It’s a bright summer morning in the suburbs of Washington, DC. Seventeen 6th-graders look down at identical photocopied sheets of paper. They write their names in the line on the top right corner, and patiently wait for instructions. The pages before them have boxes at the top—neat containers for tidy “theme statements.” Below the boxes, three “paragraph outlines,” each with lines for three supporting details.
The goal of the exercise is to produce an essay in the form they’ll need to use to pass a standards-based test at the end of this summer school course. The stakes are high. If they don’t pass, they won’t move on to the next grade.
When the teacher reads the theme statement aloud, the students dutifully copy it down, and then drum their pencils and whisper among themselves. Their boredom is palpable.
Later, the same kids memorize and recite the poem, “Reach for the Stars”: Reach for the stars/Never be satisfied with a life that is less than the best. When the teacher asks them to write a poem with the same structure, most of them jump joyfully into the assignment; playing with the sounds and meanings of words. They laugh at each other’s funny ideas and strain to be the next picked to read aloud.
“I’m not a Writer”
I met these kids this summer, when I volunteered in Ms. B’s sixth-grade language arts summer school program in Alexandria, Virginia. Like the outlining exercise, the lessons were often tightly structured. Using the right number of details to support the thesis earned more points than the expression of a unique idea.
Ms. B is an energetic and passionate teacher. It’s clear she wants these kids to succeed. She also hopes her students will develop confidence in their ability to express themselves, and, through writing and sharing their work, learn to value their own ideas and those of their classmates. This is no easy task.
Most of Ms. B’s students didn’t consider themselves “writers,” and didn’t seem to feel they had permission to do more than fill in the blanks. Most had never been encouraged to read or write in their young lives. Some had slight learning disabilities, several had parents who were illiterate or who had trouble reading in English with their kids. For Mrs. B., making writing appealing sometimes took a back seat to simply making it clear what the expectations were for passing the test.
Why Writing Matters
Although most of us rarely find ourselves writing expository essays as adults, our writing skills and the way we feel about them manifest themselves each day. Economic success can depend on well-reasoned writing, especially in today’s technological world: a resume, a memo to the boss, a proposal to a client.
The reverse is also true. A simple lack of confidence in their writing skills can be enough to make some young people cut themselves off from educational or professional opportunities. And writing is key to full participation in our democracy: if you think you can’t do it, you’re not going to write letters to the editor or your member of Congress.
Writing well is about more than just passing tests and earning good grades. Through writing, students learn to think analytically, to investigate connections and make sense of the world around them. They are also learning to express themselves and explore their own thoughts.
Can you “Fail” Writing?
When Ms. B’s summer school students were working on exercises like the “essay box” outlines, they were not learning “language arts,” with room for creative ideas and individual control, they were learning “language mechanics.” In these exercises, following directions and other quantifiable elements—the number of words in a sentence, the number of sentences in a paragraph—come to seem the essence of good writing.
I had a teacher in 8th grade who seemed to view writing this way. She had a system. Students struggled to meet its requirements, rather than to do their best thinking. That year, I felt a loss of control as all my essays came back with notes like “disorganized” and “trouble following directions.” Though I had loved to write in the earlier grades, my struggles that year convinced me I was no writer. It was a lesson I spent years unlearning.
Certainly, kids need to learn the fundamentals of strong essays and good, clear writing. But isn’t it possible to show kids the building blocks of expository writing, and still leave them eager to express their ideas and thoughts on paper?
Modeling Writing
In a world where everything from learning to playtime is increasingly structured, writing can be a sort of freedom—freedom for kids to explore their ideas, test their logic and unleash their imaginations. Sam Cate, who teaches writing to students in kindergarten through 5th grade in Orange, Virginia, is the sort of teacher I would have loved.
“I write to them, and they write to me,” Cate says. “I show kids how to hold a conversation through writing, using self-questioning techniques. I write a lot about my life, so they know a lot about my home, animals, children and the things I’m thinking about.”
By the time his students are in second, third and fourth grade, they begin to take the initiative as writers. “Then I’m just watching it, watching them self-question,” Cate says. “It takes years to get to the point where they’re comfortable and see themselves as writers. That’s something you plan for and work hard to get, because if you see yourself as a writer, then you’ll do it [throughout your life]. If you don’t, then you won’t.”
To work in the less exciting aspects like mechanics, grammar and spelling, Cate uses students’ own writing as the focus for targeted conversation about what works and why.
“Our job as teachers,” Cate says, “is as much teaching them to see themselves as writers as it is correcting for grammar and punctuation.” Learning proper grammar and construction is important, he stresses, but the best way to learn is by doing. So while his students question themselves and discuss their topic, he covers grammar lessons. “We talk about questions versus statements, proper spelling, everything. This way, it’s relevant and useful, rather than just from a textbook.”
You’ve got to Know what Good Is
We’ve heard a lot in recent years about standards-based testing and teaching to the test. It’s important to let kids see what good writing looks like, in all its forms. But for kids who struggle with writing, there’s no substitute for encouragement, individual attention and a feeling of freedom.
Helping kids feel confident about their abilities and unique thoughts and experiences is a very important job, one in which we all have a stake. Attention and encouragement from adults, volunteers, teachers and parents can help turn kids on to writing, and make it less likely that as adults, they’ll say, “I’m not much of a writer.” Tips on Helping Kids Write: for Parents, Teachers and Adults
- Our Literacy and Reading topic page has links to original articles and excellent online resources.
- LDOnline has a good fact sheet with tips for encouraging kids’ writing.
Caitlin Johnson is staff writer at Connect for Kids.
