Engage in an online literature discussion group on our class blog. Please read the introduction and the first three chapters of the book and make four entries 1)propose “meaty” fat questions to discuss, 2) make connections to your teaching and work with students, 3) make connections to your work as a writer. 4) Consider how what you have learned from this book might support the work of your integrated language arts unit
Please respond to at least one or more students in your study group.
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Jessiana383@hotmail.com
I hope this works!
testing testing testing 123
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Pg 12 ~ Paraphrased - Students' reading achievement is high if they frequently practice writing longer answers. I do agree with this but still struggle with my first grade class. I have some students that are reading and comprehending at a third grade or higher level, but when it comes to writing, I can barely get them to write much more than a sentence or two. I then have students barely comprehending at a first grade level who are more than willing to write pages upon pages of a story. I find this dichotomy both perplexing and aggravating. I also find that many of my students would write longer and more complex answers if they were not hung up on the basics of writing. Despite much encouragement to use creative spelling, I have several students who are completely hung up on spelling everything the right way. I believe that they have so much more to offer and say, and despite support and reminders that I am not looking for spelling at this age, they refuse to try creative spelling. IS there any way to combat these issues?
My only thought is if they're only in 1st grade, how did they get so hung up on spelling correctly? Was it in Kindergarten or from their parents? If so, maybe it requires a process of so called "un-teaching" them to be so worried about spelling. I feel like students at any age can get frustrated because some teachers tell them that spelling doesn't matter - just write and we'll fix the spelling later. But other teachers are real sticklers (is that really a word!!!) about spelling and mark up a student's paper with spelling correction marks.
Connection:
Pg. 29 “Writing research has shown us that learning to write involves not only learning the processes of inquiry, drafting, revising, and editing but also a web of relationships between a child and her peers, home life and the wider culture, or a child’s culture and that of school.” Although I feel like this is a lot to accomplish I know this is what we have to do when teaching writing. I taught bilingual education for 8 years and I struggled with accomplishing this task when I taught writing. Many of my students wrote stories filled with incorrect grammar or with a lot of slang in English. They spoke this way at school and at home. It was an accepted form of speech for their parents as well. But I had to concentrate on what their story was trying to say and look beyond their so- called errors. I took into consideration their culture and their language background and valued that first. They all had interesting and important stories to tell. When the student had told the story in their own words the best they knew how, we would work together to make it make more sense to other readers. This was also a way of teaching ESL skills in context.
Becky, one way you may be able to combat the issue is by having your students write a first draft with their inventive spelling. If they know that you are going to help them edit it and that they can rewrite the paper with correct spelling and grammar, they may not worry as much about spelling correctly on the first draft. Granted, I haven’t seen it done this way in many first grade classes because of time limitations. Although, based on the readings in Because Writing Matters, it seems that teachers who explicitly teach the elements of the “writing process” are better able to guide students in focusing on well-developed ideas rather than conventions of print and grammatical rules. I think the problem you are encountering is one that many primary teachers face.
Research shows that instruction in grammar and the mechanics of writing do not actually help students use language to communicate. Because these components are necessary tools for writing, I always thought they were very important to know and teach. Though as mentioned in Because Writing Matters, students should be taught grammar and mechanics through authentic tasks. It would be embedded in writing assignments that ask students to argue a point, compare and contrast views or characters, or support their assertions. I have some ELLs, and they do become very overwhelmed by spelling correctly. In my own teaching, I would like to give students more opportunities to rewrite their work, so they can focus on getting their ideas down on the first draft. Based on the results of the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) one year, students who were ask to write multiple drafts performed better than student who were not ask to do so in grades 4, 8, and 12. Why do you think that students who write more drafts do better than students who do not?
