Writing, Writing Tools Are Changing

From the time the National Gallery on Writing opens for viewing on October 20, 2009, until June of 2010, Americans will be able to see just how writing is changing. Viewers will see firsthand compositions that matter to their authors. This picture, different from collections of school or work writing, will allow NCTE, and its 15 national partners, to begin reshaping a writing pedagogy to better develop writers of the future.

Hugh Burns of Texas Women's University documents the changes we're seeing in writing in his 1-minute video "Kairos 14.1 Disputatio Text," while children's author James Cross Giblin speaks about the great satisfaction he gets from writing a sentence that "clearly, simply, and visibly" says just what he means to say.

This is exciting news for those of us who teach basic writing and composition.