Writing....wow, not only is it a major form of communication, but it is also used in our lives daily. Whether your writing a school paper, making a grocery list, sending a text message, or writing a love note (ha!) you are using some form of writing. I can honestly say I feel like the student Conley mentioned in the chapter that wasn't prepared for college level writing. In some vague memory I remember learning all the grammar rules, etc., but once I was in college it was as if I had to relearn everything! That or get tons of red smudges all over my work thanks to the Comma Nazi!
Conley talks about having our students today write to learn. This includes being able to not only write in the everyday sense of papers, texts, emails, etc., but also being able to accurately write for later on in the work field. Write to learn, I like the sound of that. The students are past the "learning to write" point and now can move on to writing to learn. While doing so the students are able to infuse different content areas as well as different aspects of writing.
There are several different tools mentioned in this chapter for students to use while writing to learn, such as: journals (if your a girl you've undoubtedly wrote in journals), learning logs, dialogue journals (similar to blogging like we have been doing in this class), and double-entry journals (a wonderful way to provide feedback to your students in a casual setting). All which are wonderful ways to infuse writing into whatever content area you teach. We should all try to promote our students to write more. Writing shouldn't be looked on as a type of punishment, it should be both fun and rewarding, while at the same time being educational.
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