Writing Process - Guiding Today's Students

How I was taught to write.

5 paragraphs.
Introduction. Evidence 1. Evidence 2. Evidence 3. Conclusion
Each paragraph needs to have 5 sentences.
Has to be done right now.
Finish in 30 minutes.
Teacher only is going to read it and give feedback.

Product this produced.

A reluctant writer.
Never writing on my own but thought of it as "a school process."
Belief of "I am not a writer."
Nobody would want or need to read what I have to say.
The people who identify as writers, were born that way.

How I am trying to teach writing.

5-minute free-write on a prompt that I know any human-being, especially an eleven-twelve year-old, would find interesting.
Class discussion and those who would like to share, can.
Reference the topic many times in a two week period.
Share how I have learned the messiness of the writing process.
Discussion full of empathy as students talk about feelings they have when they hear, "Today, you are going to write..."
Use the 5-minute free write that is in their notebook to start their writing process.
Encourage the students take ownership and express their voice.
No minimums. No time limit.
Ask the students to think about "Who needs to hear your voice, and if you do not say it, who will?"

Hopeful product.

Students who understand that writing is hard, for everyone.
Students who are willing to write when they are not required.
Students who think their writing matters, for someone, somewhere.

When I think about the writing process I think about the straight line/squiggly line graphic to success. For way to long I have looked at writers and their final pieces with amazement. I have thought I could never produce something like that and that I do not even want to try.

I have been developing my abilities to identify having or not having a growth mindset. I have been recently experiencing how many different, very impactful ways, not having growth mindset, has weighed me down.

There is probably a thought that I should not be teaching about writing because I am not an "English teacher." I believe there is a place to have a teacher teach formal ways to achieve a final writing product but I would like to have students enjoy writing before I start telling them how to write.

Starting in February, I have been writing, not as a requirement for a class or my job, but because my mindset has shifted towards the idea of sharing what is happening in my educational/learning journey. I have hopes that somehow my writing is helping someone, somewhere.

Telling students they need to write a paper in an argumentative format seems crazy when their first thought is "How long does it have to be?" Is this building up a culture of writing or a culture of getting things done in school to get them done for school? Telling students to write a research paper seems like an impossible task when their first thoughts of writing are, "I don't need two English classes."

There needs to be an acknowledgement that if we are needing our students to write, we need to spend time developing their mindset to be positive about the writing they are doing.

Within doing project-based learning (PBL) there is a huge need to document the learning process and not just have a product. Having students write has been a struggle and I will now be having them write about what they should have a masterful amount of knowledge of, themselves and their learning, as a form of documentation.

As an educator, I believe we have the process of teaching students about writing backwards.

We need our young people to enjoy the benefits of expressing their thoughts in writing on many different topics.

We need our young people to be willing to engage in the writing process and enjoy how hard it is to effectively communicate ideas that are swimming around in their heads.

We need our young people to understand the power they have in their voice and how that translates to their writing.

We need our young people to understand and believe they have value and their ideas need to be heard.

We need our young people to be writers.

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