Why does writing matter

Your article is that affirmation. I like this very much, especially the first point. Why take away something like this if it adds joy to your life?! I write online for several content sites. Recently I joined a new site. I was very excited until I discovered they expected you to choose from some very ill written key words that left out adverbs and you had to write the article using exact key words in an exact sentence and they made NO sense what so ever!

As I pondered this I remembered that I had left 15 articles in their que. So I took these 15 articles and added in a few words to make the required words on another site I write for.

Each article was accepted, I was paid a lot more and my page views soared. Instead, I took my writing where it was appreciated. Oh yes, Ali, this came at just the right time for me. And then I found a link to this post on Twitter and, honestly, I got tears in my eyes reading it.

I used to write when I was a 12 yrs old. I studied to be an Engineer but now I am trying to reclaim my first love of writing after 14 years.

I liked the way you pointed out the importance of not giving up. It will help me not to loose hope even when the things are not too rosy in the beaning. Thank you. This article has convinced me to give up writing once and for all. Again, thanks. When writing, I doubted my own skills, which seemed to be constantly outpaced by my standards of quality. I tried reading several help sites and they all said something similar to this:. No, I do not take writing seriously.

I have trouble taking anything seriously, writing included. What compelled me to attempt writing? I really wanted the ideas brewing in my head to take form. Actual success as a writer was irrelevant, as long I could achieve that goal. But since I just saw writing as an activity to do casually, I know I will never do good at it at all. Truly inspiring. Thank you for sharing your inspiration and motivating others to pursue their interest.

I sent the quote,. Thank you for expressing yourself in such a way…for giving me a connection to the very heart of my son! Stop making those embarrassing mistakes! Subscribe to Daily Writing Tips today! You will improve your English in only 5 minutes per day, guaranteed! You'll also get three bonus ebooks completely free! They are making a way to a better world. Tweet this Tweet. Stories connect us and help us make meaning of the time we have here on earth. Share in the comments. Set the timer for fifteen minutes and choose one of the exercises below.

Past: Take five minutes and draw a childhood home or place you remember vividly. Then, for ten minutes, walk through it in your mind and on the page. What did you learn there and how did you learn it? Present: Start a journal list of your day. Include the mundane and fantastic and everything in between. Choose one event and explain it in detail—what it entails, why it matters, what it means.

Future: Make a list of three problems bothering you today. Drop a character into one of those problems and give them the agency and guts to change that world for the better. When your time is up, share your writing in the comments below.

And if you share, be sure to leave feedback for three other writers! Join over , readers who are saying YES to practice. Building an Author Website. Instagram Facebook Twitter Pinterest. The benchmark for what counts as literate writing, what good writing requires, and how many people need to be literate in our society has moved dramatically since the nineteenth century. It is no longer the concern, as it was at Harvard in , of an exclusively white, male elite; in today's increasingly diverse society, writing is a gateway for success in academia, the new workplace, and the global economy, as well as for our collective success as a participatory democracy.

At the same time, our understanding of how to teach writing has evolved significantly over the last three decades and now includes guidance about how to support students from a variety of language backgrounds and circumstances to reach high levels of literacy.

Successful strategies as well as models and resources for building an effective writing program in a school are known and available. So today, the need to improve writing is perhaps better framed as a challenge rather than a crisis. Because Writing Matters describes the current state of teaching writing in America, highlighting effective classroom practices and successful school programs. The National Writing Project conceived of this book as a resource for school administrators, educators, and policymakers who want to know how to address the challenge of improving student writing at all grade levels.

Its purpose is threefold: To make the case that writing is a complex activity; more than just a skill or talent, it is a means of inquiry and expression for learning in all grades and disciplines To examine current trends, best practices, research, and issues in the teaching of writing, such as its role in early literacy, how the process of the writer in the real world can be developed in the classroom, how writing can be fairly and authentically assessed, and how writing can be taught across the curriculum To offer practical solutions and models for school administrators and policymakers involved in planning, implementing, and assessing a writing program as well as those seeking effective staff development for teaching writing.

This book takes a pragmatic approach to the challenge of improving writing and building successful programs in our schools.

Through vignettes and case studies, it illustrates how educators have used writing in diverse classroom and school settings to enrich learning and provide meaningful learning experiences for students at all grade levels. It addresses these core questions: Why does writing matter?

What does research say about the teaching of writing? What do we mean by "writing processes"? What are some features of an effective writing classroom? How can writing be used to develop critical thinking? How does writing fit into learning across disciplines? What kind of professional development prepares teachers to teach and use writing? What does a schoolwide writing program look like?

What are fair ways to assess writing? Effective writing skills are important in all stages of life from early education to future employment. In the business world, as well as in school, students must convey complex ideas and information in a clear, succinct manner.

Inadequate writing skills, therefore, could inhibit achievement across the curriculum and in future careers, while proficient writing skills help students convey ideas, deliver instructions, analyze information, and motivate others.

National Center for Education Statistics, U. Department of Education, The Condition of Education , p. The research has brought the practice of writers in the real world into the classroom.

It has added new insights about how writing and reading are linked in early literacy. For our increasingly diverse and multilingual classrooms, it has also illuminated many of the social and cultural factors that support literacy development. In addition, this book draws from interviews with teachers, principals, and superintendents who have taken on the challenge of building a successful writing program in their school, classroom, or district—educators working in diverse settings across the country.

Some but not all of them are associated with the NWP. For thirty years, the NWP has made improving the quality of writing and learning in our nation's schools its central mission. What began in the summer of as a professional development institute for twenty-five teachers on the University of California campus in Berkeley has by evolved into a network of NWP sites in fifty states; Washington, D.

Virgin Islands, involving more than two million teachers at urban, rural, and suburban schools in realizing its core goal. In —04 these sites led thirty-seven hundred in-service workshops for teachers, with more than a third of these programs part of ongoing partnerships with schools. Serving more than one hundred thousand educators a year in all disciplines in grades K—16 roughly one out of forty teachers in the United States , it is the only national program that focuses on writing as a means to improve learning in America's schools.

Since its inception, the NWP has fostered university-school collaboration. From that collective effort, much has been learned about exemplary teaching practices in writing and their impact on students' learning throughout their academic careers. This knowledge has been broadened by three decades of research in the field of composition pedagogy, leading to new understanding about the role of writing in our classrooms that has critical implications for educational reform efforts.

Policymakers and school administrators, no less than teachers and parents, can benefit from understanding current trends and issues in the teaching of writing and the vital role it can play in achieving quality and excellence in our classrooms across the disciplines.

Today, more and more educators as well as leaders in all areas of society have come to understand that writing is central to success in and out of school.