Why Writing Correctly Matters

Texting, IM'ing, and the casual language of students today is a concern to many people in education. When talking to students, by far the majority realize how different types of writing require different styles. Most students know the difference between formal and informal language.

However, grammar, spelling, and punctuation skills still tend to trip up many writers. Part of the challenge is recognizing just how much of an impact mistakes have on the reader. Often times, we teach the how, and not the why. Occasionally, something comes along that really points out the reason most of us take writing correctly so seriously.

With permission from Sister Salad, this edited version of their video, "Yo Comments Are Wack!" points out the disasterous commenting seen on the web and explains why writing matters. I first saw this video on Joanne Jacobs, but it needed a little editing to make it appropriate for use in school.

Thanks to Lizz, Alexandra, and Invisisis for allowing the editing of this video so students everywhere can benefit from their knowledge of wacked out comments!

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Read Aloud to Revise

Kara M. said, "When you go through your essay, you see it like you think it's supposed to be. When you read it aloud, you find the mistakes." Her experience with reading her letter aloud today showed why students learned this writing tool.

As explained in the Reading Workshop Notes:

Reading Aloud to Revise

To revise your content, read an essay aloud. Have the listener alert you at any time when your writing does not make sense, or they have a question. Highlight that part, and after you are finished, go back and rewrite. Then read aloud again to a different person. Repeat the process until your essay is easy to understand and interesting to read.

For this to work, the listener must be actively involved, and not afraid to speak up whenever the essay does not make sense, or has grammatical errors. He must also listen for pauses, and be sure appropriate punctuation is included.

Teen Writing, r u lol

How has the use of electronic writing affected you? How has it helped? What problems has it caused? With only one month left in the school year, should language arts instruction be changed to reflect this? And if so, how?

Pew Internet & American Life Project researched Writing, Technology and Teens. The study looked at the effect of modern technology on students' writing.

This is a significant issue based on their conclusion that 85% of teens ages 12-17 engage at least occasionally in some form of electronic personal communication, which includes text messaging, sending email or instant messages, or posting comments on social networking sites.

This table summarizes some of the findings of the study.


The complete findings of this study can be viewed here.

Are texting, IM'ing, MySpace, Facebook, blogging and email ruining the next generation of writers, or will they make them the best ever?