Unstructured Writing in the Classroom

Unstructured Writing In The Classroom

Writing is both a cognitive and social endeavor. Structured writing aligned with standards sets students up for success on formal assessments. It is important and cannot be ignored in today’s classrooms. However, unstructured writing times, when students are free to explore writing and share and collaborate with peers, is equally important. In an era where there seems to only be time for structured writing experiences in the literacy classroom, it is important to also build in opportunities for unstructured writing. Unstructured writing times in the classroom allow for students to hone the craft of writing without an obligation to adhere to set parameters. Unstructured writing times are free from rubrics and provide freedom for experimentation with the written word both independently and collaboratively.

Teachers, or aspiring teachers, have likely learned about structured writing in their college preparation, practicum experiences, and schools. The five-paragraph essay and claim-evidence-reasoning response approaches are pervasive. A writers workshop approach is less likely to be found in college coursework or schools, in the current era. When it is found, it is likely to be more restrictive than the work of Donald Graves, who has been often considered as the founder and expert on the Writers Workshop, first intended (Fletcher, 2017). Students are often provided with prompts, topics or genres, and the final product is prescriptive in nature, following a set format and scored by a set rubric. Choice, peer collaboration, sharing the pen, and conferencing about writing have been replaced with a more standards-based structured approach to writing instruction in classrooms and in college literacy texts. The emphasis is on skills and product, and not on process and written language play and creativity.

The recent Science of Reading movement and revival of the Reading Wars has created a skills-based approach to literacy instruction. The term “Science of Reading” has come to represent the National Reading Panel’s big five components: Phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension (National Reading Panel, 2002). Sometimes, this term even represents a narrow slice of the big five components with a focus solely on phonemic awareness and phonics. Writing in classrooms is not included in the instructional conversations surrounding this movement (Graham, 2020). Preservice teachers and teachers new to the profession are becoming members of a community of practice that may not currently place an emphasis on writing instruction. When it does, the community of practice takes a skills-based approach at the word level, employing writing as a means to solely practice decoding and encoding.

A structured approach to writing has its place in literacy instruction. Research supports the need for a strong foundation in phonemic awareness and phonics in the youngest readers and writers (National Reading Panel, 2002), and a skills-based approach helps students build this foundation in the early grades. Students also need to learn ways to organize thoughts, learn methods for writing a variety of genres, and learn to utilize correct spelling and grammar. However, it is equally important that students understand that the purpose of writing is communication and meaning making. Writing is a conversation between the writer and the reader (Rubin & Hansen, 1984; Shanahan, 1987). This conversation can take many forms and can ebb and flow much like oral dialogue. Writing is also community-based. A supportive writing community is a necessary component of a strong writing program (Graham, 2021). In this writing community, students need to see writing as a craft as well as a discipline. Those who engage in a craft see it as a process and work material toward an end product (Graves, 2003). It is necessary to allow students time in the classroom for writing and to allow them to work through their writing process. Writers need room to choose their own topics of interest for writing (Graham et al., 2012; Graves, 2003). When they have this choice, they tend to be more engaged and motivated (Graham et al., 2012). Writers need daily time to write (Graham, 2020; Graham et.al., 2012). Writing improves with more time devoted to writing. Writing must be practiced (Graham, 2020).