TAW
“What do I need to write in cursive for?” Ali asked me while we worked on her writing. “Why do I have to write at all? Can’t I just tell you what I want to say and you can write it? I CAN’T do it! I never learned it!” “No, Ali, you can do this. I’m here if you need help, but this is your writing not mine.”
In Kelley Gallagher’s book Teaching Adolescent Writers, weaknesses in the school systems literacy programs are revealed. Illiteracy is still a very real problem in the United States, whether we choose to face that reality or not, it is very real. Students are falling through the cracks, reaching high school grade levels, even graduating while hiding a secret of some level of illiteracy. Can they read? Can they write? Can they do both well? Gallagher offers statistics in Teaching Adolescent Writers that says they cannot and they do not. Students do not write well enough to make them successful in the ‘real world’ of careers and they even fall short of requirements for graduate degrees. Students are simply not delivering. But their education isn’t delivering to them so how is this “problem” addressed and not addressed?
Write. Write. Write and write some more. Students need practice. I remember in high school when I was assigned (in my opinion) ridiculous amounts of writing. Granted it was a writing class but the expectations were enormous. We had requirements for our writing assignments also, a sort of check list to include certain kinds of words, have a certain number of different kinds of endings. I hated it. I only did it because seeing a big fat ‘F’ on my paper scared me. But my hate was as genuine as it comes-pure and simple. Looking back, that class and all that writing, the requirements and the mass amount made me a better writer.
Gallagher is right in suggesting public schools enhance their approach to teaching writing. From what the reports show, most schools are behind and have needs for implementing change. It is the responsibility of the educational system, including parents and the student themselves, to make sure the students are making a successful transition and prepared transition from school to higher education, or into the professional world, with sound skills in literacy.
-Sentence Stalking:
Encourage comprehension monitoring by modeling “think alouds” to identify what is and isn’t understood.
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