Writing in the classroom

Writing in the classroom

Some teachers doubt if there is any useful in-class work that could be done on writing, believing that it is essentially an individual activity. However, there are many possible steps. A student can learn to become a better writer by being actively encouraged and helped to follow through a series of preparatory steps before the final text is produced, and becoming more independently and transparently in future. For example, we could help learners:

. choose a topic

.choose a genre

.get ideas

.discuss ideas with others to get new perspectives

. select between ideas

. sequence ideas

.make notes, diagrams to help organize ideas

. find grammar and lexis suitable for the text

.study sample and model texts similar to what they want to write

.plan the organization of their text and draft a rough text

.get feedback on content and language use

.write a final version.

Planning classroom writing work

A typical route for classroom work on helping students to write might involve some or all of the following steps:

1. Introduce the topic. Get students interested by reading a text, showing pictures, etc.

2. Introduce and summarize the main writing task. Make sure students are clear what they have to do. They need to know the genre(letter?article?etc.), who they are writing and why.

3. Brainstorm ideas. Whole class: use the board to collect as many ideas as possible.

4. Fast-write. A very good way to overcome ‘blank page’ terror and get ideas flowing is to ‘fast write’.

5. Select and reject ideas. What’s worth leaving out?

6. Sort and order ideas. Start to plan structure of text by arranging ideas.

7. Focus on models.Help students to study samples of texts similar to the one they are writing.

8. Get feedback. At various points, you, other individual students or groups can read and make helpful comments and suggestions about a text.

9. Edit. Students carefully go through their own text, checking if it says what they want it to.

10. Prepare final text. Based on feedback, students write a finished text.

11. Readers. Mark a text. It is great when students can respond to it in some realistic way.

In many cases, the tasks we set out students will determine the kinds of activities and lesson stages that are appropriate. When selecting writing tasks, we must remember that the old school ‘write a story about ….’ represents only a very small part of a normal person’s writing. While ‘creative writing’ is often a great activity, we need to make sure that learners mainly get practice in the range of real-life writing tasks that they will face. Here are general ideas for real-world writing tasks.

.Write real letters. Think of real people to whom students can write, e.g. to Members of Parlament , to other schools, etc. Send them, get replies, write back.

.Publish your own newsletter, magazine, handout, etc. Class magazine, school magazine, fan newspaper, etc.

.Advertise (ideas, school events, products, etc.) Advertise around the school, around town.

.Write questionnaires and then use them out in the street. These can be written in English or in the learners’ own language. Write up the results.

.Apply for things, fill in forms register for things, etc. This can be done directly online if students have Internet access or printed out on paper.

Send comments, replies to discussions, reviews, etc. to web sites. There are now a wide number of discussions, message boards and newsgroups specifically for students or for special-interest groups. Many shop and consumer sites invite reader reviews of books, events.

Here are some examples of a few specific tasks:

. Write a guide book entry about your part of town.

.Write feedback and evaluation of a new product.

. Fill in a car-hire booking form.

. Write a review of a new game on computer forum message board.

. Write computer presentation slides.

. Write a letter in reply to a job application to arrange an interview.

Sometimes it can be hard for students to get enough good ideas to write about. Brainstorming is a way to get the ‘ideas creation engine’ running. It means ‘opening your mind and letting ideas pour out’. It also means not engaging that ‘checking’ part of your brain that too quickly dismisses things as stupid or useless. For this reason, it seems helpful to separate the ideas collection and the critical review of those ideas.

Here is a way to brainstorm in class: Write the topic or title in a circle in the middle of the board, tell students to call out anything that comes to mind connected with the topic, write up everything on the board. There should be no discussion or comments. People will call out ideas. You will write them up. It may take a while to get going, but after a bit, the ideas will probably start flowing. After a while there will be a lot to look back over. Invite students to select ideas they like and can use. Everyone should have something they can make use of.