The Three W's...Writing, Writing, Writing...

"I heard from my teachers that 'practice makes perfect', but then they told me that no one is perfect, so I stopped practicing..." - Jeff Foxworthy, comedian

Just before Thanksgiving break, North administered a practice ACT writing test to all juniors. The test was scored by teachers of our English and social studies departments, and copies of each student's writing, and their scores on the ACT writing rubric were sent home to parents of each student, given to the student's English teacher, and copied to 100 Club mentors. The ACT rubric is a 6 point scale, and each paper is read by two scorers. Their combined score is the student's ACT writing score. In looking for combined scores of 8 or above (two scores of "4" or higher by each reader), we realized we still have a ways to go to make sure our juniors are prepared as writers. The absolute best strategy for improving writing is practice. Practice writing, even without feedback, improves the thought process important to producing good work.

North English teacher and North Pointe advisor, Andrew Taylor, provided me this "tip sheet" from Roy Peter Clark at http://www.poynter.org/column.asp?id=78&aid=173999&view=print for teachers to use in improving student writing. Most, if not all, of these strategies can also be employed by parents who want to support their son or daughter's evolution as a writer:

The best writing teachers:
Encourage students to write every day. Students should spend some time writing in class, where the teacher can see them write or not write.

Do not mark up and grade every assignment. Grading papers is thankless drudgery for teachers; trying to interpret those marks is punishment for students. The good writing teacher develops a rich variety of ways of assessing student work.

Write, on occasion, with and for the students. A writing teacher cannot just talk about writing. The teacher needs to be in the game, demonstrating how writers solve problems.

Teach writing as a process. By now an old idea, but still undervalued by teachers who tell students what to write about and then correct all the students' mistakes.

Confer with student writers throughout the process. The teacher should spend some class time on being a resource to the student writers, an inquisitive editor who asks good questions and listens.

Connect reading and writing. The idea is not just to read literature for content and theme, but to come to understand the strategies professional authors use and pass them on to students.

Get students to talk, talk, talk about reading and writing. Writing workshops require moments of concentrated silence, but it's not all "shut up and sit down." Teachers must inspire classroom conversation about how reading and writing make sense.

Offer appropriate praise and encouragement -- as well as correction. Teachers, especially journalism teachers, seem much better at communicating what is wrong with a text than what is right, what needs work rather than an appreciative understanding of what works.

Give opportunities for revision. Good teachers attend to the three big parts of the process: prevision or rehearsal; vision or early drafting; and revision.

Never use writing as a form of punishment. Remember what happened in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix to the evil pink nightmare, headmistress Dolores Umbridge, who concocted the most wicked form of writing punishment -- letters carved in blood on the backs of their hands.
Teach skills, like spelling and grammar, within the context of writing. Teachers may be required to teach skills through specific lessons and drills. Fair enough, but at least use real writing to test whether students have mastered the elements of English.

Believe that all students, not just the "stars" can improve their writing. Writing coach Jack Hart argues persuasively that we teach reading as a democratic social skill, something that every person should learn; but we continue to frame writing as if it were a fine art.

We must all work in partnership to prepare our students as writers. With the onset of the digital age, more and more communication takes place in writing over the internet. Social networking pages for social interaction and the workplace, distance learning, working from home or remote locations - all require people to communicate effectively in writing. If you would like more information about assisting your son or daughter be a more effective writer, please feel free to contact his/her English teacher at North, or me directly. Write, write, and write some more, and don't worry if you aren't confident in your own writing and editing, after all - "Most editors are failed writers - but so are most writers. " ~T.S. Eliot