Chapter 11 Response

There are many ways I feel that writing has changed dramatically in my lifetime. On a personal level, I feel like writing is more of a chore now than it used to be. When I was little, I wrote in a journal and even wrote a few stories that I used to pretend would be published one day. I loved to write about my life, personal experiences, and family. Now that I have grown older, I don’t find writing as enjoyable. I guess because through the years, I have found it to be such a burden because the only time I get to write is through school assignments. I don’t find writing as a personal escape or a way to express my feelings any more- just simply a chore that has to be done for school. I wish I still like to write and I still found it enjoyable, but I have just lost that piece of what used to be me in my childhood.
Professionally speaking, I feel that writing has made a dramatic change in my lifetime because of the many different ways that people write now. Just a few years ago, people corresponded through writing letters, using correct grammar, punctuation and spelling. However, in the more recent days, writing can be done in the form of email, text, chat, and many other forms of technology. Because writing is done through technology so often, the short hand has become a very popular form of writing. For example, when writing a text it is coming to see “When r u comin 2 c me?” It is a quick and easy way to get the message across through text, email, or chat. However, because of this new way of writing, kids are not getting the practice they need with correct grammar, punctuation, and spelling. Since their main form of writing practice is through these new ways, when they have to write a paper in the classroom, they struggle with their writings. This new trend should lead teachers to put a great emphasis on teaching students to write using correct grammar, spelling, and punctuation. Since students get some much practice with writing that is not beneficial to them, teachers need to make sure the students get plenty of writing practice that is beneficial to them in the classroom. I think it is great that writing is being incorporated into all content areas now. This gives students a great opportunity to practice writing correctly instead of just getting the practice for an hour every day. Teachers should emphasize the importance of good, strong writers and teach the students how to separate their casual and short handwriting from the writing they do in school. No form of short hand should be allowed in the classroom and teachers need to be a positive role model for the students and abide by the same standards. As this new generation of children grow older, they will be all too familiar with writing through technology which means that teachers will have to continue to enforce the good, positive writing practices in the classroom.