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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After reading section one of the Because Writing Matters text, I was left with many connections to my own teaching. It has proven to be very beneficial to incorporate writing across the content areas and to provide daily opportunities for students to write for extended periods of time. I have found that students do develop as writers when given time and opportunity.They need to have the permission to write and to "stew" in their own creativity for a while. As stated on page 22 of the text,I also believe, "the very difficulty of writing is its virtue," By particpating in the process of writing muliple modalties are activated, therefore developing various parts of the brain and allowing for intellectal stimulation and growth.
Physical stamina has a great deal to do with the amount that children will write when given a task. I ofen find that students surprise themselves with the sound of their writing when they read it back to themselves. Like a sport or physical skill, writing strength grows with practice. The writer is an athlete and language is the tool that can be manipuated in infinite ways to communicate thoughts, feelings and information.
I have my students keep learning journals that they use to write about various topics across the content areas. They use them to write about Science experiments, persuasive essays in Social Studies and they have sections to discuss thier problem solving processes for math. I have seen writing strengths develop when students have opportunities to write about what they know and to be validated by peer sharing opportunities and written responses from me as the teacher.
Discussion Questions to Consider:
1. Discuss how writing instruction and asessment can be balanced to best meet the diverse needs of students.
2. How do your own securities/insecurities influence your willingness to participate in writing activities and what role does modeling have in yor current writing instructional practice?
3. What experiences have you had with portfolio systems and what suggestions do you have for meshing content-area writing projects with a portfolio approach?
4. Discuss how you have fostered a love of writing for a student and whatimpact that had on that student's academic career.
As a student writer I always felt that I was being assessed to death and did not feel like I was being taught the skills that were in the set of expectations for a given assignment. The Because Writing Matters text discusses the idea that student may not be prepared for assignments that may be given. I try to remember this as a teacher and provide clear instruction, modeling and practice for skills that I hold my students accountable for.
I love writing and this text has renewed my spirit for continuing my own growth as a writer and makes me feel more comfortable with the fact that learning to write is an ingoing process.
"Meaty" Questions to Consider:
1. Given the challenges of English Language Learners (ELL), discuss how you would address the needs, in the area of writing,of a student who is an ELL, who might enter your classroom tomorrow.
2. Discuss your experiences with partner-reading as well as writing groups and your method for ensuring adequate assessment and progression of individual students' skills.
3. Our reading indicates that writing and reading should be incorporated across all content areas. Discuss how you would modify or differentiate an activity that involved both reading and writing, for a student that struggles in both of these areas, without eliminating content-specific material.
4. Discuss an experience you might have had with assisting students in improving their writing or how you have identified significant areas of weakness with a students' writing, that have caused you to discuss them for additional support services (Special Education).
As I was reading, I was able to make several connections to my work with students. As a special education teacher, writing is the most challenging area for a majority of my students, especially students who struggle with language. With more specific regard to incorporating material across all content areas, it is encouraged that my students generate vocabulary cards as well as reference books that they can refer to for each topic that is studied. For example, when looking at Natural Resources, a vocabulary book is introduced as the first part of hte lesson to increase their background knowledge. The students will be unable to produce any involvement if they are unfamiliar with the content. When they activate prior knowledge and become an active participant in creative tasks, they are able to connect better with the material, therefore, generate stronger, more meaningful responses.
Another connection to my work with students, is that we do need to address more than content and just skills in our daily instruction. Instruction in small group settings consists of teaching the process as to how students generate ideas and thoughts, and then asking them to complete tasks utilizing visual models. Especially with struggling writers, students need to have steps broken down and seen visually how everything is tied together.
As a writer, I find that writing is a more-preferred task for me. I enjoy writing, rather than balancing my checkbook! When I was in school, it almost felt that all that we did was write and take notes and evaluate our writing individually. It didn't always seem as though writing was an ongoing process for me as a learner. It appeared more as I complete a task, hand it in, and that is the end of the assignment. There was not much group discussion or reflection that occurred prior to handing in assignments. Through peer-editing/writing groups that I do with my own students, I am able to see the benefits and display of self-confidence when they share their own stories and hear their own words. Providing clear directions is important, as well as expectations for what you would like from the students impacts their performance. If they feel it is a free-for-all and they have to write about a topic, it is not as engaging and fulfilling, as being able to answer specific points or cues in a story or an assignment.
This text has been an eye opener into my beliefs as a teacher. It is comforting to know that things have changed since I was in elementary school. This text not only provided ideas for supporting struggling writers, but also ideas to provide the students who aren't struggling with additional practice and enrichment.
