Welcome to the first blog on the AP/GP Connection. That's a cheesy title that almost sounds like a WWE tag team name, but you get the picture. Anyhow, here're a few things to think about and respond to over the next week or so.
- What would you do or what would you like to see that would make writing more meaningful in school? Be concrete with your ideas and comments, not vague and general (as in, "I'd like if writing meant something..." because schlock like that doesn't mean anything).
Remember to treat this a "casual-formal" writing. That is, adhere to the standards of Edited English and refrain from netspeak, txtng acrnms, or unnecessary slang. However, don't sound like a robot, either. Also, try to respond as much to each others' thought as to the original post, but keep your responses focused.
45 comments:
To make writing more meaningful in school I think we could do alot to improve how writing can express emotions. One thing is the topic we write about. For example if we write about a topic that doesn't interest us we can't really mean everything we say and write strongly about the topic. Also, I think that we could make writing more fun. If writing is dull I lose interest and write a bunch of blah on the page. If we make writing fun I would become more interested and more focused on the subject.
Outside of school writing is seen everywhere. For example you see writing everyday in the paper and news on the homepage of your computer. Technology is evolving and now twitter keeps everyone informed on everything instantly. Typing and writing letters are getting old and AIM and text messaging are becoming quicker and more convenient. Writing outside of school must be used to keep people informed
I think that writing truly comes from within the heart. Some things are easier said in writing than actually talking to someone. For example, expressing how you really feel could be a lot easier via text message (since technology has changed) or an actual letter opposed from actual verbal communication.
Some teachers make students really hate writing and I don't believe that should really be the case for anyone. I understand if someone likes science and math subjects rather english classes, but the one thing that most teenagers think about when asked to write something is an essay. Writing is so much more than that and if teachers incorporated different writing styles, I think alot more students would be interested.
Outside of school writing is still very active. Moreso in social networking sites which have become very popular. If it lets people express their minds and still communicate, I'm all for that.
I think that to make writing more meaningful in school, that we should write about an exciting adventure, ora struggle that we each faced this summmer or year. It could be something that people really get into or get excited about, because it's something they've experienced, unlike a report on someplace you've never heard of, or a dead person. I think that writing about something that you know allows you to open up and express yourdelf more freely, like all writers should be able to do.
To make writing more meaningful in school I believe that we should be able to express ourselves through writing on the things we enjoy. If we don't enjoy or agree on something we are writing on we may not put our full effort in it. For me writing on subjects I don't enjoy I don't put all my effort and lose interest in the subject. When I am excited on writing I put a lot of effort and expression on the subject and because I like the subject I am fully involved in it. Writing can show expression but if the person does not enjoy the subject then there will most likely be no expression.
Writing i the future is going be very different I believe. I think we are all going to have a little hand held device that is going to have everything on it. Yes, that does sound like the iPhone but soon we could be using it in school and have English apps on it and be reading Shakespeare off of it and then be responding to questions on it and sending them to our teacher. The technology that is advancing now is going to change how we write. We will write less because we can write short little quick answers and continue on in our lives. There may be less writing in the future I just see it advancing with everything else advancing in our daily lives. There will still be a daily newspaper and stories to read. .
I think that texts and tweets aren't that bad for communication. But, I also think that it gets annoying when people write stuff such as 'lol i just got back from the bathroom' cuz thats not information that people need to know. But, I do think that it's a good way to quickly get massages to people you need to commuhnicate with right away. All in all, i think it's extremely useful, and kind of annoying at the same time.
I think that to make writing more meaningful in school students should write about things that they enjoy. When I write a paper I want to enjoy the topic i am writing about. For example, i do not see the benifit of writing reaserch papers. I know that they help teach us but there are other ways to learn about things. Also I think that writing in school could be more meaningful if it related to us. Things that have no connection to us or what might happen to us are not very interesting and i forget them within weeks.
I think that writing will continue to be important to me outside high school. I think i will still use writing to convey my feelings to others because sometimes writing our feelings to someone is much easier than talking to them. Also writing helps us organize our thoughts. I also think that as time goes on texting will be used more but traditional writing will still be used
I agree with bklions21, writing would be much more meaning full if you were writing about something that interests you, or that you really care about. If you are given a subject to write about that you really don't like, or think is stupid, then you aren't going to want to put time in on it, or work on it at all. But if you are given a paper to write that you really care about, you will want to make it really good, to prove your point. Also, if you, say, care about the environment, and you want to convince other people to use reusable shopping bags, then you might be more interested in writing a paper about that, but you could maybe change peoples minds by writing a good paper, then you would want to make sure it was the best paper you could write.
