Increasing Engagement For Adolescent Writers

I recall a quote in newspaper a few years back regarding the teaching of writing. Professor Peter Knapp was quoted thus;

‘Kids come out of primary school without mastering the technical aspects of writing and yet secondary schools aren't equipped to teach writing or, in many cases, prepared to teach it.’

Let's unpack that statement a little...

There appears to be a persisting belief that Primary Schools are expected to teach students to read and write, and Secondary Schools can then focus on reading and writing to learn. This falsehood has persisted since my teacher training days –many decades ago!

It demonstrably fails to recognize the developmental nature of learning, and it certainly shows a disregard for students as learners.

We learn at different rates. We don’t all learn to tie our shoelaces on a predetermined day. Why would we assume that all learners reach the same developmental point at the conclusion of Grade 6- and why would we discontinue teaching them at their point of need?

Many Secondary Schools tend to approach writing from the position of reading followed by literary response. In other words- read this and then respond in writing. Or, here’s the topic, now write ME a page. Way too much in the way of cold start writing. No opportunity to rehearse, no think before ink. minimal discussion. No choice of topic or genre- total teacher control. The logical outcome of repeated doses of this type of writing experience is disengaged writers. It is wholly predictable. Teachers are coded for telling, not showing.

What these students need are teachers (in all subject areas) prepared to allow them to write for real world purposes, not merely to please a teacher. Students need teachers who demonstrate why writers write, as well as providing authentic modelling of how writing works best. They need regular exposure to modelling from their teachers in conjunction with exemplars from the wider literary world.
Teachers must enlist trusted mentor authors to be their unwitting collaborators in this critical work.

What does a good Science report look like? Show them. Ask them what they notice.
What does an effective essay look like? Show and discuss.
What makes a great memoir piece? Unpack some. Share your own examples
What are the elements that make this poem work/ Discuss and then try writing in the same style.
What are some ways a writer might respond to this issue?
What are these writers doing that we wish we could do as writers?

Each of these questions is firmly based in authentic practice. This is not contrived. This type of investigating increases the likelihood of increased student engagement. When we approach the teaching of writing from this perspective, we are less likely to get perfunctory student responses. I never write merely to practice a particular genre. I always start with an idea, a provocation and then begin to think about how I can best respond. Why do we not encourage this kind of ownership of writing among young writers?

When teachers stand next to their students and show them how real writing works, the inexperienced writer begins to witness the real power of language to influence student writing.

The power of the most proficient writer in the classroom needs to be better applied. The approach I am suggesting requires bold and daring teaching. It is easy to ‘tell’ students what you want them to do. For the quality in writing to improve in our Secondary Schools we must challenge the prevailing view of writing. Some teachers will tell you adolescent students hate writing. But maybe, just maybe they hate the kind of writing they are being made to do.

In contrast, the same article noted that at Blacktown Girls High School in Sydney’s west, writing had been placed at the centre of every lesson. What a bold and inspiring move this represented!

Approximately 70 per cent of the school’s student population come from families where English is not their first language. The majority are refugees with patchy schooling and, despite teachers’ best efforts, literacy had not been improving. ‘It’s more difficult to get kids to understand content if they can’t understand the writing,’ it was reported.

‘They’re not accessing the content of the curriculum unless they can write well, and their comprehension is very sound. We came at the problem from the point of view that people accept literacy is everybody’s responsibility and it should be taught across the curriculum, in every key learning area.’
Bravo, Blacktown Girls High School.

This highlights the critical place of writing within the curriculum.
Dr Mel Levine in his excellent book,'The Myth of Laziness' characterized writing thus:

‘Writing is the largest orchestra a child’s mind has to conduct. The fact that writing is so complex a task justifies its leading role in a curriculum.’

Writing also requires a deal of concentration and mental effort. Writing requires energy, focus and a level of tenacity. All these demands must then be synchronized to achieve writing success.

By writing regularly and across all curriculum areas students learn how to mesh multiple brain functions and ultimately that’s something you need to do efficiently. Writing helps build and maintain brain pathways that connect functions such as language, memory and motor control. So writing assists the students to practice being organized and effective.

Research indicates that in schools where writing holds a central place student writing skills lift and this has lead to an improvement in academic achievement across all subjects.

Teaching writing is not about telling students what to write, it is about showing students how to write- and how to write effectively in different genres, for different purposes, for different audiences, across different subject areas.

The more kids write, the more they interact with ‘words.’ Their word usage and their knowledge of grammar and punctuation improve, as does their spelling. This improvement takes place because teachers are actively teaching into the writing with explicit, mindful teaching based on the writing samples students are presenting.

Matters of sentence structure, grammar and punctuation needs to be addressed within the context of authentic literature, not as a separate entity. Not as grammar exercises. My own grandson has been regularly exposed to this type of low level pedagogy, much to my frustration. I cannot believe this type of disconnected 'teaching' persists in modern schooling. Textbook and worksheet driven exercises that have been proven to exact no real impact on the quality of writing students produce.

In schools where students are called upon to do a minimum amount of writing, it amounts to neglect. Writing, real writing, remains undernourished. Stamina for writing needs to be developed in the same way reading stamina is pursued. Regular opportunities to practice are essential. Equally, if schools increase the amount of writing time afforded student, they must increase reading time too. You cannot be a writer, unless you are a reader.

It remains quite easy to identify the problem. It is much harder to effect the change in pedagogy that brings about the sort of changes the teaching of writing deserves; our students deserve.