Using Writing as a Tool to Improve Reading, Thinking, and Learning

The final chapter in this book discussed the importance of writing as a way to support the readings, lectures, and discussions. Writing gives students the opportunity to extend their learning beyond the boundaries of the course material and allows students to use their own language in order to better understand. Writing is certainly a meaning-making activity as students do not discover meaning, they make it.

In the past, writing has been used as a way to evaluate what students know, rather than to encourage critical engagement with the material. Using writing as a tool for learning aids in the shift from the transmission model of passive, teacher-centered learning, to the transactional model of active, student-centered learning.

According to Janet Emig, the act of writing incorporates all three modes of learning, enactive, iconic, and symbolic, at the same time. She also argues that writing makes use of both sides of the brain. The left side of the brain is engaged in the linear process of producing language and representing it on the page, while the right side of the brain contributes to creative and intuitive insights.

Writing also allows students the opportunity to express his/her own opinions by embracing prior knowledge, and individual schemas. Therefore, the way one writes will be unique and will aid in the understanding of the material. A study in the classroom, found that students who were given a few minutes to write on a topic before having to discuss it with the class were more willing to discuss. This is because the student had time to gather their thoughts on paper before having to orally commit to an answer.

Britton states that there are three modes of writing: expressive, transactional, and poetic. He states that transactional and poetic both stem from expressive, which involves writing to learn. This means that all writing is writing to learn. Expressive writing is "writing to think on paper." This includes writing in journals, jotting, notes, lists, observations, and early drafts. Transactional writing is "writing to get things done." Transactional writing includes expository essays, business letters, memos, editorials, and reports. On the other end of the spectrum is poetic writing, which is "writing as an art medium." This form of writing may involve poetry, stories, novels, and drama. Because all three stem from expressive writing, all three overlap and involve both writing to learn and writing to communicate. It is important for teachers to use a variety of writing assignments in class in order to appeal to multiple literacies.

The process of writing involves several stages: prewriting, writing & revising, editing & proofreading, and postwriting. The writing process in not linear and works in more of a "recursive" process. The writer is constantly revising as he/she writes and is adding and subtracting material from the finished product.

Dornan, Rosen, and Wilson suggest that grading be done separately from evaluation. Students need lots of formative evaluation and response as they are learning. This feedback will help them grow as writers, readers, and learners. Grading is summative and falls at the end of the learning process. Grading should be kept to a minimum and should follow criterial in order to make it go faster. Dornan, et al., suggest two things in order to make grading papers easier: 1) have a clear set of criterial so you, and your students, know what you are looking for. 2) have grading guides, or rubrics, to make the actual grading process less labor-intesive.

Finally, have the students fill out a self-evaluation of their writing before the teacher gives out grades. It is important to have the student answer questions based on the following: What do you like best about your paper? How did you write this piece? What would you change if you could write one more draft? What problems did you have as you wrote this piece? When students evaluate their own writing, most are surprisingly honest and accurate at recognizing where they've done well and what needs improvement.