The+Writing+Revolution

The Writing Revolution Prompt: Answer 2 of the following questions, pose a question of your own, and answer a question posed by another Fellow.

What is the biggest challenge you face in teaching writing?

Can our students' difficulties in writing be solved by going back to teaching more grammar and mechanics in younger grades? Why or why not?

What is your reaction to the use of sentence starters and "formula" or "recipe" writing? I like them! I think it's a good way to help get the kids brain's warmed up, kind of like a scratch the surface starter. once the students become comfortable and know that they are able to produce good starters or ideas on their own they won't even need the sentence starters and the formula can help them in their writing for many years to come.

"The problem isn't primarily that students have advanced ideas about content that they just need to learn how to put onto paper, but that the students' ideas about content aren't particularly advanced. Because they don't have the words to talk and think about how concepts relate to each other, they aren't successfully linking together -- in their heads, before they write -- the different bits of their ideas about content. You are seeing the process of writing as about communicating already well-formed thoughts to an audience, rather than as the way, or part of the way, in which the writer takes nascently formed thoughts and develops them into well-formed thoughts," wrote Caroline Small in a comment on the article. What is your reaction to her comment? I think......what in the world is she trying to say? Am I the only one who read this and was like.....what? I'm sorry, but I'm lost on this quote. Children are children it's our job to guide them wither they have the keys to speak and write, or write the way they think....Whatever it may be take it sprinkle it with some of that magic and help them get to where they need to be, make them better then what they use to be, and pray they remember most of it! When will educators know that it's o.k. to raise their standards and become comfortable with their abilities to help students reach goals, instead of giving up and blaming the students surroundings for what they don't know?