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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19 comments:
I was interested in reading about the four components of an effective writing assignment as discussed on pages 46-48, since I am always seeking to improve my incorporation of writing instruction through scaffolding and gradually releasing responsibility to students in my high school English classroom.
I was particularly interested in the section on "Organization and Development," which asserts that "An effective assignment gives students a framework for developing ideas and organizational guidelines." This made me think about how valuable the Inspiration software program is. If you haven't used it already, I would highly recommend it to teachers of any grade level. Inspiration offers numerous templates for various types of writing. I particularly like to use the character sketch template. I have students complete the graphic organizer with characteristics of a main character in the work we are studying (actions, thoughts, feelings, others' views of the character, physical descripion, etc.), and then students' ideas can be transferred to outline and paragraph form to help students transfer their planning to writing a character sketch. I think that the technology piece motivates students, too. I have also received many helpful writing graphic organizers from special education resource teachers in my building. What tools have you found to be vauable in providing students with structure and organizational guidelines in their writing?
Page 54 characterizes "Writing as Inquiry," which makes so much sense to me. We want our students to use writing as a tool for thinking critically and reflecting on the implications of content within a greater context. I see this relating to my own teaching practices when I work with students on crafting a thesis statement to express the purpose of their writing. I provide students with models, discussions and opportunities for practice in pairs and small groups to learn about crafting meaningful thesis statements. I ask them to consider the "So what?" question; in other words, now that you have learned or read "X," so what? I encourage students to arrive at thoughtful interpretations and to draw meaningful conclusions based on their reading, discussions, and group activities in class. Often times students will write thesis statements that answer the question, "What does this work of literature suggest about human nature?" I think that this question is much of the essence of how writing can be inquiry, because in exploring this question through writing, students must make connections and incorporate their understandings of their own life experiences to ask themselves how literature relates to their own understandings and perceptions of the world around them.
I hope that as my students discover through classroom writing and activities that a thesis emerges out of thoughtful response writing and questioning of literature, the final thesis statement reflects the key skills our Because Writing Matters text highlights: "examining assumptions and prior knowledge, posing questions, making inferences and interpreting, and testing interpretations" (p.54)
Do you agree with the characterization of writing as inquiry? Why or why not, and how do you see or not see this characterization of writing as inquiry in your own classrooms?
The portfolio assessment discussed on page 80 in the section on standards and assessments interested me. The section talks about the value of portfolios in helping students to take ownership of their writing. As a department we are looking at how to make writing portfolios effective components of our writing curriculum and more than just a "collection bin" of student writing that travels with students from grade to grade but serves no other purpose. I have been reading articles about electronic portfolios, which seem to offer great potential as facilitators of the revision process of writing. Currently I also have students use their classroom writing portfolios as a means for them to review their writing and refelct on their development as writers as well as target specific strengths and areas that want to focus on to set goals for writing improvement.
How do you use writing portfolios in your classroom and school building? Do any of you use electronic portfolios? Whatis your opinion about using electronic writing portfolios?
Gina,
I'm glad you brought up the writing portfolios discussed in the book because I was wondering how other teachers use them in their classrooms as well. I currently use writing portfolios in my LA class but not to the extent the book describes. I particularly liked the questions on page 79 that focus the purpose of a portfolio system. It made me reflect on how I use student's collection of writing as an assessment rather than a place to keep their work. Students keep their portfolios in my room and use them everytime we engage in the writing process. Right now, the portfolios serve as a collection of writing from graphic organizers to multiple drafts of a piece of writing to the final drafts. I would like to allow students more ownership during writing and have them select their "best" writing for publication and grading as the book describes. Unfortunately, my portfolios are passed on to the next grade and I don't know how the 7th grade teachers use them, if at all.
