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 * Hi, I just typed this and it got lost in posting, so I will start over! I do not really know much about teaching writing. I have been in many classes but nobody has ever told me, they just tell me to write. I think that giving a child a chance to be creative in their writing, this helps them to learn how to write. I know that this has helped me in my writing because I do not look just for what I need to write, but the way I write. I also know that working with others can help because they can see your mistakes that you do not. I have helped people to learn writing by giving them ideas about what to write. When you sit down with a child they need a little help about what they should write about. I really think that a great excperince that I have helped people write and they have helped me, is in the literacy activity in class. It was real nice to have someone read my paper and help me on what made sense and what did not. I also hope that I helped others. I think that this works because you get others opinions. One thing that I do not think works when teaching writing is having people always use quotes. This has been a bad excperince for me; I feel that nothing I say makes sense unless I can back it up.


 * Hello. This is Julie.

I believe the most important thing that motivates and teaches students to write is to offer them a subject of choice to write about. Most students love to write about themselves in the form of stories, journals, or diaries. They also like to write about things that they are interested in. Creative writing fosters and encourages a bigger and improved vocabulary. I have also observed students becoming better writers due to writing rough drafts and then revising their stories. In elementary school we call the rough draft “sloppy copies” before they are in final, neatly handwritten form.


 * Hello everyone Holly Andersen here,

I have taught writing to K-2 graders and to High School students and of course others have taught writing to me...so it is from these three domains that I have a few ideas on what works and what doesn't.

First and foremost, I believe that for a student to be taught the fundamentals of writing they need to be comfortable and receptive to the ideas presented. How to make each student feel comfortable and therefore receptive is challenging but I feel worth it for two reasons. One, it allows the student to really grow in both their technical writing skills and their stylistic writing choices because they feel safe and valued. Second, it makes it a lot more fun for the teacher to really get to know each student and learn from them. One very important way, in my opinion, to gain knowledge and understanding from an individual is by looking at and respecting their writing. I think that teachers who become teachers only to share "their" knowledge with others are sadly lacking. It is in the sharing the student does with their teacher that the greatest learning can be accomplished. In order to make a student able to share their challenges, accomplishments, thougths and beliefs they must be comfortable and feel good about their abilities and place in the classroom. Likewise, in order to best teach writing the teacher must feel good about him/herself and their role in each students life. They can't possibly feel good if students are unhappy, unwilling and unable to be part of the classroom community.

I believe that the ideas presented by Gee, Brandt and then confirmed by Rose serve to support this "feel good" theory. Gee talks about gaming and how is supports learning. I believe it supports learning because it allows us to gain the skills necessary to feel good about accomplishing the tasks before us. As for Brandt, we learn about sponsors and one of the primary goals of a sponsor is to help us feel good about our literary pursuits and to help us understand how best to succeed. Rose highlights what can happen when we don't feel good about ourselves and our abilities and likewise what magic can take place when we do...we do much better when we feel good and valued.

On a personal note, Ms. Wismer, my High School AP English teacher presented things with enthusaism, she loved literature. This rubbed off on me. We were allowed to read books about things that specifically interested us...while an 11th grade boy might want to read something by Faulkner, perhaps a girl might gravitate towards Plath...it is a personal literary connection that was fostered in this class. I began to feel good about myself and my abilities because I was allowed to spread my wings with literature and writing topics that were meaningful to me. Furthermore, when reading something that intitially didn't appeal to me (i.e. Faulkner) I found myself making connections...making a personal commitment to the work...this made me feel good, it made me feel smart, it gave me confidence.

Similiarly, when teaching writing to K-2 grade students it is all about the fun! Kids feel good when things are fun. You have to be able to understand that each student is unique and that Mark might have difficutly with S, and Z, and Sue might have trouble with all the letters. Either way I believe that to teach writing, even in these intitial phases encouragement, support and love is what gets the job done...because that is what makes a kid, heck that is what makes anyone feel good about themselves.

In High School I have found that even the most confident of students has issues. It is the age and the nature of the beast we call High School. What I have found is that by simply taking a personal interest in the students makes them feel good about themselves and makes them want to learn for you. For example, I was helping in a Drama I class and went to see the school play. I didn't necessary go because some of the students in the play were also in my class...I went because I love Our Town (yes, I admit it!). The next day in class three students who were in the play came up to me and said how happy they were that I was there. One of these students in particular had a habit of really giving me a hard time. He asked me what my favorite part of his performance was...I said "I really believed that you were walking that cow and that you really cared about the milk!" He lit up and from then on he was the one asking the class to be quiet when I would help out or make a short presentation. I helped to make this young man feel good about himself and thus he was more receptive to me as a teacher. And you know what...I felt better about myself and my abilities too.

What doesn't work...well, being dull, rude and allergic to change doesn't work. I have had many a English teacher who falls back on the "Bueller...Bueller...Bueller" monotone while discussing something as facinating and stimulating as The Lord of the Flies or Mrs. Dalloway or To the Lighthouse...there is something seriously wrong if you can't muster even a slight tone inflection when discussing these works. If the teacher doesn't feel good about what they are doing, why in the world should the student?

Further, rudeness (i.e. thick red Sharpie pen etching) when attempting to teach writing to an individual servers no other purpose than to alienate and humiliate. I recall receiving a paper that looked like a prop one might see on CSI: Las Vegas! I had read Beowulf and this paper represented my deepest thougths on the matters of death and symbolic killings of our own 'dragons'. When I got it returned to me I was horrified to see that I could barely identify my own clearly typed Times New Roman font letters. It was horrible. I actually cried and not a little cry and cry that made noise! It took me a good deal of time to gain any sort of confidence in this professors class. From that point on I thought that I didn't know how to write, at least not for Professor Sharpie.

On a final note, fearing change is a big hinderance the teaching of writing. Each generation and each individual brings with them a unique tapestry that is there life. If Jonel wants to write her paper and include a collage...let her. If James wants to present a mixed media project for a poetry assignment...let him! It has always struck me as odd that some of the people who fear change most are educators. The idea that "we have always done it this way, therefore it must be write" flies in the fact of all logic. Looking at educators like Erin Gruwell, from The Freedom Writers Diary (great book if you get a chance to read it) we see that she thought otherwise, she allowed her students to express themselves uniquely. She didn't follow the rules, she didn't read the books on the required reading lists, she didn't care if students could write in English or write at all...she met them where there were at that moment in time.

She changed things up and by doing so...she really changed lives.

So...there are some of my thoughts. I look forward to hearing from everyone...have a great Spring Break!


 * Julie Again. Can't seem to get all of my posting in here, so I'm trying again.

Another way to teach students how to write is to give them examples of writings through articles, books, etc. Students can learn from the writings of others. Having to write a report on a book or someone that you are not interested in is an example of teaching techniques that DON’T work in teaching writing. Teachers should also avoid repetition and drilling. We need to strive to keep the curriculum exciting and challenging – not boring.

I feel that in order to teach students how to write you need to get them all on the same page. With this you also have to allow for differences in skill levels. Students should be made to feel good and accepted for their effort, I have helped in kindergarten through second grade classes, and this seemed to be a constant thread that they want to feel good about what they are doing. Gentle guidence might be another way to describe it, if something is wrong show them how to do it right, and offer an explanation. As the students become more developmentally ready to accept new dinamics of their education they will show it in their work. -Teal