Learning to write has many purposes, such as conveying information, making an argument, providing a means for self-reflection, sharing an experience, enhancing understanding of reading, or providing entertainment.
In a classroom, it would be a fun exercise to take ONE TOPIC and ask each student (or team of students) to write about it for a specific purpose. For example, the topic could be: “owning a personal cell phone.”
One story could be “why I should own a cell phone” another could be: “how my cell phone helps me express myself” and another could be to “physically describe the cell phone” (as in a brochure) and another could be “the history of cell phones.”
As the teacher, you should be creative – maybe you want your students to write a poem or hip hop song about their cell phone…or a tragic story about the demise of their prized possession…
By bringing variety into the writing environment, students learn how to write for many purposes while learning from their classmates.
