Writing for Real Life

I just finished reading Write Like This, by Kelly Gallagher. I cannot recommend it enough to language arts teachers! It was full of practical ideas and writing activities for the classroom.

But more than that, it gave me a framework for how my classroom should look. Throughout the book, Gallagher focuses on writing assignments that a similar to writing that adults would do in the real world. I loved all of the examples, but I kept thinking, What about the literature? Any high school English teacher knows that their curriculum requires novels, short stories, drama, etc. There's not a huge amount of time for just focusing on writing. As I read, that question kept popping into my mind. This all sounds great, but HOW do I work this in?

Then, as I figured he would, Gallagher gave me the answer.

He explained that the text should supplement writing. Students should write something practical for practice, apply it to the text, and then finally go back to the practical. For example, to work on analysis writing, students could write a review of a consumer product or a product on Amazon. This requires them to analyze the product and is also something they might do in real life. Students then might analyze/review a character's action in a story. This meets the standards, but also provides a real world context.

A note on the standards: The other thought in my head throughout the book was, How do you meet all the Common Core Standards that are being shoved in our faces? Gallagher basically said in so many words that he doesn't teach to the standards, or more importantly, the test. He believes that if his students get high scores on their 9th grade ELA test, but can't write a document for their boss in the future, then he hasn't succeeded in his job. RIGHT?!? He goes on to say that if his value-added score is low, that's fine with him, because he's not teaching to that test. He's teaching for real life.

I'm with it. I'm so with it. And I'd like to believe that if we teach the real world writing and reading skills well enough, then students will be able to apply them to the test. Will my students have to analyze To Kill a Mockingbird in their real jobs? Not at all. But will they need to analyze something at some point in order to be successful? Yes. Those are the skills I need to teach.

Sigh. The age old struggle: test v. real life.