The writing across the Curriculum hybrid of writing to learn and writing to understand seems like it would help students view writing as a life skill. I think journal assignments provide a great opportunity for kids to experience writing as an aid in thought processing. Although I think from a pedagogical standpoint, it can be difficult to grade journals and may be equally problematic not assigning any grade to journal writing, I still think the practice is valuable for students.
I liked the point McLeod made about audience awareness in regard to writing to understand. While sit is an accomplishment for students to be able to express themselves (as with writing to learn), I think teaching students to use writing as a form of communication will help them be more clear and confident writers. As McLeod points out, audience awareness is key in this task.
It seems that writing across the curriculum seeks to teach some basic principles of writing and urges writing to be viewed as a life skill more than a task in a composition course. I think such a pedagogy is useful in freeing students from their fear of writing.
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"Although I think from a pedagogical standpoint, it can be difficult to grade journals and may be equally problematic not assigning any grade to journal writing, I still think the practice is valuable for students."
ReplyDeleteThis is something I wonder about as well--journals seem like a great tool to me, and I know I benefit from them greatly. But how do you walk that line of making sure they are completed vs. leaving the pressure off? It seems like you will always be dealing with student apathy if you don't find some way to assess it.