Writing
Wired magazine this month has a terrific article about the electronic written word and its place in the world. The article written by Clive Thompson is titled “How successful networks nurture good ideas: Thinking Out Loud” (Thompson, 2013). This article is excerpted from Thompson’s forthcoming book “Smarter Than You Think”.
In the article Thompson reports that every day we compose 3.6 trillion words or 36 million books in electronic emails, blogs, tweets or facebook type posts” (Thompson, 2013) . By comparison “The entire US Library of Congress, holds around 23 million books” (Thompson, 2013). In other words every single day, the world output of words in an electronic environment exceeds the total number of words in the collection of the Library of Congress. When one thinks that the entire world output of literature thought important enough to be placed in the library of congress is exceeded every day, it is amazing.
So how much of this is important? I mean let’s face it most of what we write (including this authors dribble) every day is trivial at best, but what about that part which is not trivial? The question is how much of the writing is good, important, or in some way worth reading, more than the usual nonsense? Most of us have heard of Moore’s Law. Basically it states that during the history of computing the number of integrated circuits or transistors doubles every two years. Thus far, Moore’s law has more or less held up. Well there is a similar concept in writing. The idea for the printed word was coined by Theodore Sturgeon a novelist who famously said 90% of all his writing is of no value and 10% is worthwhile. Thompson observes that this holds fairly true for modern electronic writing. That means that in this ocean of garbage, some small little segment is worth saving, reading, and treasuring (Thompson, 2013).
This brings me to the point of the post. If you recall back to your K-12 education experience, chances are it was focused on reading. When I was in school reading or the consumption of material was the most important aspect of early English education. In fact, all the way through High School reading occupied most of our academic time. Subjects such as Social Studies, Science, Languages, Health and some PE classes are reading driven. But is that the best way to teach reading? Many argue writing is a better way to teach reading. This idea about the importance of writing was captured in a terrific article titled “Writing to Read: A Report from Carnegie Corporation of New York, evidence for how writing can improve reading” (Graham and Hebert). Graham and Hebert reported that:
First, reading and writing are both functional activities that can be combined to accomplish specific goals, such as learning new ideas presented in a text (Fitzgerald and Shanahan, as reported by Graham and Hebert page 4). For instance, writing about information in a science text should facilitate comprehension and learning, as it provides the reader with a means for recording, connecting, analyzing, personalizing, and manipulating key ideas from the text. Second, reading and writing are connected, as they draw upon common knowledge and cognitive processes (Shanahan, as reported by Graham and Hebert page 5). Consequently, improving students’ writing skills should result in improved reading skills. Third, reading and writing are both communication activities, and writers should gain insight about reading by creating their own texts (Tierney and Shanahan, as reported by Graham and Hebert page 4), leading to better comprehension of texts produced by others. For instance, writing about information in a science text should facilitate comprehension and learning, as it provides the reader with a means for recording, connecting, analyzing, personalizing, and manipulating key ideas from the text. Second, reading and writing are connected, as they draw upon common knowledge and cognitive processes (Shanahan, as reported by Graham and Hebert page 4). Consequently, improving students’ writing skills should result in improved reading skills. Third, reading and writing are both communication activities, and writers should gain insight about reading by creating their own texts (Tierney and Shanahan, as reported by Graham and Hebert page 5), leading to better comprehension of texts produced by others.
In other words pressing the issue of writing is a superior means of improving reading. And it has the secondary benefit of potentially reducing literacy issues In fact the art of writing may be one of the most important ways to advance total literacy among people of all languages all over the world.
It turns out that writing has a way of impressing matters in the brain unlike any way that reading can duplicate. First a human’s brain is more pliable, when creating than when consuming. Second, writing, even bad writing can prompt a written response that further imprints additional learning.
So what does it mean for TUD? Well first I think with, the exception of my dribble, our writing is pretty good. While we sometimes talk nonstop via email and short essays, we need to look it as more than a way to fill space. I t is by its very nature a way to teach people about the disease. Obviously learning is one of our main reasons to exist. So what better way to improve learning than doing it by encouraging writing?
Oh and by the way the Thompson article is worth reading. If you have a minute, click the link below and enjoy a great treat offered by a writer at the top of his craft. This is a great way to lean about the power of the written word.
References
Graham, Steve, and Michael Hebert. Writing to Read: Evidence for How Writing Can Improve. Carnegie Corporation Time to Act Report. Washington, DC: Alliance for Excellent Education, 2010. Print. http://all4ed.org/reports-factsheets/writing-to-read-evidence-for-how-writing-can-improve-reading/
Thompson, Clive “How successful networks nurture good ideas: Thinking out loud”, Wired magazine September 2013: http://www.wired.com/opinion/2013/09/how-successful-networks-nurture-good-ideas/all/
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Rick