To make writing more meaningful in school i think we should choose what we want to write about. Usually when you dont feel like writing about the topic you have to write about, you just want to hurry up and finish it. Therefore we just write something that will get us by and turn it in. But if we write about something we enjoy to do, we put alot of effort into it.
Today the internet is used very conviently to inform everyone about everything. Twitter, Facebook and text messaging are used so much now, it an eaiser way to get out information then writing or emailing a letter to someone.
To make writing more meaningful in schools, I think that we should have to write about a variety of topics, and not just creative writing or structured writing. In past years, I have found that I have either done mostly creative writing or mostly structured essays depending on the teacher. I think we need a better balance of the two because it's great to be creative and write short stories, etc. I also think we need more structured persuasive essays or something like that and maybe they could touch on more controversial topics to better prepare us for what's in the real world. Most of us won't be short story writers, and we should know about a variety of topics and I think that can be done through research projects and less creative ones
I think that to make writing more meaningful in school, students should be given more of a chance to write about about things that are interesting to us. If a teacher assigns us to write an essay on a topic that means nothing to us, then I usually wait until the last minute to do it because its boring and meaningless to me. On the other hand, if we get to write about our personal experiences or about topics we care for, then I am much more eager to do the work. Not only that, but I put more effort into my writing when it's about something I care for.
That is a hard question to answer, because it really depends on who you are or your situation and lifestyle. But for most teenagers, I think its pretty safe to say that its not just what we are writing, but what we are writing for and who sees it.
Let me explain. Today in this time and age is the first time that the communication barriers across the world have really been broken down. People in japan can talk to people in France, people in France can talk to people in Australia, and so on and etc. And really, they can do this in literally less than a second. Back in the day, when snail mail was the only way, and oh my gosh you had to PAY for the stamps and WRITE the address and then WAIT for DAYS for a response..well writing was more meaningful in the sense that since it took so much effort just to send, the messages were usually longer and were more thought out and such.
SO what I am trying to say is that because technology has given us the ability to NOT have to wait that long, people have gotten lazier and less caring about whats really 'interesting'.
My other point I brought up earlier was who sees it. Today's teenagers are more about the connection with people. Have you noticed all the hype about twitter that adults are making? Have you noticed how most teenagers in our school don't have a twitter, and if they do, they don't really do much with it? Sure there are exceptions, but really, most kids these days are on facebook and not twitter. Because, like I said, its all about the connection. Adults are going crazy over twitter though, because its simpler, and easier. Its not a friend based site, which is nice for adults who usually have a smaller group of friends (there are always exceptions) and just want their voice heard, and it usually doesn't matter who to them.
So how can this answer your questions? Well first off, I think writing would be more meaningful if it was more connected, or shared with their friends. If I got a chance to share a poem or story with my friends, and they had the chance to give their feedback (and not just peer review, i mean like what they personally liked about it and such) It would definitely be more meaningful.When it connects to you or friendships or just a social issue, its a lot better than just writing a research paper. While I don't think real books will ever go out of style, there will always be something to replace it.
In the end, no one really knows whats going to happen with writing, but they can accurately guess. In my opinion, If the peasants and lower class back in ye olden times could write, maybe it wouldn't seem like people are getting less intelligent each generation. But who knows?
Writing in school?
Yeah, it can be more meaningful. People could write journals, short stories (like one or two pages, not too long),and maybe more personal things.
Everyone can be a great author, writer, and poet if they write about content that is interesting and not just based on a question. Essays could be more free, and involve a writer.They could have many ideas and sides that make the writer use experiences they have had or make analogies to their favorite sport or maybe connect themes of music to writing.As I said anyone can write if the topic is interesting and involves them. Then an assignment isn't an assignment, it is an opportunity to express personal ideas in a piece.
