The following post was written by Mitch Nobis and Michelle Haseltine, facilitators of this Sunday’s #nctechat on Twitter.
The first entry in NCTE’s Beliefs about the Teaching of Writing could be paraphrased as “The first rule of Write Club is that, yes, you should talk about Write Club because everyone can join, and teachers can help you get better at it.” The overarching question for us is how? How do we teach writing? How do we help students become better writers?
The NCTE Beliefs about the Teaching of Writing can guide us and our students through the complicated world of writing. Published in 2004, these beliefs support teachers and continue to be relevant today in an era of quickly multiplying digital modes of writing. Of course, those modes include Twitter, so please join #nctechat this Sunday, July 19 at 8 PM ET as we discuss the Beliefs about the Teaching of Writing and how we apply them in our lives as writers and teachers.
Though our conversation may naturally head in various directions, we hope to consider questions like the following:
- How can teachers help students “jump in” and learn to write by writing?
- What practices reinforce writing as a process, not a product?
- How can we help students understand the role of audience and purpose when writing?
- Reading informs writing, so how do we help students make those connections and apply what they see when they read?
- How was writing changed for students in the past 5-10 years? How has that impacted your writing instruction and the classroom?
- How can you use the NCTE Beliefs about the Teaching of Writing in your practice? How can they support our work in 2015?
- What kind of administrative support helps with the teaching of writing?
- How do we assess all of this authentically and fairly?