By Barbara Waara ED511 Professor Edge Teaching Writing in the 21st Century: Growing Writers and Purposeful Writing Instruction By Barbara Waara ED511 Professor Edge

Thinking about writing, historically, how were people taught to write, and what were they supposed to write about? In the past, writing was not emphasized. Writing was less personal. Today, there are a great many outlets for people to write: Facebook Twitter Snapchat Instagram Flip gram E-mail LinkedIn PPP Prezi People write much more often today and in a much more personal way than ever before. Whether they know it or not, they are fine tuning their skills and learning how to express their opinions even if in the briefest of messages.

For example: “I don’t know about you, but I am feeling 22.” @Harry_Styles

Today, student writers benefit from good writing instruction that includes these activities: Purposeful writing Student centered work Learn the connection between reading and writing Writing about what you know and taking ownership of your writing Guided writing with teachers and peers Writer’s workshop with clear guidelines Self-assessments Purpose worthy writing causes (found through technology) Missing puzzle piece

What was the last thing you wrote. In what context did you write it What was the last thing you wrote? In what context did you write it? What was your purpose? Who was your audience? Did you have time to revise?

The amazing thing about writing is the more you are actively involved with it: the more fulfilled you feel by the creative process, the more you learn about yourself, and the more you learn what it is that you believe. Without ever writing anything down, you may always be a recipient of someone else’s ideas never carving out your own place in the world.

Important men in history know how important it is to write down your ideas: Benjamin Franklin wrote the most influential and famous autobiography in US history. He felt writing was very important. He believed, “Either write something worth reading, or do something worth writing.”

Just look at the epitaph Benjamin Franklin wrote for his gravestone: “The Body of B. Franklin Printer; Like the Cover of an old Book Its Content torn out And stript of its lettering and Gilding, Lies here, Food for Worms. But the Work shall not be wholly lost: For it will, as he believ’d, appear once more In a new & more perfect Edition, Corrected and amended, By the Author.” The Book of Ages: The Life and Opinions of Jane Franklin by Jill Lepore

Here Benjamin Franklin compares God to an author who creates a person and perfects that person in the afterlife. This epitaph quite simply reveals what Benjamin Franklin thought about writing. When we write, we create. The point is words can be powerful. Powerful words helped to free a country from tyranny. Because words are so powerful, we should empower our students by creating excitement about writing in our classrooms for different purposes and in new, exciting ways. The most recent research shows that as educators, we can help our student writers write better if we focus on each person, individually.

So, as educators, how can we grow writers? The answer is to create our classrooms centered around the students and their writing through a writer’s workshop. A Writer’s Workshop should include: Clear expectations and guidelines A teacher/mentor who models his/her work; who gives positive feedback before, during, and after the writing process. Variety of writing assignments Safe classroom community self-assessment guidelines Portfolio Student led parent/teacher conference using a portfolio

What would a writer’s workshop look like in your classroom? It needs to be age appropriate. It needs to be structured. There needs to be interaction between you and the student or student and his/her peers. The educator leads the student through appropriate questions which leads the student further in his/her writing.

Preparing students for their writing needs into the future: Technical writing Persuasive writing Literary analysis writing Teaching kids to write more than just a summary or more than just writing lecture notes is very difficult. This article addresses these concerns and gives some solutions to this problem. Lawrence, Joshua Fahey, Emily Phillips Galloway, Soobin Yim, and Alex Lin. "Learning to Write in Middle School? Insights into Adolescent Writers' Instructional Experiences across Content Areas." Learning to Write in Middle School? Insights into Adolescent Writers' Instructional Experiences across Content Areas. Journal of Adolescent and Adult Literacy, 2013. Web. 12 Apr. 2016.

Tool Box– The next few slides are resources to help you create a writing classroom. Resource #1----Decoding Text Glass, Kathy Tuchman. Complex Text Decoded: How to Design Lessons and Use Strategies That Target Authentic Texts. Alexandria: ASCD, 2015. Print. In this book, there are examples to help you assist students respond to complex texts. For example, the Socratic Method is used as an example to develop critical thinking (Tuchman, 111). It is a great way to teach kids to learn how to debate without arguing. http://www.powershow.com/view1/1abdc3- ZDc1Z/Socratic_Questioning_powerpoint_ppt_presentation

Resource #2 The Writer’s Craft – “has rich writing assignments that becomes increasingly challenging” (Littell, T28). The Writer's Craft. Evanston, IL: McDougal, Littell, 1995. Print. Philosophy and Rationale Establishing a Writing Workshop Classroom Integrating the Language Arts Peer Sharing and Peer Response Collaborative and Cooperative Learning Assessment and Student Response to Writing

Resource #3- Supplementary Texts So We Read on: How the Great Gatsby Came to be and Why It Endures? By Maureen Corrigan Why read this book? If you love the Great Gatsby, you will love this book! Corrigan talks about the historical and cultural significance of Gatsby. Her analysis is so insightful and will really influence how you to teach the book! Corrigan analyzes why the Great Gatsby is a work of genius. Fitzgerald’s use of language is a great study. His use of mythological, literary, and historical symbolism illustrates what a rich text the Great Gatsby is. Corrigan, Maureen. So We Read On: How The Great Gatsby Came to Be and Why It Endures. New York Boston London: Little Brown, 2014. Print.