I believe that with the multiple chances to write a student will have the chance to not only correct the grammatical and spelling mistakes but also be able to incorporate more ideas. I know when I have the chance to write and rewrite on many occasions I begin to find more ideas that I can work into the writing. Along with being able to put more ideas into a student’s writing, the option of creating many drafts gives a student more practice at creating a flowing, well written essay. Just as with anything, the more you practice the better at something you will become. The student will learn strategies for writing, what works and what doesn’t, how to phrase things and when you use certain nuances in the English language. As they learn and practice these skills they are better able to learn and practice new ones. Writing abilities is a wonderful example of scaffold learning. We are constantly building and expanding upon the basic structure that we have. The more times we are able to write and rewrite the larger and more solid our scaffold of learning becomes. I have seen it in my own class. We do many writing projects and it is great to see the students writing grow. One project we did reflected greatly many of the smaller, more structured writing assignments we had done. The students were asked to create a Venn Diagram comparing and contrasting Summer and Winter. This brainstorming session gave my students the chance to just get down on paper anything and everything they could think of to do with the seasons. From this the students then wrote a persuasive piece on their favorite season. We revised the paper together, which gave the student a better chance to express him/her self before they rewrote the paper. They were then allowed to self edit the paper to produce a final typed draft. This chance to look over their work multiple times gave my students some much needed skill practice and a better chance to express themselves on a particular task where the main idea was already determined and they just needed to support it.
Pg 22 - 23 ~ “The very difficulty of writing is virtue: it requires that students move beyond rote learning and simply reproducing information, facts, dates and formulae. Students must also questions their own assumptions and reflect critically on an alternative or opposing viewpoint.” I would like to have this line printed up and posted in schools across America. I think that more people need to realize how we can foster critical thinking skills. Just like writing critical thinking skills can not be taught in just small little packaged drills on just during reading time. I think far too often writing is put on a back burner as just something to do when there is time. Yet the fact is that it is so much more of an integral part of our daily lives. I feel that if teachers looked at writing more like they looked at many other subjects they would find more far reaching cross-curricular applications for it. Just as it says earlier in the chapter, writing is not a series of set drills formulated to produce a writer. There needs to be more inquiry driven writing. I think that because most of us were presented with writing as drills and not as a more free-flowing all-inclusive topic, we fail to find new methods of teaching it and fall into the habits of our own teachers. We need to uncover new ways to bring writing into all that we do and look at it less like its own compartmentalized subject. It has so much more to offer!
Question: Writing instruction has changed dramatically over the years. Just a few decades ago (and maybe not even that far back), writing instruction consisted mainly of copying, diagraming sentences and grammar work (p.21). I think we do a much better job now at actually teaching writing - using authentic texts, modeling "good writing", conferencing with students and giving individualized feedback, giving students more time to write independently and share their written work with their peers. Why do you think it is that students are still not prepared as writers once they enter college? I know that we, as educators, still need to find better ways to teach writing, but our instruction has definitely improved over the years. Why is it that we are not seeing the results of better writing instruction?
On page 51 of Because Writing Matters, the author describes how “writing across the curriculum can be used in two ways.” One way is having students write in more informal ways to learn content areas. They can use learning logs or journals to do this. For my integrated language arts unit, I would like to have students log information that they find. It may be like documenting an experiment for them, but it is another opportunity to get them writing. On page 50, a fourth-grade NWP teacher in AED study says, “When I plan what I do [in any subject], I always plan a writing component.” I noted that I try to do the same thing. Most of my special education students have goals and objectives in language arts and math, but by incorporating a writing component, I am better able to assess what they got from the lesson.
Meaghan, I think that’s a really good question. I agree that writing instruction has come a long way. Writing Workshop, for example, allows teachers to conference with students, as well as design mini-lessons exclusively for the needs of her students. I remember receiving both grammar lessons and opportunities to write for authentic purposes in high school. In fact, I remember the grammar being integrated into all the writing we did [in my English classes]. In high school, in particular, I feel like I received very solid instruction in writing. I can think of two factors that may affect a student’s writing preparation for college. One is the instruction they receive from teachers. The other is their own beliefs about the importance of writing and its conventions. If they don’t like writing or don’t think it’s important, then they may not take the ownership that is necessary to become skilled writers in and out of high school.
becky said: Pg 12 ~ Paraphrased - Students' reading achievement is high if they frequently practice writing longer answers.I do agree with this but still struggle with my first grade class.
