instilling a uniform method, but about teaching them how to see and interpret the world "with their own eyes and heart."
So, in order to write creatively, you must first and foremost guide your students to have their own perspective.
--- From "Part 4: Going Beyond AI with Essential Writing"

The power to question is the power to think.
The more often you ask questions like, "Why is that so?", "Is that really so?", "What do you think?", and "What would I do?", the more your children's writing will reflect their thoughts, and those thoughts will help them understand themselves more deeply.
Writing thus becomes a tool for exploring one's own existence.
Place these questions like stepping stones in your children's daily lives.
These questions will help children discover themselves and move their lives in a better direction.
--- From "Part 4: Going Beyond AI with Essential Writing"

Being able to divide paragraphs also means that a child is starting to organize his or her thoughts and establish a 'structure' for his or her own writing.
If you divide the text into units of thought, you can see the overall structure and naturally learn the 'beginning-middle-end' structure.
It also develops an attitude of focusing on the writing and being considerate of the reader.
This is the preparation for serious writing.
--- From "Part 5: Developing Essential Writing Skills"

Mastering writing format isn't just about learning the framework.
Through this framework, children can establish direction for their writing, organize their thoughts, and write in a way that resonates with their readers.
Once you know the format, writing is no longer something to be afraid of, but rather a way to design your own thoughts.
This is where the real writing begins.
--- From "Part 5: Developing Essential Writing Skills"

By learning how to write an outline at this time, children will understand the format and have the experience of organizing content that fits that format on their own.
I practiced writing the outline of the text by hand.
From then on, even if only a topic is given, the structure of the writing will begin to be created naturally.
Children who have made it a habit to write outlines do not break down even when their writing becomes long.
Because you have a tool in your hand that can control your writing.
--- From "Part 5: Developing Essential Writing Skills"

A summary is an insightful eye that cuts through a long story in one breath.
This ability to peel away the outer layers of a text and capture its essence is not a simple skill, but the power to extract the essence of an idea.
The sharper this power, the more deeply the child can read and communicate with the world in more refined language.
--- From "Part 5: Developing Essential Writing Skills"

The essence of writing is not acquiring the skill to write well, but the power to express your thoughts and feelings in your own way.
The essence of education is to develop people into human beings.
So, in an era where writing is more important than any other skill, writing education should help children grow into beings who listen to their inner voice and think and express themselves on their own.
What we need to teach before teaching how to write well is 'how to write in my own way.'
I am confident that when writing education moves toward its essence, children will grow into individuals who can tell their own stories about life in their own voices, and who connect with the world through speech and writing.
This should be the real reason we teach children to write.

--- From "Part 5: Developing Essential Writing Skills"