Embedded Files
"Concern about reading is today such a political, economic, and social force in American education that an imbalance in forms of communicaiton is guaranteed from the start of a child's schooling" (Graves, 1978, as cited in Newkirk & Kittle, 2013).
Issues in writing instruction
- Reading dominates writing (Newkirk, 2013).
- Writing instruction is often subordinate to reading (Newkirk, 2013)
- people are writing less and writing poorly (Graves, as cited in Newkirk, 2013, p. 20)
- lack of value in writing and in what one has to say (Graves, as cited in Newkirk, 2013, p. 20)
- requires personal initiative (Graves, as cited in Newkirk, 2013, p. 24)
- requires evaluation (Graves, as cited in Newkirk & Kittle, 2013, p. 27)
- teachers need to model writing instruction but students rarely see this (Graves, as cited in Newkirk & Kittle, 2013, p. 27)
What can writing do for us?
- basic need to name our worlds (Graves, as cited in Newkirk, 2013, p. 19)
- communicate (Graves, as cited in Newkirk, 2013, p. 19)
- participate in social activity (Graves, as cited in Newkirk, 2013, p. 19)
- see Sociocultural Theory
- see Social Justice
- essential for democratic engagement (Graves, as cited in Newkirk & Kittle, 2013, p. 19)
- development of individual voice, authority, ability to communicate desires and information (Graves, as cited in Newkirk & Kittle, 2013, p. 20)
- see Social Justice
- helps to develop thinking and reading skills (Graves, as cited in Newkirk & Kittle, 2013, p. 20)
- contributes to/develops
- intelligence - analysis and synthesis (Graves, as cited in Newkirk & Kittle, 2013, p. 21)
- initiative - the student writer must supply everything in creating a piece of writing (Graves, as cited in Newkirk & Kittle, 2013, p. 22)
- courage (Graves, 1978, as included in Newkirk & Kittle, 2013, p. 22)
- reading
- "writing is the making of reading" (Graves, 1978, as included in Newkirk & Kittle, 2013, p. 22)
- assists with reading comprehension (Graves, 1978, as included in Newkirk & Kittle, 2013, p. 22)
- math development (Graves, 1978, as included in Newkirk & Kittle, 2013, p. 22)
- form of discipline (Graves, 1978, as included in Newkirk & Kittle, 2013, p. 28)
The process-conference approach
- focus on a student's choice to write a particular piece (Graves, 1978, as included in Newkirk & Kittle, 2013, p. 29)
- work with the student through a series of drafts (Graves, 1978, as included in Newkirk & Kittle, 2013, p. 29)
- successive drafts should include more information, changes to diction, changes to organization (Graves, 1978, as included in Newkirk & Kittle, 2013, p. 31)
- give appropriate guidance based on the stage in which the student is working (Graves, 1978, as included in Newkirk & Kittle, 2013, p. 29)
References
- Graves, D. (2013). Balance the basics: Let them write. In T. Newkirk & P. Kittle (Eds.), Children want to write(pp. 20-37). Portsmouth: Heinemann. (original work published in 1978)
- Newkirk, T. (2013). Why Donald Graves matters - A personal reflection. In T. Newkirk & P. Kittle (Eds.), Children want to write (pp. 1-17). Portsmouth: Heinemann.
Report abuse