Setting expectations from the start of the school year is vitally important for long-term progress and success in reaching learning goals. One key expectation that teachers can set from the start is that writing should be written to be read.
We all jot notes for ourselves. Often these jottings would seem cryptic to another reader. That’s because we “fill in the blanks” in the writing itself. After all, we know what we mean. It’s in our head, at least for the time being. But if you’ve ever run across a note from a few weeks or months earlier, after the memory has faded, you understand just how cryptic such jottings can be.
Writing for others — a mindfulness of audience — is a learned skill. And it’s one that teachers need to emphasize if they are to teach students to write well in academic and future workplace settings. Creating a mindfulness of audience requires ensuring that students have an audience for their work. This means that sharing writing is a key component of successful teaching.
Whenever students write, be certain to build in time and opportunity for students to share their writing with one another. Initially, this may mean asking students to read aloud what they have written for their classmates to hear. This strategy is particularly important for beginning writers who can “fill in the blanks” in their less-than-complete prose.
As student writers gain confidence in writing, their compositions can be shared in print, one student reading another’s paper, for example, or posting or projecting a composition for group reading.
The key point is that when students develop a mindfulness that others must read and understand what they write, then students better refine their writing so that it most clearly conveys their ideas. By ensuring that student writing is read, teachers encourage this mindfulness of audience.
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