In fact, they should be writing for anyone but you.
part 3 of 4
Let’s get real. If your students know their writing will be read by someone beyond the school building walls, they’ll sit up a little higher in their desks. They’ll be a little choosier with their words. They’ll be more careful with their punctuation, the flow of their ideas, the clarity of those ideas. I mean, we as teachers are important, but we’re not as important as people “out there in the real world.” This has been my experience anyway in my middle school ELA classroom.
So, in addition to giving my students lots of choices (read more here), and encouraging discussion of their topics (check out this post), I make sure my students know their writing will eventually be published or posted somewhere beyond my desk. As a result, I’m constantly on the lookout for destinations out in “the real world” for my students’ writing. Here’s a quick list I’ve come up with so far:
- in their Kidblog portfolio (or another blog platform) which can be read by other students in our school and in other schools that we connect to. (Follow me so you don’t miss my future posts on student blogging. I’m still new to it, but I can always share my experiences.)
- in a contest. Read my post about writing contests. I’ve covered five specific contests in my blog and will be adding several more. In addition to the occasional cash prize, students enjoy the validation of having their work recognized by unbiased readers.
- in the hallway, on a bulletin board or my class website. The simplest way to post work can be as effective as entering a contest. Keep that corkboard covered!
- on TeenInk.com. With parental permission, students may wish to publish online and receive comments back from other teen writers.
- in a newspaper or other publication. Each month during the school year, I ask one student to write a short article featuring school news to our local newspaper.
- in a local organization’s newsletter. Ask around in your community (check out historical societies, arts councils, libraries) to see if they have projects to which your students could contribute basic research, writing, or photography.
These are just a few ideas. As I think of more, I’ll post them. And yes, my students do learn how to write for an academic setting. After all, it’s important for them to get comfortable writing in that context. However, the academic discourse can’t be my primary focus if I want to create students who are exposed to the full spectrum of writing “the real world” has to offer.
This is the third of six posts about what works for me in my ELA classroom. I am by no means an expert in this endeavor, but want to share with and learn from other teachers about effective strategies for teaching writing.
The next steps I take with my students will be discussed in an upcoming post. I’ll be finishing that soon. Click the “like” button and share on social media if this has been helpful to you. Feel free to leave a comment (especially if you have authentic writing ideas!) and don’t forget to follow me to catch my next post. Thanks for reading!