Teaching Effective Writing Strategies (3/14)

Hey guys. How's everyone doing? I hope you're having a good day. Alright enough small talk- let's talk effective writing strategies. After reading both the chapters in the Gallagher book and the article The Policy of the Paragraph I learned many strategies in teaching effective writing strategies to students. I found the main idea from Gallagher was the combination of students reading more along with help from the teacher allowed them to become better writers. The Policy article focused more on avoiding harmful essay formulas.

The Policy of the Paragraph recounts a story in which a student runs out of the room, upset that she is limited to three ideas on an essay when she has five. This upsets her teacher, Michelle Kenney as she wants all of her students to be as creative as possible. This is where the main idea of the article comes in- the rigorous essay formats are more harmful than helpful. The unfortunate part is that most students need to use these formulas come test time. This prompts the teachers at this school to create their own writing strategy- PEAS. It stands for Point, Evidence, Analysis, So-what? The article ends with an idea that resonated with me. We don't want to teach "good enough" writing but unfortunately we do because of things like state testing.

Gallagher had several good ideas when teaching writing to high-schoolers. One of his main ideas was that the more students read, along with help from the teacher, the more effective writers they will become. It wasn't a simple one to one ratio: the more reading a student does, the better the writer. The teacher needs to help the student become a better writer. This includes teaching them the effectiveness of rewriting and revising. Going back and fixing mistakes on an old essay helps students become better writers. This is something I will practice in my classroom one day. I want my students to become effective writers and teaching them to read more and revise their work will help me achieve that.