When I taught first grade most of my students came in barely writing more than a two or three sentences at a time. I think that in the primary grades (kinder and first especially)the focus needs to be on language more than anything. If I didn't give my students the time to talk about their ideas (elaborate, make connections, describe, brainstorm vocabulary)before they began writing, I would get a limited amount of writing because they did not know how to go about developing their ideas.
Even now in second grade, I also struggle with the students who get hung up on the correct spelling and it interrupts the "flow" of their ideas onto paper. It's hard for them because the actual process of writing (forming letters, spelling, etc.) can not keep up with what they are thinking. When I'm writing in front of them during a minilesson I model how I get stuck on a word I don't know how to spell, use phonemic spelling the best I can, and then say "I'll worry about that word later". I actually hear some of them using that phrase while they're writing (it's very cute) and they don't let spelling get in the way of their ideas. For some students, it is much harder for them to let it go, but at least they see that you think it's okay for them to "worry about it later".
While reading the first half of Because Writing Matters, I had a few questions. What are some ways to get ELLs interested and motivated about writing considering how difficult it is to read, write, speak and listen in a new language? I think allowing them to choose their writing topics will help. Also, if they write, as phonetically as they can, then read it back to the teacher so she can document what it says, they may feel more comfortable about trying. I absolutely loved the idea of taking ELL students to the nearest bookstore to pick a book. On page 42, it says, “The new sense of belonging coupled with the power of choice pushed these students to read at a higher level and read more frequently.” Another question that I think is very interesting is proposed on page 43. Why does learning to write also mean writing to learn? One reason for this is students must apply their knowledge of letter and sounds when writing. They have to use what they know to spell and create something new.
This book was written in part by the National Writing Project which is a national organization devoted to teaching teachers how to be better writers themselves and better teachers of writing in their classrooms. The Writing Project is in pretty much every state around the country and Central started a site in 2006. I participated in the Central Connecticut Writing Project the summer of 2006 and it changed my life personally and professionally. It taught me what it was like to be a student of writing again and feel the anxiety that my students feel. I don't feel that I am that strong of a creative writer and I was surrounded by amazing poets and writers that whole summer. I had to learn to take chances and gain confidence in my own personal writing. This is what our struggling writers feel everyday in the classroom. As I'm reading this book I am reminded of how we as teachers can read all of this information about the new research in writing or the best techniques to use with our students, but really the best way to improve our instruction (at least in my opinion) is to put ourselves in the shoes of our students and experience what its like to be nervous about writing or feel like you have nothing to write about. The Writing Project helped me overcome both of those.
Jessica had a question about how to get ELL's motivated to write when it is so difficult to read and write in a new language. When I taught bilingual I faced this problem on a daily basis with my whole class. When I did the Writing Project 3 summers ago I was introduced to this book called "About the Author" by Katie Wood Ray. It is mostly for Kindergarted to 2nd graders but it helped me deal with this issue. During writer's workshop I gave the students three pieces of white paper folded in half like a book. They drew out their story first on each page and then they wrote whatever words they could come up with in English to tell the story. Drawing the pictures on each page allowed them to plan out and develop the story that was in their head first. Then when I conferenced with them I would help them create the sentences they were trying express from their pictures. This might not be as effective with older learners who feel that drawing pictures first is juvenile but it worked with my second graders.
As I was reading this book, the main question for discussion that came to mind was the same one that Meaghan asked. Its not that long ago when we went to school and learned how to write properly. We were able to complete our high school papers, write a college essay, and now at the grade level write papers for our classes. I don't understand why students in wealthy or urban/poverty districts are having trouble writing appropriate grammar and syntax. Maybe too much focus has been on getting students to enjoy writing and use it as a vehicle to express themselves as well as what they have learned and mechanics have been shoved under the rug for too long. Somewhere along the way the idea of teaching correct grammar and English was seen as inimidating to the students so we shyed away from it. Pg. 21 says "Research suggest that the finer points of writing, such as punctuation and subject-verb agreement, may be learned best while students are engaged in extended writing that has purpose of communicating a message to an audience." While I completely agree with this, I also think it is necessary, especially in elementary school where this is the students' first exposure to writing properly, to explicitly teach the proper mechanics of English. It doesn't have to be in boring worksheets but it could be in small mini-lessons or Daily Oral Language Activities.
