Writing through the years

"Out of the woods: emerging traditions in the teaching of writing” by Ann Raimes. This article discusses how writing instruction has changed over the years, and how with each decade there is a new focus. In the 1960s, language instruction, content and knowledge are given so that students only need to apply the information, not create or analyze any critical information on their own. When there was a push for composition writing in the 1970’s, the idea of process essays evolved and there was a focus on creating and constructive knowledge like invention and collaboration. With the advent of the 1980’s, there was a focus on using personal experiences in writing and concentrating more on content. Teachers also had more control over what they taught, so that allowed them to create courses focusing on their chosen content matter. In the late 1980’s there was a focus on the reader and the expectations that come from audience. This focus on the reader determines the idea of “academic demands” and “academic discourse community” (412), in which students can determine the audience and then teaching forms and structure so that students can use it for that audience. Raimes discusses that she teaches writing in two ways in her classroom, once as “writing for learning” and the other as “writing for display”. While students need to pass a test, they do not to know that writing is a tool they will need to know in their lives.