Analysis Of Anne J. Herrington's Writing To Learn

In “Writing to Learn: Writing across the Disciplines,” Anne J. Herrington finds different sources stating that writing is to be taken serious. Janet Emig says, "writing represents a unique mode of learning-not merely valuable, not merely special, but unique” (1) meaning that writing is far more essential than we ought to make it seem. Anne Herrington wants educators teaching in economics, history, chemistry or any other subject to guide their students into understanding why progressing their writing skills will be more helpful to them. At the end of the day, it all comes down to the educator; whether he/she wants their students to use writing as a way for students to adapt to different disciplines.

As a sophomore in college and majoring in education, this article makes me understand why Herrington wants teachers to see, “the correspondence between the act of learning and the act of writing” (1). Students in today’s generation are in a far more advanced state than when I was in high school. A lot happened in two years, students now are taking tests where the questions are half multiple choice and half short essay questions. As a former student in high school, I never had a teacher who expanded my knowledge in a way that involved writing and with this in mind, neither did my English teacher. There never was that one teacher who took it to the next level for us students; somehow they always stayed in their comfort zones.

Moreover

, now as a college student, I have learned that multiple choice questions are practically extinct because short essay questions are practically the “new generation.” Anne states that, “ninety percent of

the students reported that the writing added at least in some degree to their understanding of course material” I couldn’t agree more, to me anything that involves writing is now just merely practice; not only… but also to expand my knowledge horizons. To point out, I am taking world history with Dr. Sullivan this semester and boy is it a challenge. In other words, our exams and final are based on 20% multiple choice and 80% on our essay to compare and contrast important places, people, and battles. I’m not going to lie, stepping foot in college was daunting; however, reading this article made me realize that my teachers in high school should consider to take a few pointers from Herrington’s article. Now, if you’re still wondering why some writings are irrelevant or you’re a teacher planning on challenging your students I recommend you to read this article.
In conclusion, writing has become a major role in my life, not just in my composition classes, but also in every course I have attended these past year in a half in college. As one student commented, "not for writing improvement, but to focus on the course material." Let’s just say, when Dr. Sullivan started giving us an outline on our exams, I panicked a little because I had no idea what I was expecting. Although, half way through the semester those essay questions are far more helpful than I thought they would be. In the age of technology, writing skills might not seem that important since it provides us with autocorrect, yet without writing skills students can't compose anything that involves academics or job requirements. Nonetheless, with time I realized that no matter what our discipline is, we shouldn’t take writing for granted.