Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Authentic Writing in The Classroom
Authentic Writing in The Classroom
Samantha Linnell
10 October 2017
In education today there is an emphasis on students being able to write cohesive,
organized papers. Because of this, many teachers regularly give students writing assignments in
their effort to build students writing skills. However, many students have learned that there is a
disconnect between what they write for school purposes and what they write outside of school.
Most young adolescent students are engaged in writing outside of school through social media
posts, blogs or other personal reasons. However, these same students struggle to see the reason
for why they write so much in school when there is not an explicit connection between their
school writing and the real world. Realizing the students desire for real, authentic purposes for
writing assignments, educators began researching the best ways to make writing in the classroom
an authentic experience. The research, conducted in the effort to make school writing more
applicable to real life, has suggested many strategies that can be beneficial to helping students
understand the connection between what they learn in school and how it will help them in
out-of-school situations. These suggested strategies range in complexity from having students
write a book (Rodesiler & Kelley, 2017) to giving students an opportunity to research topics that
interest them and will help them post-school (Kixmiller, 2004), but each one has a real
application for teachers to implement in the classroom in their effort to make writing in school
more authentic.
Before creating a solution for a problem, that problem must first be identified. In this
case, educators have identified a disconnect between writing in school and writing outside of
school. Anne Whitney (2017) argues that school should prepare students for the life they will
have beyond school, so the writing assignments teachers assign should align with the forms of
writing students will do even after they leave the education system. Whitney (2017) writes, We
draw too sharp a line between the world of school and the real world (Whitney, 2017, p16).
However, bridging this gap between real world writing and school writing poses the issue of
how to combine the two. Many educators have turned to authentic writing assignments as a way
to improve students writing skills while also showing students that writing is necessary in all
areas of life, both in and out of school. In her article, Nadia Behizadeh (2014) states that
authenticity can mean a variety of things to a variety of people. Because of this it is important to
define what teachers are saying when they talk about authentic writing. For some teachers this
means giving writing assignments that students will encounter after school, while for other
teachers this means allowing students opportunities to practice building writing skills that can be
applicable in a variety of situations. From her research, Behizadeh (2014) concluded that
authenticity is best viewed as a continuum on which assignments fall closer or further away from
true authenticity.
writing in the classroom. One such suggestion from Samantha Caponera (2016) is that allowing
students to have choice in their writing assignments brings in an element of authenticity. When
teachers allow students to write freely, without constraints, the students have an opportunity to
write on topics they choose and explore their interests or research unfamiliar subjects which
improves their inquiry skills. Also, unstructured writing allows students to create their own
purpose for writing and audience for the piece, which are both factors of authentic writing
(Caponera, 2016). Nadia Behizadeh (2014) studied how students respond to writing both
authentic and unauthentic. In her study, Behizadeh focused on one student, Xavier, and his
particular view on writing. Xavier saw writing as either being school writing or home writing,
and there are very distinct differences between them. For example, Xavier saw school writing as
being more about improving writing skills, while home writing is about expressing your personal
thoughts and ideas. This distinction had lead Xavier (and many students like him) to learn that
school writing is unauthentic and largely invaluable other than to improve skills (Behizadeh,
2014). However, during the process of her research, Behizadeh (2014) asked Xavier what he
thought would increase the authenticity of writing assignments, and he agreed with Caponera
(2016) that allowing for students choice in their writing assignments will bring in elements of
realness.
Anne Whitney (2017) also agrees with Caponera (2016) in that she identifies both
purpose and audience as a part of her four necessary elements for authentic writing -- authentic
genre, authentic process, authentic audience and authentic teachers and students. These elements
work in combination to create authenticity within an assignment. When the assignment has a
genuine purpose (other than the teacher grading it) with an audience who will be reading it and
when students are allowed to go through the writing process, then the result will be a very
can be seen in Erika Daniels (2007) article on her Literacy Caf. Literacy Caf is an experience
that students have after they have finished a major writing assignment. To make Literacy Caf
special, Daniels brings in snacks and decorations, but she also invites parents, school
administrators and other teachers to attend to see students writing. In her article, Daniels (2007)
writes that after they prepare for it, students are really engaged in discussing their work, the
writing process and analyzing their final product. Because the students know that their writing
will be on display for their parents and other educators to read, they often work harder on their
final product because they want it to be a good representation of who they are as a writer. Having
the opportunity to share and discuss their writing makes the students feel like real, respected
writers, which enhances the authenticity of the assignment as well as the work the students
produce (Daniels, 2007). This activity fulfills Whitneys (2017) elements of authentic writing
because students are genuinely going through the writing process to write for a specific purpose
In her paper, Lori Kixmiller (2004), also argues the value of students knowing they are
writing for a real audience. A writing classroom should challenge students to think in new
ways, conceive of audiences and identify issues that matter to them. (Kixmiller, 2004, 33). In
this, Kixmiller is stating that students should be writing for real reasons that are of interest to
them. In her paper, Kixmiller explains that East Peoria Community High School in Illinois uses a
senior project to make writing authentic for its students. For this project students find a topic that
interests them and is related to a career in which they are interested. Next, students find a
community member who will mentor them for the project. From there, students conduct
research, gain experiences and create a product. Students also write a paper compiling all that
they learned through the experience and present it to a panel of community members. This is a
truly authentic project and writing assignment because students choose their topic, conduct their
own research and write to an audience of panel members who will be reviewing their work.