Question/Response #1: Page 29 discusses technology and the writing process. I often think about how, as a third grade teacher, I could use technology in my classroom more often during writer’s workshop. What is the impact that technology has on writing instruction and students' writing skills? “Helping writers develop the fluency and competence to use a variety of technologies needs to be a key part of teaching writing.” After reading and thinking about this section, I agree and find it interesting that using technology leads to an “inquiry-based writing experience.” In the past, my students have used the computers to research a topic of interest if, during free-write, a non-fiction piece is being composed. However, it was not taken any further. This year it will be a learning experience to incorporate the use of more technology, focusing on drafting, revising documents and creating portfolios. The integrated unit completed in this course will incorporate researching skills along with the use of technology as a way to compose of piece for my students who have an IEP for speech and language.
Question/Response #2: What do teachers need to do in order to teach written language to students who have a speech and language disability?
Before reading the text, this question immediately came to my mind. My class is composed of 18 students, all English as their primary language. Year after year, I am challenged with many students who have speech and language disabilities, whether it is articulation issues which affects their spelling skills, or processing issues which affects their ability to get their ideas down on paper. Page 16: “Teaching writing well involves multiple teaching strategies that address both process and product, both form and content.” Again, I find that technology can also play a role in the instruction of teaching writing to these students.
Questions/Response #3-4: What are the advantages/disadvantages to teaching grammar as an isolated skill? I find that when teaching writing we often look past the teaching of grammar along with not focusing on spelling errors. I know that when I conference, I focus on (page 15), meaning, ideas, expression and writing processes. According to research, “instructional strategies such as an isolated skill drills fail to improve student writing.” To add on to my question posed previously, when and how can we teach grammar so that the students know how to write properly and use spellings strategies? My students write for 30-45 minutes a day in a writer’s workshop model so I am hoping that with my new class, as research says, they will learn these skills after being engaged in writing for an extended amount of time. Page 36 and 37 address the issue of looking at grammar and conventions later on as they revise and edit, but as teachers, it seems as if we look at the content to find good writing, not the grammatical aspect. When I conference, I always ask the students to tell me what they are working on, as they practice the skill taught during the mini-lesson and I then, focus and teach from there. Aside from teaching a mini-lesson on a grammar skill, I am interested in talking to other third grade teachers to get ideas and see how they manage and teach grammar and spelling in their classrooms.
Christy's Response to Shannon's Question: How do your own securities/insecurities influence your willingness to participate in writing activities and what role does modeling have in yor current writing instructional practice?
Shannon, this is a great question to post. Last year, I tried to write in my writer's notebook for the first 5-10 minutes of writer's workshop with my students. I did this (as a model) so the students saw what a "good writer" does and how a "good writer" may struggle at times. I usually share my writing with the students but at times, like the students, I feel as if my writing "isn't good enough to share." I am sure several students in the classroom feel the same. However, just like athletes, the more we practice, the better we will be and the easier it will be for us to write. This analogy is used in my classroom all the time. I feel it is crucial that teachers need to write with the students as well as share their writing to model the process. I have already seen some of my students form a love for writing because they are given time, a choice of what to write and just as important, a comfortable environment to share their writing.
1. I have often heard throughout many college courses, and readings that writing is a craft and students should not be told how to write. Yet I often wonder, if we don’t provide any framework for our students how do we teach the students who struggle with writing to be good writers? How do we service children who don’t fit the mold as good writers? What strategies do we offer students who struggle as writers to develop ideas for a piece? I cannot help but think of CMTs last year. I had a student who did not pick up his pencil until the last fifteen minutes. On the verge of a heart attack, I was replaying the year through my mind reflecting upon all of the strategies I thought we had used to develop ideas, closing your eyes and imagining you are the character, asking questions about the prompt, and much more. Yet there this student sat with the famous “I got nothin’” look that I had seen at the very start of the school year. How do we help these students to feel successful as writers?
2. In reading chapter two I came across several interesting thoughts connected to my own teachings. One in particular focused on the tie between mechanics and the communication. As stated in our reading early writing focused on the “mechanics and conventions.” In today’s education we are changing our methods to include the old practices, and also implement the purpose of creativity and communication within a piece of writing. Our district is undergoing several curriculum changes, most importantly within Language Arts. In discussions concerning writing I hear some voices feel that the grammar component of writing should be put to the side and we should teach the communication of writing whether it be through responding to open-ended questions, narrative or expository writing. I myself find it difficult to leave the mechanical piece out of teaching writing. How can students learn to become successful writers if they cannot communicate their thoughts in complete sentences that make sense to their reader? I do not feel that students should complete skill and drill worksheets daily to learn grammar, but apply it into their own writing as stated on p. 21, “ …finer points of writing may be learned best while students are engaged in extended writing that has the purpose of communicating a message to and audience. Notice that no communicative message is served when children are asked to identify on a worksheet the parts of speech or the proper use of shall and will.”
