Teaching writing is a challenge. Teaching is a challenge, but we’ll tackle one subject at a time. 😉
Did you know that in 2007, 70% of students in grades four through twelve have been designated as low-achieving writers?
(from Writing Next, Graham and Perin 2007)
I found this astonishing fact while reading Write Like This by Kelly Gallagher. What I found even more fascinating is that he challenges the Common Core Standards as limiting.
Limiting!
Some of us are struggling to get our students to meet the rigor of these standards. However, I see where he’s going with this and I am nodding an emphatic yes, Kelly! He is saying that if we are only teaching our students to pass a state standardized test (I’m looking at you, Florida!), then are they going to grow up to be proficient in the kind of writing they will need to do as an adult?
A few weeks ago, I conducted an extremely informative writing survey with my email subscribers addressing the struggles we face as writing teachers. The candid honesty was spot on and the patterns were distinct. I’ve used these responses in hopes to share what I’ve learned about teaching writing. I’ve used these responses to help identify real solutions to our real problems when it comes to teaching writing on the day-to-day.
Over the next 6 weeks, we are diving into the major obstacles we face when teaching writing.
Before I go any further, here’s my disclaimer: The tips and strategies I share with you in any of the posts are strategies I have tried in my own classroom. They are simply ideas to help fill your toolbox with strategies to meet the needs of the variety of students that enter your classroom every year. Each post is not meant to be-all and end-all. I tried to keep the posts short with clear, actionable strategies that you could implement easily without becoming overwhelmed. They are a snapshot of possibilities in the ELA classroom.
Make sense? Cool. Moving on.
When looking at the responses, the same issues were said over and over again. This means we are NOT alone! If one person said it, at least one more said it. I organized the responses and issues into 6 categories. These 6 categories will be the topics of the Summer Writing Series every Wednesday for the next 6 weeks here on the blog. You can remember it by thinking “Hey, it’s Writing Wednesday!” 😉
Who knows? Maybe we’ll make it a thing throughout the school year.
I can’t wait to dive into these topics! 🙂
See you Wednesday!
