Discussion on Teaching Writing with Dr. Mary Ann Corley

Hello colleagues, I'm sure some of you will be interested in joining the discussion with Dr. MaryAnn Corley on teaching writing in the LINCS Reading & Writing Community. Please see the message below from moderator Steve Schmidt.

<<Tuesday July 14th, marks the beginning of a three-day discussion by writing expert Dr. Mary Ann Corley!  We are thrilled that Dr. Corley, retired Principal Researcher for the American Institutes for Research in Washington DC, will be sharing about three important writing topics: pre-writing, collaborative writing, and contextualized grammar.  Writing is such a critical topic since it may receive the least attention of all basic skills taught as many adult educators have their students write less than one paragraph per week (US Department of Education, 2011). 

For those new to the community, the next three days are a discussion, not a webinar.  Feel free to ask questions and share your reactions in the discussion board.

The July 14th discussion on pre-writing will focus on these questions:

  • Why are many students intimidated by the idea of putting their thoughts on paper?
  • What strategies help students overcome their fear of writing?
  • How do we help students to generate ideas before they begin drafting their papers?
  • How can we assist students in organizing their ideas prior to writing?

In light of increased online instruction due to the COVID-19 pandemic, how can we teach pre-writing skills virtually?

Pre-Reading

Please spend a few minutes preparing for this week's discussion by reading the following pages from Writing Next (you can download the resource HERE), the LINCS resource on which the three-day discussion is based:

  • Tuesday, July 14 Pre-Writing  pg. 18
  • Wednesday, July 15 Collaborative Writing  pg. 16
  • Thursday, July 16  Contextualized Grammar  pg. 21

Thanks in advance for your participation in the discussion!

Steve Schmidt

Moderator, LINCS Reading and Writing Community of Practice

Source: U.S. Department of Education, Office of Vocational and Adult Education. (2011). Just write! guide. Washington, DC: Author. Retrieved from: https://teal.ed.gov/documents/TEAL_JustWriteGuide.pdf>>