Should My Writing Program be Skills-Based or Student-Led?

Writing is an art. As such, it requires both a learned set of skills and opportunities for creative expression.

In teaching writing, then, can you successfully isolate these elements or do they need to be taught concurrently? Can you teach a set of skills without giving students an opportunity to express themselves? Can you encourage students to write creatively without equipping them with the necessary tools? Certainly we have tried to teach in one fashion or the other, but what is best?

I took piano lessons for a good part of my life and ended up majoring in piano performance in college. Practicing scales was part of my daily routine, as was practicing great literature. As I practiced, I found that my success with the literature was directly related to how diligently I practiced my scales. When the scales came easily, I no longer had to think specifically about which finger to put on which note, and was freed up to play expressively. Later, when I was required to improvise in a jazz setting, I was able to draw on my knowledge of scales to create a new musical experience. In this case, the skills (scale fingering) were taught in isolation, but in view of finding application in a larger work (great literature).

A few summers ago I took an art class for teachers, the first art class ever in which I was pleased with my art. The method of teaching was direct instruction (draw this, step-by-step) but we had the opportunity to make choices within the structure. Interestingly, every drawing was unique, even though we were taught the same method. In this case, skills and creative expression were taught and encouraged simultaneously.

Skills Practice
In my first-grade classroom, we did daily journal writing as part of our skills practice. I wanted my students to get used to the discipline of daily writing, whether they had something interesting to say or not. Every morning they would come in, pull out their journals, and write. Those who didn't know what to write about could check our brainstorming lists, look at a book for ideas, or start by drawing a picture. I also had my students copy sentences so they could get used to the look and feel of a sentence (capital at the beginning, noun, verb, period at the end). We studied parts of speech in isolation and then applied them in our writing. Our writing assignments frequently mimicked the writing of other authors as we retold stories read in class (fairytales or stories from the basal reader), copied the structure of a mentor text (Go To Bed, Biscuit! by Alyssa Capucilli or The Important Book by Margaret Wise Brown), or played off the theme of a book (our worries, from Wemberly Worried by Kevin Henkes).

Creative Expression
I would also give students choice within assignments. When they learned how to write a thank-you letter, they got to choose their audience (someone in the school - several wrote to the principal!). When they learned about persuasive writing, from I Wanna Iguana by Karen Orloff, they wrote letters to their parents asking for pets they really wanted. When they learned about different forms of poetry, I gave the students free rein in choosing their topics. They could also choose which form to use. In their daily journals, students had complete control over both topic and genre and would often apply skills they had learned in formal writing lessons to their writing.

My suspicion is that sometimes you need to teach skills in isolation. Not everything can be taught successfully using a mini-lesson. However, a skills lesson should always be followed by the opportunity to apply the skills, be it that day or later in the year. Likewise, giving students choices in their writing should be part of your writing program - but not the whole of it. They will be better and more confident writers if they are taught the skills they need to be successful and given the opportunity to express themselves in writing.