This Isn’t English, Why are We Writing?!

Peggy Corbett
Oct 20, 2008

Heard often in classrooms: "I know the answer but I can't explain it!" The problem here is a student who suffers from messy thinking, and the simple answer to clearing that confusion might be writing. Research has proven that writing crystallizes cloudy thinking, yet teachers often miss opportunities to provide students a venue for becoming aware of what they know and do not know. Another missed opportunity arises from a misunderstanding of types of writers. What many mistake as writer's block is actually a block in thinking. Dianne Boehm simplifies this concept in her book Mozartians, Beethovians, and the Art of Teaching Writing. She describes writers as either Mozartians or Beethovians. Beethovians are discoverers who discover what they think during the writing process. They actually generate their ideas as they write. These writers are very messy writers who write in a non-directed way. This writing almost always needs a great deal of revision. Mozartians, by contrast, are planners. They mentally compose before they ever put pen to paper, working in a linear way focusing on what comes next. They tend to recall what they know and organize that information as they write. Their revision process is not as broad because they have mentally composed, revised, and edited throughout the composition process. Either type of writer is using writing in a way that contributes to learning and understanding.

The implications in all classrooms are the same. Writing is the ideal vehicle for getting at what students understand and do not understand. Junior Teague wrote that "nothing is so simple that it cannot be misunderstood." All teachers have an amusing personal anecdote that illustrates the truth of this statement. The stories lose their humor, however, when we are honest about how much misinformation escapes our notice. Students are gifted at staying below the radar of our formative assessments, but writing pulls back the curtain.

Writing can help content area teachers in their efforts to provide students with opportunities to connect prior knowledge. It provides ideal summarizing strategies that benefit the student and the teacher with shared insights to understanding. Writing helps students organize their thinking, create new knowledge, and make tentative ideas become permanent ones. Learning-Focused offers a powerful one-day Writing Assignments workshop that explores immediate strategies for teachers who are ready to use writing as a way to facilitate learning in the content area classrooms. Teachers of all disciplines identify the essential content and key concepts they want students to master and leave the workshop with immediate writing-to-learn strategies that build critical thinking skills and help students learn and retain crucial information. Importantly, participants also learn the criteria for informal and formal writing assignments that assess learning without adding a burdensome paper load to their day.