Power to the Writer

The Teaching of Writing: In High School

            The power of writing is not to be underestimated. Discovering the authority and pleasure of your written voice can become one of the most utilized assets in ones repertoire. There is a certain freedom that students should feel when they are writing, and as a future educator I feel that it’s my need to influence my students that their voices are worth being heard off paper and on it as well. Writing invokes a critical facet within the confines of the writer’s mind, which in turn can be inspiring and brilliant. Teaching students writing has its prescriptive and descriptive manner; and that prescriptive manner is the portion of writing that will grant you the moans and groans of your students. For most cases the two are separated into warring factions, when in an ideal world the two should be harmoniously established together. As the articles at hand display a treaty between the two pedagogies, they also stress that teachers must tap into the creativity of students and encourage them to think critically about topics with focused writing activities especially with the demands with that of secondary education. The voice writing gives students cannot be ignored and should thus be encouraged.

            The first article interacted written by Karl Hagan poses the two interests with both the descriptive and descriptive forms of language at utilizing them in writing. Hagan points out that there is a place for both description and prescription in language study. For example, when adults learn a foreign language, they typically want someone to tell them how to speak, in other words to prescribe a particular set of rules to follow, and expect a teacher or book to set forth those rules (Hagan, 4). But how do teachers know what rules to prescribe? At some point in time, someone had to describe the language and infer those rules. Hagan argues within the article “Prescriptive vs. Descriptive” that at some point in time someone had to describe the language and infer those rules. So prescription in other words can only occur after the language has been described. In the real world, prescriptivists accuse descriptivists of being anarchists who want to do away with all rules of language. While descriptivists accuse prescriptivists of uninformed biases (Hagan, 5).  With each side attempting to validate their positions, Grammar textbooks used in K-12 education often neglect the findings of linguistics and instead copy outdated, factually incorrect material from older textbooks. The hostility between prescriptivism and descriptivism originates in a difference in focus: scientific study versus teaching. But that difference hardly explains why the two groups are so hostile (Hagan, 7). This quarrel does not occur in other disciplines. One reason may be the emotional investment we all have in language: Perhaps, even more so in our writing. Since it is the physical evidence of our language. Hence, the reason people are so much more offended about written critiques over what is vocalized. The power of writing is not to be underestimated. Hagan has raised valid intricacies within language that can easily be applied to writing. Which involves deep questions of who we are and how we envision our relationship with society at large. For that reason, pronouncements about language can provoke strong reactions (Hagan, 9). When someone tells us that the way we use or understand language is inadequate, it's only natural to bristle. A challenge to our language can be synonymous to a challenge to our inner selves. So when disagreements arise over how we use language and writing, the emotional stakes are higher.

            In the article “The Power of Voice” Susan Lee Anderson drives the sentiment that voice is the key to helping our students develop into writers. We must give them opportunities to hear their own written voices and the written voices of their peers, their teachers, and the best authors. Students who write with confidence will be more open to strategies that allow them to express their written voice. Students must be comfortable taking risks with language, genre, and topic choice because they know that everyone else in the class is ready to be amazed at their linguistic creativity, and any kind of writing. Not just imaginative writing, but writing that involves linguistic creativity, and the exercise of verbal intelligence (Anderson, 151).

                  What strategies can teachers use to help students write boldly? Utilizing quick writes to teach students to launch their voices and outrun the inner censor. Using literature persuades students develop the habit of producing language on the page without much forethought or stress. Free writing and quick writing help students develop the habit of writing without hesitation. Once students allow themselves to enter a flow of language, they begin thinking in a concentrated way that only systematic use of language makes possible (Anderson, 151). According to Anderson irresistible voices all deliver interesting information. They often employ techniques of narrative, exhibit perceptivity, and offer surprising information and observations. Quite often, they demonstrate a sense of humor. As readers, we crave information. We read to find out how a character changes, how a plot turns out, how historical events have shaped our present, how people live in other parts of the world. Show students how to gather information about their writing topics (Anderson, 151). Make sure that you and your students read novels and stories not just as readers but also as writers (Anderson, 151). It seems that every technique of strong narrative writing illustrated in literature encloses interesting characterizations, vivid scenes, realistic dialogue, and precise descriptions. Spend time with your students talking about how writers write. Anderson iterates students should talk about the surprises they experience on the playground, in the busy hallways between classes, and in their study of science and history and math. Point out how writers spring surprises on readers. Encourage students to craft their writing so that readers encounter surprises, just as the writer did. As educators the student must understand that a sense of humor can be one of the most effective strategies to lie on the table. Discuss with students the jokes; puns, and kidding that are a natural part of our interactions with others. Some students might choose to start experimenting with humor in their written voices (Anderson, 151).

