Chapter 9

Williams writes, "Writing a love letter or making a dictionary entry, they would automatically take into account such factors as audience, purpose, intention, and tone. Most school- sponsored writing assignments, however, provide little in the way of context, so student responses often seem pointless, vague, and rambling" (Williams, 295). I believe in this statement because I believe that when students have a set audience they redirect their writing. It is more focused and changed to format who will be receiving the writing piece. However if the children are not taught these different formats in school how will they know what is appropriate when? If they are not taught how to write in a business situation (formal/respectful), what strategies to use when trying to be persuasive, how to back their argument in a debate, etc. Students are more effective writers when they are passionate and have a direct audience. As Williams points out in the end of chapter 9 it is important to give assignments that have real world connections in order to build up their writing skills, make students more effective writers, and teach different writing formats/contexts.

Design an assignment for a class (grade level does not matter).

Possible answers:
-poetry book in which everyone contributes to whether it be poetry, art, etc and is distributed to the grade/school
-write resumes for classroom jobs (line leader, paper passer, recess helper, etc)
-simulate an election (have speeches, debates, students reporting on the events, etc)
-get involved in the community and have students write a persuasive letter to someone/company about something they want to see changed
- have the students be pen pals with students in another state
- have a class newspaper that is released once a month
- have the students write, direct, produce a play for the school
- have the entire class collaborate on a book