Writing and the New Face
Contents |
What has Writing Become for Students?
There is a new face to writing; advertisements, texting, blogs, and scholastic writing are all included. In Joseph Williams's book Style, he says that the reason some people survive a traumatic writing experience is perhaps because a teacher set a minefield before them. There is a way to remove the mines and let this generation begin to capitalize on their own creativity without the explosions.
There is Hope for Prematurely Uninterested Students
A series of ideas show how easy it is for students to become more interested in writing and reading. However, interest only reaches out to students about as far as a grammar rule book to a grammarian. This means that those who are interested, do show interest; go figure. Standard rules can be less of an endurance test and more of a common part of life. Students, teachers, and grammarians have a lot in common. There are connections that will make this bearable to even the most uninterested student.
Encouragement
The National Council of Teachers of English suggests new and innovative ways to encourage good writing. There is a national writing day, high school and college writing awards, and the national gallery of writing. The national gallery of writing invites writers from various professions including legislators, retirees, teachers, grandparents, managers...everybody. The article posted for the National Council of Teachers of English is meant to encourage 21st century writing. "We need to recognize that out-of-school literacy practices are as critical to students’ development as what occurs in the classroom and take advantage of this to better connect classroom work to real-world situations that students will encounter across a lifetime."[1]
The School Curriculum
Schools around the nation are incorporating more writing into the curriculum. Dr. Pat Pokay, of Eastern Michigan University, confirms the change made in the writing that students are doing in their high school classes. English, science and math classes are all expecting written assignments. Dr. Pokay's work is attributed to the math and education departments. She says that curriculum wants students to write more about everything, not just literature. This is a common trend for schools. Now, instead of having writing as a secluded fundamental, it is an everyday activity for these students. They have to write on the scientific hypothesis, for example, instead of just giving a definition.
Most schools follow a set of instructions for each school year that the students attend. Year one is the basics, year two builds on the foundations and increases comprehension and literature analysis skills, year three focuses on American literature and composition. Finally, year four pulls it all together.[2]
The improvement of understanding is for two ends: first our own increase of knowledge; secondly to enable us to deliver that knowledge to others. John Locke
Give them Understanding
High school freshmen should use a stylistic guide to aid in instructing them how to write well. However some guides fall short when attempting to explain concepts. Choice of the texts that will be adhered to is often out of the student's hands. This is where the teacher must step in and offer their advice and experience. Additional texts offering more tangible examples may be offered as a supplement to the assigned text. For example, students may require more feedback about their transitional sentences than just a mere statement about how it lacks flow. In Williams' book, Style: Toward Clarity and Grace, he gives ample examples of what the concepts of clarity, Cohesion, Emphasis, 6. Coherence II, Concision, 8. Length, Elegance and Usage actually mean. He provides a detailed explanation of how to achieve each of these elements of style.
Students need to understand the concepts, not just memorize the rules.
History is Future
Teachers have been attempting to develop a curriculum for the ever-changing writing atmosphere for years. Florida State University
The circulation should include a broader knowledge of all genres and fields. It should promote them to try their hand in different types of genres and fields. Invention, style, memory and delivery should be exercised on a regular basis. Finally, a transformation of writing due to technological advantages, and a new vision for these uses is necessary for the students to continue and benefit from teachers. This is made not only of words--composition in the new key. [4]
