Placing
a Premium on Writing Skills
The National Commission on Writing
report released yesterday (linked in the News section above) asserts that
state employers put a high premium on the writing abilities of their employees.
How can we as teachers help ensure that the students in our classrooms
meet the needs of such future employers? We must encourage
authentic writing activities and foster literacy
communities that support all writers! Here are some resources to get the
process started:
Writing workshop is one of the best ways to encourage young writers in
the classroom. Read Katie Wood Ray's "Why Cauley Writes Well: A
Close Look at What a Difference Good Teaching Can Make" (E) from Language
Arts for details on how one student produced quality writing and
developed a strong sense of authorship. The article outlines eleven units
of study in the writing workshop, all written to teach writers rather than
writing.
For additional ideas on implementing a writing workshop approach, read
the Primary Voices' article "Comfort in Discomfort: Experimenting
with Writing Workshop in Third Grade" (E). The article describes
how two teachers implemented Ray's ideas in their own classroom and includes the
story of their plans and the structures they created to foster a supporting
writing community.
Two middle-level teachers share their experiences with writer's workshop
in computer-based environment in the Voices from the Middle article "Lessons
Learned from Integrating Technology in a Writer’s Workshop" (M).
They offer five lessons, each of which is explained
theoretically and described practically through
a writers’ workshop example. "WRITER'S
WORKSHOP: High Tech, Low Tech: It's the
Thought That Counts" (M) reminds us how important it is to make
sure that students understand that computers are tools to support meaningful
writing and learning; without
meaning, the rest doesn't matter.
The English Journal article "The
Struggle Itself: Teaching Writing as We Know We Should" (S) argues
that a unified conceptual writing curriculum
must be implemented and classroom practices must be dynamically reshaped
to ensure the most effective writing instruction. "Writing
Workshops: Linking Schools and Families" (S), also from English
Journal, describes family writing workshops as a way to share with the
families how writing
is used
in high
school classroom and discusses benefits and the impact of these workshops.
Whole-class writing workshop can provide excellent options for writing
students. "Class
Workshops: An Alternative to Peer-Group Review" (C),
from Teaching English in the Two-Year College, explains the
logistics of running a class workshop and addresses both the advantages
and disadvantages of the technique, noting that the negatives are far
outweighed by the positives. "The
Interpretive-Paraphrase Workshop" (C),
from Teaching English in the Two-Year College, outlines a class
workshop method that emphasizes dialogue as a centerpiece of the composing
process
and provides
students with opportunities to reenvision their compositions based on the alternative
readings of their peers.
For more information on using writing workshop, see the latest Topical Resource
Kits -- Writing
Workshop Kit (E-M) and Writing
Matters Kit (M-S). These collections of articles and book chapters provide
teachers
the
opportunity
to
explore writing workshop through an inquiry-based model and offer suggestions
for implementing the method in the classroom.
NOTE: Free access to journal articles mentioned in this Inbox is provided
for 21 days. After this free access period expires, articles are available
to journal subscribers only. This Inbox Idea was published 07-05-2005.
Initials in annotations indicate academic level of the resource (E=Elementary,
M=Middle, S=Secondary, C=College, G=General).
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