Because Writing Matters, National Writing Project and Carl Nagin

Book Response:  Because Writing Matters

I read this entire book while walking on the treadmill early in the morning.  It was a pretty good way to begin the day, even though I was thinking, “I’ll get this reading done early so I’ll be able to get back to The Goldfinch later tonight.”  I agree whole-heartedly with the ideas presented in the book and love imagining a place where all of the grammar and punctuation worksheets disappear and writing workshops, where students write every single day, pop up.  Students need to write like real writers — people who have a purpose and an audience.  Their practice with the art and craft of writing must mirror the real deal, or else they’ll just be floundering around learning mechanical rules out of context and churning out formulaic five paragraph essays.  Not very long ago writing was mostly about handwriting and then it was all about mechanical skills.  I love this passage from the book:

    Emphasis on mechanical errors overshadowed the deep rhetorical, social, and cognitive     possibilities of writing for communication and critical thinking.  This was a pedagogic view of     writing not unlike the idea that a young person could learn to drive a car by memorizing state     motoring laws and reading a repair  manual.  Undoubtedly, such texts might help a driver save     on repairs, memorize rules of the road, and pass the written test, but that knowledge is no      substitute for sitting behind the wheel and driving in a variety of conditions, preferably with an     instructor in the passenger seat.  (Loc. 572 — Kindle)

Students need to write in a variety of genres.
Students need to write across the curriculum, not just in English classes.
Writing helps to develop higher-order thinking skills like analyzing, synthesizing, evaluation and interpreting.  Writing asks more of students than to repeat facts, dates, and formulae.  Writing makes them question their assumptions and to reflect critically on alternative viewpoints.  (Loc. 620)

Because Writing Matters provides concrete first steps toward the business of getting students to write across the curriculum.  “Select important articles in your field, and ask students to write summaries or abstracts of them …. Think of a controversy in your field, and ask students to write a dialogue between characters with different points of view.”  (Loc. 652)

Writing is recursive.  We don’t necessarily make a straight shot from the rough draft to the final product.  The process cycles and recycles.  The subprocesses described in the book are:

1. Planning (generating ideas, setting goals, and organizing)
2. Translation (turning plans into written language)
3. Reviewing (evaluating and revising)
                                                                   (Loc. 670)

Even the experienced writer will not have a fixed order for cycling through this process.  With that in mind, it seems silly to pass a rough draft in for a grade.  Shouldn’t students be able to live the genuine process and pass in the work for a grade once the revising is complete?  I think they should learn and write the way writers write.  I also see some pitfalls.  Out and about in the schools, students use Spark Notes in place of reading their assigned novels , and I don’t see a majority of students caring to revise and then revise some more.  Typically, these are not my own students, but kids I know for various reasons — ones willing to share their secrets.  I’ll keep this short and say that unless the kids have a real reason to care about their assignments and have real audience , they get a little lost and apathetic.

Reading and writing go together, for young students and for English Language Learners.  We don’t need to master our reading skills before we set pen to paper.  I particularly enjoyed the discussion about students and teachers being asked to write in their native language.  Yes, English will still be taught, but connecting to the language of choice — the language of home can help access the most genuine material.

I’m impressed by the administrators who have revamped their schools to reflect the importance of writing, especially when they have thrown off the shackles of standardized test anxiety, and just taught in the most effective way, trusting that it would, in the long haul, benefit their students and the test scores.

The word is being spread by the National Writing Project and its teachers.  I’m pleased that so much emphasis is being placed on teachers writing themselves and having time for professional development.  That point needs to keep being pressed.
I hope I can pass on some of what I’ve taken in to help the cause.