Our Writing Instruction is not Working

It is time for us to take a look at how we are teaching our students to write.  I have been working with older students who basically are unable to write.  These students do not know how to write a complete sentence and they do not stay on topic.  Their papers contain basic writing errors – spelling, grammar, sentence structure, and continuity.  I constantly hear teachers say, “They go off topic.” 

We know that the best intervention for students is good instruction.  My concern is that we are not teaching our students to write.  Take a look at the writing students are being asked to do in Kindergarten, First and Second grade.  They are being asked to put together sentences and paragraphs.  There is research that supports this action but I think we ignored the research that clearly says it is not appropriate.

Here are some points to consider and my thoughts on each one:

a.       Oral language is required for writing to take place – Developing and telling stories at K-2 is what occurs in their environment and is age appropriate.   (This means that students do this outside of the classroom throughout the rest of their day.)   Students go home and tell stories about their day.  Few, if any, go home and write a paragraph about their day.

b.      Students learn best when you focus on building the necessary skills in a systematic way – Many students are learning how to print letters for the first time.  Practice is needed to teach this skill.  Using words and not trying to get them to write out sentences is the best way to allow them to learn and practice forming letters and words.  This also occurs in their environment.  K-2 students write notes by using some basic words.  Ex. My family with pictures of the family, I love you with a picture of a big heart.  This is all a part of writing but writing based on what is used naturally throughout the child’s day.

c.       There is a structure to writing that must be taught.  Our written language has rules and patterns that are required to write effectively.  These cannot be ignored under the guise of teaching students to be creative writers.  Creative writing starts with the telling of good stories that are then written down.  We need to remember that research has been stating that fact for years.  A Kindergarten student can be taught to recognize the pattern that a sentence must start with a capital and end with punctuation.  They do not need to read the words to learn this pattern.  Ex.  Circle the sentences that are correct and fix the ones that are wrong:  the cat meowed     Dogs are furry      Sally reads well.     Making sure a sentence starts with a capital and ends with punctuation is a pattern and it should be taught that way.  First and Second graders should be taught the pattern that a sentence needs a subject and verb – who or what and what did they or it do.  You will get a complete sentence if you follow those two patterns.  Build on those patterns by describing the who, what or action and your sentence will become more complex.  However, without the foundation, you will not have a sentence.

d.      You must be able to read before you can write.  Students cannot write a word they cannot read.  I am not talking about copying a word.  If a student is able to write a word correctly, it means he knows the letters for the sounds that the word makes.  Therefore, he would be able to read that word.  Students begin this stage of writing by using just two or three letters to represent a word they are trying to write.  The remaining letters fall into place as students master the ability to connect sounds and letters. Why would we even consider requiring them to write sentences and paragraphs when they are learning to develop the skill of connecting sounds and letters to make words?

e.      The comment I get from the upper grade teachers is the best argument for taking another look at how we approach writing with our younger students.  “I would be thrilled if my students could just write a complete sentence. Then, I could teach them how to write a paragraph.”  Note: This would be age appropriate and what would be occurring in their environment.

I believe that the creativity of writing begins with the ability to tell a story.  That develops over time with oral language.  We should teach the basic writing skills, which are age appropriate and occurring in the student’s environment so that when they are ready to write they have the necessary skills and tools to do so effectively.

Regardless of our beliefs concerning writing instruction, one fact remains – students need to be taught basic writing skills because a majority cannot write a complete sentence or stay on topic.  If we continue to teach writing, the way we are currently teaching writing, we will continue to get the same results.  That would be as the saying goes, insane.