Ten Commandments of Writing Instruction

Ten Commandments of Writing Instruction

Translated from: DECÁLOGO DIDÁCTICO DE LA ENSEÑANZA DE LA COMPOSICIÓN

Daniel Cassany

1. Students write in class.
1. The writing class should not be dedicated to learning about writing, or learning the rules of writing, but actually writing.
2. Students write collaboratively.
1. Our writing connects us.  Writing is a social process.  It needs to be surrounded by talk.
3. Students talk about what they write with their peers and their teachers.
4. Students read what they write for diverse purposes and using different procedures.
1. Reading drafts, getting feedback, assessing their work, etc.
5. Students take responsibility for their writing.
1. Part of writing is to decide how your piece will develop.  It’s not really writing if others make these decisions for you.  This does not mean that there are not constraints, but that the student has freedom within these constraints.
6. Students should have access to contemporary resources.
7. The teacher writes in public with the class.
8. The teacher takes the role of collaborator, fellow writer, reader, responder, assessor, but not judge or final arbiter of the worth of the writing.
9. Don’t destroy the process of writing’
1. The process matters, especially where we are learning together.  Save drafts, notes, etc.
10. We write about things that interest us, that we care about and that we discover and come to care about.  Writing belongs in all subjects at all levels.