Writing is Dialogue: Why Our Kids Write Backwards and How We Can Fix Them

Why do our students write backwards? Fed a limited diet of five-paragraph academic essays, students produce what they're taught: formulaic, dry work. Too many writing programs teach counter-intuitively, forcing students to utilize improbable methods as unnatural as they are limiting. The inductive approach to composition that Writing is Dialogue teaches encourages students to follow the natural gathering and organizing actions of the brain, breaking the process down into clear steps. The book also stresses the need for varied writing programs, incorporating a range of personal essays as well as persuasive, expository, journalistic, and creative writing. Filled with student samples, Writing is Dialogue argues that students can write naturally and with focus to produce compelling work.