Writing for now, Writing forever

In Kathleen Blake Yancey's article "Writing in the 21st Century" for NCTE, the National Council for Teachers of English, she calls us to be stewards of composition. Yancey, former President of NCTE, claims that writing in the 21st century is different from writing of the past because for the first time, writing has earned a place of respect in various cultures that had previously been held only by reading. Until recently, reading has been considered the penicle of education because it can be controlled, but now, writing is being encouraged although it presents opportunity for self-expression. I picked this article to start off my blogging experience because I have chosen to express myself through writing this blog. In this blog, I hope to explore English/Language Arts Education through research and personal reflection and hopefully, emerge with a better understanding of the principles that will help my future students reach their goals. The advances we have made in writing during this first decade of the 21st century are critical to the advances we must make in education for our students to succeed. Yancey states that there are three tasks that teachers need to "take up" in order for students to excel in writing: articulate the new models of composing developing right in front of our eyes, design a new model of a writing curriculum K-graduate school, and create new models for teaching. These tasks call teachers to explore new options in outlets and curriculum for learners of all ages. Beginning with the 21st century, learners (whether they be 4th grade or middle-aged) have discovered new outlets for writing. These outlets include networking sites, graffiti, text messages, bulletin boards and blogs. By including these informal writings, our generation is acknowledging that writers are not purely academic; that writers are writing for themselves, "not to an institution" but "to each other". I am a teacher. I am a writer. By teaching students, I will be teaching writers.

Yancey, Kathleen Blake. "Writing in the 21st Century."National Council of Teachers of English. (2009): 9. Print.
http://www.ncte.org/library/NCTEFiles/Press/Yancey_final.pdfy_final.pdf

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