High School Improving the Writing

¶ … High School

Improving the Writing Skills of High School Students by Using Creative Teaching Method

The purpose of this paper is to examine what creative teaching method may improve the writing skills of High School students. Many educators are concerned over the standardized scores of High School students today. More so now than ever there is a trend of decline in student performance, and increasing numbers of educators are attempting to re-evaluate their approach to learning to better motivate students and to engage them in and outside of the classroom. The more student's are able to learn and appreciate what education has to offer them, the more likely they are to succeed in their lives and careers when they graduate.

Many studies have focused on various creative learning approaches for disabled students, for students that have English as a second language, and for young or middle age classrooms. Relatively little attention has been paid to older students, especially high school students. The researcher hypothesizes that creative learning methods will prove just as beneficial for High School students as they do for other students, and that it is more imperative to help students at the High School level so they are better prepared to enter the workforce.

Far too many employers today complain that students they hire after graduation lack the common sense skills they need to succeed in the real work. Enhancement of writing skills among High School students however, may change this philosophy and improve the odds that High School students will graduate and move onto a successful career or pursue higher learning at the collegiate level.

Creative Methods That Improve Learning and Writing Skills

There are many methods that may enable better writing among students; these include metacognitive, affective, visualization, reciprocal teaching, writing about writing, recursive, drama, art, and peer-review to name a few. The researcher will show using an adapted annotative approach how students can increase their writing skills by using the many creative methods introduced by teachers in the classroom. Each of these methods are explained by information provided through articles printed by researchers that have worked directly with teachers and students who have learned how to use new methods for learning in a productive manner.

The first article reviewed is one that discusses the idea of reciprocal learning, where the teacher and the student learn in the classroom, so that learning becomes a joint effort rather than a teacher-directed effort alone. While there is much research based on the traditional style of teaching, most of it suggests that students are no longer interested in the lecture style or format of teaching. That is one reason researchers are investigating approaches including the reciprocal learning approach.

Slater and Horstman address the creative technique of reciprocal teaching in their work, School Students: The Case for Reciprocal Teaching. The findings of this study are relative because they provide information about reciprocal teaching that shows it can be an "optimal choice for teaching reading and writing." The purpose or objective of this review is to learn how new and creative methods of learning can enhance writing skills. Because this study focuses exactly on reading and writing skills, it is ideal for the purposes of this paper.

The authors agree that reciprocal learning and other creative methods are ideal for learning at any level of education, stating reciprocal learning is a form of teaching that allows students the opportunity to learn what questions they must ask to understand reading material, what questions are necessary to clarify issues, and how to summarize the information gathered during reading. The problem according to the authors, in times of old is that teachers did not actually teach students how to write. Rather, they would provide students with an assignment, and specific chapters or sections of books to read, and then students were to fulfill assignments and turn in for grading. This outdated method of learning does not inspire higher learning because it is seldom embraced by diverse students looking for new opportunities to express themselves as individuals in the classroom.

Reciprocal teaching would be of great interest to High School students because they are at an age where they want to have some control over the material that they learn and engage in during classroom time. Students in High School are either preparing to enter the workforce or preparing for college. Either way, they want to participate in school in a way that will allow them to succeed, while enhancing their reading and writing abilities at the same time.

Reciprocal learning and teaching can do this. Reciprocal Teaching according to the researchers, even goes as far as allowing students an opportunity to "predict future text content" meaning students can provide their own unique hypotheses about what may or may not work in the future based on the information gathered from their studies. As students do this, they gain skills they can later use to predict what choices will benefit them or in the case of students that work in the field after High School, what choices they can make to better their career outlook. Reading and writing comprehension skills are the skills that are most outdated if one looks at traditional learning methods. This is one reason reciprocal teaching is gaining so much interest.

The baseline used to research this method and measure improvement involve empirically validated learning strategies which emphasize cognitive instruction and strategies, meaning the teachers and students must work together to think about the learning process and then measure outcomes as a team rather than as individuals. According to the authors, the supporting strategies used with reciprocal teaching include "questioning, clarifying, summarizing and predicting" as stated previous. This according to the researchers' provides a "ladder" of sorts the student must climb to find the final result.

