Writing is something that some people enjoy while others do not. From experience, if most people do not like to write, it is because of the way they have been graded in the past or because they didn’t have choice when it came to the topic they had to write about. I think this would be different is teachers used writing as a tool and not just for a grade.
While grading is something that obviously, has to be done, it can truly take away from the true meaning behind assignments. It also takes away the students drive behind writing if they have been graded harshly in the past. I recently took a class at Longwood University and one of the big topics that we talked about was grading and it’s pros and cons. Of course, as college students, we saw more cons and most people would probably agree. In our textbook Evaluating Children’s Writing by Suzanne Bratcher she talk how grading is not only something that students dislike but also teaches. Who would have thought? But she then gives us ways to make the process better for everyone involved. One example she talks about is primary trait evaluation. on page 52. She states “The teachers main instructional purpose is to help students learn how to focus on a single topic in their writing”(Bratcher, pg 52). I think this could be used for a variety of purposes. For example, having students explain how to play a familiar game. They aren’t just doing the typical, how to make a sandwich writing so it will make it more interesting for both you and them.
Another way to use writing as a tool is having students complete daily journals. We recently did this in the same class I referred to earlier, and it really helped me to understand the class work more. I think it is important that the teacher clarifies if they want the journals to be informal or formal writing but most are informal. If I were to have my students complete a daily journal, it would be informal and they would have choice as to what they wanted to write about. Don’t get me wrong, I think reflections are an important apart in writing but I also think it is important for students to be able to write about something they found interesting or even just a random thought they had in the class. This will also allow for students to feel comfortable in their classroom and comfortable with their teacher which will help them to become better writers if they can trust you and their enviroment. I found a study that shows how beneficial journals can be for the classroom. Springer states “In general, journal writing is an informal and personal tool used to write about a desired topic, without restrictions or grading purpose”(Springer 1011). I thought this was an important quote because it talks about choice and also grading. In this study it says ” In brief, findings show that providing early extra writing opportunities, in the form of writing weekly journals, fostered the use of SRL (self regulated learning) strategies and significantly improved the writing quality of the compositions”(Springer 1027). so overall, this study shows that these journal are very beneficial.
If we work assign students assignment that are out of the box such as a having them write directions to a board game or daily journals then they will be able to use writing as a tool and so will the teachers assigning them the work. USING WRITING AS A TOOL IS IMPORTANT.
Sources:
Rosário, Pedro, et al. “Writing Week-Journals to Improve the Writing Quality of Fourth-Graders’ Compositions.” Reading and Writing: An Interdisciplinary Journal, vol. 30, no. 5, May 2017, pp. 1009–1032. EBSCOhost, login.proxy.longwood.edu/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=eric&AN=EJ1138478&site=ehost-live&scope=site.
Evaluating Childrens Writing A Handbook of Grading Choices for Classroom Teachers. Routledge, 2016.
