Read the following article from Education Portal: Why Writing Skills Are More Important Than Ever
More so than ever before, writing skills are essential to successfully navigating society. In addition to being able to compose academic writing in the classroom, today's students must also be able to effectively manage communications with peers and potential employers in a professional, self-aware manner that acknowledges the fact that their writing is highly visible and representative of their character. Discuss the importance of writing in the 21st century as it pertains to students academically, professionally, or socially.
Writing is a great skill that is very valuable in our society today. Although, this days a lot of attention is not being payed to this truth. While in Elementary school I could still remember that we took a class called "Hand -Writing". This was a class where we were taught how to write and how to be legible in our writing. Since it is obvious that writing is a means of communication, then suffice me to say that communication will not be effective if our writing is not legible.
ReplyDeleteWith writing, we express ourselves. In academics, there are different types of writing. one need to find out the writing peculiar to the field of study and stick to it. Following the rules and regulations relating to that field will ultimately yield a positive result. communication will be possible if a writer is able to utilize the writing skills and terminologies relevant to that field. In the professional world, for example, presenting a well constructed resume may cause a person to be hired. It takes a person who is skillful in writing to put together an "intimidating' resume. In our society today were social media is a great medium of reaching out to people, a good writer will be able to make impact in the society.
You made an interesting point regarding hand writing, especially in the context of 21st century where it seems like everything is typed into a computer. I also remember working on hand writing in elementary school, tracing block letters and filling out worksheets. These days, however, I very rarely hand write anything and my writing is almost exclusively online. I wonder if in the distant future if students will even learn long hand, although I’ve heard from a few elementary teachers that they are once again teaching cursive for the purpose of writing on standardized tests.
DeleteWriting has and always will be an important part of our culture. It is possible that we write more now than ever before because of our interactions online. We post on forums, blogs, social media, and emails. This is true for students as well. So much of their knowledge is learned through articles, pictures, and videos and less from word of mouth. If they are exposed to well written thoughts and communication sources then they will understand the material more fully.
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It seems that writing has become the the number one way for everyone to communicate whether it's through email, texting, facebook, blogs, and the list goes on. We have to focus on how our students write. It is important that students know how to write depending on their audience. Naturally they are more informal when texting and facebooking with their peers. What about when they are corresponding with colleges or employers? These instances of communication need to be more formal. What bothers me the most is that many of my students do not make that distinction. Students are so used to writing informally and it's difficult to make that transition to formal or professional writing. I agree that students need to know their writing is made public for everyone to see as soon they hit that enter key and that they are being judged on how and what they are writing.
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DeleteI agree that students need to understand the audience they are writing for. I've found that informal writing habits sneak into academic essays and have spent many a class discussing the importance of recognizing the difference between the two styles. There are so many great resources for teaching this in the classroom. Check out this video I’ve used for helping students make the distinction:
Deletehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sdDBY2-Wmis
As a student I do not feel like I was taught how to write academically until I was a junior in high school and took an AP European History class. I wish I would have learned this much earlier in my school career. As a college student now I still struggle with academic writing. It does not help that I had been out of college 13 years before I began graduate school. In today's society writing is critical. We write to communicate probably more now that we ever have through emails and other technological resources. Students need instruction on how to write academically and professionally. They need to be taught the difference between social writing (texting, notes, and messages) and professional and academic writing. There is a time and a place for "lol" and "k". These abbreviations may be really hard to get away from as they become a habit for children. I also think that writing skills may be more critical now than ever because our students may be working and communicating with people all over the world as the workforce becomes more global and digital.
ReplyDeleteThis is an excellent use of the weblog to encourage discussion.
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