Writing with Writers - United States

This programme's strategy supports theories of instruction that encourage students to think about the concept of an audience for their work (rather than directing their words exclusively toward the single teacher who will evaluate those words). When writers imagine themselves working within a community - and then are given feedback by that community - it is hoped that they will critique their own work and revise their writing in response to the dialogue.

The Writing with Writers programme is based the notion of an online writing community for elementary school students. On the Writing with Writers site, students interact with professional writers in a workshop format. Genres include biography, fairy tales, descriptive, mystery, myth, news, poetry, and book review writing. For example, children who enter the "Folktale Writing" portion of the site read "In this workshop, we will share the magic of clever animals, enchanted kingdoms, and much, much more. Along the way, we'll offer tips, challenges, and guidelines to help you write your own folktales. When you're done with the workshop, you'll be able to publish your writing on this Web site. We'll even be selecting folktales and offering comments about your writing. Every writer will receive a special Certificate of Achievement signed by us!"

Each workshop includes examples, step-by-step instructions for writing, a teacher's guide, a transcript of an interview with the author, and directions for publishing students' finished works. Students are encouraged to submit their written profiles for review online, and to read their peers' work.

Education, Children, Technology.

One student who participated in the programme said, "I always wanted my work to be read by someone else, someone out there who would grade me seriously, a regular person," she said. "With a teacher, it's their job. When someone else is reading it, they are doing it on their own free will."

Organisers are motivated by evidence that, in the United States, students are struggling with writing. Although data released in July 2003 by the federal Department of Education showed a slight improvement in the writing skills of 4th and 8th graders, the report also revealed that more than two-thirds of all USA students are less than proficient at the task. The rise of the Internet is often blamed for this deficiency. Parents worry that children are copying paragraphs from websites rather than writing their own. Some wonder if instant messaging, with its compressed spelling and syntax, might be stunting writing development. Writing with Writers, however, is based on the idea that technology can improve, rather than undermine, writing skills.