Writing: Past, Present, and Future

“Practice, practice, practice writing. Writing is a craft that requires acquired skills. You learn by doing, by making mistakes and then seeing where you went wrong.” - Jeffrey A. Carver

I thought this Jeffrey Carver quote was a fitting way to begin this post. Some may find this a surprising concept, and some may disagree entirely, but writing is a complex process. It is difficult, time-consuming, and requires an abundant amount of practice. I am 23…almost 24, and no matter how many papers I’ve been assigned, I still dread the moment when I have to sit down, and write a paper; whether its 1 page or 15! If adults feel this way…imagine how intimidating it must feel for children?

When I look back at my writing experiences while growing up, the fact that I’m an English major continues to surprise me! Writing never came naturally to me. I was continuously reprimanded for my prose; “You write how you speak, it’s too informal!” or, “Your spelling and grammar are horrible! You need to re-write this!” and so on. It wasn’t until the end of my freshman semester, that I developed the ability to adapt my writing style to fit the required writing “mode”. What boggles my mind is this: “Why did it take so long? How come I didn’t develop this ability in ELEMENTARY school?”

I think children need to be introduced to the variances in writing at an early age. Had I been privileged enough to learn and understand the different categories that comprise WRITING while in elementary school, I believe I would have been better prepared, in later grades, to meet my teachers’ lofty expectations. Personally, I’m going to make sure my future students are, at the very least, aware of the different writing categories; such as:

• Narrative: Describing an experience, event (or sequence of events) in the form of a story.

• Expository: Providing information (for instance: giving directions.)

• Persuasive: Giving an opinion and trying to influence the reader's way of thinking.

Hopefully, I can create a nurturing environment that supports children during the writing process; through explicit instruction, one-on-one guidance, modeling, scaffolding, and finally…practice, practice, practice!

Children and Writing

Chapter Four: "Writing in a Second Language Across the Curriculum, An Integrated Approach" from Pauline Gibbons' text, Scaffolding Language Scaffolding Learning, provides readers with a look into an English Language Learners (ELLs) struggle with the written word. Writing is difficult for MANY students; it's a process that involves numerous steps and understandings...ranging from brainstorming, free-writing, planning, outlining, drafting, editing, revising, etc. This process requires an understanding of language structure, an author's "purpose", linguistic features, and genre (to name a few), and children who are only beginning to grasp a second language may not have even begun to understand writing in their OWN language, let a lone, a foreign one. Can you imagine?

Personally, writing was a struggle for me when I was in elementary school. I had a difficult time understanding that the way you write changes, depending on your audience, and the genre. Gibbons' chapter emphasizes the importance of understanding different genres and their features when learning to write (specifically, learning to write narratives). I agree with Gibbons. Helping students develop a meaningful understanding of genres and their features is an important part of, both the writing, AND the reading processes.

Another point Gibbons made in Chapter Four, is how intricately woven language is in an individuals' culture. An ELL student not only is unfamiliar with the language, but doubling their struggle, is the fact that this is a whole new culture for them too. There is no reference point for these children. That being said, I believe taking time for explicit instruction on genres, their cultural connections, and writing is very important in elementary school for ELLs.

Scaffolding and modeling are essential tools that we, as teachers, can utilize when attempting to help and instruct ELLs. I think it is very important that we create safe environments that allow children to learn to appreciate writing and learn to value their abilities to be good writers. When our students are able to feel proud of themselves and the work they are creating, then we are doing our job well.

Word Posters, Word Maps, Word Sorts, Word Chains....word, words, words....

I just finished reading Chapter 7: “Expanding Student’s Knowledge of Words”, from Gail E. Tompkins’ book Literacy for the 21^st Century: A Balanced Approach, fifth edition. I really enjoyed reading this chapter. I know you’ll all think I’m a huge dork for saying this (I already know I am), but I LOVE vocabulary. I have a vivid memory of my fifth grade class and how excited my teacher was about getting us to use new words, making vocabulary into games as opposed to tests, and giving us a word a day to use in our writing. I think that year impacted me in a very positive manner. I am an English major; therefore, I think I’ve been writing about a paper a week for the past 5 years…crazy. But, it has really deepened my appreciation for words, and I am permanently connected to my thesaurus! Lol, I even had my boyfriend buy me a new one for Valentine’s Day! Lame, I know…But, I really do believe that my ability to use and understand vocabulary has positively impacted my reading abilities, and my passion for reading and writing. I really want my future students to feel this excitement as well!

When I finished reading this chapter, I came away with a few main ideas. I feel that instilling a sense of excitement and fun into a vocabulary lesson is an essential element of a successful language arts curriculum. If students are able to see the joy in learning new vocabulary and using new and exciting words, then they may be motivated to push the extra mile, and perform the work that is necessary in developing a larger vocabulary.

I also came away from this reading with a heightened enthusiasm for…wait for it…READING! Yes, I am incredibly enthusiastic and READY to incorporate NUMEROUS opportunities for students to read throughout the entire school day. Whether it’s through the use of read-alouds, or independent reading, my future students will be AVID readers. One particular reading opportunity I really like is: Sustained Silent Reading (SSR). In this format, students are able to choose a book they are interested in and excited about reading. They aren’t being forced to read a textbook, or something boring. This is highly motivating! I remember my time spent silent reading in elementary school; I loved it. I will definitely make sure to have comfortable cushions, chairs, couches, and what not in a cozy literacy corner in my future classroom!

