NCTE really gets it! They get that 21st Century literacy is not about technology – it's about powerful communication. As I read Kathi Yancey's recent report on Writing in the 21st Century this point came through in many ways:
- Writing is life work not desk work – in the 21st Century we are ALL citizen journalist. The web is a platform where anyone can have a voice. Writers and their audiences are everywhere!
- Writing is fueled by curiosity, passion, and authenticity – today's writers do not writer to "publish" to complete an assignment, 21st Century Writers write because they get to. They "get to" share, discuss, connect, and participate in conversations that matter to them!
- When we make writing authentic and meaningful, we empower students not only to become better writers, but to want to become better writers.
Traci at NCTE's Inbox suggest three simple things that we can do to support our 21st century writers:
- Welcome all writing.
Writers express themselves in text messages, blog posts, and wiki entries. They compose fan fiction, angry rants, and email messages. They write reviews on Amazon, item descriptions on eBay, and status updates on Twitter and Facebook. And sure, in the classroom, they write test answers, book reports, and journal entries. We have to recognize, value, and allow everything. Not just the customary classroom genres. All writing matters. - Call students writers.
That's right. It's the simplest and most effective thing teachers (and families) can do. From the beginning, we need to recognize students as writers. Not "student writers," and certainly not just "students." They are writers, no matter how much they write or how polished their writing may be. When people believe they are writers, a whole world of possibilities opens up. - Celebrate all writers equally.
There is no special admissions test you have to pass to become a writer. The texts written in the classroom are just as important as those published in the textbooks. Make every writer in the classroom a role model. Use great openings by students alongside those in the textbook. Share effective word choice by students at the same time you share the diction of Maya Angelou or William Shakespeare. Emphasize that students don't have to aspire to be writers—they are writers, and every writer matters.
I would add the following:
- Assume all children are writers and that they can be successful as writers from the first day and communicate this often.
- Share Yourself and Your Writing Process – Show them that writing is life work, and you engage in it everyday in multiple ways and forms. Model how you write, when you write, the challenges you face as a writer. Let your students know that the process is no different for them.
- Give them TIME to write – writers get better when they have time to read and write! It's just that simple, and it's just that hard!
Photo on Flickr by carf
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