3. I was almost dumfounded when reading chapter one when I came across this statement. “ Sometimes, the professionals tell us, this means letting yourself write poorly at the start, with the expectation of improving it further down the line.” In reflecting upon my own writing, I realized that this is something I rarely practice. I love to write freely or express my opinions on topics through writing, but often find it painstaking to find the right word to pin point my feelings or thoughts thoroughly to the reader. After reading this quote, I realized that writing to get the bulk down without finding just the right word for my sentence is very difficult to me. Although I will always look back to edit my own work and change sentences, structure, or wording, I am so worried that my thoughts will lead me to other places that I will lose the focus to find the right word. I also realized that the planning portion of writing is crucial to my own pieces. The planning allows me to record all of my thoughts as my mind races so not to leave anything out. This also led to reflect upon my teaching and how crucial it is to focus on the prewriting or planning stage of the writing process.
4. This text led me to many different reflections of my own teachings in writing. I would like to incorporate the aspect of critical thinking or asking them to create a writing piece for an audience whom they may not have written for into my Integrated Language Arts unit in the area of science. For example, if my unit focuses in the science field of geology, I might ask students to write a paragraph from the standpoint of a rock. Students can explain the kind of rock they are, what they are used for, and how they came to be the type of rock they are today, or in other words their journey through the rock cycle.
Kerian
Book title: Because Writing Matters
Hi Everyone!
I just got though reading chapter one and I agree with much of his research findings about how writing is viewed in schools. Although much of Nagin’s ideas are not new to me, it was good to learn that these common challenges to teachers are documented and published. With this information out there, I’m wondering if this might lead to a reform. What do you think? Let me know?
Nagin mentioned the problem of rewrite in chapter one and I was glad to see that was addressed in this book. I find rewrite a problem for students every year, so I try to uncover strategies that work to get them to buy into it without too much complaint. What worries me is that students are comfortable with handing in first draft as final draft in third grade and refuse to correct even simple spelling errors. This makes me wonder how explicit rewrite is being taught at each grade level.
I think that rewrite should be explicitly taught at every grade level so that students would know what to expect each time they sit down to write. What do you think ladies?
I find the blame game mentioned on page 15 interesting as this has been addressed in our school within the last two years about the same time this book was published. I wonder if this book is responsible for the reform in my school when the specials teachers were asked to include writing in their curriculum or was it the CMT’s? At my school, the special teachers grumble about it but when you have school principals like the one on page 15 who says, “Only writing teachers are expected to teach writing across all subject areas.” It is clear why this reform might be crawling at snail’s pace.
I would have liked to read about some good techniques teachers are using in their classroom. Too bad Nagin did not mention any because as a writer I get my ideas to teach writing from other writers and I would have loved to read about ideas that work in the classroom.
I agree with Nagin that “teachers still receive little instruction in teaching writing” and therefore are not prepared to focus on writing pedagogy. This makes me reflect on my own undergrad training as an elementary teacher. I learned how to teach writing on the job. Initially, I taught penmanship as writing because that’s what was important to my teachers so that’s what I focused on. Fortunately, I was able to use Empowering Writers and other programs to improve my instruction. I have also learned that these programs do not teach the intricate parts of teaching students how to write like addressing a diverse group of writers or their different learning styles. One area I am still trying to overcome is to effectively include writing in all subject areas.
The integrated unit I want to teach is Rocks and Minerals as this is a unit I plan to teach my students this fall. Now that I have read this chapter I have being thinking of ways to teach across the curriculum. My idea I have so far is to get my students to keep a journal of their observations, hypothesis, findings and other theories for this unit.
Now that I’ve finished reading this chapter, it is apparent that writing should be taught in every subject area so, why are schools still unable to resolve the blame game?
With all the ideas to get things done quickly in today’s fast paced era, how can I get my students to understand that rewrite is a step to improving their writing?
Kerian
Hi Everyone,
In response to Jen’s question 1. Given the challenges of English Language Learners (ELL), discuss how you would address the needs, in the area of writing, of a student who is an ELL, who might enter your classroom tomorrow. I am glad you asked this question because presently I have a student who is dominant in Spanish and I have been assessing students’ academic levels for the last two weeks and learned that his print skills is at a beginning first grade level, his sight vocabulary is at a beginning K. level and reading comprehension is well below grade level as well.