Resource #4—Make writing a Habit! The Creative Writer’s Notebook This is a great resource because it has a variety of writing assignments and it shows you how to model your writing after famous authors. For example, write a scene in the 1st person from the perspective of one character; then, write the scene in the third person; lastly, write a dialogue between them. This is an example of Virginia Woolf’s writing style. In her story, Orlando, she writes from both the male and female perspective within the same character (Gillard, 18). Or Write a six-word short story in the style of Ernest Hemingway (Gillard, 48). Write an interior monologue in the style of James Joyce. Don’t worry about punctuation or grammatical rules. Gillard, John. The Creative Writer's Notebook: A Creative Journal for Fiction Writers. New York: Metro, 2015. Print.

Resource #5 Writing Across Content Areas This article by Douglas Fisher and Nancy Frey is about blocking some time to do bigger projects to study genre, structure, mechanics and voice. The article encourages power writing. Writing everyday in a quick manner to get valuable daily practice in. Also, the article states that writing after learning a subject helps one to remember what he/she has read. That this should be done across content areas. Fisher, Douglas, and Nancy Frey. "A Range of Writing Across the Content Areas." - Fisher. The Reading Teacher, 2013. Web. 12 Apr. 2016.

Video Game Design Greg Kehring introduces how to use video game design into an English lesson. He gets the kids to write storylines for video games, journal write the process, peer edit each others’ games, and lastly to write a review on each others’ video game designs. This is really exciting! It helps the kids to create something they care about and to practice different types of writing skills. www.gamestarmechanic.com Kehring, Greg. "National Writing Project." Tech Tools for Teachers, by Teachers: Video Game Design in the Classroom -. Wisconsin English Journal, 2011. Web. 12 Apr. 2016.

Graphic Novel “New literacies offer a way for educators to think about the shifts in literacy brought on by the explosion of technology use and changing social practices associated with communicating in a global world” (Brown, 2). The graphic novel is a great way to engage students in language while learning complex texts. Here is Macbeth as a graphic novel. Students can learn to create their own. Brown, Sally. "A Blended Approach to Reading and Writing Graphic Stories." Home | International Literacy Association. The Reading Teacher, 2013. Web. 12 Apr. 2016.

Affinity Spaces “Young people are increasingly using online spaces to collaborate and communicate” (Curwood, Magnifico, Lammers). The idea is to use technology that the kids already like to use in the English classroom. Flipagram is an example of using technology and language to engage your students. Prezi and storyboard are other examples. Curwood, Jen Scott, Alecia Marie Magnifico, and Jayne C. Lammers. "Writing in the Wild: Writers’ Motivation in Fan-Based Affinity Spaces." - Curwood. Journal of Adolescent and Adult Literacy, 2013. Web. 12 Apr. 2016.

What are the benefits of living in the 21st Century? You get to live in a time where what you say matters. History doesn’t just record the life and death of important men, or military conquests, or large human catastrophes. Today, anyone who lives anywhere can make a lasting impact with his or her words. The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin showed that a person from very common means could become something great. It was a game changer. But let’s look at his sister, Jane, for inspiration.

Benjamin Franklin had a sister named Jane who he wrote to all of his life. Their correspondence is interesting because it reveals how different their lives were and how history treated them differently. She is virtually unknown in history. She saved his letters and preserved them. Her letters to him were not preserved and are now lost. Much of what she had to say about her life is unknown to us simply because people in history did not deem her life significant. Her life was only important as it was connected to her famous brother’s life. In the 21st Century, her life has become important, at least, a woman by the name of Jill Lepore decided to write a book about Jane, and about Jane’s writings and what they revealed about her.

The Book of Ages by Jane (Franklin) Mecom This book discusses Jane and her own, Book of Ages. How she wrote down only the most significant life events like death and birth in her own book with the paper she made herself. Lepore compares Jane’s only known writings with that of her famous brother. Her life was focused on who came and left her life through birth and death. These are very different from what Ben wrote. Through Lepore’s vision of Jane, one has a better picture of not only what life was like for women like Jane, but a better picture of who Benjamin Franklin himself was like.

