Informal writing is done both in preparation for, and quite independently of, formal writing assignments in a course. It is freewriting, unconstrained by any need to appear correctly in public. It is not yet arranging, asserting, arguing. It is still reflecting and questioning. This is probative, speculative, generative thinking that is written in class or at home to develop the language of learning. It may not always be read by a teacher. Generally, it is not graded. Parts of it are often heard in class, but as a means of collaborative learning, not of individual testing. Its basic purpose is to help students to become independent, active learners by creating for themselves the language essential to their personal understanding. Specifically, informal written language serves:
[1] to develop abilities: the abilities to define, classify, summarize, for example; to question; to deconstruct complex patterns; to generate evaluative criteria; to establish inferences; to imagine hypotheses; to analyze problems; to identify procedures.
[2] to develop methods: for example, methods of close, inquisitive, reactive reading; of recording and reporting data (observing); of organizing and structuring data into generalizations; of formulating theories; and, most importantly, of recognizing and applying the "methods" themselves.
[3] to develop knowledge: knowledge about central concepts in a course, but also, for example, knowledge about one's own problem-solving, thinking, learning, language, about knowledge itself ("metacognition"), about the broad aims and exact methods of a discipline.
[4] to develop attitudes: for example, attitudes toward learning, knowing, oneself, one's work; toward mistakes and errors; toward the knowledge and opinions of others; the attitudes that affect behaviors and, therefore, aptitudes.
[5] to develop communal learning: encouraging, for example, open exploration and discovery in a community of inquiry, rather than isolated competition; to promote "connected," not separated, teaching and learning; to develop active listening; to teach through tasks, rather than just through data; and, finally to locate the motivation for learning not in the "relevance" of the subject or in the performance of the teacher but in the social dynamic of the learning community.
[6] to develop, in summary, general capacities for learning: the ability to question; to create problems (as well as solutions); to wonder; to think for oneself while working with others, for example.