The Details of WTLs

Teaching the ability to "learn-how-to-learn" is one of my goals. In order to do this students have to be imbued with critical thinking skills. Critical thinking is linked to effective reading, writing, and communicating effectively.  Thus they can't help but build an education for their lives. Whether they like it or not, they will be learning throughout their lives. WTLs (writing to learn items) will help them harness their private linguistic reservoirs and get their minds to flow freely towards their immediate objectives.

The WTLs that I as a student science teacher will be trying to use this coming fall semester are taken right from the authors of my book (Content Area Writing-Every Teachers Guide). I have diligently copied them for you with little or no interpretation because I think they are very valuable to us all.

Short: Unlike a term paper or major project, WTLs - whether lists, notes or instant messages-tend to be brief in length and in composing time. They are bits of writing that students can do in quick bursts, not extended composition. They can be written in journal, logs, on index cards or scrap paper.

Spontaneous:  WTLs are done off the top of the student's head, just to get ideas or information down. They don't need to find their inner muse-just spill it onto paper. Don't make them plan lists or notes the way they have learned to carefully map out longer, more formatted pieces of public writing. WTLs ideas should come quickly and often while they write.

Exploratory: With WTL students use writing as a tool to help them figure things out, not as a way of announcing what they know or have learned. It is writing "in process." It may not know where it is going or even when it begins. It's used as a writing tool that helps the student develop a set of possibilities or goals for future action.

Personal:  WTLs are for the student writer.  They are usually not for public consumption. Don't make students hand them in for grading. Students don't use them to please or inform an audience (usually the teacher) they are just created to help them think, get some work done, plan or collect thoughts.

Informal: A grocery list doesn't have to say Kraft Mayonnaise-just mayo. Their instant messages and texts are a short hand that often only they understand. But, don't despair, with time most of these short cuts will enter the popular vernacular (if they haven't already). Look at WTL language as dressed down, a relaxed and ready to spend a quite evening at home.

One Draft:  In keeping with their very nature, WTLs are brief, spontaneous, utilitarian jottings that are not revised. I've never gone back and created a second draft of a grocery list. Have you? However, I will share this-my grocery list is a pre-printed form I have created as an aisle map of my local supermarket. It contains the names of the most common things my family buys every week with enough blank lines to fill in new stuff. My grocery list is built for speed.

Unedited:  Their is no correcting spelling or grammar with WTLs. What difference does spelling make in a WTL anyway? None!

Ungraded:  As mentioned earlier, these writings are not to be graded. After all, WTLs are not like the formal public writing products that Common Core says must be extracted across the entire curriculum. But, maybe they can be collected occasionally to give the teacher an idea of what's really happening out in the sea of student pre-public writing thought.

Finally, why are WTLs important? Hold that though for the next post.