When students know that there is a purpose to the assignment that is larger than school, there is a
tell students how the writing assignment applies to their lives before they begin writing.
However, for teachers this means that there must be a true connection between the assignment
and real life experiences that students can understand and find relevant. Whitney (2011) argues
that students should be made aware of the school context of the assignment as well as the real
world applications. Brian Kelley (Rodesiler & Kelley, 2017) also strived to find ways to make
his writing assignments more authentic. Eventually, Kelley created the idea to have his students
write a book. Although he acknowledged this was a huge task, Kelley believed that the benefits
to his students would far outweigh any possible difficulties. After seeing a production of Don
Carlo, Kelley had his students write a remake of Don Carlo. After completing the writing
process within the class, Kelley sent the classes draft to a book editor. The editor wrote back to
the students as the authors of the book, which Kelley noted made the students feel like real,
respected writers. The students made revisions, created the final draft and eventually published,
printed and sold the book. Kelley states that this experience gave students the opportunity to use
their own voices to create a book that would eventually be read by other people while also
working on building writing skills and fulfilling writing standards that needed to be addressed
(Rodesiler & Kelley, 2017). Although it is a very large task to take on, this experience was very
authentic for the students, and it helped build their interest, as well as skill, in writing.
Elizabeth Kahn (2009) expands on the idea that authentic writing assignments are
effective for students because they are engaging as well as have real world applications. Kahn
explains that having students write about real debatable events is authentic writing because
students are writing about real people, places and events that they see in the world outside of
school. When students have the opportunity to write about shocking and debatable events, it
allows them to practice sharing their voice. It also gives them the opportunity to practice writing
in an argumentative style, which they will be using long after they leave school (Kahn, 2009).
Some real world argumentative writing include letters to political leaders, letters to employers or
co-workers and letters to companies or businesses to affect change. Cathy King (2017) agrees
with this. When interviewed, King stated that, for her, teaching authentic writing is about
teaching students to use their own voice in their writing, especially in argumentative writing,
when they are trying to convince the audience of something. When teaching writing King wants
her students to be able to communicate effectively but also personably, which is greatly affected
by the authors voice. For this reason, King focuses on teaching her students how to use their
voice which is a skill that is transferable to many other forms of writing (King 2017).
Angela Kohnen and Cathie English (2016) also discuss the importance of teaching
students effective argumentative skills. For them, students being able to write an argumentative
paper directly correlates with students critical thinking skills. For this reason, Kohen and
English (2016) focus on learning the craft of argumentation and being able to teach students how
to create their own argument. Also in agreement with Kahn (2009), Beverly Keiser (1991),
writes about giving students opportunities to write in formats that they will continue using after
school. Keiser assigns her second grade students to write letters to characters from a fairy tale
they have read. In the letters the students talk to the characters and ask them questions. After
they have written their letters, a class of fifth graders reads and responds to their letters as if they
were the character from the story. Keiser argues that having students write letters teaches them
skills that will help them throughout their lives because adults write emails, letters and other
While the idea of teaching students the art of authentic writing is logical, it is much
harder to integrate into the daily class schedule. Kohen and English (2016) state that there is a
very serious conflict for teachers between addressing the state standards and ensuring that they
are teaching their students skills that will help them throughout their lives. Combining teaching
the conventions of writing while using real world formats requires finding a balance; but once it
is found it can be a very effective way for students to learn how to better themselves as writers.
Caponera (2016) also discusses this in her paper by acknowledging that writing instruction
involves many elements such as grammar, spelling, organization and clarity. These elements are
more likely to be tested so they take priority, while the goal of teaching authentic writing falls
lower on the priority list. Because of these factors, teachers must create assignments that work to
accomplish multiple goals. Another concern is that authentic writing should be student
generated. However, because teachers have to plan lessons weeks in advance, there is limited
flexibility to let students create assignments that are of interest to them (Kahn, 2009).