According to Lepore, early in our US history, the subject of nonfiction was, most typically, about men; the subject of fiction was about women. Women were not encouraged or even trusted to read history (Lepore, ). Lepore is pointing out an interesting fact about writing: how what we write about has changed, how it gets written, how it is preserved---reveals a lot about our culture. We write what is important to us. Our culture tends to record what is important and if it is recorded accurately or not. “In the eighteenth century, history and fiction split. Benjamin Franklin’s life entered the annals of history; lives like his sister’s became the subject of fiction. Histories of great men, novels of little women” (Lepore). Words are so important, that whoever preserves them gets to keep or change them at will. Jane’s words are lost; but the historian who recorded them, wrote them down his way: “Sorrows roll upon me like waves of the sea. I am broken with breach upon breach, and I have now, in the first flow of my grief, been almost ready to say, ‘What have I more?’ But God forbid, that I should indulge that thought, though I have lost another child.” God is sovereign, and I submit” (Lepore). In the 21st Century, hopefully, your words are your own and not lost to some historian.

Reading various types of literature helps us to write our own stories and to see value in our own experiences. The House on Mango Street The Liar’s Club By Sandra Cisneros By Mary Karr The Road from Coorain by Jill Conway

How will your words be preserved. Who will preserve them How will your words be preserved? Who will preserve them? What will historians say about them? Writing exercise: Think of 5 unique experiences about your life that would make for interesting writing: Write them down and share with a peer. Now, think of 5 common experiences you share with your peers that would help others to understand your generation better. Write these down and share with a peer. Did you find you have more things in common with your peers, or do you live a unique life? Either way, you may have a novel or memoir ready to go! All that is left to do is to start writing! Will your voice stand out or will it blend in? What about your students’ voices?

That leads us to more questions: Is the United States a mosaic or a melting pot? Do all of our voices blend together like a melting pot? Or Do our voices stand out like the colors of a mosaic picture each adding to the beauty of the image? The classroom is a great place to explore these topics!

Finding your voice in the 21st Century----------------------------------------------------------can be authentic and impactful Here is an example of a bio poem from one of my students: Cierra Creative, adventurous, goal-oriented Daughter of a soldier, sister of a younger brother Who loved exploration, knowledge and peace Who hated corruption, loved to inform, loved to laugh Who feared ignorance, feared a decaying environment, feared an ever growing callous media Who challenged peers to explore new ideas, overcame grief, embarked on the journey of adulthood Who wanted to visit Umoja, Kenya, wanted to achieve peak fitness and health, wanted to develop a more conscientious lifestyle Born in Flint, MI, living in Ironwood, MI DePottey

Works Cited Brown, Sally. "A Blended Approach to Reading and Writing Graphic Stories." Home | International Literacy Association. The Reading Teacher, 2013. Web. 12 Apr. 2016. Corrigan, Maureen. So We Read On: How The Great Gatsby Came to Be and Why It Endures. New York Boston London: Little Brown, 2014. Print. Curwood, Jen Scott, Alecia Marie Magnifico, and Jayne C. Lammers. "Writing in the Wild: Writers’ Motivation in Fan-Based Affinity Spaces." - Curwood. Journal of Adolescent and Adult Literacy, 2013. Web. 12 Apr. 2016. Fisher, Douglas, and Nancy Frey. "A Range of Writing Across the Content Areas." - Fisher. The Reading Teacher, 2013. Web. 12 Apr. 2016. Gillard, John. The Creative Writer's Notebook: A Creative Journal for Fiction Writers. New York: Metro, 2015. Print. Glass, Kathy Tuchman. Complex Text Decoded: How to Design Lessons and Use Strategies That Target Authentic Texts. Alexandria: ASCD, 2015. Print. Kehring, Greg. "National Writing Project." Tech Tools for Teachers, by Teachers: Video Game Design in the Classroom -. Wisconsin English Journal, 2011. Web. 12 Apr. 2016. LaPlante, Alice. The Making of a Story: A Norton Guide to Creative Writing. New York: W.W. Norton, 2007. Print. Lawrence, Joshua Fahey, Emily Phillips Galloway, Soobin Yim, and Alex Lin. "Learning to Write in Middle School? Insights into Adolescent Writers' Instructional Experiences across Content Areas." Learning to Write in Middle School? Insights into Adolescent Writers' Instructional Experiences across Content Areas. Journal of Adolescent and Adult Literacy, 2013. Web. 12 Apr. 2016. "National Writing Project." National Writing Project. N.p., 2016. Web. 12 Apr. 2016. Writing Intention: Prompting Professional Learning through Student Work. Grand Rapids, MI: Michigan Reading Association, 2007. Print. The Book of Ages: The Life and Opinions of Jane Franklin by Jill Lepore Images by www.bing.com