New slant on writing encourages participation - The Diigo Meta page

• 29 Mar 09
  

  Ed Webb
• 13 Mar 09
  

  Bonnie Raub

  Writing in the 21st century

  writing 21st century

• 02 Mar 09
  

  Justin Medved

  writing education learning audience

  • Yet outside of school, students and others are writing -- e-mails, Facebook entries, text messages, blogs, job letters, resumes and more.
  • The report will be released today by the National Council of Teachers of English.
• 01 Mar 09
  

  Jessica White

  writing education learning

• 

  Mary Sue Claborne

  21C writing writing

  • Through writing, we participate -- as students, employees, citizens, human
    beings. Through writing, we are," she wrote in report called "Writing in the
    21st Century."

    • 

      Mary Sue Claborne on 2009-03-01

      Using the tools that students are using will keep them engages and growing.
  • "We're moving from submission to participation."
  • 2 more annotations...
  • • "Writing curricula that are smart invite participation because that's what
      people want right now. Where you can invite participation, people stay engaged."
    • While she doesn't address the five-paragraph essay in the report, Dr. Yancey
      said, "It's a faux task for a faux audience and everyone knows it.

      • 

        Mary Sue Claborne on 2009-03-01

        Exactly!
• 26 Feb 09
  

  Rob Simpson
• 25 Feb 09
  

  Will Richardson

  Elizabeth Shannon, an English teacher at West Allegheny High School, said she does a "real quick, two-day cram" on the five-paragraph essay before the Pennsylvania System of School Assessment writing tests.
  
  "I tell them, you'll never write this way again," she said. "If they go off to college and write that way, they won't be looked on as good writers."
  
  Instead of five-paragraph essays, she prefers exercises such as "rant" letters in which they write to someone about something they'd like changed and threaded written discussions on the Internet to students in Morocco.

  parent_book shifts writing connective_writing

• 

  Bill Genereux

  writing education learning

• 

  susan carter morgan

  writing 21stcenturylearning internationalplp21

  • 

    • 

      susan carter morgan on 2009-02-25

      Ah, love this line! Makes me think of how much "unlearning" the kids have to do.
  • 

    • 

      susan carter morgan on 2009-02-25

      And, there it is.....
• 24 Feb 09
  

  Kathy Blair

  english writing article

• 

  Cheryl van Tilburg

  In the latest move demonstrating that the National Council of Teachers of English wants to totally destroy writing in the United States, a new report released to day calls for an increased emphasis on 21st Century writing skills. According to the authors, we are now in the "era of participation," where writers engage audiences in many different ways. Quite a revelation.... Somehow the words"authentic" and "blog" never get mentioned.

  writing instruction writing workshop grammar NCTE English_RLA curriulum english curriculum

• 

  Jasmine Tyler
• 

  Joan Vandertie
• 

  Clay Burell

  I'm gobsmacked with love.

  writing

  • Yet outside of school, students and others are writing -- e-mails, Facebook entries, text messages, blogs, job letters, resumes and more.

    
    
    

    Writing has become so ubiquitous that we are now living in the Age of Composition, according to Kathleen Blake Yancey, past president of the National Council of Teachers of English and Hunt professor of English at Florida State University.

    
    
    

    "Through writing, we participate -- as students, employees, citizens, human beings. Through writing, we are," she wrote in report called "Writing in the 21st Century."

    
    
    

  • "I think we're conceiving of writing very differently than we did before. We're understanding writing takes place in lots of different environments and for lots of different purposes," Dr. Yancey said in a phone interview.
  • 6 more annotations...

  • • She defines the switch this way: "We're moving from submission to participation."

      
      
      

      Now, she said, "Writing curricula that are smart invite participation because that's what people want right now. Where you can invite participation, people stay engaged."

      
      
      

      She thinks some schools try to erect a firewall between the writing students do outside of school and in school.

      
      
      

      "It's just counterproductive," she said. "If kids have learned something about composing outside of school, a really interesting question is how can we connect to that?"