Although I don’t think man will ever be able to make government and history class essays more meaningful, I would like to say that writing is a very important and significant part in our lives. We write projects, resumes, e-mails responding to the news, movie scripts, and articles in the newspapers, critic’s responses and even manuals that are easy to read and build an IKEA dresser. But the only meaningful thing writing has to offer to the school environment is for a grade, although teachers and parents can watch us progress and grow through reading our writing, and I feel that writing should play a more vital part in our school lives. For example, writing is for a grade in most classes. They want you to explain, and write but I feel though as though we should write about current events, how we feel about them, what we think and how we see it. We are going to run the world some day so why not tackle some important issues and make it controversial. There are so many ideas that people don’t get to hear due to the fact that others (parents, politicians, priests) say those thoughts are wrong. Every idea has truth and brilliance to it, so I believe that writing should come from the heart and our thinking cap.
In the later years as we grow and become the important part in our society, I feel that writing is going to still be an important part in communicating. The one thing a person can’t take away from you is your way of thinking. We like to share these thoughts with others. So by writing we can talk about issues, events, and our thoughts to others from far away instead of talking. Writing will still be used for getting news across and thoughts. In the future we will stop using our shortened way of writing, our acronyms and slang because that just makes us look stupid… no not really but because of the fact that we all want to look like smart people.
Now a days people see writing everywhere, just not on paper. You see writing in text messages, tweets, Facebook updates, emails, and many more ways to feed info to one another. Technology gives society a new way to communicate. Ideas can be published quickly and efficiently. There is no more waiting for letters or having a discussion on very personal aspects on a phone, you just email, text, or tweet. Writing is changing and many people prefer the new and fast way of communicating through written texts. People need to balance their new writing with the older way. We cant take technology for granite but at the same time we could use it to our advantage. You just have to remember when it is write to type and when writing is needed. when in a professional state formal writing in paper is going to be preferred over a 140 character tweet on why a company needs a new budget. So choosing when and where is a important part of the new age of writing.
To make writing more meaningful in school I think we should do more writing about topics that actually interest us and inspire us to want to write more. I also think that if we got more of a say in what we had to write about it would be more meaningful. I think we should get a chance to do some more creative writing instead of just writing essay after essay about the books we read for class.
People use writing to communicate outside of school everyday. We use twitter, facebook, texting, etc. Although, this is not the same kind of writing we do in school, and people tend to discard proper use of grammar. I think we will continue to develop online ways of communication and may even start using laptops and computers more in school instead of handwriting assignments.
All the writing that is done is something that is important to someone. Whether it be past experiences or just interests, you can tell everything about an author by their works. That how we, as students, should be able to write. Free flow sort of writing is what I think we should aim for, so we aren't doing monotonus writing about something we just don't really care for.
In the future, I see everything going to technology. Writing especially. Most people have a Myspace or Facebook, so they already type more then they write at school.Doing everything on a computer would just make it easier since more people can type a lot faster than they can write. Either way, writing will develop into something new in the next few years.
In reply to bklions21 it would be almost impossible to make every single writing assignment interesting to everyone. One possibility would be to give us choices in what we write about, for example they could give us the choice of writing about how something effected you personaly or you could write about the way one thing in the movie changed the rest of it. Either way I agree with bk's ideas but i'm not fully sure if they are possible.
In the future I believe that most people will barely know the basis of writing (thinking a couple hundred years into the future of course) and that they will be doing most of their communications through phones/computers. As jesse13 said most people do type faster then they write, and typing does not waste the wood/graphite that enviromentalists so dearly want to keep, much like the rest of the earth resources. Anyway that is an argument for another time. But yes i do believe that in the future we will be using writing less and less.
To make writing more meaningful i think we should be allowed to put as much of us in our work as possible. Be creative. On an assignment dont give us so many facts that we're writing what you want to here but more what we want you to hear. I think you should give out more assignments when we can express our thoughts and emotions. Not only make writing more meaningful it would make writing a lot more fun.
To make writing more meaningful in school I like to see more of the students in the writing. We can all say that if we have to write a journal entry about who was the main character of so and so story and why? we're not really going to give it our all. How do we fix it? Easy. Let the students pick. Let them spill every passionate word about the subject they are passionate for. Whether it is what was the most amazing trip they took this summer or what they found under their bed this morning. Let them speak and let them write what's on their mind. Maybe that way we can start seeing the students instead of the words.
i think that over the years we will still be requiered to right at least a page or so because we wont be able to say and write down evry thing we need to make a point or tell a story. also texting and tweeting has not entered the acedemic world so i dont think it will change.