Even if all of these concerns were addressed, Rodesiler and Kelly (2017) argue that
teachers still have to consider how to include the element of audience. Wanting students to share
their writing with the community and public is a great way to have them take pride in their work.
But teachers have to find ways to do this while not violating students privacy with publication
and protecting students identities when their work is shared (Rodesiler and Kelley, 2017). All of
these concerns are legitimate for teachers because there are so many elements that must be
combined to create an effective writing assignment that will teach students skills that will apply
From the process of compiling the research for this paper, it was evident that there are a
variety of ways to think about authentic writing and what it includes. Each source has its own
definition of what authentic writing means and how it can be applied in a classroom. From of all
of these articles and papers, it can be concluded that authentic writing assignments must give
students opportunities to write about something that interests them, and the assignment must
have a purpose, including the possibility of sharing it with other people who will be impacted by
the writing. When this is true, students are writing authentic pieces that have a real purpose
outside of the school setting. As teachers prepare to teach students writing skills, they must also
consider how students will engage with the assignment and what impact it will have on their life.
This will determine how students feel about the assignment and how they will react while
writing. Authentic writing is about much more than responding to a prompt that students may
encounter outside of school. Authentic writing is about allowing students to create purpose for
their writing and giving them the chance to find value in their writing.
References
Expression and Impact. Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy, 58(4), 289298.
Caponera, S. (2016). Nurturing writers: Making room for authentic writing. The Reading
Daniels, E. (2007). Literacy Caf: Making writing authentic. Voices from the Middle, 14(3), 12-
19.
Kahn, E. (2009). From the secondary section: Making writing instruction authentic. The English
Keiser, B. (1991). Creating authentic conditions for writing. The Reading Teacher, 45(3), 249-
250.
Kixmiller, L. (2004). Standards without sacrifice: The case for authentic writing. The
Kohnen, A. M., & English, C. (2016). In search of authentic argument. English Journal, 105(6),
59-65.
Rodesiler, L., & Kelley, B. (2017). Toward a readership of Real people: A case for authentic
Whitney, A. (2011). In search of the authentic english classroom: Facing the schoolishness of
Whitney, A. E. (2017). Keeping it real: Valuing authenticity in the writing classroom. English
Behizadeh Nadia (2014). Xavier's take on authentic writing: Structuring choices for
expression and impact. Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy, 58(4), 289298.
adolescent, Xavier, who likes writing but sees a distinction between writing for school and
writing for fun. In a study Behizadeh interviewed and surveyed middle school students about
their perceptions of writing. In this paper Behizadeh specifically focuses on Xavier as a case
study in which she strives to understand how students perceive writing in school versus writing
for other reasons. Xavier explains that he likes writing when he feel like he is able to express his
thoughts and opinions, which, for him, is what writing is all about. Based on her findings,
Behizadeh argues that writing assignments in schools need to have some level of realness which
students know and understand so that they can see how their writing has value. This article will
benefit my own research on authentic writing because it has a students point of view about
writing and what makes writing real. Also, Behizadeh offers great insights both from Xavier as
well as other student participants, about what is important in teaching authentic writing.
Caponera, S. (2016). Nurturing writers: Making room for authentic writing. The Reading
In her article, Samantha Caponera, a teacher at Central School in Larchmont New York,
explains the importance of allowing choice in student writing. Caponera argues the necessity of
allowing time for unstructured, freewriting along with structured assignment. According to
Caponera, unstructured writing assignments allow students to generate their own purpose for
writing which can be very engaging for student writers. Also, by allowing students to choose the
topics they want to write on, students are taking responsibility and control over the assignment
and explore new topics that may interest them. When students feel like they have some control
over the assignment they will likely produce better examples of authentic writing. In the effort to
teach students to be better writers, allowing them flexibly in certain situations can give them the
opportunity to experiment with their writing style. This suggestion seems very logical in the fact
that when given the opportunity students will feel comfortable to try new things in their attempt
to improve their writing. This perspective will benefit my paper on ways to implement authentic
writing because Caponera suggests a specific strategy, using unstructured, free writes, to help
Daniels, E. (2007). Literacy caf: Making writing authentic. Voices from the Middle, 14(3), 12-
19.
