Dear Dr. Jones,
I have really enjoyed having the opportunity to work with you again this semester in LTED 618! This class has been very exciting, fun, and enlightening as far as learning about ways that I can support my students with their writing in creative ways. Not only have I learned about helping future students, but I have learned about myself as well and how to see writing in a different way compared to my previous beliefs of the writing process. When I found out that I was taking a creative writing class, I was very excited because I love to be creative and find ways to make things engaging and fun; a reason why I decided to go into teaching. However, I wasn't exactly sure about what to expect as far as course work, assignments, and readings. Luckily, I was pleased to find out that many of our assignments are fun and engaging, especially our genre pieces project. I'm so excited to focus on a topic that isn't related to education and something that means a lot to me personally. One thing that has surprised me about this course is the focus on digital writing and the role it plays in our society today! Whenever I thought about writing in the past, my mind went directly to pen and paper. It's very beneficial to learn about all of the other ways students can be engaged in their writing.
When considering my habits of mind, I instantly think about curiosity and creativity. These are two habits of mind that I have developed throughout this semester, and these are two elements that I always try to push myself to work on! I want to be curious when thinking about engaging and motivating students, so I always want to be open to new ideas and new ways of learning. This has become possible through all of the digital devices that exist for me to look up, try out, and apply myself. Second, I believe it's very easy for creativity to be taken away from students in the classroom environment, so I always want to allow for creativity, especially because this is something that I love doing on my own. I believe this course has allowed me to compose in multiple environments and in many different ways.
One specific instructional strategy that I have really enjoyed is the index card activity for prewriting. This activity was very eye opening for me because I have always been against the prewriting stage. Personally, I have always skipped this stage because I just wanted to get right to writing my piece. I didn't see how this stage was beneficial because if I just began writing, then my ideas would take shape. However, the index card activity allowed me to organize all of the thoughts in my head and incorporate them in a way that helped me to reflect their importance. It was also extremely beneficial to receive another's perspective on my piece because I was able to look at it in a different way and notice areas where I needed to think more critically about. This activity is something that I will use as a future teacher to emphasize the importance of pre-writing.
Although I really enjoy this class, it has been difficult to differentiate between all of the required assignments and projects I've been assigned to complete. I believe there is a lot of information to be aware of for each project, and I want to make sure that I'm on the right track for each assignment. However, it's very easy for me to become overwhelmed with work, and sometimes I need lots of reminders, clarifications, and structured instructions to help me truly understand what I'm being asked to do. I'm certain that as I continue the course and begin to see the presentations of others, I will have a better understanding of everything. I have already gained more clarity about the Collaborative Exploration and Analysis of Digital Writing Tools assignment just based on seeing what it looks like on Moodle. I know I'll get there, it just takes time!
I'm looking forward to the rest of the semester and learning all of the different ways I can promote writing. I already have a more positive outlook on writing! :)
Saturday, February 23, 2019
Friday, February 22, 2019
Entry #5
For this week's assignment, I was asked to read Chapter 4 of Teaching Writing: Balancing Process and Product by Tompkins along with the article Giving Feedback: Preparing Students for Peer Review and Self-Evaluation by Philippakos. Both readings helped me to gain a better understanding of how to help students improve their writing skills, however, the activities that I completed in class pushed me further to reflect on the importance of peer review and self-evaluation.
During class, I was asked to look at three pieces of writing and determine what qualities of each piece were strong along with qualities that could have been elaborated on more deeply. After reading these pieces written by fifth-graders, I was surprised to discover how well I was able to critique their work and look at what elements were either included or not included in their writing. This activity was very eye opening for me because I have never been a huge fan of peer review or self-evaluation. In the past, whenever I have been asked to peer review someone's work I became very anxious and nervous because I didn't want to give them misleading information or not provide sufficient feedback that my partner could take away from our time spent together. I've always felt that I needed to be an "expert" at writing in order to give appropriate feedback. However, I'm finally realizing that peer review is simply a means for someone to gain another's perspective on how their piece is coming together. I understand now that I don't have to fix someone's writing to make it perfect, but I must be open to giving my personal view of the piece and a new perspective. The activity that I completed in class really helped me to see peer review in a different way.
Along with the activities I completed in class, Philippakos also helped me to gain insight on peer review and self-evaluation in the article. I believe that my negative views of peer-review have formed because of the experiences I've had in classrooms where I was asked to peer review someone's piece of writing. I don't think my teachers ever explicitly taught me what peer review looks like, but instead simply told us to take a look at another's paper. This was the biggest take away that I took from this article because I think it's crucial for teachers to spend time talking about what peer review looks like so that students aren't confused with what is expected of them when they begin to peer review. I also believe it's important for teachers to not assume that students have learned these skills in previous classrooms. I think it's beneficial for students to review these skills each year because it's such an important part of the writing process. Even small things such as knowing how to peer review is essential for students to apply to not only what they are writing in class, but to their overall education and personal growth.