Wow, there were so many different, interesting responses on how to make writing more meaningful. Out of all of them, I agree mostly with what smhdancer1286, when they said, "Also I think that writing in school could be more meaningful if it related to us." I personally have much more meaning in my writing when I have a personal experience to relate it to. When real-life events are incorporated in writing, the writing becomes so much more meaningful and alive. After experiencing something, you can use the vivid memory that you have on that experience to write a truely passionate and meaningful paper. So, in my opinion, writing would have more meaning if teachers gave us writing assignments on topics that we could relate to.
My writing beyond high school will not be diminished over time. I will think about writing when I'm typing an essay for a class or just for my own enjoyment. However, we can not ignore the fact that technology writing has gained power in the writing world. Years to come people will still be texting, twittering, and facebooking in the slang that they speak. But the school industry has done well to keep writing like OMG or LOL from being used in essays and projects. So as long as they keep up keeping them out we will still find a balance texting and a 140 page paper.
I will definitlty write in life beyond high school.I'll have tasks that will require me to write large amounts, such as writing papers in college and writing presentations at my job.I'll also have times where I'll just need to jot down quick notes like recipes or addresses.
Even though I do not tweet, I do find it amusing. It's a great way to spread information around quickly. Texting is also good for spreading the word. I hope in the future, this will not be the only form of nonverble communication. I don't think that people will only tweet and text because there are so many other forms of writing. However, tweeting is becoming more popular at a rapid pace. But I strongly believe that other forms of writing such as letters, and postcards, will still be used in the future because they are still a big part of today's communication between people.
I honestly feel that writing in school would be more meaningful if it was not always for a grade, or graded to the typical standards. I know this is true for myself as well as many other students, that when given a writing assignment in an English class you write it to what the teacher wants to see. You make sure grammar is perfect, sentence structure is flawless, and your thesis is obvious. I think that if students were given a chance to just write whatever they were feeling and it wasn't graded for punctuation or grammar that they would take it more seriously and find writing enjoyable and meaningful to them.
Writing will always be in our lives, even after we graduate and matriculate and graduate again. If you want to go the obvious route, trivial things such as making a grocery list or transcribing a phone number are involve writing. But beyond that, I can see myself writing a letter to a close friend, or even keeping a journal or diary. I personally do not feel that tweets and texts are taking over the world, I think that they are merely just a phase and will pass with time. And professionally, well if I tell you what I plan to be "when I grow up" everyone will know who I am! And where's the fun in that?
To make writng more meniful i feel that students should be able to write about what intrest them the mos. When we have to write about things that bore us to deaf we tend to lose intrest and just write anything to get done. If we change it up every no and te and do more pontaneous and creative writing maybe writing could become more manifu to us.
To make writing more meaningful, students should be able to choose what they write. It's easier to express ideas and emotions on a topic you are interested in, rather than an assignment that you can't relate to. Sometimes, it's more difficult to get the full idea of what a writer is thinking, when they can't find the words to explain what their intentions were in a piece of writing. It would be much easier to just read a person's mind, but since we can't, writing is our main source of expression.
I think writing will always be a major part of our society. Though people talk on the phone and verbally, I agree with blink182fan about how it is easier to say things in writing than in person. People are more confident when they tell someone something over text, rather than in person. They are more likely to say certain things in writing that they normally wouldn't say out loud. Writing will always be used, whether it's in school, or on facebook. Writing is everywhere.
I do not believe that writing will ever disapear outside of tweets, texts, and networks such as Facebook. Writing with carefully chosen words conveys a message much more complex than a simple update on what a person had for breakfast, or a short note that fits in the confines of a texting box.
Even writing essays can be more than comparing a book to another book. When the essay is related to other aspects of life, it becomes more to the writer and thus, the reader.
As for making writing in school more meaningful, Mr. Drew seems to have the right idea. It needs to be our own, "it's your child, what do you think of it?" ~Mr. Drew. So the teacher wants a straightforward analysis, fine, but that shouldn't stop us from mentally connecting the topic to ourselves. Our interest will shine through the essay even if we were't allowed to add our own opinions.
