Putting Writing Before Reading

                Literacy has been an epidemic in this country for a long time now, particularly because of what is stressed in the educational system. ELA is the only subject that stresses vocabulary, meaning, and context/use of words or language and is the only time children get to verbally share their thoughts and ideas. Social studies gives many students a chance to practice these skills but it’s not built into the curriculum for the sake of strengthening literacy. As an individual with no classroom experience and being learner with special needs I can empathize with a student who needs a little extra effort from the educator to fully understand what is being taught. I wrote notes in every subject as a student. I made vocabulary lists and made footnotes on the outer margins of my notebook pages as a way to help myself better understand what was being taught. Even in math, where the dominant tools used to teach the curriculum is symbol based, writing the footnotes and making lists on the steps to solving problems were the single most important skills that helped me to achieve in math and science.

                “Encouraging someone to express thoughts on paper” is a very useful tool for someone who is not a student. It provides opportunity for clarity, to create more ideas and eases anxiety as well. Students can also use this tool to gather information, ask detailed questions, share their findings and re-examine their own notes to find out what they don’t know. I have been rapping for more than half of my life, I can write a rap in my head but ideas seem to flow a little better when I use a paper and pen. This also translates to my learning style, no matter how much of the theory I have memorized or down packed I will not be comfortable until I can refer to that data in written form. I review my notes sometimes but I feel most of my understanding comes from translating what I am learning into my own words onto paper.

                Educators will need some formal training as the text said in order to implement writing into their curriculum. Every industry has their own lingo/jargon and being able to express yourself and your ideas is crucial to success in any profession. This is why reading and writing are joined at the hip. I totally agree that too much emphasis is placed on reading, being able to take in data but displaying effective synthesis is also important to overall literacy. I think having a thought or information and not being able to convey that thought in a meaningful manner is worse than not being able to formulate a thought at all. Traditional Western education is based on heavy input and assessment through testing. These tactics provide the ideal way to measure productivity in a technical manner but assessment is a very dynamic portion of educating. I think verbal and written responses to any stimulus is a reliable form of assessing, it also creates teachable moments that will allow an educator to delve deeper into the curriculum.

                The dominance of reading in curriculum in schools has been failing American students for a long time. If the country is behind in literacy and an overwhelming amount of students are at least three grades behind in reading comprehension, writing is definitely going to suffer. The text expresses the idea that students’ literacy would improve if they had more opportunities to write. I feel writing increases students’ interest, which will increase the level of participation. If reading and writing were “joined at the hip” in the classroom the opportunities for writing and overall performance would increase. There is nothing that can’t be accomplished once an educator has gained a students’ interest. If I was given that opportunity I may have responded to many assignments by writing a rap but my work would have been complete and meaningful to me. My educators would have also had somewhere to begin educating me through writing.