"'Freewriting, Hoping That Children Will Learn or Gain a Love of Writing, Hasn't Worked'"

"Along the way, students are learning to recall meaningful content from math, social studies, science and literature. By middle school, teachers should be crafting essay questions that prompt sophisticated writing; not 'What were the events leading up to the Civil War?'—which could result in a list—but 'Trace the events leading up to the Civil War,' which requires a historical narrative of cause and effect."

Dana Goldstein at The New York Times discusses approaches to teaching writing.