I truly believe presonal connection is what makes the writing interesting, not necessarily the topic (though that never hurts).
To make writing more meaningful in school we should first allow the students to write things they enjoy. If you don't feel passionate about what you are writing then you will never create something meaningful. Students should be able to choose what they want to write instead being told to what to write all the time.
As for the place I want to be with my writing after school is over? I want to continue writing with not only my job but I want to be able to write speeches for important events or write a letter to a special someone. Writing will forever be with me whether its work, a text from a friend, or an e-mail from a family member.
Writting would be more meaningful if it was to express my own thoughts and reactions rather than a summary of events or annaylsis of how another person feels. Why do I care at all what someone was feeling when they were writing a piece, if I don't receieve that same emotion back? I can't be totally correct when guessing about how the author of a piece was feeling at the time he was writing, but I can be sure of how I feel as I'm reading, and from that will come meaningful writing.
Texting, iming, and twitter, are ruining real writing. People no longer think about what they have to say, it's all about speed. I don't want speed, I want real raw emotion.
Writing will definitely play a role in our daily lives outside of high school. However, the way in which we write will probably differ due to advances in technology. We will most likely write reports or maybe research papers for our careers, but texts and tweets will also become an important method of communication, as they are quicker and more efficient. While they may be useful for short conversations, they can't be used for all forms of writing, especially formal reports or essays.
To make writing more meaningful in school, people need to let loose their true selves. They can't really hold back. Holding back is like tying down a bucking bronco. They become more agitated and learn to fear. If a person is constantly repressing what they really feel, they'll eventually not acknowledge those feelings at all. Being true to one's ideas and/or thoughts and feelings is a healthy release and can benefit a person's work more than they think.
Writing will always be a part of my life. I've been writing for as long as I can remember either stories or poems or journals. Writing relieves the stress of the day or situation that I find myself in. I see the phsyical and mental release as a "cleanser" or my feelings. Many people find that writing helps them. Just because social and technological changes occur doesn't mean that we will replace the traditional pen and paper. In my professional interactions as a behavioral scientist (hopefully), I will have to report straight facts. But, again, just because my job requires professional, factual writings doesn't mean that I'm going to forget my "inherited gift". I don't believe that we will solely be a tweet and text society in the future. Tradition is too much of an everyday occurance.
Writing has lost meaningfulness in school. Students write because they are assigned to do so. Most aren't interested in what they are writing about and therefore, have no real substance to back up their points. To make writing more meaningful, teachers should allow their students more leeway in the subject matter. They should be able to write about something that intrigues them or something they have a strong opinion on. Then they will be able to convey their message thoughtfully. When writing about something that you have an opinion on, that strong emotion will shine through and capture the audience.
Beyond high school, I see myself writing for work and for communication reasons. In all honesty, I will rarely write for myself only. However, I will use communication methods such as letters and e-mail to stay in contact with friends and family. Writing will always be a part of our society whether it be in essays or letters, tweets or texts; writing is an outlet for our thoughts and ideas. Technology has made it possible to write faster and easier. Now our society is overwhelmed with cell phones and internet as a way to communicate. But will these advanced means of communication cause the demise of real writing? For some, the answer may be yes. But there will always be people who are willing to sit down and take the time to write a report or write a letter about something they are passionate about. They won't want to send a simple text or a tweet about their opinion. When you want something to be meaningful, you put forth the effort to show your views and share them with others. Writing will always be important, whether it be for an author, a poet, or a journalist; writing is a way to share, to escape, and to learn.
Writing in school has lost all meaning. For me at least, it is always the same old, same old. It's really hard to write an entire essay on subject matter that doesn't pertain to me or my life in any way. I would find school writing to be more meaningful if it I were asked to write about my own personal experiences and then make connections to something that was covered in class. That way I can put true emotion and opinion into what I'm saying to make it more real. The class content is up to my own personal interpretation and I can connect to it in a different way than someone else might. Through this type of writing, I can also look at some things in my life and analyze them in a different way than I ever have before.
Outside writing will always be apparent no matter what. Technology is constantly changing, yet it always in some way involves writing. Texting, and Twitter are ways to stay in touch with someone, even if it isn't the most in depth message. At least there is still some sort of contact. Besides, people aren't going to stop using these things, so we mine as well find the positives in them.
