As Zemelman & Daniels (1988) point out, "If students are engaged with explaining
something they care about to an audience they truly wish to reach, in a classroom
where they know their ideas will be respected, they're more likely to
write without hesitation" (p. 165). With this same idea in mind, Dornan, Rosen,
& Wilson (2003) encourage teachers to create a classroom atmosphere where
students have some authority over topic choices, where teachers focus on what
students can do to build on successes, where teachers share their own writing
and writing processes with their students, and where teachers refuse to allow
verbal or non-verbal put-downs of student writing.
One of the primary ways to encourage students to write is to provide a safe
and supportive atmosphere for writing in the classroom. A classroom is safe
and supportive for writing when writing is purposeful, students are encouraged
to engage fully in the process, the teacher coaches students through the process
when necessary, and expectations are reasonable, challenging, and clear.
Students generally respond more
positively to assignments when they understand the value and purpose of the
activity. One way to make the value and purpose apparent is to have students
write for a real audience that will actually receive the writing. When students
write letters to the editor, children's books for elementary school students,
interview questions for a veteran, program notes for a dance recital, or instructions
for a bike repair to be used at a cycle shop, they may feel a greater motivation
to write. However, even when the finished product won't be shared beyond
the classroom, teachers can help students see the goals of the assignment in
order to understand what skills or concept knowledge the activity will help
develop. And, if a writing assignment doesn't have a clear purpose, the
teacher may even reconsider why it is being assigned.
Rather than simply assigning a topic and collecting the final product, teachers
can remind students that writing is a recursive process involving planning,
acting, reflecting, and revising. Teachers can honor parts of the process by
giving students the time and support necessary to engage in all parts of the
process as appropriate. Students can be encouraged to take part in these parts
of the process when the teacher allows class time, at least with early assignments,
to model the writing process and help students understand how to engage in them.
However, teachers also need to remind students that not all writing activities
will need to go through all stages of the process.
Teachers can provide support for students
during the writing process by modeling writing, engaging students in writing
conferences, responding to drafts in progress, coordinating the use of peer
writing groups, or providing opportunities for individual reflection during
the writing process. Students can be encouraged during coaching to grow as writers
and thinkers through the use of targeted, specific praise and authentic, probing
questions about their writing. Students receive little encouragement to write
when the only feedback is primarily negative and only comes after the final
composition has been submitted. Instead, teachers can be coaches who show interest
in individual progress, individualize instruction appropriately, encourage development
of specific skills in the context of the whole, and encourage the student to
succeed by building on what he or she can already do.
One way to make expectations
reasonable is to be aware of individual student needs, interests, and aptitudes.
Writing assignments need to be developmentally appropriate for the particular
students involved. However, students also need to be stretched beyond what they
can do comfortably. Students can be challenged when teachers make each writing
assignment take them a step further in their thinking, content knowledge, or
writing skills. Assignments can also be made clear through class discussion
about expectations and the use of a rubric which outlines the expectations and
indicates how the final product will be evaluated. Involving students in the
creation of grading criteria is a way to encourage class discussion about expectations
as well as make sure the expectations are clear.
Example
In Spanish II, students are given a clear purpose for writing when they
collaborate with a classmate to write, illustrate, and bind an original children's
story written in Spanish on the topic of "perseverance" to be read to ESL students
(for whom Spanish is their primary language) at a nearby elementary school as
part of the character education curriculum.
Example
In e-Commerce, students collaborate to review the websites of five online
businesses (which all sell similar products). After reviewing these sample websites,
they discuss the strengths and weaknesses of each. Using this information, students
create a rubric to evaluate an original website that each group will create
for an imaginary business.
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