As someone relatively new to blog writing, I struggle to feel that my writing is good enough – important enough. I continue seeking positive feedback, looking at my site’s stats and reading online articles to stay motivated.(Click here for a great example). While I wholly believe in my own professional growth that comes about as a result of reflectively blogging, it is amazing how invigorating it is to receive a comment or a like or a share on something I’ve written. I like what I write, but it’s so nice to feel like at least one other person out there likes it too. Especially when I know and respect that reader. It makes me want to be a better writer – a better educational thinker. And this is an important lesson to keep in mind for teachers out there.
We are taught to push hard against any natural tendency to like a student’s work. Liking defies the standard-based approach to assessment. It is subjective. It is a matter of personal taste. But, given my own experience, it is also an essential part of learning and improvement. As Peter Elbow points out, “only if we like what we write will we get involved enough to work and struggle with it”.
As teachers, and as readers, we have the ability to empower students as writers. Just as it is important for us to learn to like our own writing, so too must we learn – and help our students learn – to like their writing. As respected readers, this is something that is within our grasp. Rather than relying on the negative feedback (“This is unclear”, “This needs to be more concise”), why don’t we point to a portion of their writing that we can like for its move toward those skills. Help students to recognize what they should do more of, rather than just what they shouldn’t do again. This is a skill that we can work on in peer feedback settings as well. Focusing on identifying the good, no matter how small, and pointing it out to the writer.
In the same way that Shawn Achor worries that if we demand success before we are happy, and small successes only change the standard for success, we push happiness beyond our reach, I worry that students lose motivation if they feel they have to improve upon their writing before they are allowed to like it. Like Elbow, I am not suggesting that liking should be a new way to assess. I’m not even suggesting that liking and evaluating have to happen at the same time. I’m simply trying to point out that there can be other options for student writing. Through charitable readings, the creation of non-evaluation zones, and pushing ourselves and our students to find something likeable in what is read, we can help our students like what they are writing and hopefully help develop their intrinsic motivation toward writing.
What opportunities do you see in your class to help students learn to like their writing?