Different Types of Writing*
*Disclaimer: For this presentation I am only talking about these 3 types of writing as there are more.
Traditional WritingIn traditional classrooms the teacher stands in the front of the classroom and writes notes for students to copy pretty much all day, regardless of student feedback or student engagement.
You may have had a very traditional writing classroom where you were taught to subjugate verbs, label sentence parts, and memorize rules for writing. Many teachers even now still use very traditional practices. You may have seen teachers who have every student follow all 5 steps of the Writing Process all together. And honestly, teachers use it because it is easy to follow. Even the writing process has been updated to seem less traditional. The problem with this, in my opinion, is that everybody doesn't work at the same pace, it doesn't allow for any choice of expression. It sucks all the life and joy of writing if you have to sit and wait for everyone else to catch up, or if you're the student playing with big ideas and you're not ready to move to the next step. |
Writers WorkshopIn 2006, Lucy Calkins was involved with the Reading and Writing Project at Colombia University in New York city. There she developed a Writing Workshop method of writing instruction.
This method of instruction focuses on the goal of fostering lifelong writers. It is based upon four principles.
You still use the writing process but in a different format. This new method allowed students to become very actively engaged in their writing because it was real, it was about them. It also drove their instruction. Whatever the student was having difficulty with, the teacher would teach mini-lessons on. It created writers who wrote out of passion and not simply because it was a homework assignment. This workshop model has a very specific outline. Students have a large amount of choice in their topic and style of writing. The teacher acts as a mentor author, modeling writing techniques and conferring with students as they move through the writing process. Direct writing instruction takes place in the form of a mini-lesson at the beginning of each workshop and is followed by a minimum of 45 minutes of active writing time. Each workshop ends with a sharing of student work. |
21st century WritingThe term 21st century skills refers to a broad set of knowledge, skills, work habits, and character traits that are believed—by educators, school reformers, college professors, employers, and others—to be critically important to success in today’s world, particularly in collegiate programs and contemporary careers and workplaces. Generally speaking, 21st century skills can be applied in all academic subject areas, and in all educational, career, and civic settings throughout a student’s life.
21st century writing talks about how you integrate not just technology into your writing, but how you use it problem solve, to communicate (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram) and how to navigate it. |