Responses to Britton and Moffett

Britton reminded us that our writing begins with the expressive category and moves outward to the transactional category or the poetic category as our writing becomes more public. An example of poetic writing would be Hamlet by Shakespeare that will remain unchanged over time. It will remain just as the writer intended it to be. A transactional piece of writing may change over the years as pieces of facts get changed in some way. As teachers, we need to give our students opportunities to write in both of these categories. We begin our student writers with types of expressive writing which can be broadened into transactional writing or poetic writing. I was encouraged to expand my writing choices to include journaling or personal reflections in my class. These expressive ideas could be expanded upon in all subject areas. The connection between journals and writing across the curriculum is necessary. This approach begins with the individual and their personal thoughts and then can expand to an audience.

Moffett supports this writing organization for children from his own research in 1965. The student writer needs to begin with the personal and then moves outward to an audience. These writing assignments demands that the student think deeply about his topic. This is much more beneficial than providing a form or questions to be answered. The student should be the one to find those ideas from his reading which are interesting and then respond to those ideas in written form. I need to allow opportunities for the students to respond to their reading with open ended activities that allow for choice. Journals have now taken on more importance and need to be available to my students.