Teaching Writing In the Public Schools

1. Dr. Emily Isaacs Associate Professor of English and Director of First-Year Writing Montclair State University Teaching WritingIn the Public Schools

2. What Do We Know about Writing? • We become stronger writers by • Reading • Writing • Talking about our reading and writing • Re-reading • Receiving useful, specific, honest feedback • Re-writing • Believing that our writing matters – deeply, and personally.

3. Therefore…. 1. Teach Writing as an Engaged, Human, Personally Valuable Activity – Teach Writing as Meaning-Making 2. Inspire Writing 3. Demonstrate the Value of Writing 4. Provide Opportunities for Reading and Writing 5. Provide Frequent Opportunities for Feedback that is Meaningful and Specific

4. Beyond La-La Land…Writing as a Process • Concrete, specific steps: • Step One: Engaging Assignments • Step Two: Drafting and Peer Review • Step Three: Teacher Response • Step Four: Editing for Clarity • Step Five: Evaluation

5. STEP ONE: Assignments Create meaningful assignments that -- engage students -- achieve your learning objectives --thinking, --engagement with subject material --practice with valued writing genre

6. STEP TWO: Drafting and Peer Work • Students need to be taught – led through – processes of: • Prewriting (freewriting, brainstorming, preparatory writing assignments) • Drafting • Re-reading and re-writing • Students need frequent opportunity for peer feedback AND peer feedback has to be taught. • See Sample Peer Review sheets • Drafting and Peer work need to be modeled, reinforced, and rewarded. ACTIVITY ONE: Write an assignment and sequence of associated, preparatory activities.

7. Step THREE: Teacher Response • Research continues to demonstrate the crucial, positive role of minimal, specific, teacher response. • Responses need to focus on desired qualities as defined by rubric and assignment. • Specific strengths • Specific weaknesses • See Sample Teacher Responses

8. Step FOUR: Editing for Clarity (1 of 2) • 25 year study of changes in writing, Research Report (Lunsford and Lunsford, 2009): • Digital world is not sliding into student writing • Teachers are still responding variably, inconsistently, and sometimes incorrectly to student error. • Student errors are different, not greater. • Students write longer essays. • Students are writing more analytic essays, fewer personal narratives.

9. Step FOUR: Editing for Clarity (2 of 2) • Get buy-in first • Focus on function and readers, not rules and unknown authorities • Situate grammar and usage instruction – not term vocab • Rather, focus on the most important: • Sentence vs non-sentence • Teach students how to read, and re-read their own writing for clarity • Provide honest assessment of clarity • Provide measured response and purposeful correction • Editing on One (Teacher-Identified) Issue at a time. • Exercises that Involve Students’ Own Writing • See Selected Editing Handouts

10. Step FIVE: Evaluation • Separate evaluating brain from teaching brain • At the end of the process • Fast, low-ink work (2 sentences) • Meaningful rubric • Words of encouragement, honest praise • Reflects community (department, group) values --- looks forward to students other and future North Arlington teachers.

11. Step Review • Step One: Engaging Assignments • Step Two: Drafting and Peer Review • Step Three: Teacher Response • Step Four: Editing for Clarity • Step Five: Evaluation