Creating a Vision for Teaching Writing

This week's article summary is Creating a Vision for Teaching Writing.

To me, writing instruction is one of the biggest challenges teachers face because there are so many steps and components to a well-crafted piece of writing, including its need for frequent practice, its slow process, and its essential complement, reading.

Near the end of the article, the author imagines a third grade teacher explaining to parents at back-to-school night that her class will be devoting at least one hour a day to writing. That’s a tall order with a curriculum packed with so much stuff. (As an aside, it’s interesting to me that almost every discipline curriculum comes with the recommendation of one hour a day of concentrated focus. In a vacuum, sure, but there are many competing needs in schools, including time for mental and physical breaks.)

For me there are three aspects of writing I particularly follow:

• First, I read a lot, usually 2 or 3 books at the same time: fiction (one in hard cover—which I still prefer--and one that’s digital—which is more convenient), non-fiction (history is my favorite genre) and something relating to education. I don’t subscribe to the idea you have to finish every book; if a book doesn’t captivate me after 50 pages or so, I move on to something else. When I’m reading, I’m not overly conscious of the style of different writers, yet I know I pick up via osmosis writing techniques, especially sentence construction. (This is why ‘mentor sentences’ are an effective tool in the classroom.) 
• Second, I have learned to embrace the slow process of writing. When Stephen King finishes a first draft of a novel, he locks it in a filing cabinet for a few months before going back to revise it. The first part of writing is idea inspiration, followed by revision and finally editing. Like King, I let my ideas flow freely when I’m drafting and I don’t worry about sentence construction/vocabulary, usage/mechanics, or overall unity/coherence. Different parts of the brain are used for different aspects of writing.
• Third, I cherish revision, which is very different from editing (a necessary yet mundane and mechanical procedure). Revision allows me to take the idea I had and further model and shape it so it’s readable and understandable to others. Writing’s initial focus is inward then evolves outward, i.e., to be shared with others. Sometimes this means reorganizing, reshaping, and rewriting much of my first draft. This is the part of writing I like the most but it’s taken me a long time to understand its importance, savor its slowness, and view my work through a constructively critical lens. This is often where young writers (our students) struggle. I’ve had students who love to write and write but then don’t have the patience or perspective to revise. They can’t yet see the bigger picture of what they’ve already written as a great start but an imperfect end.

There’s been so much research about the importance of stressing a growth mindset for our students and writing is a perfect example. It takes much practice, trial and error, persistence, and self-evaluation.

Joe

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Three things are necessary for children to learn how to write well: 

• Teachers need a theory of action for writing instruction. Writing is a social activity and needs to be embedded in and shaped by the classroom and community in which it’s enacted.
• The teaching of writing should be guided by the best research evidence, which includes the need for frequent writing, pre-writing, skills and usage instruction, writing on a computer, and lots of feedback and support.
• Teachers need to bring their own knowledge and experience to writing instruction.

Collectively, these three ingredients make it possible for teachers to make informed, judicious, and intelligent decisions when conducting a vision for teaching writing. 

Imagine a third-grade teacher who has these elements in place being asked by a parent at back-to-school night how she teaches writing. “Writing is central to everything I do in my classroom,” says the teacher with a smile. “Children will write frequently and for many different purposes:”

• To sharpen their understanding of what they read
• To extend their thinking about social studies and science
• To communicate with each other and with students in other classrooms and schools
• To persuade and argue, gather information, explore the meaning of events, chronicle personal experiences, and create imaginary worlds
• Students will write about their own experiences and culture and use writing to explore the experiences and cultures of others
• They will share the writing they create with you, and they will ask you to share things you have written with them
• I will make sure they know why writing is important

 The teacher then explains how students will be taught to write:

• Discussing the purpose of each type of writing (informative, persuasive, stories, personal narrative) and its basic features
• Using these same features in their own writing
• Learning spelling, handwriting, grammar, and sentence construction so students can do their own best writing
• Learning to plan, assess, revise, and edit what they write
• Facilitating the brainwork of invention, speculation, deliberation, reflection, and evaluation
• Reading each other’s papers and giving constructive feedback, in the process developing an understanding of what makes good writing
• Using reading to reinforce good writing – for example, why authors use specific words or devices like cliffhangers
• Using writing to reinforce good reading.

 The teacher then describes the amount of writing students will do and the support they will get. “My goal,” says the teacher, “is to create a positive and enthusiastic writing environment where your children are encouraged to try hard and do their best, feel comfortable taking risks, and work together in a positive manner:”

• At least one hour a day will be devoted to writing and writing instruction
• Students will do additional writing in other subjects and in their homework
• Students will get clear directions and goals for their writing geared to individual ideas and needs
• Feedback will be constructive and not overwhelming
• Students will have time to plan and improve what they write

The teacher closes by encouraging parents to visit the class during writing time and giving feedback as the year progresses.

This teacher has successfully combined vision and action, and quotes the American futurist Arthur Barker on the possibilities that creates:

• Vision without action is merely a dream
• Action without vision just passes the time
• Vision with action can change the world.