Linda Rief blog by Geri

Writing class Blog: “What’s Right with Writing” by Linda Rief      by Geri Hagler

“Writing today is not a frill for the few, but an essential skill for the many.” – The National Commission on Writing in America’s Schools and Colleges

“What have we learned about writing and the teaching of writing.”

According to Rief, “writing is thinking…writing lets us communicate what we know and helps us think of things we didn’t know we knew until we began writing. Writing is one way of communicating our understandings and misunderstanding of ourselves and the world……. We learn to write by reading extensively and writing for real audiences.  We need to give students ample opportunities to write on a continuous basis.  They need choices about topics and genres… Writers need constructive response….Evaluation of writing should highlight the strengths of process, content, and conventions, and give the write the tools and techniques to strengthen the weaknesses” (p. 33) “Writer need places to collect their ideas…teachers need to know their students well… writing is reading and when students write they are engaged in…the process of critical thinking”(p. 34)

“Why does writing matter?

Riefsays,”….if we want children to become adults who are articulate, literate, and thoughtful citizens…, they must learn to think deeply and widely,” which is achieved through reading and writing in several different modalities (p. 35). Also, “….writing is about using our imagination, our understandings, our questions, our creativity, our feelings, our humanity to work through our thinking about ourselves, about others, about the world in which we live” (p.35).

“The Writing-Drawing Connection”

Students use drawing to find writing (p.35-37)

“What do our students need to help them write well?”

Rief says that what students need to help them write well is time, choices, models, and response.  Students need time to consider their topics, to write and then rewrite and to get feedback while they are writing – write less, but write longer.  Students need to care about what they are writing about and to be part of the topic choices.  Students need good models of writing, which include literature in the styles of writing that is expected from them.  Students need conferences  and to get constructive comments to help the writer grow and move forward with their writing  (p. 37).

“What stands in the way of powerful writing instruction?”

According to Rief (p.37-38), what gets in the way of good writing instruction is testing, testing, testing and lack of tools.  Also mentioned were scripted (canned) lessons mandated for all students by all teachers at the same time, which does not account for multiple intelligences or differentiated instruction.  Rief says that another problem is the lack of professional development that focuses on writing, so teachers don’t know the best practices for teaching and implementing writing instruction. (p.38)