Another part of the Philippakos article that I really enjoyed learning about was the sample rubric for self-evaluation and peer review of story writing. I think the sample they provided is a great framework for teachers to use in their classrooms in order to help students include key elements when writing stories. I think creating goals for current and future papers is another great piece of the rubric because then students have something concrete and specific to work towards rather than becoming overwhelmed when asked to revise or edit a piece of writing. When I think about ways I will incorporate peer review and self-evaluation in my future classroom, I want to include a rubric similar to the one Philippakos provided.
During class, I was asked to look at three pieces of writing and determine what qualities of each piece were strong along with qualities that could have been elaborated on more deeply. After reading these pieces written by fifth-graders, I was surprised to discover how well I was able to critique their work and look at what elements were either included or not included in their writing. This activity was very eye opening for me because I have never been a huge fan of peer review or self-evaluation. In the past, whenever I have been asked to peer review someone's work I became very anxious and nervous because I didn't want to give them misleading information or not provide sufficient feedback that my partner could take away from our time spent together. I've always felt that I needed to be an "expert" at writing in order to give appropriate feedback. However, I'm finally realizing that peer review is simply a means for someone to gain another's perspective on how their piece is coming together. I understand now that I don't have to fix someone's writing to make it perfect, but I must be open to giving my personal view of the piece and a new perspective. The activity that I completed in class really helped me to see peer review in a different way.
Along with the activities I completed in class, Philippakos also helped me to gain insight on peer review and self-evaluation in the article. I believe that my negative views of peer-review have formed because of the experiences I've had in classrooms where I was asked to peer review someone's piece of writing. I don't think my teachers ever explicitly taught me what peer review looks like, but instead simply told us to take a look at another's paper. This was the biggest take away that I took from this article because I think it's crucial for teachers to spend time talking about what peer review looks like so that students aren't confused with what is expected of them when they begin to peer review. I also believe it's important for teachers to not assume that students have learned these skills in previous classrooms. I think it's beneficial for students to review these skills each year because it's such an important part of the writing process. Even small things such as knowing how to peer review is essential for students to apply to not only what they are writing in class, but to their overall education and personal growth.
Another part of the Philippakos article that I really enjoyed learning about was the sample rubric for self-evaluation and peer review of story writing. I think the sample they provided is a great framework for teachers to use in their classrooms in order to help students include key elements when writing stories. I think creating goals for current and future papers is another great piece of the rubric because then students have something concrete and specific to work towards rather than becoming overwhelmed when asked to revise or edit a piece of writing. When I think about ways I will incorporate peer review and self-evaluation in my future classroom, I want to include a rubric similar to the one Philippakos provided.
References
Philippakos,
Z.A. (2017). Giving feedback: Preparing students for peer review and
self-evaluation. The Reading
Teacher, 71(1), 13-22. DOI: 10.1102/trtr.1568
Tompkins,
G. E. (2019). Teaching
writing: Balancing process and product (7th
ed.). UpperSaddle River, NJ:
Merrill.
Monday, February 11, 2019
Entry #4
For this week's post, I was asked to read Chapter 2 of Teaching Writing: Balancing Process and Product by Gail E. Tompkins along with two other articles. The first article was Framework for Success in Postsecondary Writing by the Council of Writing Program Administrators, and the second article was Counterpart Strategies: Fine Tuning Language with Language by Stephen B. Kucer and Lynn K. Rhodes. Each reading helped me to gain new insight about the Writing process and how reading and writing are interconnected.
After reflecting on these articles, I realize that I do not spend enough time using writing as a means to question, re-consider, imagine, and discover in order to gain more knowledge about a particular topic or concept. Rather, I usually spend more time reflecting through thinking and simply changing a technique or idea through action. For example, whenever I finish teaching I usually spend most of my time reflecting on the day when I drive home in my car. Then if I have an idea about how to improve my teaching or incorporate a different strategy into my lesson, I simply look online for new ideas and new sources of inspiration. It is rare that I take the time to sit down and write out my thoughts for how I could better support students because I usually don't have enough time, or I'm too anxious about coming up with new ideas that I skip this step.
However, when it comes to writing for school work such as my undergraduate work or my graduate work, I feel as though I do spend time on writing as a means to reflect, question, and re-consider because it is something that I was asked to do. Thinking about when I student taught and completed my field observations, I spent a lot of time reflecting through writing about these experiences. I believe that it was helpful to let my mind focus on whatever aspect of that day was either very beneficial or challenging and to consider how to move forward from there. I believe that writing was also helpful when I needed to go back to see how a particular day went or what I did for a specific activity. As I reflect now, I think that being asked to write down my ideas and thoughts during these important experiences were crucial for my learning.
