Everyday Writing

• #UKEdChat session 586
• Seize every moment to practise writing
• A reason and an audience to write are powerful motivators
• Click here to view the tweet archive.

In education, we are constantly writing, and while in the world beyond this may not be so relentless, there are emails to send, messages to attach emojis to, and the occasional wood-based storage medium, which we usually call paper, to write upon. But how can we get the educational ‘goodness’ of class-based writing tasks, with the utility of the everyday?

There are a few transcending skills that are used across subject areas. Writing is one such skill, and most of the techniques that we learn in English classes are transferrable to the sciences, arts and beyond. Yet, does these work the other way, and do learners have an opportunity to practise their writing skills within other subjects? This may happen naturally, but for best results, some coordinated action across the school may be needed.

Providing a realistic reason to write can be a powerful motivator, and going beyond the teacher and their marking as an audience for a learners compositions can give writing tasks a new lease of life, and cross-curricular writing is an excellent way to do this. Parents are one obvious audience, and if infrequent the reaction to learners’ writing coming home can have an impact. Back the impact will be lost if they are the only audience and it becomes too routine.

Technology may provide both a wider audience and a greater utility for writing, and blogs, websites, and (under supervision) social media posts may help learners gain a new reason and drive for writing.

In this #UKEdChat session, which took place on Thursday 20th January 2022 at 8pm(UK), we discussed how to create more ‘incidental’ reasons to write, how to use the whole curriculum to explore elements of writing, how to make everyday writing tasks more meaningful, and ideas for writing tasks with are aimed at improving the writer’s craft.

Questions

1. What is your favourite genre or purpose of writing, and why?
2. How can we create a real audience for our learners’ writing?
3. What pieces of everyday incidental writing can we use to boost our learners’ writing practice?
4. What types of writing practice for learners should be avoided?
5. How can we ensure the writing our learners are doing in our classes is varied and stimulating?
6. How can all subject areas improve the writing skills of our learners?
7. How can technology help improve our young people’s writing skills, and how does it hinder?
8. What are your favourite everyday writing activities for learners?

You need to Login or Register to bookmark/favorite this content.