Writing as we know it is slowly fading away. Whenever you get mail you know it's just going to be advertisements or bills instead of letters from family members and friends. The only people i know who do that is my grandparents and when that generation is gone there will be even less writing. Already the main form of communication is through texting or email and will only continue because thats how our generation was brought up. The only time someone might actually write something in the future is for your job. I know I won't be writing letters to people when i grow up when I could just call them up or send them a text.
Writing in school would be more meaningful to me if we could express our emotions the way we would like in essays. A piece of writing would be more meaningful to me if I could convey the tone and emotion I am feeling by sounding like me when I write. Also, the amount of meaning a piece of writing has depends on the topic. If it is a topic one is truly passionate about, they would have more to say and express.
Many students find writing to be a dreaded task of analyzing some form of literature that the student can make little connections to. Without being able to relate to the literature, the analysis becomes a gray emotionless grouping of words on paper.
To make writing more meaningful in school, I suggest there be less analysis essays and more essays based on topics one can relate to. Ananlysis is still important, but it is more important for one to be able to convey their thoughts into a smooth flowing paper that gets the point across. After one is done in school they aren't going to really need to know how to write an analysis essay unless they're an english major. Students would take more interest in writing if they knew how they'll be using outside of high school and college.
As for writing devolving into tweets and texts, I doubt that will happen. People still need to be able to express themselves and short little status updates aren't enough to do it. Literature is still being developed today just like it has been in the past. The only difference is where its being published.
When students are told to write a paper it is typically about what you thought about a book. Or maybe it is discussing the similarities and differences in a book vs. a movie. It's always the same. If I was reading those papers I would be SO BORED. Instead, I would want to learn about people, hear about stories in their lives, get my students to look deep into their personal thoughts. When I grow older I want to be an elementary school teacher. And I want to hear stories about my students that are interesting. I want there to be something I can take in from each story. If you really think about it, writing is all over the place. Without it people would be lost. It is a part of every persons life. But personal writing should be spiced up a bit! :)
to incourage more writting from the students in school and make it more meaninful id to have them write about what the want. let them express their feels and speak their own voice. creating things like the school newpaper was a good idea to get people started but we should be writting for other newspapers and getting papers published. putting you won word out there for everyone to see will help motivate the writting. and when you are writting about something you want, not comparing two books or writting a summary of a book, you actually enjoy writting it.
I'm going to echo what everyone else on this blog has said by saying that in school assignments, writing about yourself does definitely make it more meaningful. Let's be honest, we all like writing about ourselves. It never occured to me to write about myself in essays until I got to AP Lit and we were actually encouraged to. Like boobookitty3732 said, I'm sure teachers don't want to grade the exact same essay 5 million times. So why don't they encourage you to make the topics about yourself? Sure, it might be an essay about The Scarlett Letter, but surely you can throw in a personal anecdote about how you were an outcast in 8th grade. It definitely makes it more interesting to write.
As for writing in the future, I sure hope it doesn't involve into tweets and text-speak. Books are something that will never "go out of style." Even if the Kindle becomes popular, I'm sure bookstores won't be going out of business anytime soon. People like reading, even if it doesn't always seem that way.
So much of writing in schools comes down to “The book means this. Now write a five paragraph essay on it.” Not only is this boring, but it is also frustrating. It leaves no room for creative thought or personal interpretation. You’re given so many guidelines that the teacher might as well give an essay to recopy. To make writing more meaningful, we need to have freedom. Freedom to express what we believe. Freedom to follow our own voice. Freedom to think for ourselves. When students are given freedom and encouragement, they get more excited about what they are doing. Only then does writing become meaningful.
I am a writer. For me, writing will not end in high school or even in college, but it will continue into my future endeavors. I will use it whether I become an author, an editor, or something completely different. But writing will continue for everyone, not just those of us who plan to make it the focus of our careers. The written word is a valuable tool of communication and I do not see it going out of style. Yes, we have ways to communicate more quickly today than we had in the past. And yes, technology will continue to advance. But it will never replace writing. Whether you are drafting an email, an opening statement for a trial, or a manuscript, you will use writing in your professional life.
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