Reading is incredibly important in order for students to learn new words and enhance their reading abilities. Tompkins stated, explicitly, “the amount of time students spend reading independently is the best predictor of vocabulary growth between second and fifth grades” (p. 226). That being said, if we’re going to have our students go off on their own to read independently, then it is our jobs as teachers to provide the class with tools necessary to help them understand and learn the words they are reading.

There are a lot of strategies throughout this entire chapter that detail ways teachers can model and scaffold strategies for students to utilize when they come across an unfamiliar word. A few of these are as follows:

• Context clues
• Analyze word parts
• Check a dictionary
• Look at the illustrations
• Use logic
• Look at the root words/affixes

These strategies are ALL helpful and the more students have under their belt the better prepared they will be when presented with unfamiliar vocabulary.

Finally, I just want to say that it is important, as teachers, to push our students. We have to give them those tier 2 and tier 3 words. They can handle it.

A Balanced Approach

After reading the article, “Balanced Literacy Instruction”, I now understand that literacy instruction is most beneficial when it is taught by combining the essential skills based lessons AND a very holistic approach in which students are immersed in an environment of authentic reading and writing experiences.

The central aim of this article is to help literacy instructors understand the important of balance. Offering students a wide variety of eclectic experiences and practices with reading and writing and also offering frequent instruction in basic skills is the best way to promote a positive literacy learning environment.

There is also an emphasis on the fact struggling readers and writers should not be taught in a different way from the rest of their peers. Obviously, the skills instruction will be more extensive in comparison to readers who are excelling, but the students who are struggling will still be immersed in a large amount of authentic, holistic reading and writing instruction.

An obvious point the article also makes is how important it is for literacy (reading and writing) to be a part of EVERY aspect of the school day. Students who are constantly reading and writing will excel in their literacy development in comparison to students who are only doing reading and writing for an hour or two a day. Scaffolding is also emphasized as an important element of literacy instruction.

Basically, all in all…the article talks about how important it is to immerse your students in literacy instruction ALL the TIME. The article does a great job of providing evidence through the discussion of case studies. Balancing literacy instruction with skill based learning and holistic reading and writing experiences, with a WIDE array of activities and experiences, is the best way to ensure students succeed.

Recitations vs. Authentic Discussions

After today’s class, I spent some time thinking about how my fourth graders interact and communicate with one another through out their school day. Immediately, I thought about the large amount whole class discussion that occurs during the time I spend in my fourth graders’ classroom. After taking the time in class to discuss Chapter 10 from Carol Simon Weinstein’s text, Elementary Classroom Management, I have come to a realization. Initially, I was very impressed at how well my CT handled the class discussions; whether they were during science, math, reading and/or writing. However, I now believe that what I initially viewed as authentic classroom dialogue and discussion, are actually more closely related to an “Initiation-Response-Evaluation” (IRE) recitation. I’ve noticed that my CT asks a question, the students raise their hands, he calls on a specific student, and they give their answer. Once he receives this answer, he usually digs in and forces the student to elaborate and explain his/her thinking. But it typically ends there, and another question is asked, and so on and so forth.

In regards to the aspects of recitation vs. discussion that we talked about in class, there are obviously positives and negatives to each. When my CT initiates a recitation style class dialogue, he uses tongue depressors with each students’ name; therefore, everyone has a turn to talk. That, in itself, is an essential reason for teachers to continue using the recitation method, when appropriate. I think it’s very important that everyone has an opportunity to express themselves and share their thoughts and ideas. This also allows us (the teachers) the opportunity to give informal assessments of our students. Recitations also clip along at a decent pace. This is very evident in my field placement. The school day flies by and there is so much to get through. Obviously, incorporating collaboration and classroom discussion is a priority to many teachers. But how can we incorporate such a time consuming process? That’s where recitations come in; students answer questions, and we move on.

That being said, I believe that authentic classroom discussions are a must throughout the day. The practice of taking a step back and allowing the students take a more active role in their learning is very important, and that is exactly what happens when a real classroom discussion is taking place. Teachers become the facilitators, and then the spectators, and students take the active role of interacting with each other, asking probing questions, participating in meta-cognitive thinking, and encouraging one another to be creative and expressive. Allowing this practice to take place can be really difficult for a teacher. As we talked about in class, teachers are extremely used to being the “benevolent dictator”. Well, it’s time for that role to change.

As I said before…incorporating authentic classroom discussions into our daily teaching practices will be time consuming; especially in the beginning. Students are not used to this sort of dialogue; therefore, its important that we scaffold the process for them. We should have the students participate in role-plays that show the correct process of interacting where there is no right answer. We need to practice the correct ways in which we should interact with each other; i.e., with respect, integrity, empathy, etc.. Students don’t come to class with this knowledge…we have to help them gather it.

One more important thing to consider...authentic classroom discussion does not have to end when the students leave for the day. It is here, that a teacher must consider the benefits that a class blog, (click on the previous link and you'll find 50, must-read, up-and-coming teacher blogs) and/or wiki would offer. A classroom wiki/blog would be a collaborative forum that students could access at any time. They could facilitate their own discussion. Twitter could be used as a way to facilitate classroom discussion. The technology available in the 21st century is astounding and it is expanding our students' horizons for collaboration.