Since reading and writing are reciprocal, this week I taped the leveled books for reading on audio cassette for him to listen and track the words. My desire is for him to see and hear print in English everyday. I have also been getting the assistance of a bilingual student in my class to translate these stories for me and other curriculum materials. I find that using a theme-base curriculum helps too because we have been reading the story Cliff Hanger and he likes the visuals I printed to accompany the text. He seems to relate to the dog and boy relationship in the story because he has a pet too, so for writing we talked about his experience with his own dog as a springboard for his first story.
As this time I am thinking of improving his vocabulary with lots of virtual tours and computer-based activities for example, for this rocks and minerals unit I plan to teach, I have included lots of interactive activities to help all learners. I think this might benefit him as well.
I hope this answer this question.
Kerian
Hi Ladies,
After reading page 51, I realized how necessary teaching across the curriculum is for students’ comprehension of concept and retention of information. I think I like this book for its relevance to my career as an effective teacher. What Nagin says about the Neglected “R” reminds me of what Cris Tovanni’s says in her book I Read It, But I Don’t Get It that kids have a difficult time transferring information from one subject to the next especially those in middle and high school because they physically move from classroom to classroom for different subjects.
This transferring of concepts reminds an incident that happened in my third grade class last year. I asked my students during reading block to decide how many questions they would need to answer in the time they had. They were asked if they had 42 questions to answer in 45 minutes. How many minutes would they need to answer per minute? I was surprised to hear from this student “but Ms. Blake we are not doing math?”
I think having kids write in these other subject areas would break down the misconceptions that writing is done only during the writing block.
Questions:
I find it difficult planning across curriculum when my reading, math, social studies and science curriculum topics are different. What suggestion do you have for a teacher who is faced with this situation?
Given the fact that all students will not like writing, what suggestion do you have to motivate these students who find writing a chore rather than fun?
I found Kerian’s comments very interesting shaking my head in agreement as I read. I also find it difficult to get students through the full writing cycle especially when it comes to editing and publishing. My students will go through and glance through their work for mistakes, but it is not until we sit down for a one to one conference that the true editing is done. I find it beneficial for the students to read their own work aloud. It is at that point when they finally realize their wording is awkward or they have missed a word. When it comes to publishing, I still find mistakes such as a missed word. I believe they have a misconception that a final draft doesn’t need revising.
I also agreed with your comment from page 15 in all teachers need to teach writing. It leads me back to the conflict of grammar and writing. I notice within my own district grammar is not a focus across the grade levels, but the writing process is greatly weighted. I myself do not remember grammar lessons to apply to writing until eighth grade. How can students put together a well-written paper without all the components to writing successfully? Writing is a work that all teachers need to incorporate into their lessons or content area. I find from the short time that I have been teaching that concepts take a long time to finally reach the classroom level. I am just seeing some reading concepts covered in my undergrad classes implemented into our classrooms now.
In the last two years, my colleagues and I have tried to implement writing into our science lessons. We ask students to reflect on their learning and explain new concepts learned, write observations, and keep a journal of their findings as our unit progresses. It is a work in progress. We also teach Rocks and Minerals in the fall. We’ll have to get together and compare some ideas and test them out with our classes!
Greetings to all,
I would like to start by saying that I am so impressed with the thoughtful comments that everone has written. Your comments validate so many emotions and concerns that I have when considering myself as a teacher of writing.
In response to Kerian's question about motivating reluctant writers I would like to share some of my ideas. I have had a great deal of experience with studens that do not like to write for a variety of reasons. Some are not willing to take risks, some lack the physical stamina and some students are confused about the expectations set forth, but don't have the language to communicate their needs, so they come across as being defiant or indifferent.
I have found that my own enthusim has been very helpful. I allow students to critique my own writing and challenge them to help me find a better way of saying something. I also try to be sure that the message I give is that writing will take place, even if we have to work hard to get the task accomplished. Setting high standards and giving students sophistcated tools has been a successful way tom invite them to write. I often will allow students to dictate sections of writing to me while I write or type, eliminating the phyical chore of writing usually liberates the student. I allow students to write using a variety of styles. We use journaling, focused free writing and essay formats, but I also allow students to create comic strips, posters, pamphlets, songs and poetry.
I have found that children love to publish their work. They like to share thier wriing and each small amount of success leads them to a better start on the next task. I have had students publish their story as a PowerPoint presentation and then add clip art to illustrate their topic. Integrating technolgy can make a writing task eem more exciting.
Jen M posted:
Our reading indicates that writing and reading should be incorporated across all content areas. Discuss how you would modify or differentiate an activity that involved both reading and writing, for a student that struggles in both of these areas, without eliminating content-specific material.
