Writing is Simply Communicating!

My attention was immediately drawn today to Edutopia's article, 3 Strategies to Improve Student Writing Instantly.  I have been blessed given the task of teaching writing to all 5th grade students at Endeavor Charter Academy. There are always the student's who envision themselves as writer's already, and produce immense quantities of book-length personal narratives.  Then there are the others, no in-betweens, that draw a complete blank when asked to write, even when the story is about themselves.  How do I reach those students who put up that "wall of defense" that stops them from transferring expressive thoughts to paper?  In this article, Ali Parrish gives three suggestions that I, honestly, had not considered:

• Student Talks, Teacher Writes - the teacher sits in the studet's desk and has the student stand and dictate to the teacher what he wants to write.
• Audio Record It - using audio devices, such as a tape recorder, and microphone, or even a phone app to record what the student wants to write about it.
• Audio Transcribe It - using iPhone/iPad app programs such as Dragon Naturally Speaking, Dictation Pro, or Voice Translator that transcribes the "talk" to text, therefore writing the story for the student.

Parrish states:

 "The sooner students (and teachers) can see that writing has nothing to do with a pencil, a piece of paper or keyboard, and the sooner students see that writing is simply communicating, the sooner they will start making incredible progress. Barriers will come down. The handicapping hesitation of putting the pencil on the paper to "write" will go away. Then students will feel free to "say it as it is" in their writing. After all (and I can't stress this enough), writing is simply communicating, but through the pencil's lead rather than through the person's lips." (2013)

As a writing teacher, my first reaction to these suggestions was to reject these suggestions.  I want them to  actually write, taking the ideas within their minds and transfer them to paper.  How would recording them, or me writing the story for them, teach them to write themselves?  But as I re-read the article and began thinking through the ideas, I became more open to trying these strategies.  The frustration a student feels when trying to get started writing IS a mindset, and if those barriers were removed then a student would be able to write more freely.  I think it is important that a young writer know that 'writing is simply communicating'!  Once they figure that out, the "wall of defense" will hopefully fall down, leaving the flow of writing...well, flowing.

Parrish, Ali.  3 Strategies to Improve Student's Writing Instantly. Internet. Edutopia.com, 05Nov2013.  Retrieved 09Nov2013.