In this article, a professor from the University of Hawaii sought out some help from his colleagues for a better understanding on how to make his students’ writing more engaging rather than superficial. The responses and activities he received were varied yet all promoted deeper thinking and provided a scaffold for students to gain a better insight to their beliefs and understandings before writing.
Although this article was written with university students in mind, I was definitely able to apply some of the ideas and practices to my second grade students. I remember once reading that Donald Graves believed that writing was the ultimate form of synthesis. If this is true, than understanding how to get writers to be more critical thinkers before actually writing or finalizing their writing, is essential.
Two of the suggested ideas were focused on having students appreciate other people’s perspective. I believe this is a transferable skill and can be built from a very early age. I have ongoing conversations with my students regarding this and use every opportunity to reinforce the idea that it is OK to have different views. I encourage listening to the other person’s ideas or beliefs and trying to back up their own opinions with clear examples. This sort of dialogue I think will later help them when they have to put their thinking and beliefs into writing. Developing critical thinking skills is developmental and needs to be ongoing for life.
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