Writing in a Low Cooker

Note: All names are pseudonyms.  

          How many times did you fall off your bike the first time you tried to ride? Two, three, five, or maybe more like twenty? Was someone teaching you to ride? Did he or she tell you how to correct your mistakes? My guess is yes.  But what did you do after that first lesson? Did you come back two weeks later and try again? Or did you go out the very next day? There is a saying “that practice makes perfect.” I argue that it should be worded as “regular practice makes perfect”.  Now you are probably wondering why I am talking about bike riding in a blog about teaching English, well the two subjects are not as different as they first seem.  More specifically I intend to use my “regular practice makes perfect” argument for use in writing.

          Hands up high, how many of you have heard of low stakes writing? Okay, hands down. One more time, hands up high, how many of you have seen low stakes writing used regularly in your CT’s classroom? Okay, hands down. While I don’t know how you answered those questions, I do know how I did. Both hands up high, and then both down low. I do know what low stakes writing is, but I have not seen it implemented regularly in my CT’s classroom.

          First, for those of you who do not know, I will share the definition of low stakes writing with you. Low stakes writing is writing which is either not graded or holds little weight.

          Okay, now some of you are getting a little excited, good or bad. Why would a teacher want to use ungraded writing? To quote Margot Soven, in Teaching Writing: in Middle and Secondary Schools, “students will tolerate criticism when they believe that they are writing for a teacher who cares about them” (114).  In other words, students must build a bond with a teacher in order to accept the criticism and praise a teacher is giving him or her. How do students build a bond with their teacher, other than connections possibly made during teaching time or throughout the school day? Soven has an opinion on this as well. Low stakes writing gives students and teachers a chance to establish a dialogue with one another without either of the parties worrying about what grade the writing will/should receive (114). In sum, low stakes writing can open up the connection, between students and teachers, necessary for students to “tolerate criticism”.

          Now there are many ways a teacher can bring low stakes writing into the classroom. My personal preference is the use of daily journals. In these journals students can respond to different things; answer questions teachers pose, free write, write poetry, or do whatever else comes to mind. Teachers can then respond to these journals daily, weekly, monthly, or any other time frame that works both with the students and with the teacher. Besides the typical journal most of us think about, where teachers pose questions students answer, there is another journal type to consider; the dialogue journal. The dialogue journal is a journal where students write letters to their teachers discussing questions, problems, assignments, books, or writing. The teacher then responds to these questions by writing a letter within the students’ journals addressed to the students. This is a great way to consider opening up communication between teachers and students, in my opinion.

          In addition to opening up lines of communication and creating connections, low stakes writing is practice! This is my point to begin with, daily writing, is daily practice of writing. But in the form of low stakes writing, this daily practice of writing is not overwhelming. Students and teachers are focused on the writing, not the grade! So while low stakes writing may not have much of an impact on a student grades, it can do nothing but improve student writing. Is that not the goal? Do we not as English teachers want our students to be wonderful writers? Of course, but are wonderful writers created in limited practice provided by use of essays, or other major writing practice?  My opinion is that they are not. The best way to learn and perfect skills is through regular practice.