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    Short Essay Authenticity

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    This document discusses the importance of authenticity in student writing. It argues that students often see writing assignments as meaningless tasks done simply to fulfill requirements. To address this, teachers should give students an authentic audience for their writing beyond just the teacher. They should also let students choose their own topics about things that matter to them. Additionally, teachers need to model authentic writing for students by sharing their own genuine thoughts and emotions to make the classroom a place for lifelong learning.

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    Short Essay Authenticity

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    137 views3 pages
    This document discusses the importance of authenticity in student writing. It argues that students often see writing assignments as meaningless tasks done simply to fulfill requirements. To address this, teachers should give students an authentic audience for their writing beyond just the teacher. They should also let students choose their own topics about things that matter to them. Additionally, teachers need to model authentic writing for students by sharing their own genuine thoughts and emotions to make the classroom a place for lifelong learning.

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    This document discusses the importance of authenticity in student writing. It argues that students often see writing assignments as meaningless tasks done simply to fulfill requirements. To address this, teachers should give students an authentic audience for their writing beyond just the teacher. They should also let students choose their own topics about things that matter to them. Additionally, teachers need to model authentic writing for students by sharing their own genuine thoughts and emotions to make the classroom a place for lifelong learning.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as docx, pdf, or txt
    137 views3 pages

    Short Essay Authenticity

    Uploaded by

    api-490044249
    This document discusses the importance of authenticity in student writing. It argues that students often see writing assignments as meaningless tasks done simply to fulfill requirements. To address this, teachers should give students an authentic audience for their writing beyond just the teacher. They should also let students choose their own topics about things that matter to them. Additionally, teachers need to model authentic writing for students by sharing their own genuine thoughts and emotions to make the classroom a place for lifelong learning.

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    of 3

    Derek Morton

    ENGL4500

    The Importance of Authenticity in Student Writing

    We’ve all been there before. You sit in your English class, listening to the teacher drone

    on about some obscure subject that you’ve just learned about. You glance at the clock, surely it’s

    been at least fifteen minutes since the last time you looked. Nope, only three have passed. When

    your focus lands again on the teacher, you notice that you’re being assigned a writing project that

    has nothing to do with you or your future. With a sigh, you begin throwing words on a paper in a

    perfunctory attempt to satisfy the requirements.

    One of the greatest challenges that ELA teachers face is getting students to take their

    work seriously. Students often just seek to fulfill the assignment criteria, turn in their paper, and

    then throw it in the trash as soon as it is handed back to them. What can we do, as educators, to

    change the current paradigm and create students that write with purpose? As Anne Elrod

    Whitney coined it, we must eliminate “the schoolishness of school” (Whitney). There are many

    ways to avoid schoolishness, but a few are fundamental in the ELA classroom, including giving

    an authentic audience, letting the kids write about what matters to them, and being genuine as a

    teacher.

    Giving students an authentic audience is vital. Simply put, if students know that real

    people, not just the teacher, will read their work down the road, they’ll take it seriously. One

    example of authentic audience is Constantine Christopulos, who “used class time to write letters

    encouraging a change in the cafeteria menu.” The students ended up getting “the attention

    lunchroom menu planners,” effectively changing their school experience with their writing

    (Lindblom). If teachers want students to write effectively, they need to provide an authentic
    audience. Create assignments for students to write to local leaders about an issue, to write to their

    families, or even their own classmates.

    Another way to avoid schoolishness is to let the students decide what to write. Let them

    write about what matters to them. Students should have “a choice of topic” an be “able to

    exercise their own voices” (Arseneault). It is impossible for students to write genuinely about a

    topic that they don’t find interesting. Many English teachers may remember sitting through math

    classes in college, simply grinding through the work to get it done. Let’s not force the same fate

    upon our students. Let them choose what to write about and watch them take off.

    The last topic to discuss is being genuine as a teacher. Setting the example for students

    will help scaffold their understanding of what authentic writing is. While it is important to give

    young authors a choice, “choice is meaningless unless we show our students how to connect

    choice with honest struggles and issues” (Graves). If you, the teacher, are having a bad day, let

    your students know. Write an example for them of how your pet is old and sick. Write about how

    somebody made your day. Be real with your emotions and show it in your work. Let the students

    see your humanity, and they will follow.

    In order to be successful teachers, we need to show our students what real, genuine

    writing looks like. We need to give them the chance to choose their writing topics, put their real

    emotions and voices into their work, and present their information to real audiences. As we help

    students to write more authentically, we will soon see a classroom of lifelong learners who

    communicate effectively and change the world around them.


    Works Cited

    Arseneault, Ruth. “Authentic Writing: What it Means and How to Do It.” Talks with Teachers,
    edited by Brian Sztabnik. Accessed November 17, 2019.
    http://talkswithteachers.com/authenticwriting/

    Graves, Donald H. "Children Can Write Authentically If We Help Them." Primary Voices K-
    6 August 1993: 2-5.

    Lindblom, Ken. "School Writing vs. Authentic Writing." 27 July 2015. Teachers, Profs,
    Parents: Writers Who Care. October 2019.

    Whitney, Anne Elrod. “In Search of the Authentic English Classroom: Facing the
    Schoolishness of School.” English Education, vol. 44, no. 1, 2011, pp. 51– 62. JSTOR,
    www.jstor.org/stable/23238722.

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