    • Two reasons some view writing at school negatively are punishment and tests.

      
      
      

      Dr. Yancey recalls as a second-grader having to write "I will not stay out too long at recess" 100 times.

      
      
      

      As for exams, Dr. Yancey wrote that writing has "historically and inextricably been linked to testing."

      • 

        Clay Burell on 2009-02-24

        GREAT insights.
    • Blame that on Horace Mann, considered the father of American public education. In 1845, he urged teachers to test students not orally but on paper, which he viewed as fairer, the report stated.

      • 

        Clay Burell on 2009-02-24

        So sad. Good intention straight to schooly hell.

    • Fast forward to high school and the anxiety over producing a 25-minute essay for the SAT college entrance exams. Many students, teachers and test prep programs focus on writing a five-paragraph essay: a topic sentence, three supporting points and a conclusion.

      
      
      

      While she doesn't address the five-paragraph essay in the report, Dr. Yancey said, "It's a faux task for a faux audience and everyone knows it.

      
      
      

      "It's interesting that that world exists alongside the other world that's filled with participation, filled with meaning making, which is what writing has always been about."

    • Elizabeth Shannon, an English teacher at West Allegheny High School, said she does a "real quick, two-day cram" on the five-paragraph essay before the Pennsylvania System of School Assessment writing tests.

      
      
      

      "I tell them, you'll never write this way again," she said. "If they go off to college and write that way, they won't be looked on as good writers."

      • 

        Clay Burell on 2009-02-24

        Oh yes~
      • 

        Will Richardson on 2009-02-25

        Thank God some teachers are willing to admit this.
    • Instead of five-paragraph essays, she prefers exercises such as "rant" letters in which they write to someone about something they'd like changed

      • 

        Clay Burell on 2009-02-24

        Oh YES YES ~ A rant lover. I'd love to talk to her.
• 

  Helen Sitler
• 

  Jody Bowie

  writing publishing internet read_writeweb

Public Stiky Notes

• 
  Mary Sue Claborne on 2009-03-01
  Using the tools that students are using will keep them engages and growing.
• 
  Clay Burell on 2009-02-24
  GREAT insights.
• 
  Clay Burell on 2009-02-24
  So sad. Good intention straight to schooly hell.
• 
  susan carter morgan on 2009-02-25
  Ah, love this line! Makes me think of how much "unlearning" the kids have to do.
• 
  Will Richardson on 2009-02-25
  Thank God some teachers are willing to admit this.
• 
  Clay Burell on 2009-02-24
  Oh yes~
• 
  Mary Sue Claborne on 2009-03-01
  Exactly!
• 
  Clay Burell on 2009-02-24
  Oh YES YES ~ A rant lover. I'd love to talk to her.
• 
  susan carter morgan on 2009-02-25
  And, there it is.....

Page Comments

• 
  Cheryl van Tilburg on 2009-02-24
  It's amazing that Yancy never once mentions blogs.
• 
  Cheryl van Tilburg on 2009-03-02
  When violinists first learn to play, they practice scales, over and over. These are "tasks for faux audiences," as described by Yancey -- but no one who knows music would ever suggest that emerging violinists dump the practice in favor of more authentic performances. Why would teachers suggest that emerging writers dump the admittedly inauthentic practice of the 5-paragraph essay, for example?
  
  Of course it shouldn't be the only mode of instruction, and students should have the opportunities to write in other ways. But to assume that students will become competent writers without solid instruction in the foundations of structure, organization, logic, and evidence is folly.
• 
  Cheryl van Tilburg on 2009-04-02
  Sure, it's fake task, much in the same way that musical scales are fake tasks. They're not really music -- but I doubt many musicians would say that practicing scales doesn't have value. Five-paragraph essays have their (judiciously used) place in the pantheon of writing activities.
• 
  Cheryl van Tilburg on 2009-04-02
  Hasn't that always been the case?

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