The Writing Process
After reading Williams, Carney, and, I confess, some of Atwell, I have decided to concern my first posting with the writing process and specifically, what makes meaningful writing? Throughout the first semester we were constantly dealing with ways to make reading assignments meaningful, engaging, and worthwhile for students. We studied various reading strategies, study guides, and processes for teaching reading in a way that both enriched and interested students. In short, we discovered ways to intrinsically motivate students to do their work, and the question of how to do so with teaching writing has interested me.
As far as I can tell Williams suggests three main ways of creating meaningful writing experiences. In his section on meaningful writing he specifically focuses on the strategies of using pen pals and of simulation. By using pen pals, Williams says that writing becomes a form of easy communication familiar to students where the freedom of creativity and curiosity take over the writing form. This communicative writing can then be refined into other forms of academic writing through the proper techniques. Simulation creates an interest in writing among the students by allowing them to take on the mind set of a particular character or figure that they are studying. In this way, the student's desire to embody the life and times of that character becomes the driving force for writing.
While I found these to be two good ways of creating meaningful writing, I couldn't help but feel that teaching the technique of using process writing could also develop meaningful writing techniques. Williams wrote early on in chapter three that student-centered classrooms were beneficial as they allowed student talk, decision making, and choice. I believe that in writing using a student-centered approach is one of the keys to success in helping kids engage in a meaningful writing assignment. By learning from their peers and by exercising choice, as discussed by Carney, students are allowed to participate in the most personally interesting and challenging writing activities. In particular, Carney says that students should be presented with a variety of potential writing topics and options that may fulfill one specific writing requirement. In this way, the students my pick a topic that they feel they can write passionately and effectively about. As such, student desire to complete a certain assignment, and to complete it to the best of their abilities, is maximized out of a feeling of confidence that comes along with selecting their own direction in writing.
Finally, the process itself, in terms of invention, planning, drafting, pausing, etc., along with specific goals for writing such as HOCs and LOCs, provides additional support in creating a meaningful writing experience. By slowly teaching kids the step by step techniques needed to produce a final piece of writing, a monumental task is broken into a series of attainable goals. By having kids follow the process the emphasis is not on producing a final paper but on producing the best possible personal ideas and statements. When kids latch on to the statements and ideas that they have generated as a result of the process it is fair to assume that they have discovered a reason for writing, and in so doing, have created meaning for themselves. Thus, I gleaned a great deal from this collection of articles and look forward to putting the ideas contained in them to practical use.
In following up on the writing process I discovered the following website: http://www.angelfire.com/wi/writingprocess/specificgos.html
At this site you will find step by step instructions and ideas for using the writing process, which will in turn engage kids. There are many ideas contained under various subheadings such as; editing, revising, etc. that break down the writing process into managable activities for teachers and students alike. This site brings many fresh ideas and outside links into the discussion on meaningful writing, and will be a great asset in helping kids tackle a daunting task!
After reading Williams, Carney, and, I confess, some of Atwell, I have decided to concern my first posting with the writing process and specifically, what makes meaningful writing? Throughout the first semester we were constantly dealing with ways to make reading assignments meaningful, engaging, and worthwhile for students. We studied various reading strategies, study guides, and processes for teaching reading in a way that both enriched and interested students. In short, we discovered ways to intrinsically motivate students to do their work, and the question of how to do so with teaching writing has interested me.
As far as I can tell Williams suggests three main ways of creating meaningful writing experiences. In his section on meaningful writing he specifically focuses on the strategies of using pen pals and of simulation. By using pen pals, Williams says that writing becomes a form of easy communication familiar to students where the freedom of creativity and curiosity take over the writing form. This communicative writing can then be refined into other forms of academic writing through the proper techniques. Simulation creates an interest in writing among the students by allowing them to take on the mind set of a particular character or figure that they are studying. In this way, the student's desire to embody the life and times of that character becomes the driving force for writing.
While I found these to be two good ways of creating meaningful writing, I couldn't help but feel that teaching the technique of using process writing could also develop meaningful writing techniques. Williams wrote early on in chapter three that student-centered classrooms were beneficial as they allowed student talk, decision making, and choice. I believe that in writing using a student-centered approach is one of the keys to success in helping kids engage in a meaningful writing assignment. By learning from their peers and by exercising choice, as discussed by Carney, students are allowed to participate in the most personally interesting and challenging writing activities. In particular, Carney says that students should be presented with a variety of potential writing topics and options that may fulfill one specific writing requirement. In this way, the students my pick a topic that they feel they can write passionately and effectively about. As such, student desire to complete a certain assignment, and to complete it to the best of their abilities, is maximized out of a feeling of confidence that comes along with selecting their own direction in writing.
Finally, the process itself, in terms of invention, planning, drafting, pausing, etc., along with specific goals for writing such as HOCs and LOCs, provides additional support in creating a meaningful writing experience. By slowly teaching kids the step by step techniques needed to produce a final piece of writing, a monumental task is broken into a series of attainable goals. By having kids follow the process the emphasis is not on producing a final paper but on producing the best possible personal ideas and statements. When kids latch on to the statements and ideas that they have generated as a result of the process it is fair to assume that they have discovered a reason for writing, and in so doing, have created meaning for themselves. Thus, I gleaned a great deal from this collection of articles and look forward to putting the ideas contained in them to practical use.
In following up on the writing process I discovered the following website: http://www.angelfire.com/wi/writingprocess/specificgos.html
At this site you will find step by step instructions and ideas for using the writing process, which will in turn engage kids. There are many ideas contained under various subheadings such as; editing, revising, etc. that break down the writing process into managable activities for teachers and students alike. This site brings many fresh ideas and outside links into the discussion on meaningful writing, and will be a great asset in helping kids tackle a daunting task!
posted by nbuck at 12:07 PM
2 Comments:
Hey Nate, Thanks for the Angelfire site idea - I put it in my link area so I don't forget about it.
Boy, what does make meaningful writing? Authentic writing, especially a student centered approach to writing, seems to be the most motivating. Simulation is cool because I think students like to write from a point of view other than their own. There is something a little safer for them in that. While I liked Williams and thought that there was tons of great information in chapter 3, I felt that Carney's article was a closer fit to what we will actually be faced with in the classroom. Both Carney and Williams talk (in different terms) about HOCs and LOCs and I think it is one of the real strenghts of process writing.
I, too, feel that simluation of real world writing is a great way to get students to write. After all, why would we only have them write things that will be obsolete outside of an academic setting. Although learning to write academically is an important skill, nothing can compare to ensuring that students make writing a part of their lived lives, as opposed to just their academic lives. Though, while I agree that pen pals may in fact be a good way to get students to write, I wonder if that strategy really is an effective method anymore. After all, students all have email and text messages now. It would appear that many students grasp the concept of writing to a friend. I think that the other, more neglected areas of writing woudl be more important for students to practice.
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