                  Times have changed, and the role of teachers in the classroom has too. No longer can teachers be effective without incorporating technology into their lessons. For some, the thought of using computers, WebQuests, or Promethean Boards is a daunting proposition. There’s irony in many of today's curricular standards and teaching practices, which shy away from those technologies and literacies, opting for a push toward more traditional approaches at a time when our digitally native students are immersed in and engaging with "multiple sign systems (image, print, sound, gesture, digital) and finding their own reasons for becoming literate" (Wolsey, 236). If you are looking for a way to introduce your students to multimedia projects, try using Power Point. It is a very easy program to teach and learn. Students can practice copying and pasting pictures and text from the Internet, and experiment with colors and text effects. Once they have completed their project, students can present their finished work by showing their work slide-by-slide or having the PowerPoint presentation run like a movie. I have used Power Points to have students complete debates, book reports and multi-step projects. Before students begin work on these projects, I create a rubric that requires a specific number of slides, pictures, music etc . . . so that students know what I am expecting. I also evaluate how well the student used the available special effects. 

                  There is a new program called "Lit Trips" that is great for practically any content area. Fellow teachers create the specific topic. Each trip contains numerous activities, discussion questions, pictures and even music.  My “trip” was with "The Kite Runner."  Using Google Earth, the trip mapped out the entire book chapter-by-chapter.  Within the trip, students were able to listen to music, take 3-D tours of historical buildings, and see up to date pictures of the cities.  The “Lit Trip” is a fun and interactive way for students to learn about the text and go beyond classroom discussion. Depending on the age of your students, you may be able to let them explore the trip on their own. Otherwise, you could create a specific list of questions they have to answer, or places they have to visit. Another easy way to prepare your students for using technology is to start a blog. Blogs are an interactive way for students to communicate their ideas. The blog can be used for regular classroom assignments. After students have read a piece of literature or completed an assignment, they can comment on the classroom blog. This was a particular success with students who were afraid to share ideas in class. Using the blog, these students could communicate in a more comfortable environment. Once a week we would review the comments and questions in class. An additional benefit to using the blog format is that the same one can be used for several classes so that students can share ideas with students who aren't in their class.

                  In conclusion becoming a good writer doesn’t happen overnight, but if you take the time to build a foundation, your students will become proficient in the essential writing skills they will need to succeed in college and beyond. Once we get students producing written words with confidence, we can show them the effectiveness of writing with detail and sensory images, varying sentence length, and using active verbs. We must remember that language is "living".  That means it keeps changing because of the way it is spoken.  Rules are set down, but then speakers of a language use their own phrases, they invent new phrases etc.  No one can stop these changes from happening nor should they.  Thusly, the teaching of writing must be utilized for the well being of the students.  

                   

Works Cited

Anderson, Susan Lee. "The Power of Voice." ProQuest LLC (2009). ERIC. Web. 21 Oct. 2012.

Hagan , Karl . "Navigating English Grammar." Navigating English Grammar. (2008): 4-11. Web. 21 Oct. 2012. <http://www.polysyllabic.com. Web. 21 Oct. 2012.

Roybal, Richard A. "Creating Critical Thinking Writers In Middle School: A Look At The Jane Schaffer Model." Online Submission (2012): ERIC. Web. 22 Oct. 2012.

Wolsey, Thomas DeVere, and Dana L. Grisham. Transforming Writing Instruction In The Digital Age: Techniques For Grades 5-12. Teaching Practices That Work Series. n.p.: Guilford Publications, 2012. ERIC. Web. 22 Oct. 2012.