We value what we assess

We value what we assess.

Students are still sitting exit examinations through pencil and paper.

So we keep assessing kids through pencil and paper from a very young age.

Yet does this make a child a writer?

My students write digitally and on paper. Some have strong preferences while others migrate between the two.

A child might plan her ideas on paper and then draft a story on a computer.

Some might do all their planning, drafting and writing online while others might keep to paper.

The children who find writing with technology  turns a light on for them as a writer are just as fascinating to me as a teacher as the ones who don’t enjoy using technology to write.

One group will have their needs met at school, the other will likely not as the process of writing is boiled down to ‘how much information you can succinctly write in 3 hours.’

Yet if children are to be competent writers, they need to be able to write across a variety of mediums.