Audience: Creating a purpose

Audience gives writing purpose. It is why we write. Yes, we sometimes write for ourselves, to clarify our thinking or, as E.M. Forster put it, to find out what we are thinking.

But in traditional classrooms a student writes for a teacher, an audience of ...

And usually this audience of one -- the teacher -- judges them.

One of the most powerful ways that technology can help students learn better is by providing them with an audience.  Students who have an authentic audience:

• Gain a sense of purpose.
• Try harder.
• Do better.

If that audience provides concrete, meaningful feedback, the learning possibilities are even greater because students:

• Value feedback from someone other than their teacher almost as much as getting published.
• Gain confidence about themselves and their writing.
• Believe external feedback helps them improve their writing.
• Write more.

In Young Writers Project's work with thousands of students in the last five years, the single most powerful force in engaging students has been our creating audience for their work -- among their peers and in the outside world. Knowing that the audience for their writing is greater than their teacher -- a single person who also passes judgment -- changes everything.

--geoff gevalt