We all learned how to write properly - what did our teachers do right?
Meg, I agree with what you said about most teachers now focusing on the writing process as a form of indiviual expression and not as much on the conventions of writing. Maybe that is what the colleges think students are lacking in their writing. I think that teaching grammar reminds teachers of worksheets, rote memorization of rules and diagramming sentences - all teaching practices that educators have tried to move away from. The trick is finding the balance in your classroom. We need to be able to teach our students about grammar without the "drill and kill", and instead intergrate grammar into how we teach the writing process as a whole. Personally, that is an area that I would like to improve on in my teaching of writing. I'm sure that many other teachers in my school would like some better direction or instruction in how to do that. Our CMT scores showed that the students performed very well on the "holistic writing" portion of the test, but poorly on the "editing and revising" portion.
I also liked the idea of "learning logs" or "think logs"; it's a great way to intergrate writing into other parts of the curriculum. This is one of the strategies I may use in my intergrated unit. I also may use some of the other ELL strategies that the author describes (pgs. 39-42). When I worked in Hartford, there was a huge emphasis on using ELL strategies because English was a second language for the majority of our students. I now work in West Hartford, and have only a handful of ELL students, but I know that those strategies that help ELL students will help all students. My intergrated unit will focus on one of our Social Studies units, a study of Japan. I think that the strategy of using "writing activities connected to students' experiences" could fit in well with this unit. The students could begin the exploration of another culture by first exploring their own. This could also help generate interest into the different cultures of our classroom while giving ELL students (and all students) an authentic learning activity.
One of the quotes in this book that I could really connect to was taken from author Tracy Kidder. She said, "I write because I don't know what I really think about anything until I get it down on paper." I think that quote describes the type of writer I am. Whether it's writing down my thoughts on an article I've read for class, writing out my teaching objectives for the year or writing an email to a friend, it helps me to see it on paper first. It usually takes me awhile to write even a short paper because I'm not sure about what I want to write until I read it over and revise a number of times. That's probably one of the reasons why I don't like giving the "timed prompt" to my students. I don't know if I could write on demand, under pressure and with time constraints.
I think another medium of writing that is often forgotten is using the computer. Yet it is not just writing and using a computer as a tool to facilitate writing. We are fight against and working with the entirely new language that has appeared with the invention of texting, IMing and blogging. There is an entirely new subculture that has developed and an entirely new manner of speaking. We are bombarded with it everyday whether we blog, text, IM or not. It is appearing in our commercials and hit TV shows. This new manner of expression is something that we did not grow up with but our students are. What we say is proper English is very different from what the whole world is telling them is. How do we handle this in our classrooms? Are OMG, IDK, and L8R phrases that are acceptable to use when we are writing? Yet technology offers us so many more opportunities to explore, compose and be expressive. In Because Writing Matters (BWM) we here the case of the students who were able to use the net to do a research project and discover so much more than if they were just to use the conventional methods of research. BWM also talks about how the use of computers allows for a more personal relationship with our students. I never had thought of editing the students work right on the computer. I had only used it as a type of publishing, end product idea. I would like to try using the computer for the full process. I think with a very guided use of the computer the students would be better able to express themselves on the computer. We would not be hung up on forming the letters and filling the page. I think it would be a more enjoyable process for all of us!
Page 31 - "From the standpoint of the child, the great waste in school comes from his inability to utilize the experiences he gets outside of the school in any complete and free way within the school itself; while, on the other hand, he is unable to apply in daily life what he is learning in school." I love this quote. I know that as educators we understand the importance of these words, but the message of this quote can sometimes get lost in the demands of the curriculum and testing. I hope to use this frame of thinking when sitting down to plan my lessons every week. When we keep in mind how a child can connect his or her learning to their everyday life it increases motivation and helps the child to see the purpose in the work they are doing. This frame of thinking can be applied to any area of the curriculum - math, science, social studies and language arts.