The obstacles this method may present that current teachers' may have to overcome include convincing educational institutions that reciprocal learning can enable a facility to meet the national and state learning goals. Today, far too many principals in grade school on up are concerned with meeting state standards rather than focusing on the actual methods they should address to improve reading and writing skills. If students master the art of writing, their scores in theory on any standardized test should improve, because the student will have more ability to comprehend the material presented to them, and more opportunities to evaluate the context of material and apply it to real life situations.

Getting principals to understand this, and getting government agents to agree to creative methods of learning however, may still prove difficult especially if not all schools are adopting similar approaches to learning. It may also be difficult in some urban areas where teachers are scarce and school environments may be volatile, which is not an optimal environment in which to teach students to reciprocate learning. Some schools located in low socio-economic areas may also not have access to the same instruments other teachers might that would influence their ability to implement this type of program. The authors also caution that reciprocal teaching "assumes" that all members are willing participants and that students will at some point "internalize use of the four supporting strategies practiced" which may or may not prove true. If students are not willing to learn, then teachers will face an uphill battle if they don't have the support of administrators in the education department to encourage this new method of enhancing writing skills even among troubled students or low-income areas. The good thing about reciprocal teaching is that it does not involve the use of technology or other expensive equipment. All it requires are texts, teachers and students that are willing to embrace new methods of learning.

Reciprocal learning is not the only creative learning approach that is facilitating better outcomes in schools, and may be of value to High School students. In this researcher analysis it is given the most attention however, because there is so much data that supports the use of reciprocal teaching to enhance reading and writing comprehension and other skills. There are however, other programs that are just as effective or marginally effective in enhancing the writing skills of students, and these types of programs can also be implemented at the High School level.

In the article, "What's Right with Writing?" Rief explores the creative approach to learning known as "writing about writing." Writing about Writing is an interesting approach and also a controversial approach because it may be interpreted in many ways. For example, Rief notes that some students or professionals may view this as a journaling process, or a learning process that allows students to learn and enhances their writing skills by encouraging them to self-express when evaluating reading materials. This may happen many ways, through documentation and journaling for example. However, the author is quick to point out that this approach is also very distinct because it is the one approach that requires teachers and students ask questions during the learning process

This subject and the research findings in this source are relevant to the topic of improving writing among high school students because the author demonstrates how students can use a unique method to enhance their writing skills, comprehension and interpretive abilities. The author takes a chance bringing a new form of writing to a middle school, a technique that is innovative but not commonplace, thus would give rise to much questioning, which may be an obstacle teacher's would face trying to implement this type of learning style. This learning approaches views all students as independent, thus in an environment where everything is "sterile" or "sterilized and standardized" this type of learning system may receive some objection. By and large however, once educators realize how significant the improvements are among students adopting this method, they are likely to become more compliant and willing to place more effort at implementing this type of program.

The baseline approach used by the researcher to measure improvement is the ability of students to write using their own thinking skills, so they can in theory, teach others about writing. This is difficult to do, because this learning approach is not one that emphasizes grades. In fact, the author clearly states that she believes the grading system can be detrimental, especially when teachers provide students with a grade but do not tell them what factors contributed to their grade, and what steps they can take to make their papers or other writing assignments more effective and efficient. This is the key to success according to the author, so implementation of this type of learning may require that teachers relearn the learning or teaching process by learning what exactly it is or what information they should be providing to students along with the "grade" a teacher may assign a student.

Early in the research the author notes how she was never "taught" how to write but rather given assignments which required that she investigate, document and report back on the findings of others. While some people may find nothing wrong with this premise, the author emphasizes that this approach does not encourage independent thinking, and therefore can't possibly work to improve the writing skills of the student. The only way to improve the writing skills of the student is to have them read but also write. When they write, they must not simply provide a "reiteration" of what it is they read, as this is useless and will not contribute to their learning.

Rather, students must learn to objectively analyze the information they read and then relate this information to their own life experiences and interpretations. This type of learning and teaching approach could easily be combined with other approaches including reciprocal learning, because it encourages the student and the teacher to make changes when they embark on a writing adventure. The author notes that writing about writing must include the writer's "beliefs, feelings, discoveries, opinions, or stories" (p.32).

