Authentic Audiences for Student Writing

An article by Darin Wagner    No Comments

In the latest issue of TECH & LEARNING magazine, Gary Stager offers some suggestions for student writing that I found to be very clever. He writes:

“Why should kids write book reports when they can review books on Amazon.com and have their reviews actually help others? Alternatively, ask students to write reviews of their favorite books and place those recommendations on your class Web site, blog, or wiki; If you become an Amazon.com Associate and site visitors buy books based on student recommendations” as much as six percent of the price of all your purchases will go toward buying books for your classroom library. This may motivate students to read and provides an authentic audience for their writing.”

I have encouraged colleagues to have students post similar writings to their blogs. I know of at least on that uses the audio service, Gabcast, to have students record their book reports and then post online. Hearing the intonations of the student’s voice brings a richer experience than just reading text on a page. Anyway, the more authentic the experience, the more the students will learn and grow from the experience.

What are your suggestions for making student writing more authentic? Please share!