In Chapter One, Improving Student Writing, I found the section on writing assessments very appealing because writing assessments in my school and particularly in first grade have been an ongoing discussion. Like the text stated on page 15, “writing is very difficult to measure.” I think it is especially difficult to measure in first grade because the writing process is developmental.
In the beginning of the year, first grade students express their writing through pictures. After that they begin to hear sounds and form letters which helps them to form words and eventually sentences. In my school, our hope is that by the end of first grade students will be able to write a story that includes a beginning, middle, and end. However, for some first graders this is achieved easily, while others continue to struggle throughout the year. To my group members, how do you feel about first grade assessments? What types of assessments do you use throughout the school year?
Another section in Chapter One that caught my attention focused on professional development in teaching writing. In my four years of teaching my professional development at school has been geared towards reading rather than writing. I feel this is a big detriment to teachers today because writing is a big part of learning, especially at the first grade level. As a teacher, I think it is important to be updated on new writing skills and strategies in today’s society, especially when classrooms are filled with students from different cultures and families.
Another section that I found intriguing discussed ELL learners. I have had first hand experience with ELL learners both in my classroom and as a tutor. Writing was always a struggle for my students because of grammar and the overall lack of exposure to writing. Thus, students would often become discouraged. However, having the students write about their life experiences would help bring more motivation to their writings. One activity that I used to develop writing skills (which was also sighted in the text on page 41) was double entry logs. This was an easy way to get an ELL student to write and feel good about his or her writing.
The UCLA Writing Project was mentioned in the end of Chapter Three. This was a wonderful project that promoted reading and writing. In this case, I hope it empowered the students to want to become both better readers and writers.
Meaghan,
In your blog you mentioned students having trouble writing appropriate grammar and syntax. I think this problem is happening for a couple of different reasons. I believe that one reason for this is that children of all grade levels are extremely lazy when it comes to learning new things. Learning appropriate grammar and syntax is not an easy task. Therefore, children do not want to put the effort and/or time into learning the appropriate way to write.
Another problem is technology. Computers are wonderful resources, but they are also a disadvantage in regards to teaching grammar and syntax. Computers have programs (such as Microsoft® Word) that offer resources that spell check and recognize improper grammar, and fragmented sentences. With these types of programs, children do not feel the need to learn correct grammar and syntax at school because the computer will conduct these corrections for them.
Lastly, the way in which children communicate with each other is usually done through the internet or text messaging. Both of these forms of communication also show the lack of interest in learning how to communicate correctly. Text messages are short phrases with few letters. Proper grammar is always nonexistent and often deemphasized, as acronyms, are often preferred in this form of communication. If children continue to communicate this way, then they are also inevitable going to write the same way.
I think that my favorite line in the book so far is the lines on pg 54 talking about how writing “helps students develop the basic inquiry strategies common to most disciples and incorporate them into their writing activities.” The book then goes on to talk about all the different strategies finally reaching what they call (and I completely agree with) “the most powerful gateway of all, the foundation for original discovery and insight”… The Imagination. There are many times in a school year when I am amazed at both the awe-inspiring abilities of my students imaginations, and, at the other end of the spectrum, the complete lack of any form of imagination. I like to have my students use their imaginations as much as possible, and as often as possible. This includes during structured and free time. The chance for complete freedom of thought allows the students to create and strengthen their neural pathways. Along with the amazing ability for problem solving that imagination offers, I believe that it also lends itself wonderfully to creative thinking and more inquiry to a lesson or topic at hand, almost as a springboard for their ideas and learning.. For my integrated lesson in Science on the Human Body, I would like to see how I can better incorporate the chance for the students to use their imagination to spark some creative thinking and learning. I am hoping through the use of their imagination my students will take more ownership of their learning and become more interested in the lesson at hand. I think that if they see them selves in a position of more authority, they will rise to the occasion and become leaders and teachers of their peers. I can’t wait to try it out.
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