The Strategies

A lot has been said concerning strategies involving workplace literacy. There are a lot of ideas going around and a lot of un-finalized research, but from what I have researched and observed, there are a few key points to remember when incorporating workplace literacy into the classroom. A lot of students, vocational students in particular are most drawn to informational texts. So, while literary texts are of great importance in the English classroom, critical reading and writing is an asset no matter what kind of reading and writing is being conducted. Darvin said, “I’ve also found that my students write highly articulate journal entries and essays in response to nonfiction, informational texts. They connect with these texts in ways that are creative and emotionally-charged, rather than simply using them as transmitters of factual information” (Darvin 37). In response to the struggle of what workplace knowledge should be in the curriculum and what must be left out, Robbins proposed, “I suggest that rather than replace valuable content and learning experiences already in the curriculum with workplace training, we can instead draw on the functions of workplace documents to support the work we routinely do in the classroom and the school. Students will become acquainted with workplace writing simply by doing it” (Robbins 41). Instead of teaching mundane tasks like filling out forms, memos, reports, or proposals, teachers can simply use these tasks in their curriculum. By doing that, students can practice skills that may be necessary for post high school lives, without missing out on valuable English education and without feeling like their curriculum has been “dumbed down.”

One of the most important things that I’ve learned about creating life-long writers involves getting students to relate personally to their writing. This can be done by encouraging authentic writing and real world audiences. This strategy was initiated into a small town Colorado classroom by a teacher named Lucille Zenker Rossbach. Rossbach’s high school writing lab where she encouraged students to interview parents, grandparents, and elderly neighbors for essays turned into a classroom of published authors. The students decided to publish the stories of their town and began their own research to find a publisher, then raised money for the publication, and regulated themselves to assure that they would reach their deadlines. During this project, Rossbach observed a fantastic occurrence. “Students agreed on the deadlines and work-shopped rough drafts in small groups. Because they realized they were doing important work, they valued each other’s opinions to make the work better. Students also were coming to me with questions they never bothered to ask in regular English classes: ‘How do I make this interesting?’ ‘Can you give me some ideas of how to begin this story?’ ‘What do I do because I don’t think I have enough material?’ ‘Would you give me some suggestions for how I could organize this?’ These students were grappling with the same issues published writers address” (Rossbach 42-43). The students weren’t just writing for the sake of a grade or a required assignment; they were writing because they wanted to write. Because this desire had been created and fostered, the students actually wanted to improve their writing without the annoying, prodding, and red-inked, teacher-marked rough drafts as encouragement. Telling kids that certain styles, structures, and organization make better papers doesn’t translate to the students unless they care that they create better papers. If they only ever write papers for the teacher as an assignment, they’ll never find their own motivation to improve. All Rossbach had to do was allow the students to find topics to interest them and the students took the writing further and found real life audiences for the writing. Now, students may not always take this initiative, so, as a teacher, I may have to find new audiences for my students. Some possible outlets may be writing up job descriptions needed for an upcoming show or play at the school, or writing up instructions in a computer lab, or a weight room, or policies for equipment use (Robbins 43-44). Coming up with new and interesting outlets may take some extra time, work, and research. But what a benefit! Students learn to enjoy research, writing and revision!

Making writing personal and allowing for different audiences doesn’t have be to as extravagant as Rossbach’s classroom. One thing to recognize and utilize in the classroom is the importance and value of the various forms of communication that students are already using. Middle school and high school students blog, chat, and email a great deal more than they talk face to face and definitely more than they compose compositions. Instead of discouraging these behaviors, we can utilize them. “We live in the middle of an amazing revolution of publishing and creation. As the Internet continues to grow and develop, more power to create and publish is in the hands of everyone who wants it” (Hunt 105). Teachers, too often stuck in the traditional mindset, consider the new advances in technology to be a distraction to them and their students and some even find the new publishing medium provided by the internet to be dangerous and unnerving. However, it’s finally time to accept that “Students are immersed in this participatory culture. They write and read at MySpace, Bebo, and Xanga. They draft and share poetry at VampireFreaks.com; they share photos and text messages via their computers and telephones. They watch, create, and share funny, and sometimes scary, stuff at YouTube or Google Video” (Hunt 105). Claggett has advocated that “Ideally, writing assessments allow for students to write for various purposes and for specific audiences” (Claggett 2). Personally, as a teenager, I thought much more carefully and critically about writing that I knew would be shared with my peers than I did for writing that will only be seen by my teacher and I think that I still do that today. Journal writing is a strategy that has always been used in English classrooms, but using blogs is a fun and interesting way to bring journal writing into this technological age. Journals of any form allow students to explore and express themselves in ways that they may not attempt without some persuasion. Assigning students to write at least once a week in a blog that will be viewed by me, their classmates, and any peers that they would like to share it with is a much more intriguing take on the old classic journal. In addition, every article I’ve read that has talked about teaching students to be life-long writers has emphasized the importance of allowing students to write to a variety of authentic audiences, audiences besides just the teacher where they feel that their writing has more impact than just on a grade. Bud Hunt finalizes the benefits of the use of the web in the classroom perfectly: “How much more authentic can you get than the entire world? (Hunt 106).