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Katlyn Dorries
Christopher Flavin
Freshman Composition 1
04 September 2018
What is Good Writing in Elementary Education?
Writing is a very broad subject, however, the components of good writing in Elementary
Education is a different matter. Analyzation of the purpose, audience, content, and context can be
helpful to the audience to see the structure of a good paper in this field. This analysis will also
show a difference in how to write an academic piece of writing in the field and how to write
other less formal works, such as an email to a principal. Prominent writers in this field tend to
use graphs, pictures, and many other visuals to help portray statistics, and to serve as an aid in
portraying information. Academic works in the field are written in American Psychological
Association, or APA, format, as demonstrated by Hakan Dundar and Murat Akcayir in “Tablet
vs. Paper: The Effect on Learners’ Reading Performance”(Dundar and Akcayir, 2012). They
demonstrate the format well by their use of an abstract, introduction, and the layout of their
references section.
Good writing in Elementary Education typically has a strict structure such as being well
organized, and heavily relying on statistics and studies. Studies are very useful when writing in
this field, because of the constantly changing teaching methods, tools, technology, and styles.
The studies in these writings help to support or oppose ideas by showing factual evidence. This
use of studies is shown by Hakan Dundar and Murat Akcayir in “Tablet vs. Paper: The Effect on
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Learners’ Reading Performance” (Dundar and Akcayir, 2012) by their use of experiments in
studying whether reading on a tablet truly increased students abilities to read. The tables used in
this article made the evidence more apparent to the reader. The table helps the reader to see the
information laid out in front of them, appealing to their visual sense, and making the information
easier to see and understand.
An example of this use of statistics in academic writing can be found in “Rethinking
Education in the Age of Technology: The Digital Revolution and The Schools” (Collins and
Halverson, 2009). Allan Collins is a retired Emeritus of Education and professor of thirty years,
and Richard Halverson is currently a Professor at the University of Wisconsin- Madison. These
men use statistics and studies to support their ideas, and convince the reader of the argument at
hand. Collins and Halverson cite a study on Homeschooling that states in the last 30 years the
trend of teaching your children at home has became more popular, and that in 2003 a study was
conducted and an estimated 1.1 million children in the U.S were homeschooled (Collins and
Halverson, 3). That statistic showed that the number of students being taught at home had risen
29% in four years. Part of this trend is due to the ability parents have to access learning
equipment, and have online textbooks, as well as online academies such as Khan academy.
Technology is allowing people to learn anything from anywhere. It is allowing children to learn
at a more accelerated pace with technology at their fingertips. The author is attempting to
persuade the reader to believe that schools should implement more technological learning
methods in curriculum to give children the tools needed to thrive in today’s society by showing
that if schools do not implement more technology then parents will continue to keep their
children home (Collins and Halverson, 3). The use of statistics in these writings have the ability
to assist the audience in finding the author reliable. The studies can help to show the reader that
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the author knows what they are writing about, and to create some ethical assurance, and trust.
However, using too many statistics can give the reader an opposite reaction, causing them to
look for flaws in the logic.
As with any writing, the audience and purpose of the prose is a major factor in how it will
be written. The terminology used depends on who the audience is. Writing an email to a parent
will have different word usage than an email to a Superintendent. The author must be sure to
make the content relatable to their audience. The content will be very different in a worksheet
directed to first graders regarding math than it would be in an academic piece discussing the
different learning styles of students. The purpose of the writing is a major factor in the way it is
executed. According to “Parent Letter From Teacher: End of The School Year,” when writing a
letter to the parent of a student, it is good to be personable, and to make sure the issue at hand is
worth contacting the parent about, but also remembering tone of voice, and to treat the parent as
a client, rather than someone beneath you (Doe.in.gov). For example, “... don’t be afraid to let
yourself show, even in your letter to parents. Keep it professional but let your warm and
personable self show”(Doe.in.gov) about the tone that is best suited for writing a letter to a
parent. This layout for the letter is a good structure to follow because it helps the parent to feel
like the teacher truly is concerned about their child’s well-being. Another example of emotional
concern being used in a letter to the parent is in “Parent Letter From Teacher: End of The School
Year,” when the teacher is advised to mention that smiles will be administered daily, and
generously. The teacher offering praise and reward for good works, and the teachers obvious
disdain for favoritism in their class, also adds to their ethical integrity in their writing.
However, when writing an academic piece, the paper is typically in APA format, and
highly reliant on resources, studies, and statistics from outside of the authors knowledge. One
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example of this can be found in Hakan Dundar and Murat Akcayir’s article “Tablet vs. Paper:
The Effect on Learners’ reading Performance”(Dundar and Ackayir, 447). Their use of resources
is obvious with well over fifteen outside sources used as support in their argument. The
academic pieces in the field are typically much lengthier than emails, or letters to parents or
administrators, or even writing sent to colleagues. There also is a much more intense amount of
details in these writings compared to their less formal counterparts. The need for more outside
resources in the academic aspect of writing is important because without those sources the
argument can become a lot of points with no supporting evidence.
Another aspect of good writing in this field is to be aware of the different content areas
that are especially important. Talking about subjects such as teaching methods, technology in the
classroom, or teacher pay in this field are highly debated subjects in education. For example,
according to Joel Spring, who is an affiliate of Queens College and Graduate Center at the City
University of New York, there are some major questions about the classroom that should be
discussed. These questions are what knowledge is most worth teaching, what are the best
instructional methods and school organization for teaching this knowledge, and what should it
cost to disseminate this knowledge (Spring, 1).
Ultimately, there are many different ways to write in Elementary Education. Whether it is
a letter to a parent that should be personable, or a strict email to a principal, there are different
ways to write them. Content, audience, context and purpose are extremely important when
deciding which medium to use in conveying information. The content is very important in
deciding tone, flow, and method of writing. The audience of writing should always be known,
and the writer should always keep every possible audience in mind. When writing, the prose
should not be directed at one person because then the argument will be significantly weaker. The
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context of the message is another important aspect, as well as the purpose of the writing. When
discussing the purpose it is important to know your purpose before anything else, so the purpose
for writing can be the driving force in the prose. The author also must remember to be
personable, and relatable in their writings, regardless of the medium being used.
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Works Cited
Collins, Allan, and Richard Halverson . “Rethinking Education In The Age of Technology: The
Digital Revolution and The Schools (Article).” Website. Rethinking Education (Article)
:: School of Education & Social Policy :: Northwestern University,
allancollins.northwestern.edu/rethinking-education-article.html. Accessed 4 September
2018
Dundar, Hakan, and Murat Akcayir. “Tablet vs. Paper: The Effect on Learners’ Reading
Performance.” Website. Revised: June 2012. Accessed 04 September 2018.
“Parent Letter from Teacher: End of the School Year (Sample).” Doe.in.gov,
www.doe.in.gov/sites/default/files/cte/ncteb-parentcomm.pdf.
Wills, A. “Shaving Syllables Lesson Plan.” Teacher.org, www.teacher.org/lesson-plan/shavingsyllables/.
Spring, Joel. “The Politics of American Education.” Taylor & Francis Group, Psychology Press,
12 Jan. 2011, www.taylorfrancis.com/books/9781136881527.