One major reason that I choose not to engage in this kind of thinking is lack of motivation to do so. It's difficult for me to have the motivation to sit down and write after working all day and going to class. However, I feel that this is something that needs to change as I continue my career as a teacher because I believe that it's so important to document thoughts, ideas, and information in order to better support students. I also think it's important to for me to engage in this kind of writing, not only for work, but for my personal life as well.
In order to engage in writing that allows me to consider, clarify, refine, and synthesize, I believe that I must make it more motivating and engaging for myself. One thing that motivates me to complete any kind of assignment is when I'm allowed to be creative. Creativity is something that I admire, and I love having the opportunity to be creative. Creativity is one of the categories from "habits of mind", and this is an area I would like to focus on as I continue writing my blogs. Along with creativity, I would also like to spend time focusing on curiosity as well because I believe this will also help me to stay engaged with this writing process. There are so many ideas and strategies that I want to learn about as I continue this course, and I believe through creativity and curiosity I will make many new discoveries.
After reflecting on these articles, I realize that I do not spend enough time using writing as a means to question, re-consider, imagine, and discover in order to gain more knowledge about a particular topic or concept. Rather, I usually spend more time reflecting through thinking and simply changing a technique or idea through action. For example, whenever I finish teaching I usually spend most of my time reflecting on the day when I drive home in my car. Then if I have an idea about how to improve my teaching or incorporate a different strategy into my lesson, I simply look online for new ideas and new sources of inspiration. It is rare that I take the time to sit down and write out my thoughts for how I could better support students because I usually don't have enough time, or I'm too anxious about coming up with new ideas that I skip this step.
However, when it comes to writing for school work such as my undergraduate work or my graduate work, I feel as though I do spend time on writing as a means to reflect, question, and re-consider because it is something that I was asked to do. Thinking about when I student taught and completed my field observations, I spent a lot of time reflecting through writing about these experiences. I believe that it was helpful to let my mind focus on whatever aspect of that day was either very beneficial or challenging and to consider how to move forward from there. I believe that writing was also helpful when I needed to go back to see how a particular day went or what I did for a specific activity. As I reflect now, I think that being asked to write down my ideas and thoughts during these important experiences were crucial for my learning.
One major reason that I choose not to engage in this kind of thinking is lack of motivation to do so. It's difficult for me to have the motivation to sit down and write after working all day and going to class. However, I feel that this is something that needs to change as I continue my career as a teacher because I believe that it's so important to document thoughts, ideas, and information in order to better support students. I also think it's important to for me to engage in this kind of writing, not only for work, but for my personal life as well.
In order to engage in writing that allows me to consider, clarify, refine, and synthesize, I believe that I must make it more motivating and engaging for myself. One thing that motivates me to complete any kind of assignment is when I'm allowed to be creative. Creativity is something that I admire, and I love having the opportunity to be creative. Creativity is one of the categories from "habits of mind", and this is an area I would like to focus on as I continue writing my blogs. Along with creativity, I would also like to spend time focusing on curiosity as well because I believe this will also help me to stay engaged with this writing process. There are so many ideas and strategies that I want to learn about as I continue this course, and I believe through creativity and curiosity I will make many new discoveries.
References
Council
of Writing Program Administrators, National Council of Teachers of English,
& National Writing Project. (2011). Framework for success in postsecondary writing. Retrieved from http://wpacouncil.org/framework/
Kucer,
S. B. & Rhodes, L. K. (1986).
Counterpart strategies: Fine
tuning language with language. The Reading
Teacher, 40(2), 186-193.
Tompkins,
G. E. (2019). Teaching
writing: Balancing process and product (7th
ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ:
Merrill.
Tuesday, February 5, 2019
Entry #3
For this week's entry, I was asked to read about Journal Writing by taking a look at Teaching Writing Balancing Process and Product and other articles by Gail E. Tompkins. I really enjoyed this week's readings because journal writing is something that I personally enjoy, and it's a form of writing that I prefer over other types of writing.
One aspect of this week's readings that was very insightful for me was learning about the various mentor texts that are available to help students gain a deeper understanding about journal writing and what it looks like. Before beginning my program here at Nazareth College, I didn't have much knowledge around mentor texts and their importance. However, now that I have learned how effective mentor texts can be, I realize that this is something I would like to use in future classrooms. I enjoyed how Tompkins provided an abundance of books that can be used for all kinds of journal writing; friendly letters, postcards, pen pals, personal journals, science journals, and more. I believe that mentor texts are perfect for teaching journal writing because they are simple to use and the students can really enjoy them and be more engaged and motivated to learn.
