Writing - More than an Action - How 1:1 Makes a Difference

Our past experiences frequently provide us context to interpret our current reality. When we take in new challenges and opportunities we interpret these situations from our own history and paradigm. For us adults, writing is grounded in the idea of us constructing letters into words, words into sentences, sentences into paragraphs first on paper and then through type. We see writing as a set of action. An process of organizing our thoughts and communicating them to others in text. Growing up, we learned the writing process. We learned to hand write. We learned block print & cursive. Typing was the class in which we discovered the home row. Eventually we learned to structure our thoughts through graphic organizers. We went through the painstaking process of writing and revising. Draft after draft this process grew. Lost in this was the goal, the product of developing a set of concise coherent thoughts which would generate meaning for others.

As educational professionals, our experiences are grounded in this thought process. We assume that in the future, our students will need to learn both the physical actions and structured organization thought in order to be successful. Through this, at times, we loose track of the end goal, the product of developing a set of concise coherent thoughts which would generate meaning for others.

As a society, for both children and adults, we "write" more than ever. At young ages, children text. Many tweet. Some blog. Some make video diaries. Others quick game plays. The reality is we need to divide writing into its' two core components: the act of input and the act of organizing our thoughts to communicate concise & coherent meaning.

When we consider writing, as the act of input, created by formation of block print, cursive, or typing, is simply that, just an act of input. We live in a society in which these are already legacy technologies. They are acts of choice, not requirement. While many desktops, laptops, chromebooks, or netbooks may take these currently as their sole method of input, mobile devices have gone far past this realm. Whether an individual uses Android or iOS, both Google Now & Siri provide high quality mechanisms that import audio to text. These mobile devices also allow students & adults to create their own videos. Right now, we have tools in our pockets that routinely except multi-dimensional input. A student can just talk and the words come right to the page. They can record powerful images. Both static photos and vibrant video and add key dialogue both auditory and text to communicate concise & coherent meaning. We live in a society right now that not only no longer requires but prefers multidimensional input.

However, if we consider writing as the act of organizing our thoughts to communicate concise & coherent meaning, here is the cornucopia of learning opportunities. Regardless of how the input was gathered, students (and many adults) need to learn how to organize their thoughts in a way that makes sense. Furthermore, global society prefers concise coherent communication rather than long form prose. Think of what happens when you receive an email. How often do you get past paragraph three? There are still moments for long form text and dialogue. It is not that we should abandon our work on this. But it is not the sole focal point. Concise, organized, technical communication matters.'

As we prepare ourselves and our students for the future, lets recognize our current reality and the immediate future. The act of writing as an input is an option, the act of organizing our thoughts and communicating effectively is a necessity.