In the past, my school has discussed the idea of electronic portfolios as a culminating assessment of a student's work throughout grades 6-8. The premise was that students would begin creating the e-portfolios in 6th grade, highlighting their best work and add to it each year so by 8th grade the students leave with a CD of their academic progress. Nothing ever came of the discussions and a unified writing portfolio system does not exist in my school
The last chapter in the book discusses strategies for effective writing programs and I found it amazing how many case studies and vignettes encouraged teachers as writers. The schools or districts highlighted in the chapter made improving student writing their primary goal but also provided professional development that allowed teachers to become writers themselves. I think it is powerful as an educator to take a step back and engage in a process that we ask our students to do all the time. I have to admit that I am not much of a writer outside of school, and even in my classroom I do not always model the writing process, although I try to whenever possible. These studies make me think how much more I can incorporate the writing process in my everyday life, and how easy it would be to do if my school adopted the philosophy that every teacher is a writer and a teacher of writing. Do your schools offer professional development for writing across the curriculum and for teachers to develop their own writing skills? If so, how do you think it influences your teaching and student learning?
I completely agree with the authors of this text when they write that for professional development to be truly effective, it needs to have time and resources invested. They argue, “systematic reform… cannot be accomplished through traditional staff development models – episodic, decontextualized injections of ‘knowledge’ and technique” (p. 57). Teachers need to include themselves in communities, whether those communities are based on grade-level, content area, or are district wide. I feel that professional development opportunities given in schools are most beneficial when the teachers truly practice the skills they were taught in their own classrooms. Just like our students, we have to put into practice what we learn for it to truly make a difference in our daily teaching performance.
Jillian and Kate,
In response to both of your comments about professional development, I wanted to ask you if either of you have participated in the Connecticut Writing Project? This project, which I believe occurs in the summer at various universities, including CCSU, sounds like a wonderful professional development opportunity that both provides teachers with opportunities to enrich their teaching of writing and their own personal writing practices. I attended a CWP conference at CCSU a few weeks ago, and it was very invigorating and exciting to learn about new ideas for getting students excited about writing while supporting content (For example, I attended sessions on using personal journal logs with children's lit. to support social studies content, and I learned how to use two-voice poem study to help students analyze author's craft). Additionally, featured speaker Sheridan Bleau offered numerous insights about writing that made so much sense to me. He echoed our textbook's discussion of "writing as inquiry" and argued that writing is a crucial element of deepening understandings and thinking critically about literature. I enjoyed the lessons he modeled, in which we wrote reflective pieces in response to poetry and prose. This writing was one component of the lessons, which also incorporated partner discussion and whole-class reading activities. Engaging in my own writing reminded me, as Jillian noted, of how important and enjoyable it is to write myself; and I agree with Jillian that it is important for our students to view their teachers as real writers, too, if we want them to embrace their own identities as writers.
Overall, this conference in addition to one of my professor's and colleague's support of the CWP continue to make me consider enrolling in the program one summer.
Jillian,
I agree with you that the questions on page 79 provide a helpful focus for evaluating how effective writing portfolios are being used. I think the questions, "Why do they put [the writing] there? Who looks at it? [and] What do they do with what they see?" are critical to examine.
In response to your mention of having students select their best work to publish, I want to share with you that I have been trying to have students publish their work more now that we have been learning about the value of having students write for "real audiences." My sophomores are working on perfecting mini-cantos modeled after the cantos in Dante's Inferno, and we are creating a class book. My students seem much more engaged and excited about revising and polishing their writing, and they are even volunteering to add illustrations to enhance their pieces. They seem very excited to know that other students in their current class and in years to come will be reading their masterpieces! This experience supports what the text and our studies continue to tell us: Students need to be provided with authentic writing experiences that are meaningful and shared with real audiences.
I was interested in the case study "Expressive Writing in a High School Biology Class." I like how the study discusses expressive writing (p.52). The teacher begins his explanation of expressive writing by stated that there is too much content cover that students needed time to "do" science experiments and not only read and write about it. He expressed that the students in his science class used expressive writing to get their thoughts and “thinkings” down on paper without fear of being critiqued. I think this is a good method, being that I teach math. Students often have the concepts they need to do the math, but often lack the awareness or confidence that they can do the work that is being asked of them. I think expressive thinking is a useful strategy in allowing students a chance to get their thoughts in order. I think this is why his students did much better at the end of the year assessment. They were able to remember more concepts because they were memorizing facts they needed to know to succeed. They were synthesizing the information and making it their own. What are your opinions of expressive writing? Do you think you can apply expressive writing in your classroom? If so how? If not why not?
