Chapters 9, 10 & 13 Reflections and Thoughts

The first thing that stood out to me was a quote on the first page of chapter 9, "The teaching we do surrounds that active learning and is meant to push it and support it in important ways". I thought it was interesting that they were saying they should learn from the materials provided, from themselves, trial and error, their classmates etc. As teachers it is not our job to shove more material down their throats, we are simple to guide and facilitate this self-growth. Of course there are focus lessons and conferences that will be directly engaging the students and teaching them ways to go about their writing, but then you have to set them free to explore these concepts on their own and feel them out, learn them by doing them.

The next thing that I noticed that I kind of said "yeah right" to is the time component. Although we spend more time on reading, writing and math than science or social studies in any given elementary classroom, that does not mean we can set out students free to write for hours on end each day. Now that may be an exaggeration but I look at the classrooms I have been in and try to envision a large allotment of time for just writing and it is nearly impossible. I guess, though, in the books defense, it did not lay out a specific amount of time and even 15 minutes of free writing a day for the students would be better than nothing. That seems do-able.

The section in chapter 10 about demonstration really spoke to me. Coming from Cobb county and spending a lot of time in Clarke county I sometimes find it difficult to relate to my students. Of course I find similarities when I can and feel I am very supportive and accepting of them regardless of whether or not their culture and home life is similar to mine. But I have always envied teachers that and truly relate to their students. I like what this chapter was saying about how by simply writing... writing in everyday life, writing in the classroom, setting aside time to write just for you like we ask our students to do automatically opens a window for us to be able to relate to them. YAY! haha I finally have a common ground on which I can relate to many of my students I never thought of before. Of course I will better understand them as writers if I know myself as one. Some of their strengths and weaknesses, triumphs and struggles might very well be the same as mine. It almost seems ridiculous to ask them to write when we don’t ask ourselves to experience it too. How cool would it be to share something of our own with the students? Show them that while I might know the right tools to become a decent writer, I am by no means perfect and can feel vulnerable about things I write too.

I would like to note I LOVE the portion about not giving "writing homework". As instructors we need to be diving right in with the students mid process to give them the best guidance.

I like the part in chapter 10 about how you can learn strategies to help you write. It does not mean every students needs to produce 3 examples of each strategy or technique, but when the door is opened to new things, a student might discover they love writing a certain type of poem, or if they draw a diagram first their narratives flow so much easier or that when they share their writing with their father it is a bonding time between the two of them... and the list goes on. In any case, I think strategies for becoming better writers are not a list of things all writers can do, but more of a list of things good writers can turn to and utilize to become better writers.

Well I am only halfway through the readings and have rambled on forever! I will continue reading and stop there with the writing for now :)