Group items tagged

Learning to write is one of the fundamental skills we gain from our time at school. Writing is one of the cornerstones of learning and we devote significant time and energy towards its mastery. Skilled writing is a mark of an educated individual and a skill required for academic success. But in the modern world what makes a skilled writer? What has changed about writing and what literary skills should we focus our attention on. 

Asa Spencer of the Thomas B. Fordham Institute writes in the Education Gadfly Weekly: "Traditionalists cringe, tech buffs rejoice: This latest NAEP writing assessment for grades eight and twelve marks the first computer-based appraisal (by the "nation's report card") of student proficiency in this subject. It evaluates students' writing skills (what NAEP calls both academic and workplace writing) based on three criteria: idea development, organization, and language facility and conventions. Results were predictably bad: Just twenty-four percent of eighth graders and 27 percent of twelfth graders scored proficient or above. Boys performed particularly poorly; half as many eighth-grade males reached proficiency as their female counterparts. The use of computers adds a level of complexity to these analyses: The software allows those being tested to use a thesaurus (which 29 percent of eighth graders exploited), text-to-speech software (71 percent of eighth graders used), spell check (three-quarters of twelfth graders), and kindred functions. It is unclear whether use of these crutches affected a student's "language facility" scores, though it sure seems likely. While this new mechanism for assessing kids' writing prowess makes it impossible to track trend data, one can make (disheartening) comparisons across subjects. About a third of eighth graders hit the NAEP proficiency benchmark in the latest science, math, and reading assessments, compared to a quarter for writing. So where to go from here? The report also notes that twelfth-grade students who write four to five pages a week score ten points higher than those who write just one page a week. Encouraging students to put pen to paper (or fingers to keyboard) is a start."

The Contemplation Writing Project, as I came to call it, uses an innovative form of writing called "Music Writing" to develop intra- and interpersonal communication skills (EI), creative self-expression (journal or therapeutic writing), thinking, character education, identity and values clarification in young people through music, writing, discussion and self-assessments.

some good tips on helping students learn how to make appropriate comments on blogs

Development of online writing communities, hosted by libraries. Covers emotional aspects of writing as well as technical

A variety of templates, tutorials, and graphic organizers introduce and explain the major forms of writing (narrative, persuasive, expository, research, response to literature) and help students develop practical writing skills - from coming up with a topic idea to publishing a polished work. Developed in collaboration with Microsoft for Learning Essentials, these tools offer solid instruction from the popular, research-based Write Source series of writing programs.

"Dyslexia is a learning difficulty which affects the ability to adopt the automatic reflexes needed to read and write. Several studies have sought to identify the source of the problems encountered by individuals with dyslexia when they read. Little attention, however, has been paid to the mechanisms involved in writing. Sonia Kandel, Professor at the GIPSA-Lab of the Université Grenoble Alpes (CNRS/Université Grenoble Alpes/Grenoble INP) and her team [1] decided to look at the purely motor aspects of writing in children diagnosed with dyslexia. Their results show that orthographic processing in children with dyslexia is so laborious that it can modify or impair writing skills, despite the absence of dysgraphia in these children. The findings of this study are published in the November 2017 edition of Cognitive Neuropsychology."

inklewriter is a free tool designed to allow anyone to write and publish interactive stories. It's perfect for writers who want to try out interactivity, but also for teachers and students looking to mix computer skills and creative writing.

"Inklewriter is a free tool designed to allow anyone to write and publish interactive stories. It's perfect for writers who want to try out interactivity, but also for teachers and students looking to mix computer skills and creative writing."

Asked to assess their students' performance on nine specific writing skills, teachers tended to rate their students "good" or "fair" as opposed to "excellent" or "very good." Students received the best ratings on their ability to "effectively organize and structure writing assignments" and their ability to "understand and consider multiple viewpoints on a particular topic or issue." Teachers gave students the lowest ratings when it comes to "navigating issues of fair use and copyright in composition" and "reading and digesting long or complicated texts."

An excellent article on the challenges we all face in become better at thinking critically and writing well. I have found that most students do better presenting arguments in written form when they have engaged in in-depth discussion, as then questioning and peer responses can prompt deeper thinking and make real the need to both cite and explain evidence. The Shared Inquiry method used in Great Books programs provides a focus on open, interpretive questions that require students to make an defend claims about the meaning of complex texts. The model lessons suggest a sequence of activities that supports multiple close readings, collaborative discussions, and writing throughout the process.

The British government is proposing that Twitter is to be taught in primary (elementary) schools as part of a wider push to make online communication and social media a permanent part of the UK's education system. And that's not all. Kids will be taught blogging, podcasting and how to use Wikipedia alongside Maths, English and Science.

"Deliberate practice is essential for improving a wide range of skills important for everyday life, from tying shoelaces to reading and writing. Yet despite its importance for developing basic skills, academic success, and expertise, we know little about the development of deliberate practice. A new study from Australia found that children spontaneously practice skills to prepare for the future starting at the age of 6. The study, from researchers at the University of Queensland, is published in the journal Child Development."

Join in the edweek conversation on 4th of April.

In this blog post, the story of Adora Svitak, the now 14 year old literacy prodigy is discussed in light of how her experiences growing up could be applied to developing every child's writing skills. The blog post challenges how we teach writing, how parents and teachers need to both support the learning of and expect more from children and how we need to develop good learning habits. 

Great information on helping students develop their communication skills by writing in digital spaces.

free tool designed to allow anyone to write and publish interactive stories. It's perfect for writers who want to try out interactivity, but also for teachers and students looking to mix computer skills and creative writing.

"students should be taught that the payoffs for learning a few dialogue-writing skills are ample: dialogue can help develop plot, reveal characters' motivation, create a visceral experience for the reader, and make average stories extraordinary"