Critical thinking and writing

The NRDC report Effective Teaching and Learning: Writing makes strong links between the act of writing and critical thinking - so the reasons behind why we do something.  This means that the writing that learners do must be meaningful to them.

Some meaningful writing at this time of year:
-shopping lists
-cards
-round robin letters
-party invitations
-emails sorting out who is bringing what to the Christmas celebrations if there's a family get together
-copying recipes from magazines or passing a recipe on
-letters to Father Christmas (For many children, writing only takes place in the classroom so it isn't 'real'.  -Encourage learners with children to write with their children.)
-thank you letters
-notes to school about child illness.

Functional writing includes writing letters, cvs, application forms, resumes etc. 

What?
Ask learners to create a mind map of the things that they write.  It might help to have some prompts in the form of visual cues or to have got them talking first. Don't forget texting, online forums and social networking sites.  Their mind map should lead to a consideration of the way audience and purpose impact on what they write as well as helping you to identify some authentic writing activities.

Why? When? How?
Ask them to extend their mind map or fill in a table to think about why  they write the way that they do and how they tackle the writing.