The questions students must ask to achieve these goals include asking "what do I believe and why." This may be difficult for students that are accustomed to traditional methods of teaching, and have never been required in the past to think interpretively about their learning method or the thoughts they have while learning. This method may also prove challenging for teachers, because they will have to also think about the material they provide to students, and the reasons students provide information back to them. They must also determine whether the papers returned to them provide active insights about the learning materials reviewed. If they do not, the students are likely not learning, but rather reiterating what it is the author of the works they read have to say. Teachers must for example, consider their students, and ask, "Who are the students with whom I learn and teach, for whom I care and have a responsibility?" (p.33). These are deep and probing questions that suggest a students must learn to write not by reading and writing about others but by expressing one's own opinions of others.

The author's main premise is that it is critical that writers receive "constructive responses" when they hand in papers rather than just a grade; these responses according to Rief, must include questions posed that cause the author to think and revise their writing in a more complex manner, one that encourages cognitive thinking and cognitive responses. When evaluating writing, the teacher must understand and pass the understanding on to students that writing involves thinking, and on evaluating writing, the teacher will "highlight the strengths of process, content and conventions" and provide tools to enhance a student's weaknesses (p. 34). The problem with implementing a writing program using this creative approach is that many schools are standardized in the way they teach and the way they approach writing.

Thus, it may be difficult to pass administrators and prove that writing will improve based on this study or a combination of studies like this alone. Actual empirical analysis will have to take place that will allow educators to generalize the findings to students at large, especially at the high school level as this is the objective of this inquiry.

Also standing in the way at least according to Rief are tests and the lack of tools provided to students; meaning, today students have computers with spelling and grammar checking, so they never really learn the process of writing because their writing is automatically critiqued by the machines they use to facilitate writing. Testing says Rief, is a "scripted lesson mandated for all students by all teachers at the same time" which is the antithesis of the point Rief is trying to make, which is that students must be considered as individuals when evaluating their writing skills, thus scripted lessons serve no purpose (p.39).

Angelillo (2005) agrees with this sentiment, noting far too often testing gets in the way of learning. Tests that are "standardized" are particularly daunting to students that believe their writing skills are not up to par (p. 21). Others have also noticed this trend, and while they approve of the techniques offered by Rief, they also acknowledge that introduction of this method will be a process rather than an instantaneous change. Atwell (2002) suggests that it is critical that professionals and teachers take courses to improve their teaching and writing skills so they can enhance the learning of students in her work, Lessons That Change Writers.

In two other forms of writing, Smith, Rook, and Smith (2007) discuss effective and metacognitive writing strategies. In their published work, "Increasing Student Engagement Using Effective and Metacognitive Writing Strategies in Content Areas," the writers note school failure in high school is commonplace and is the result of conventional teaching methods. The researchers propose that cognitive, affective and metacognitive questioning strategies at the high school level will increase students "engagement and academic successes" (p.1). The baseline measurement used to prove the researchers findings include evaluation of "structured journal questions" that take place over a three-month period, where the researchers found that no benefit resulted from students answering "text-related questions only" when compared with students who responded to "metacognitive and affective questions" along with text-based questions were better able to retain the content learned "as evidenced by course grades at the end of the study" (p.2). This baseline measurement is powerful because it evaluates students grades which clearly show improvement when a metacognitive or affective component is added to conventional learning structures. One reason for this is that these types of components (metacognitive, affective) enhance student learning by encouraging them to think more, and create more personal connections to the work they are reading or working on. As they relate course material to their own experiences and lives they are more capable of retaining the information and material.

Rief (2003) in her work "100 Quickwriters: Fast and Effective Freewriting Exercises" notes a combination of writing about writing and affective components can dramatically increase learning and academic grades, confirming the research provided by Smith, Rook and Smith (2007). It is important to note that since the 1980s researchers have noted just how well creative techniques as those stated thus far have enhanced learning. Like Smith, Rook and Smith (2007) and Rief (2003) William Zinsser in his second edition of, on Writing Well (1980) noted that to write well students and individuals must learn to include a creative thought process to enhance learning, otherwise learning becomes tedious in nature and not interesting to the participants engaged in writing.