Erika Daniels has found a very intriguing way to engage her students in writing and show
them that writing is about more than just getting a grade from the teacher. Daniels is a middle
school teacher at Jefferson Middle School in Oceanside California and she is also an adjunct
professor at California state university at San Marcos. In her middle school classroom Daniels
has started using what she calls a Literacy Caf where students and community members gather
together after the students complete a major writing assignment. During a Literacy Caf day the
students, their parents, other teacher and even administrators come to Daniels classroom to talk
about the students writing. Having this event after the students write an assignment gives them a
chance to show off their work but they also see the value of their writing. During this time
students practice discussing their writing, they can showcase their work and they can get
feedback for the attendees. Daniels argues that this activity teaches students that their writing is
valuable and that it is worth sharing. This is as strategy that I can include in my research paper as
an example of allowing students the opportunity to write authentically and share their work.
Kahn, E. (2009). From the secondary section: Making writing instruction authentic. The English
Elizabeth Kahn, a High school English teacher at James B. Conant High School in
Hoffman Estates Illinois and coauthor of Talking in Class: Using Discussion to Enhance
Teaching and Learning, writes this article about how a genuine issue students had quickly
because a writing project in her class. Kahn explains how students were bothered by a school
policy so she suggested that they research the issue, find evidence to back up their arguments and
then write a letter to the appropriate audience explaining their argument. Following this example,
Kahn gives suggestions for how to implement authentic writing in the classroom. One thing
Kahn notes is that allowing students to write on real events and issues is helpful because they can
conduct research on real people, places and events to develop their writing. Kahn also advised
that teachers prompt students to write on shocking events because students are more likely to
take a side which will help them build and defend their argument. Using these recommendations
from Kahn in my paper will allow me to have more strategies for creating authentic writing
situations which will support my claim that authentic writing is worth creating.
Keiser, B. (1991). Creating authentic conditions for writing. The Reading Teacher, 45(3), 249-
250.
In the effort to incorporate authentic writing in the classroom Beverly Keiser used a
project with her second grade students where they wrote letters to characters in fairy tales. Keiser
is a reading specialist at Casa De Oro Elementary School in Spring Valley, California. After
reading the fairy tale with her second grade students Keiser instructed them to consider one of
the characters in the story and their circumstances. Once they had a chance to reflect on the
characters, the students wrote letters to the characters in which they asked questions they still had
after reading the story. Because the students were writing to the character they had a different
audience rather than always writing to the teacher. After the second graders wrote their letters
their teacher took them to a fifth grade teacher who distributed them to her students. The fifth
grade students then assumed the role of the character and wrote letters back to the second grade
students as if the character were answering their questions. Through this project both the second
grade students and the fifth grade students had the task of adjusting their writing to write for a
different reason other than writing for the teacher which helps answer my question of how to
incorporate authentic writing in the classroom. There is no quantitative data on the effectiveness
of this strategy, but the skills of writing a letter are easily transferable into real life situations.
Cathy King is an 8th grade Language Arts and Social Studies teacher. During the
interview King defined authentic writing as being assignments which allow students to practice
using their voice as well as writing assignments that are based on writing students will do after
school. King explains that authentic writing has not been a major focus for her and her school
recently, but she does still want the writing assignments to be beneficial and real for her students.
King focuses heavily on teaching students to use their voice in their writing because that skill
will apply in a variety of formats of writing. This interview informed me of the everyday
practices of an in-service teacher in the area. This information will benefit my paper because it
gives a different perspective of how authentic writing should be incorporated in the classroom.
Kixmiller, Lori A. S. (2004). Standards without sacrifice: The case for authentic writing. The
One major struggles teachers face today is engaging students in class who are otherwise
disinterested. Lori Kixmiller, who teaches composition both at the high school and college level
and serves as a teacher consultant for Illinois State Writing Project, makes suggests that allowing
students to choose a topic that interests them allows them to buy into the assignment. Kixmiller
gives an example student who did not complete the assigned paper until she heard her
classmates topics and got inspired by what they had written about. This introduces another
element of the importance of students sharing their ideas with their peers because it can spur
excitement or inspire new ideas. Kixmiller explains a senior project used in central Illinois high
school in which students choose an interesting topic, research it build a project around the topic
and then present their experience to a panel of community members. Kixmiller argues that this is
a prime example of authentic writing because the students have the opportunity to dive deeper
into a topic that interested them and research and write a paper on it. This article contributes to
my paper on authentic writing in the classroom because it gives strategies for how to implement
authentic writing and it provides an example of how authentic writing is used in a large project.
Kohnen, A. M., & English, C. (2016). In search of authentic argument. English Journal, 105(6),
59-65.
