What do we teach in writing lessons?

Which of the following student and/or teacher activities do you regard as writing per se or belonging in a writing lesson?

1. a letter to a newspaper in response to a controversial article

2. a menu

3. about paragraph hooks

4. chat with friends (ICQ, Google, etc)

5. class dictation

6. comma splices (see Wikipedia, Uni of Bristol)

7. copying vocab lists from the blackboard

8. create headlines for a newspaper article

9. creating a radio news bulletin

10. describing your reaction to a piece of literature, news item, historical event

11. design posters

12. doing homework

13. filling in a form (e.g., at the post office, railway station, insurance office)

14. filling in gaps in a news article, short story

15. labeling a picture

16. learning discourse markers

17. learning to write the Roman alphabet

18. letter of congratulations or complaint

19. participating in online discussions

20. postcard

21. report of an experiment, an experience

22. sending emails

23. shopping list

24. summary of a text (read or heard)

25. teaching linking paragraphs

26. teaching topic sentences

27. the use of punctuation

28. thesis for a degree course

29. writing a note to your brother/flatmate/cleaning lady

30. writing out the lyrics of a song from listening

A poster developed in response to the Global Issues lesson, Being a Woman, is an example of students effectively exercising their creativity in pictures as well as words. This was created by a group of Italian primary school teachers.