"WE NEED TO BECOME SERIOUS ABOUT HELPING STUDENTS BECOME CITIZEN COMPOSERS INSTEAD OF GOOD TEST TAKERS!" says NCTE (National Council of Teachers of English) past president Kathleen Blake Yancey, Floriday state University, Tallahassee in her newly released report http://www.ncte.org/library/NCTEFiles/Press/Yancey_final.pdf
Finally someone of influence supports what's happening with real writing with our students.
This document traces the history of writing instruction through the 20th century through today where students are teaching us about real writing by the writing they're doing outside of a classroom. Online writing, energizes and brings rebirth to the power of writing like never before. Students' real writing is driving us to face real challenges in writing - to develop a curriculum that will support what students are already doing with writing and to help them learn how to communicate well via online interactions. Online writing, live writing will be the source of their power in their future workplaces and lives.
I'd love to have a C & I discussion of this powerful newe document.
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And I do agree that they enjoy writing outside of the classroom. My kids have been blogging before me and when they saw me blogging last night they thought I was "cool." They even told me that a blog is short for web log (amazing what I learn from them). Anyway, they love blogs because of the immediate feedback they get from teachers (those that encourage it) and more importantly from their peers. They put more thoughts into their writing because they know they have a wide audience out there. This channel is something they feel comfortable using and educators should start utilizing technological media to their advantage instead of blocking it from schools.
ReplyDeleteI agree completely. Just the fact that a keyboard is involved instead of pen and paper, motivates students to write.
ReplyDeleteThe NCTE report is quite interesting and challenges us to view 21st Century modes of writing as quite viable. The AP exam story was intriguing. It proves that blogs and wikis and social networks can really work for kids, we just have to embrace them and find ways to harness their power.
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