Angela Kohnen, an assistant professor in literacy at the University of Florida, and Cathie
English, an assistant professor of English at Missouri State University, write about how writing
teachers feel the need to teach students to write well but they have to balance this with fulfilling
the state standards. In their paper, the authors state that teaching students to write arguments also
teaches them critical thinking skills which will help them throughout their life. Teaching
argumentation is skill that benefits students but it also fulfills standards for writing. In this paper
the authors discuss how argumentation is crafted, combined and communicated in their effort to
better understand how to teach students to write arguments. Using this article I can connect how
argumentation and critical thinking are skills that students need all throughout their lives but it
Rodesiler, L., & Kelley, B. (2017). Toward a readership of Real people: A case for authentic
One major aspect of authentic writing is sharing the writing with others. Authors Luke
Rodesiler and Brian Kelley acknowledge that there are many obstacles with sharing student
writing that may impede a teachers ability to fully publish students work. However, Rodesiler
and Kelley argue that the benefits of publishing student writing far outweigh the possible
consequences. Some of the benefits include higher student engagement while writing for a public
audience, building students confidence in their writing abilities and it creates a record of the
students work which they can reference. Rodesiler was struggling with finding ways to publish
student work in an effort to make the assignments more authentic until he came up with the idea
to have his students write a book. His class went through the whole process of brainstorming,
planning, drafting, editing, rereading and eventually publishing their book and selling it on
Amazon.com. This is an exceptional example of publishing student work but Rodeslier and
Kelly give other examples of how teachers can have their writing students publish their work to
display it for a new audience in ways that are attainable and possible. This article benefits my
research on including authentic writing in the classroom because if gives an incredible example
of how it can be done as well as the authors provide advice for how to accomplish the same goal
in other ways. Luke Rodesiler is a former high school English teacher is currently an assistant
Kelley is a co-director of the Pennsylvania Writing and literature Project and teachers at Charles
Whitney, A. (2011). In search of the authentic english classroom: Facing the schoolishness of
Pennsylvania State University where her research topics include writing, professional
development and the voices of teachers. In this article Whitney discusses how much of the
writing that occurs in schools is fabricated using rigid scenarios. Whitney argues that teachers
should open up their classrooms to the real world and assign students projects and assignments
that will benefit them both presently as a student but also later in life. Another point that Whitney
makes is that when assigning an assignment the teacher should ensure that there is a connection
between the assignment and the applicability to a real world circumstance. If this is true then the
students should be made aware of how the assignment connects to a real world application.
Whitneys argument in the article will benefit my paper by providing support for why authentic
Whitney, A. E. (2017). Keeping it real: Valuing authenticity in the writing classroom. English
Anne Elrod Whitney argues that there is too large of a distinction between the writing
that students do in school verses what they will be writing outside of school. In her article,
Whitney states that school should be preparing students for life after school, but teaching
students to write a five paragraph essay will not help them beyond their schooling. To help
generate authentic writing Whitney outlined four necessary elements which are 1) authentic
genre, 2) authentic process, 3) authentic audience and 4) authentic teachers and students. When
these four factors are combined in the classroom there is a much higher chance of helping
students understand the importance and value of writing. Whitney began her career teaching high
school English but is currently on the faculty at Pennsylvania State University. This article will
benefit my paper on how to teach authentic writing because Whitney outlines a strategic
Inquiry Question: What is authentic writing and how can teachers incorporate it in the
classroom?
Answer: Students often recognize the disconnect between the writing they do in school
and the writing they do outside of school. Because of this teachers want to make writing
in school more applicable to the writing students do other than for academic
purposes.From my research I have concluded that authentic writing assignments have
elements of realness which can come from the prompt, the audience, the writing
setting or the purpose for writing (Whitney, 2017). These elements make the writing
assignments more applicable to real-life situations in which students may really write in
their future.
Tips:
Show students that their writing matters outside of the classroom setting.
Allow s tudents to write for audiences other than you as a teacher and grader.
Give students flexibility to write on topics that interest and concern them. This will
build engagement in their writing.
Teach students to use their voice in their writing and build their confidence that
their thoughts and opinions matter.
Best Sources:
Behizadeh N. (2014). Xavier's Take on Authentic Writing: Structuring Choices for Expression
and Impact. Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy, 58(4), 289298.
Kixmiller L. (2004). Standards without sacrifice: The case for authentic writing. The English
Journal, 94(1), 29-33.
Rodesiler, L., & Kelley, B. (2017). Toward a readership of Real people: A case for authentic
writing opportunities. English Journal, 106( 6), 22.
Whitney, A. E. (2017). Keeping it real: Valuing authenticity in the writing classroom. English
Journal, 106(6), 16-21.