Digested Read 3: Donald Graves, 1982
Graves is quoted by Richard Andrews in 'The case for a national writing project' CfBT 2008:
"Writing is extolled, worried over, cited as a national priority, but seldom practised. The
problem with writing is not poor spelling, punctuation, grammar and handwriting. The problem with writing is no writing. Reading has been over-stressed, often at the expense of writing."
(Graves, D. (1978) ‘We won’t let them write’, Language Arts, 55, 635–640.1978, p636)
3. Donald Graves: Teachers and Children at Work, 1982.
Graves urges teachers to open up the writing process as one that is not simply linear, but a journey with many turnings and learnings. He also observes the effectiveness of raising the status of children as writers. Graves sees writing emerging from a natural instinct of asserting identity through mark-making. He advocates presenting writing as a craft which focuses first on the shaping of meaning rather than the forced acquisition of forms and structures. By discussing writers' intentions and by attending more to surprises (unique voice) than to conformity (standard structures), children can be helped to take control of a practice that might otherwise be painfully alienating.
In describing the practice of a 9 year-old (y4) writer, Graves observes the shuffling and shuttling process of real writing. The young writer moves between reading, discussing, writing and rewriting as they chase down their meanings, discovering what they want to say in the act of writing. In order to develop confident writers, teachers discuss content, probe knowledge, react as audience to the young writer's feedback and return to them control and responsibility for content and sequence.
In chapter 5, he discusses the ways in which the complete writing process may be modelled for children: choosing from a range of topics; making lists and drafts; and accompanying all this with a running commentary on what they are thinking - extending to asking children how best the writing might be carried on. The more openly and naturally this is done (and the more agency is conferred upon the child), the richer will be what they will notice, and therefore the greater the number of things which they may learn from it. In contrast to 'objectives-led' modelling, this approach confirms "the commonality of all writers as well as (confirming) new approaches by the child in the writing process." Just as in the process of talking we shape and discover our thoughts, so in the process of writing we find out more about the topic.
Teachers in the NWP UK project can also confirm the truth of this: "Modelling changes my relationship with a class. We become writers together when blocks become problems to be solved rather than sinful errors." (NWP UK 2011)
In later chapters, Graves sees further motivation generated by publishing children's writing and by conferring equal status on adult and children's writing alike. Under such influences children are more likely to care about surface conventions, resolve presentational problems, and be more critically aware of their own writing as well as that of other authors.
Well, What is Writing Anyway? Donald Graves 1977
'The real danger to the future of writing in America is that so few teachers write for themselves. Non-writing teachers unduly worry about the etiquette of what they do not practise or understand. They simply do not understand the writing process. It seems to me that the next major concern before us in writing is how to help teachers to write.'
Quoted by Pat D'Arcy in 'Two Contrasting Paradigms for the teaching and Assessment of Writing' NATE, NAPE, NAAE 2000.
Graves urges teachers to open up the writing process as one that is not simply linear, but a journey with many turnings and learnings. He also observes the effectiveness of raising the status of children as writers. Graves sees writing emerging from a natural instinct of asserting identity through mark-making. He advocates presenting writing as a craft which focuses first on the shaping of meaning rather than the forced acquisition of forms and structures. By discussing writers' intentions and by attending more to surprises (unique voice) than to conformity (standard structures), children can be helped to take control of a practice that might otherwise be painfully alienating.
In describing the practice of a 9 year-old (y4) writer, Graves observes the shuffling and shuttling process of real writing. The young writer moves between reading, discussing, writing and rewriting as they chase down their meanings, discovering what they want to say in the act of writing. In order to develop confident writers, teachers discuss content, probe knowledge, react as audience to the young writer's feedback and return to them control and responsibility for content and sequence.
In chapter 5, he discusses the ways in which the complete writing process may be modelled for children: choosing from a range of topics; making lists and drafts; and accompanying all this with a running commentary on what they are thinking - extending to asking children how best the writing might be carried on. The more openly and naturally this is done (and the more agency is conferred upon the child), the richer will be what they will notice, and therefore the greater the number of things which they may learn from it. In contrast to 'objectives-led' modelling, this approach confirms "the commonality of all writers as well as (confirming) new approaches by the child in the writing process." Just as in the process of talking we shape and discover our thoughts, so in the process of writing we find out more about the topic.
Teachers in the NWP UK project can also confirm the truth of this: "Modelling changes my relationship with a class. We become writers together when blocks become problems to be solved rather than sinful errors." (NWP UK 2011)
In later chapters, Graves sees further motivation generated by publishing children's writing and by conferring equal status on adult and children's writing alike. Under such influences children are more likely to care about surface conventions, resolve presentational problems, and be more critically aware of their own writing as well as that of other authors.
Well, What is Writing Anyway? Donald Graves 1977
'The real danger to the future of writing in America is that so few teachers write for themselves. Non-writing teachers unduly worry about the etiquette of what they do not practise or understand. They simply do not understand the writing process. It seems to me that the next major concern before us in writing is how to help teachers to write.'
Quoted by Pat D'Arcy in 'Two Contrasting Paradigms for the teaching and Assessment of Writing' NATE, NAPE, NAAE 2000.