When I was in fifth grade, I completed a lot of journal writing for my social studies units on topics such as geography and western expansion. I wish that I had had an opportunity to look at some mentor texts prior to writing because I feel that I would've gained a deeper understanding about the process of journal writing and what it would've looked like for people during the time periods I was studying.
As I stated earlier, I really love journal writing, especially personal journals, because I enjoy being able to write down my thoughts down and have the opportunity to write down whatever thoughts come into my mind in the moment. I enjoyed reading about personal journals, and I think it's important for students to understand that personal journals are also a form of writing, and they can be very useful when practicing writing conventions, including voice, and simply for the enjoyment of writing. However, I want to make sure that I am open to other forms of journal writing as a teacher because I believe that it's easy to think of journal writing only in the form of personal journals. In my classroom, I want to make sure that my students are exposed to the various types of journal writing that are important, not only in the classroom, but in every day life.
One form of journal writing that I enjoyed reading about and talking about in class was the double entry journal writing. Personally, I have never liked this type of journal writing before because it always seemed like a hassle to write about a book or article before I had the chance to even read it. For me, I wanted to just get right to reading, and I didn't think that making predictions about the text was necessary for the learning experience. However, after reading about the effectiveness of double entry journals and getting the opportunity to practice in class, I feel more confident that this strategy is effective for students. Oftentimes, students feel overwhelmed when asked to answer questions after reading a text, so I believe that double entry journals are a great way for students to focus their learning and really reflect on what they are reading before they even have a chance to open the book!
Another point that I think is worth mentioning is the idea of author's craft and how it plays a role in journal writing. I believe that taking a look at the author's craft of the stories we read tonight in class was crucial in gaining a deeper understanding about how important author's craft is in every piece of writing that you may come across. For the story that I read tonight, voice and word choice played a critical part in the story because it was told in the perspective of a second grade girl. As I move forward in the semester, I'm hoping that I can spend more time reflecting on author's craft and its importance.
One aspect of this week's readings that was very insightful for me was learning about the various mentor texts that are available to help students gain a deeper understanding about journal writing and what it looks like. Before beginning my program here at Nazareth College, I didn't have much knowledge around mentor texts and their importance. However, now that I have learned how effective mentor texts can be, I realize that this is something I would like to use in future classrooms. I enjoyed how Tompkins provided an abundance of books that can be used for all kinds of journal writing; friendly letters, postcards, pen pals, personal journals, science journals, and more. I believe that mentor texts are perfect for teaching journal writing because they are simple to use and the students can really enjoy them and be more engaged and motivated to learn.
When I was in fifth grade, I completed a lot of journal writing for my social studies units on topics such as geography and western expansion. I wish that I had had an opportunity to look at some mentor texts prior to writing because I feel that I would've gained a deeper understanding about the process of journal writing and what it would've looked like for people during the time periods I was studying.
As I stated earlier, I really love journal writing, especially personal journals, because I enjoy being able to write down my thoughts down and have the opportunity to write down whatever thoughts come into my mind in the moment. I enjoyed reading about personal journals, and I think it's important for students to understand that personal journals are also a form of writing, and they can be very useful when practicing writing conventions, including voice, and simply for the enjoyment of writing. However, I want to make sure that I am open to other forms of journal writing as a teacher because I believe that it's easy to think of journal writing only in the form of personal journals. In my classroom, I want to make sure that my students are exposed to the various types of journal writing that are important, not only in the classroom, but in every day life.
One form of journal writing that I enjoyed reading about and talking about in class was the double entry journal writing. Personally, I have never liked this type of journal writing before because it always seemed like a hassle to write about a book or article before I had the chance to even read it. For me, I wanted to just get right to reading, and I didn't think that making predictions about the text was necessary for the learning experience. However, after reading about the effectiveness of double entry journals and getting the opportunity to practice in class, I feel more confident that this strategy is effective for students. Oftentimes, students feel overwhelmed when asked to answer questions after reading a text, so I believe that double entry journals are a great way for students to focus their learning and really reflect on what they are reading before they even have a chance to open the book!
Another point that I think is worth mentioning is the idea of author's craft and how it plays a role in journal writing. I believe that taking a look at the author's craft of the stories we read tonight in class was crucial in gaining a deeper understanding about how important author's craft is in every piece of writing that you may come across. For the story that I read tonight, voice and word choice played a critical part in the story because it was told in the perspective of a second grade girl. As I move forward in the semester, I'm hoping that I can spend more time reflecting on author's craft and its importance.
References
Tompkins,
G. E. (2019). Teaching
writing: Balancing process and product (7th
ed.). UpperSaddle River, NJ:
Merrill.
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