Keywords
teaching writing, English classroom, classroom writing, student writers
Submission Type
Research
Preview
“When you get to eighth grade, you’ll need to know how to write a topic sentence.”
“The five-paragraph essay will prepare you to write in high school.”
“College professors expect you to accurately cite your sources in MLA format.”
“When you graduate from college, you need to be able to write a professional email.”
Perhaps you heard messages like these from your writing teachers as you moved through middle school, high school, college, and into your careers. We certainly did. And perhaps, like we have, you have been a writing teacher in a middle school, high school, or college classroom who has found yourself passing along similar messages to your own students—about why what you’re teaching now will matter later. Teachers (including us) use these messages to motivate students, to defend our teaching choices, and because we believe in the premise that how and what we teach now will prepare students for their writing futures.
Recommended Citation
Jensen, Amber and Reed, Meridith
(2026)
"Teaching Students to Write for the Future by Writing for the Present,"
The Utah English Journal: Vol. 54, Article 7.
Available at:
https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/uej/vol54/iss1/7