A Call for Action: Engaging in Purposeful, Real-World Writing

Knowing that students have little ownership when writing is presented as a school-based exercise, we describe how a seventh-grade English language arts teacher engaged her students in a persuasive writing unit. Understanding the importance of a spiral curriculum (Bruner, 1977) and deep scaffolding (Brown & Broemmel, 2011), we illustrate how using multiple, complex mentor texts, inquiry-based instruction (Ray, 1999), and a variety of writing activities facilitated a deep understanding of persuasive devices and a sense of purpose and audience. Students not only learned how to write persuasively but also came to understand the power of writing in the real world.