Professional Documents
Culture Documents
That there is a marked difference in aesthetics and tone between ‘O.K.,’ ‘OK,’ Ok,’
‘okay,’ ‘k,’ and ‘k.’ (lowercase ‘k’ with a period after to more abruptly stop the
thought) underscores the versatility of language–written or otherwise.
Then adding in the truth that writing isn’t a single act but a sequence of acts–and thus
a process–writing becomes complex to teach, and writing well becomes nearly
impossible to do anything but vaguely describe and encourage.
As teachers of writing we can only say, ‘Here are some things great writers do, so let’s
pick a few of those things to practice and see what happens and then I’ll grade your
attempts. Sound fun?’
While writing is incredibly complex, like any act its success must be measured most
broadly by clarifying its effect. What is it supposed to do?
It’s difficult to evaluate a school unless we know what a school is supposed to do.
Even if there’s no single standard, there has to be some kind of agreement of function
and purpose.
How can we assess the economy as ‘doing well’ or ‘doing poorly’ without knowing
what an economy is supposed to do? What it’s capable of and how it’s intended to
function? The same with a politician. Or a coat. Or an app or the accuracy of a
meteorologist. ‘Good’ and ‘bad’ are worthless descriptions without some kind of
‘standard.’
Purpose: What is this writing supposed to ‘do’? If I do it well, what will I notice? How
should it affect my audience?
Examples: What examples or exemplary models exist that I can learn from and use to
guide my own efforts?
It obviously can get way, way more complicated than this, and depending on who
you’re teaching writing to and why, you and your students may need to grapple with
that complexity.
T.A.P.E.
https://www.teachthought.com/literacy/pre-writing-strategy-works-every-student-every-time/?
fbclid=IwAR1aojn4J9yiGLWWkOXGB069X1Mt_p58t5BcY2dOtxPmMVcSOLZNFcvRA8s