Comments on: Tell me this is true http://anne.teachesme.com/2006/01/13/tell-me-this-is-true/ Comments, reflections and occasional brainstorms Thu, 20 Nov 2008 18:29:25 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.4-bleeding By: Bronwyn G http://anne.teachesme.com/2006/01/13/tell-me-this-is-true/#comment-425 Bronwyn G Sat, 14 Jan 2006 01:56:45 +0000 http://anne.teachesme.com/2006/01/13/tell-me-this-is-true/#comment-425 <a></a>P.S. In the report you cite, why do so few Americans talk about needing (1) problem solving skills and (2) knowledge of world history? I am sure these skills and this knowledge is conducive to good writing. P.S. In the report you cite, why do so few Americans talk about needing (1) problem solving skills and (2) knowledge of world history? I am sure these skills and this knowledge is conducive to good writing.

]]> By: Bronwyn G http://anne.teachesme.com/2006/01/13/tell-me-this-is-true/#comment-424 Bronwyn G Sat, 14 Jan 2006 01:55:17 +0000 http://anne.teachesme.com/2006/01/13/tell-me-this-is-true/#comment-424 <a></a>Dear Anne, I am reading The Neglected R now. I have read about the first-graders writing to the seniors by e-mail, and this is an encouraging use of technology by that school district. Also I have seen the proficiency rates for eighth-graders and twelfth-graders. It is a great shame that three-quarters of American students cannot write a decent piece of prose which is elaborated and interesting, especially in examination conditions where the first-final draft situation is perhaps unique. It is true that writing skills are important for college and university and post-secondary options which students may wish to pursue, indeed, are required to pursue, for their employment. I really enjoyed reading the Elaborated version of "Appleby House" and it is a good response to a prompt. It uses many features characteristic of good writing, especially in the jounrnalistic and imaginative (real estate) genres. Would all student pieces have something this good to say? I do hope so, especially over the next 12 years when today's first-graders go through the system. Blogging, as I have seen over the past few months, helps students present their writing to a worldwide/global audience. They have to consider many features to make it palatable to that audience and at the same time be true to their unique and culturally developed/constructed voices. The Neglected R pointed out that foreign languages and mathematics get their time, but why not composition? Composition is such an important thing - it is not so long ago that the liberal arts education was considered everything you need. If nothing else, it exposed writers to approved models which put ideas in their heads for their own writing and thinking. Springboards and scaffolding. What do you think about teachers being trained to write and to teach writing if it is to be compulsory for all American teachers? I will read the other two papers as soon as I can and make my comment on their main ideas then. Truly it is a very invigorating idea that writing should be taught in all subjects. I think good writing is preceded by good reading and good thinking and they all feed on one another. And blogs are one way of doing that for many students and staff. Dear Anne,

I am reading The Neglected R now. I have read about the first-graders writing to the seniors by e-mail, and this is an encouraging use of technology by that school district.

Also I have seen the proficiency rates for eighth-graders and twelfth-graders. It is a great shame that three-quarters of American students cannot write a decent piece of prose which is elaborated and interesting, especially in examination conditions where the first-final draft situation is perhaps unique. It is true that writing skills are important for college and university and post-secondary options which students may wish to pursue, indeed, are required to pursue, for their employment.

I really enjoyed reading the Elaborated version of “Appleby House” and it is a good response to a prompt. It uses many features characteristic of good writing, especially in the jounrnalistic and imaginative (real estate) genres. Would all student pieces have something this good to say? I do hope so, especially over the next 12 years when today’s first-graders go through the system.

Blogging, as I have seen over the past few months, helps students present their writing to a worldwide/global audience. They have to consider many features to make it palatable to that audience and at the same time be true to their unique and culturally developed/constructed voices. The Neglected R pointed out that foreign languages and mathematics get their time, but why not composition? Composition is such an important thing - it is not so long ago that the liberal arts education was considered everything you need. If nothing else, it exposed writers to approved models which put ideas in their heads for their own writing and thinking. Springboards and scaffolding.

What do you think about teachers being trained to write and to teach writing if it is to be compulsory for all American teachers?

I will read the other two papers as soon as I can and make my comment on their main ideas then. Truly it is a very invigorating idea that writing should be taught in all subjects. I think good writing is preceded by good reading and good thinking and they all feed on one another. And blogs are one way of doing that for many students and staff.

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