I found the chapter on professional development to be pretty interesting as well. “Teachers need to be experts in their subject in order to significantly impact student learning (p.59). I definitely agree with this statement. I think professional development is important to all teacher to help us stay abreast of the current trends of teaching practices.
One of the ways my district incorporates professional development in our district is like what is discussed on page 63, teachers teaching teachers. Our district literacy specialist have developed professional development for the past three years. One of our district goals is to integrate reading and language arts into content area classes using research based instruction. The literacy department has put together numerous strategies that we could work on together as a department, then present our findings to our colleagues. I like how no one was excluded from this practice. Art, P.E. and music teachers also had to develop ways to incorporate literacy into their instruction.
A thing I would like our district to do more of is to send a teacher out of district so s/he can be a leading teacher in training. Many of our PD are developed and created by our peers. Although I think it is wonderful to see how other teachers’ strategies, I think it is equally important to learn other relevant material so that we can add to the success of our students. With the recent budget cuts, we are no longer able to go out of the district for professional development. The administrators bring in people they feel we all can benefit from. I can understand this logic, however, there are teachers with whom the information is not useful. Especially beginning teachers who have probably learned many of the recent techniques just before they graduated.
Overall I think the ideas presented in Chapter 4 are good, but ideal. In my experience, many teachers who have been in the district 15 plus years are resentful to anyone telling them how they should teach. It places teachers leaders in difficult situations. For example, the administrator in my district allow for the teacher to take full responsibility for implementation of the PD and follow through. Which leads me to my first question: How do we get veteran teachers to buy into new teaching strategies when we are teaching each other and are each others colleague?
How does your school go about professional development? Do you find veteran teacher stuck in their teaching methods and unwilling to try new tasks that may benefit students? What role(s) does the administrator in your school play to reinforce and encourage professional development?
Kate, I totally agree with your statement on professional development. Teachers do need time to practice skills learned with their students. On page 96, it says that administrators need to support professional development by allowing opportunities for teachers and staff to observe programs in action. I sometimes wonder whether some teachers are reluctant to implement new strategies learned because they are unsure how those strategies will work for them and whether or not they will use those strategies appropriately. I think allotting time for teachers to observe one another will be beneficial. I also agree with Nagin and NWP that administrators need to give time to see whether or not the implementation of strategies is successful.
My district seems to go with the “fads”. They go full-heartily into a project, strategies, learning module, but only give it one year to reap benefit. If the benefits aren’t seen immediately, they seem to go on to the next hot teaching tool in the market. Perhaps this is another reason some teachers are reluctant to implement strategies learned during professional development. Maybe they just see it as some nonsense the school is trying this year, and that next year they will be on to another trend so why get too invested?
After reading Because Writing Matters, I can see connections I can make to my integrated language arts unit. I am going to have students use writing as an inquiry and expressive writing to help them evaluate the material they have learned and how this knowledge changes their view of the world.
I especially like the discussion Nagin and NWP offer on rubrics. I often find it difficult creating rubrics. When creating them, I find that I just can’t create them so that they assess every aspect I am looking for students to demonstrate. I like the laymen terms Nagin gives in regards to creating rubrics. I also like that she provides a sample of a strong rubric presented to students by Kentucky on page 85.
One thing I would have like Nagin to have discussed is how to get students to buy in to using the rubrics. I often find that students don’t read them. Of course, prior to an assignment, I present the rubric, how to use it and what product is expected of them. I provide them with samples of student work that were considered excellent, average and below average based on the criteria of the rubric. I have found that students do not use their rubrics when completing assignments. They turn in their work with large sections of work missing all because they did not use their rubrics the way they should have. How do you use rubrics in your teaching?