I find it a constant, yet exciting challenge to find new and different ways to meet the needs of my struggling students, or all students, for that matter. I have had a few students in the past few years that have needed parallell assignments, containing the same content as the assignments that thier peers were exposed to, but presented in a different way. I have been happy to locate some resources for nonfiction texts, including National Geographic texts that present information in a variety of levels. I like to have small leveled reading groupings in which content vocabulary is similar, but the intensity of the reading fits the reader. I also do a great deal of reading aloud. I find that students like to be read to and often will bemore prepared for reading on thier own after hearing the content read aloud. I like to create a table with a variety of pictures and content vocabulary for studnets to manipulate. Having concrete pictures to touch and sort helps student to own the language that I expect them to use in their writing.
I will often place a picture card on a student's desk with keys words or phrases that are going to be presented in the reading. I will draw their attention to the pictures as we read so that they can have visual aids to cling to when the content strat to get difficult or abstract. This is especially helpful with social studies concepts.
Question 4 Response:
Reading this text has helped me to reflect on my practices and to develop a critcal view of my approaches at teaching writing. As Sarah mentioned in her posting, I was also interested the comments regarding drafting. I do tell my students that Hemmingway himself most likely read his works and marked them up with alternate word choices that better told his story. I have to remember that in order to get to the "good stuff" inside one's head, you first have to purge all that pops up first. Time often does not allow for the thoughtful process that we deserve as writers. Demanding curriculum and 45 minute time limits "curb the enthusiasm" of many writers. I have a little anecdotal quip that I present to my studnets when I am trying to get them to be quiet during writing tme. (Remember that they are 8 or 9 so gross is in...)
I tell them that a really good wound/scab needs time to fester. If they too want to have a juicy story, then they have to let their ideas stew, immersed in the thoughts in their head. Fesetering thoughts are much more entertaining than a superfical scratch across the surface. Beleive it or not, they get it and it keeps them going...shock value goes a long way!
Kerian said..
Shannon, I agree that the question Christy raise about our comfort level when modeling writing for students is a great one. It forces me to rethink my confidence as a writing teacher. In reflecting, I find modeling writing becomes less challenging with daily practice. Like Christy, I tried keeping a notebook but failed to keep up with the entries for two reasons. One is that I was and still am not comfortable with kids listening to my own thoughts and experiences read out loud because of the way they might perceive me after. Two, I think someone else might say it better. Honestly, I prefer referencing published authors because I think my students would respect their work better. I wonder how my own students would say if they should read this.
I also find that gathering my students around the overhead projector makes modeling writing less threatening for me. It feels like reading a book in a comfortable spot. This benefits my students as well because they are more will to share their ideas in being this close.
Given the fact that all students will not like writing, what suggestion do you have to motivate these students who find writing a chore rather than fun?
Hi Kerian,
In response to the question above, my first reaction would be to tell you to give the students a choice of what to write. However, according to ETS/NAEP researchers, "students need a reasonable amount of choice and direction for their engagement.." I agree with this but with students who are defiant and dislike writing I would give them the choice in all content areas, and differentiate in order to get the results you need for assessment...sounds like a simple answer but as third grade teachers, we all know this can be challenging.
In response to Kerian- "Given the fact that all students will not like writing, what suggestion do you have to motivate these students who find writing a chore rather than fun?" I totally agree with this question! I actually had a student on my caseload last year that hated to write! We turned his writing assignments into mad libs when teaching about nouns and adjectives. He could select from a list of appropriate ones. But much like your question, Kerian, it is hard to come up with something that would motivate them! We also used actual photographs that encouraged him to write about what he saw, rather than what he read. Then he would draw scenes to pictures-almost like a comic book. From there, we would have him create text to support his drawings. Really, all we did was tap into his interests, and create alternate tasks, related to what the students are doing but encouraging him to participate through motivating him with the alternative assignments. Secretly, we tricked him into doing writing, when he thought he was making comic books, as that was his interest! Given the information from the book, Because WRiting Matters, we also had him share, and he became the hit of the class with his ideas and pictures that he created. Writing, in turn became more fun for him, rather than being a chore!
What I learned from this book, will support work within my unit, as I am encouraged to use writing within my science unit on ROCKS AND MINERALS! :) (We'll have to share notes!)
Students who are interested in science as opposed to Language Arts, will find it more interesting to participate in activities related to writing, when it is an area they are interested in. I plan on incorporating lots of tasks involving technology as well as writing within my unit, tapping into multi-modal techniques to support struggling learners/writers.
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