THINKING AND WRITING

Thinking man
(Rosewood Hand carved)

Writing is a mode of thinking. In order to produce a composition, writers must generate ideas, plan for both the process of writing and for the written product itself, translate thought into print, revise what they have articulated, and evaluate the effectiveness of their efforts. In short, in moving from conception to completion, writers tap all of the levels of Bloom´s taxonomy of the cognitive domain.

If thinking and writing are so inextricably connected, then a number of fundamental premises about thinking can and should inform the teaching of writing:

• Thinking is developmental. It is an evolving process that grows with maturity and experience. A developmental writing curriculum should start from where the kids are in terms of interests and maturity levels, tap a range of different intellectual strenghths or what Howard Gardner would call "areas of potential" (linguistic, musical, logical-mathematical, kinesthetic, etc.), and build bridges from the student´s personal experience to the world of school. Instruction should be challenging enough to stimulate students to stretch intellectually and yet be accessible enought to be attainable with guidance from the teacher.
• Thinking is progressive. As Piaget observed, the mind is better able to make cognitive leaps when learning moves from the concrete to the abstract. Individual thinking/writing tasks should begin by focusing on something tangible and/or concrete. For example, students can observe a seashell and be encouraged to think analogically by creating similes about what the seashell is like. An overall writing curriculum should also move progressively. This might take the form of sequencing the domains of writing from descripitive to narrative to expository, or it might involve moving from known to unknown audiences.
• Thinking is cumulative and recursive. All thinking experiences build upon one another. However, the pathway to more complex thought is not a linear one. Researchers have noted that writing, in particular, is a recursive process. Writers often go back in their thinking in order to move forward with their writing. Therefore, teachers who use a stage process model of composition which moves from prewriting to writing to revising, editing, and so forth should invite students to continually revisit what they have written and to think about their thinking and their writing. So, too, a writing curriculum should be scaffolded in such a way that students must go back to prior learning in order to move forward to the next assignment.
• Thinking is not taught but fostered. Thinking is an innate capacity which can be enhanced through the act of writing . Hilda Taba concludes that "how people think may depend largely on the kinds of 'thinking experience' they have had". The teacher, then, plays a crucial role by providing students with thinking experiences that facilitate cognitive growth. Writing is one the most complex and challenging thinking experiences the teacher can provide.

Source: Writer´s Choice. 1996. McGraw-Hill.