When thinking about my integrated language arts unit and reading this book, it is essential that everyday my students engage in some sort of writing related to the unit topic. I would structure the writing to be mostly expository to clarify thinking about the social studies content, but I would also include some narrative or expressive writing as a reaction to the issues in the novel of study. Because my 6th grade students are assessed on expository writing for the CMT, I see this unit as a great way to incorporate an expository or comparative essay based on the Navajo Native American history in the United States. I would model for the students the process of writing an essay, which does not necessarily have to follow the state’s five-paragraph essay format. This way, students would have multiple opportunities to draft, revise, edit, and conference with me or other students in the class. The writing piece would be authentic and have a real audience, purpose, and task so students would be invested in their writing as it is being taught rather than assigned.
Gricel,
Have you thought about having your students use their rubrics as a checklist for revising their ideas during the writing process? Although students would need this modeled, I find that when the ownership is put back on the students to “double check” their writing, the rubric is critical. When students are through drafting, I have them highlight the different requirements from the rubric in their draft (i.e. the main idea is highlighted in red, details in blue, transition words in green). That way, I can do a quick one- minute conference with each student just by checking their highlighted info to see if they are on the right track. This activity forces the students to have out their rubrics and constantly read the requirements so they know what needs to be included in the writing. Also, if you do any peer revising or peer editing, the criteria on the rubric serves as some guiding questions for the students to check each other’s writing. Sometimes using student writing as a model for the whole class to practice either highlighting the writing criteria or as a way to introduce peer revising/editing is effective when students eventually transfer the learning to independent practice. I have had success with these two activities although it takes some prep work in the beginning to model.
I was very impressed by the success that Community district 2 in New York City had! About 50% of its student body is of a low socioeconomic class and yet fewer than 12% of its students scored in the lowest quartile of the nationally standardized reading tests. It seems to me, after reading the district’s seven organizing principles, that collaboration is key. The crux is “shared expertise” and that good ideas “come from talented people working together.” The teachers don’t have to teach the same area or have decades of experience to be helpful. Just from our blog discussions alone, I have learned so many new tips and practices to add to my repertoire. Jillian, although you were responding to Gricel’s post, I love your idea to have the students use an assignment’s rubric to guide them in their revisions. I think that this is a great idea that can be adapted for use in all grades. Rubrics are not only for us to measure the students’ performance on a given assignment but can be for the students to monitor their own work too.
One observation I made while reading this section on New York’s District Two, is that the scores they mention are all for reading tests. This puzzled me because the following section in the chapter is on writing. I think that many of the improvement techniques can be used between the content areas interchangeably. For instance, on page 60, the text states that “literacy is reading and writing and the two are best learned together.” However, I wish that the text authors mentioned this explicitly. Did anyone else notice this?
I believe that most educators are receptive to peer collaboration, however, I feel that this is due to the many things they share in common in their jobs (district, school, students, administration, state standards, etc.). I think in any school some of those teachers would be resistant to someone from the outside coming in to tell them how to do their job better. I can especially see highly experienced teachers resisting the once-over. It is this thought that made me wonder what the teacher attitudes toward the consultants from the ‘Instructional Consulting Services’ company in New York were. I wish the text addressed how to positively affect teachers that were resistant to out-of-district involvement. The book did, however, state on page 64 that, “teachers have good reason to be suspicious of the expertise of an outside professional consultant.” Instead of giving suggestions on how to successfully incorporate consultants, the text contrasts the consulting route with the National Writing Project’s practice of teachers helping teachers. I only wish that a mix of both practices could have been suggested. I feel like both could be helpful.
I love how in the “scenario for change” on page 68, the school mentioned defining their own philosophy of writing. It was based on the things that the entire staff agreed on. I think that it would be highly beneficial for everyone involved (teachers, students, administrators) if all schools and districts followed suit.
The case study on writing growth on page 80 was quite interesting. If a student’s work is going to be exhibited publicly then it makes total sense that he or she will be highly motivated to do a good job. I also think that it motivates the teachers of those students to work hard as well. Good teachers want all of their students to learn, achieve, and be proud of their work. I completely agree with Bob Peterson’s quote. “If teachers know that their students are going to present their work so publicly, they’re less likely to while away the days assigning meaningless worksheets.” Teachers will work harder to prepare their students and checkup on the students as they complete their work so that they are on task and progressing, as they should. Plus, administrators LOVE seeing student’s hard work displayed. :)
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