Issues in Teaching Writing

Downs & Wardle’s “Teaching about writing, Righting Misconceptions: (Re) Envisioning “First Year Composition” as “Introduction to Writing Studies” talks about several ways to refer to writing and our response to it. As well as the misconceptions students have towards the proper way of writing and how they have managed to break the “college writing” stereotype and discover their own way of writing.

I feel like most teachers worry more about grades and getting the writing done as soon as possible and not taking their time in helping students gain better writing skills and improve themselves. Students should be able to choose what they want to write about so that we can feel inspired in our writings thus having a better end product for teachers to read and be satisfied with. If teachers are constantly criticizing our writings and telling us what to write about then they never really know what a student’s potential really is because most likely they will rush to try to satisfy the teachers needs than theirs. I also agree that teachers should worry more about a person’s writing than about the mechanics of a paper, however; I also realize that in today’s society free writing isn’t really “approved” in almost every class. In every English class I have had my teachers focused more about the end result that is timing us on essays, and grading our papers based off grammar/mechanics and not the process writing

Writing can be a daunting task for students in any grade. Teachers have to implement new basic components for those struggling to write. Finding new methods and being able to execute them requires teachers to design lesson plans that help

However, the spoken word is not the only way in which we communicate; in schools it is important

In chapter 9, Writing Across the Curriculum, the process of reading and writing was investigated and explained in comparison to one another. The reading-writing connection focuses on drawing from students’ prior knowledge and cognitive processes in order to build learning. The authors mentioned that the writing process is a strong tool for exploring and clarifying meaning and the two major instructional components used are writing to learn (WTL) and writing in disciplines (WID). The chapter also focused on the subareas of academic journals and writing disciplines.

The teacher understands effective writing and teaches students to write effectively in a variety of forms and for various audiences, purposes and contexts.

Reflecting at my own writing process and using my experiences as a way to shape my future practice as an English teacher, has brought light to the concepts of style, providing opportunities for multiple forms of writing, creating low-stakes writing opportunities, addressing authentic audiences, and establishing non-judgmental/safe space classrooms. Based on the theory that Milner et al. outline in the "Process Model," (2012, p.339) I would almost explicitly follow this pedagogy as a way to help students explore writing. For example, I would focus on the steps relating to revision (step 2), teaching multiple forms of writing (step 3), creating opportunities for teacher conferences (Step 4), and providing students with authentic, and divers audiences

‘Helping students meet the challenges of academic writing’ by Fernsten and Reda is an interesting study how reflective writing practices can be useful for marginalized students, who are struggling with “negative writer self-identity. The possible causes according to Fernsten & Reda are, “issues such as race, class and gender that are marginalized factors for many basic writers”, in addition to the expectations of the dominant academic culture. However, even though Fernsten & Reda illuminated the ‘potential conflicts’ within the academic world, they have failed to provide conclusive evidence that supports their argument regarding their solution. Their reliance on dated research that provides a one sided historical perspective, may

Language is our thoughts expressed, it’s how we attempt to define ourselves and set ourselves apart as individuals or as part of a social gathering of living situation.

Language is the acquisition and implementation of rules that govern translation of thought into communication; whereas literacy is the ability to decipher said information. Language originally conveyed concrete ideas through the use of body language and symbols; however, the development of language, now, allows the use of abstract ideas. Language is shared through such ways as, written, graphic and spoken communication. Without correct understanding as to the rules of language, a person’s ability to be literate is diminished; therefore, a person can only be literate if the understand the rules. In the development of language, the rules were not written; yet, today, many of the rules are

I think that teachers can actually help improve a student’s writing, because I always struggled with writing until I had an English teacher which changed that. In every test there was a writing portion where you had to write at least two pages. I would only write a couple of sentences because I didn’t know how to express my thoughts on paper. My junior year I had a senior English teacher who drastically improved my writing,

Audience is a very important factor in any writing whether its academically or personal writing. When writing you have to make sure the content being written can be understood and that readers can some what relate, for example children's book are written for a child audience and is composed so that the audience understands the content. In academic writing the audience determines the style of writing and the style of writing.In play writing the audience is different and there is typically no format, no style the content is more realxed.

“A language, of course, is not merely a set of grammatical rules or a vocabulary. It is a lash of the human spirit, the vehicle by which the soul of each particular culture comes into the material world. Every language is an old growth forest of the mind, a watershed of thought, an ecosystem of spiritual possibilities,” (Davis 3). This quote means that language is not just the words that a spoken from one to another, it is a way of communication t help one another out. Language is passed down from generation

In teaching and learning English, there are two aspects that should be concerned. The first one is the language skills such as speaking, listening, reading, and writing. The second one is the language components such as vocabulary, and grammar. These two aspects are taught in order to make the students achieve the ability in communicating both in spoken and written forms.

Writing is not just as simple as putting words down on a document or a piece of paper, it is a process. Within this intricate process are steps that involve more than just writing, such as critical thinking, planning, and editing. Using these steps has not only helped me when planning an essay but also when composing one. Throughout this course, I have managed to improve many skills and gain a lot of strengths, but I still possess some weaknesses. Overall, I believe my strengths have definitely outgrown these weaknesses and have led to a better, more high-quality writing process which leads to improved essays.