The article, Writing to Learn, is basically stating that writing enhances students thinking and learning. Writing about a topic can deepen a child’s understanding of the particular subject. When writing, students already know enough about the topic and use writing to broaden their ideas, ask questions, and think critically, or they are unfamiliar with the topic and have to research to learn more about the topic. There are many different strategies used depending on the learner and the topic. Chapter 8 discusses how writing to learn differs from learning to write. I agree that learning to write is very important so that writing to learn can take place later in a child’s education. I somewhat disagree with the structured process of prewriting, drafting, peer review, revising, editing, final, and publishing. In some cases it is important to have structure, but there are also other useful writing strategies to use such as the ones discussed in the article Writing to Learn. I do agree however, that content area teachers should use writing in their classrooms. But, in my opinion, a teacher should only be picky about a student’s writing if that teacher is teaching English. Other teachers should support the students ideas and encourage them to want to write. Students will learn by practicing, and if every teacher in every subject discourages their writing ability, a students will lose interest in trying to write. Teaching a child to write is very important, but using writing as a way of expression is also important. Chapter 8 discusses man prompts to help students get their foot in the door with a particular topic. It also has ideas on how to incorporate writing to learn in every subject.
I like the way you encouraged student writing in other subject areas, but for teachers to not be quite as picky about grammatical errors within subjects other than English. Students need to feel free to express what they want in their writing without always feeling judged if a period is missing or they forgot a comma here or there. Of course, they need to know how to correctly form a sentence, but that is not the point of writing to learn in a science class. That section of learning should be mainly left in the English courses.
ReplyDeleteHi Summer, fill me in on what's up with volleyball. I want to be in the know. I have to admit, in your post what struck me most was this statement: "I somewhat disagree with the structured process of prewriting, drafting, peer review, revising, editing, final, and publishing." I'm with you. And at the same time, I'm betting that some young learners need a good deal of structure to help scaffold their literacy skills, writing especially. I think you hit it on the head with your remark about "practice," the more opps we give students to practice in a variety of ways, the more likely they are to become comfortable with some. Dr B
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