Response to Real World Writing

This article was very interesting to me because this is the second time this week that I have been approached with this issue. In one of my SPED classes we discussed giving our students a purpose when they read, write, do math , conduct an experiment etc. So revisiting that topic in a very similar way was refreshing because I was able to receive the information in a different and more detailed way. In my SPED class we did an exercise which consisted of breaking the class up into three groups, The first group was a burglar, the second was looking to buy a home and the third was to look for important information. We were then read a story, the first two groups had very real world applicable purposes (although I don't encourage the burglary thing) while the third group was left with a very limited and non-applicable and unclear goal or outcome which I think as teachers we often do to our students. We give them meaningless writing prompts without giving them a purpose or a reason for writing. We expect mind blowing results without giving them applicable situations or relate able topics.  One thing I loved about this article was the huge point made about giving our students audiences for them to write too. This may seem small but it can change a students writing and have a huge impact on how they write.Giving students audiences to write too that aren't esoteric is crucial too. If it's only applicable to a very small portion of people I think that limits students writing and doesn't allow them to broaden out. It keeps students in a small and insignificant(not always but often) bubble where they feel like they don't make a difference with what they are writing. The only time I think that writing in esoteric conditions could be a good thing would be if they are advocating for that group or if it was something they choose to write about because they were passionate about it.I also loved how the writer did a poll on what her friends had write about that year and how it was all mostly real world non-fiction writing. That speaks volumes to why we need to have our students write about these types of things. Not only do they need practice but also because unless they o into writing fiction as a career, it will rarely be done in real life. Students must feel that they are actually communicating something worthwhile.