First of all, after reading this chapter, I have come to a conclusion. There are many different types of writing, and different purposes for writing that will shape the content and formality. What students really need to be able to do is adjust their writing to fit the purpose. This means that they will need practice doing all kinds of writing, both formal and informal, school related and personal. Students should also be able to do writing using both pen and paper, and digitally.
One part of this chapter that stood out to me on a personal level what the part about how many students don't feel that they have received adequate preparation for writing at a college level. I can definitely relate to that because I felt the same way when I entered college out of high school. I was completely overwhelmed when I did my first research paper in college. It was the first time I have ever been asked to do one, and the teacher expected us to already have an idea of how to do it. There should have been a whole course dedicated to teaching how to cite resources, and how to research, but we were thrown into it with very little direction.
And the ever so popular, and often forgotten, OUTLINE, for the five paragraph essay. Why didn't I see that before college? I'm sure some people did, but I was completely lost when I saw that for the first time.
Lastly, and I touched on this in my first paragraph, but I think allowing students to do different types of writing in class will eliminate the common hatred for writing. Until college, the only writing experiences I had were writing essays and paragraphs, summaries and reflections. We never got to write anything that was fun, something that was for our eyes only, or something where we didn't have to worry about spelling, punctuation, or level or formality. It is exhausting trying to write a paper without using I or you, so no wonder it was no fun. I also think students should be presented with several different strategies for writing and planning. People think differently, so asking everyone to follow the same planning format is ridiculous. Like for me, an outline is not helpful. I like to just freewrite first, and pull certain ideas from it to reorganize into a proper paper. And this is usually how I ended up with my final products, but I was always forced to do an outline which just ended up being extra work, and something I couldn't do until my paper was completely written. That really defeats the purpose, and has soured my experiences with writing.
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I agree with you completely. There are so many types of writing that students are never taught to do. I, fortunately,was blessed with a teacher in high school who prepared me fully for research papers. She made us do a research paper our junior and senior year. I am really worried about the professional writing that we may be required to do when we become a teacher. I do not feel that I am adequately prepared to write a memo or things of that nature. I know some people do not like to prewrite, but I was taught to use graphic organizers or prewriting as a tool in high school. I find this helpful in my writing. One thing to keep in mind is the fact that you didn't like to prewrite when you were in school, but you were required to do so. When we become teachers, we need to remember these things so that we do not put our students through the same experiences. We could give them the option to do what helps them best as a writer, but show them the different ways.
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