I like your point about writing needing to have a purpose so that it won't just look like busy work, and I think publication of some variety would probably get that point across to students. Maybe you could even publish a "class notes" page or other weekly or monthly class newspaper sort of thing with all of your students' submissions...
I agree with Shannon about your point on writing needing to have a purpose. Students, especially at the high school level, are not ignorant enough to joyfully accept busy work. Any work that appears to be just a time filler is grudgingly met with contempt. This automatically creates negative feelings towards writing assignments. I think the teacher must present a positive and enthusiastic attitude towards whatever writing assignment is given. I really like your idea about publishing. That creates a recognizable value to writing that increases the importance of writing. I also agree that there is necessary to provide opportunities for the students to pick their own writing topics instead of always being provided one.
Excellent points everyone! Writing to publish is a great idea. When considering this you want to think about audience. You want your students writing for real audiences. So, this can tie in with publishing. When students are writing with meaningful purposes and for real audiences, then publishing is natural. For example, writing a letter advocating for something to the principal can be considered published. Writing an email to a travel agency requesting travel information can be considered published. When taking this approach, especially in foreign languages, you often have to re-think the curriculum because it is not usually organized this way. It can be done--just takes creativity.
I'm totally on board with the idea of publishing work! I'm currently in the process of setting up a blog for the ERC students I work with to have a place to publish their work. So far (although no one has yet actually posted anything)this seems to be encouraging them to take more care with their craft and be more critical as an editor of their work. I have high hopes for the publishing idea!
I like your point about writing needing to have a purpose so that it won't just look like busy work, and I think publication of some variety would probably get that point across to students. Maybe you could even publish a "class notes" page or other weekly or monthly class newspaper sort of thing with all of your students' submissions...
ReplyDeleteAlso, I love it: Math in the Movies!
I agree with Shannon about your point on writing needing to have a purpose. Students, especially at the high school level, are not ignorant enough to joyfully accept busy work. Any work that appears to be just a time filler is grudgingly met with contempt. This automatically creates negative feelings towards writing assignments. I think the teacher must present a positive and enthusiastic attitude towards whatever writing assignment is given. I really like your idea about publishing. That creates a recognizable value to writing that increases the importance of writing. I also agree that there is necessary to provide opportunities for the students to pick their own writing topics instead of always being provided one.
ReplyDeleteExcellent points everyone! Writing to publish is a great idea. When considering this you want to think about audience. You want your students writing for real audiences. So, this can tie in with publishing. When students are writing with meaningful purposes and for real audiences, then publishing is natural. For example, writing a letter advocating for something to the principal can be considered published. Writing an email to a travel agency requesting travel information can be considered published. When taking this approach, especially in foreign languages, you often have to re-think the curriculum because it is not usually organized this way. It can be done--just takes creativity.
ReplyDeleteI'm totally on board with the idea of publishing work! I'm currently in the process of setting up a blog for the ERC students I work with to have a place to publish their work. So far (although no one has yet actually posted anything)this seems to be encouraging them to take more care with their craft and be more critical as an editor of their work. I have high hopes for the publishing idea!
ReplyDelete