Week beginning March 16:
Not much has been written yet about our readings. Use this as a place to discuss the readings for last week, this week, and the first chapters of our text Because Writing Matters. (I hope more/all of you have a copy by now.)
Some guiding questions for thought:
Not much has been written yet about our readings. Use this as a place to discuss the readings for last week, this week, and the first chapters of our text Because Writing Matters. (I hope more/all of you have a copy by now.)
Some guiding questions for thought:
- What do you see as your role as a teacher of writing? Rickards and Hawes see writing teachers as "models, coaches, assessors, planners, and consultants." Do you see yourself in all these roles? Which roles are the most problematic for you?
- Let's keep the piece by Higgins, Miller and Wegman in mind throughout our Virtual. They challenge some current practices and reaffirm others. Do you feel the article offers support to your beliefs or contradicts them in any ways?
Do not let these questions limit your discussion. They are just a few suggestions that might help start a conversation. Post at least once here this week.
38 comments:
The article, “Teaching to the Test”, was encouraging. I didn’t go to school to become a writing teacher; in fact, most of my training was actually in social studies. I was offered a job of a writing teacher though, and took it with no second thoughts. I don’t remember very much from college, so when we talk about methods of teaching writing, I don’t know much. All I know is what I’ve been taught in my school district which is exactly what this article is about- writer’s workshop, writing process, and the 6 traits.
These are the few things I actually do know about teaching writing, so perhaps I’m doing the right thing! ☺ I often find myself frustrated when teaching writing because I just don’t know what to do or how to teach it. Our curriculum basically outlines the several different types of writing our students are required to do each year and gives us a 6 traits rubric to grade them. From there, we’re encouraged to use the writer’s workshop and the writing process to accomplish these writing pieces.
My struggle, though, is to find effective ways to make the writer’s workshop happen. I know it’s all about allowing kids to write, revise, and edit papers, but how do we keep kids on track and make sure everyone is getting done what needs to be done. I usually give time frames, for example two weeks to get this paper done. I’ll assign days on which we will work on revision and editing, but there are always the stragglers who just don’t get done on time and very rarely revise and edit with the group. Those are generally the kids that need the peer revision, but they aren’t ready for it when we as a class need to do that. (Now maybe I’m just rambling…)
This problem may be something I need to resolve, but I can’t make them write their papers. There’s nothing I can really do in my power to make them complete it. Does anyone have suggestions on how to get students to complete their work on time? Is it still considered writer’s workshop if we’re working on the same step of the writing process? What do other classrooms using the writer’s workshop look like?
I found the reading “Teaching to the Test” quite uplifting! Deanna said that she had not trained in college as a writing teacher; well I too came through the side door into the higher grades writing class. Most of my training is in getting a student to write a simple or complex sentence.
After reading this article I was excited that I was already doing quite a few of the activities that they recommended, and a little worried because we do not write to prompts, I guess the closest we come to that is when we do our response to literature pieces at the end of a reading unit as part of the unit final, or when finishing a book.
I, like Deanna, have received some training on the 6 + 1 writing traits from my current district. Although students often seem resistant to the mini lessons, I have found that using examples from current student writing helps. After reading this article I will be adding more mini lessons to address more complex use of the different traits.
As with our week 2 reading “Raising Writers: The Teacher’s Role” the authors of this article, in their scenario of a fourth grade classroom, discuss using either portions of a book, or in the case of Raising Writers a child’s book, to “serve as a model for children's writing.” I have used selections from stories and books we have read in our reading class as examples of descriptive, persuasive, expository writing. I appreciate the idea of using selected writings to demonstrate use of one or more of the traits.
Prior to teaching fourth grade I had taught first grade and came into fourth with a distasteful view of writer's workshop. While in 1st writer's workshop was nothing more than wasted time with students going from room to room depending on what part of the writing process they were in. It was a nightmare to keep track of where kids were and if they were actively engaged in the process. Because I was the new kid on the block, I went with the flow and came to dislike writer's workshop. After attending a class last summer for writing and hearing other ways teacher's carry it out I decided to come up with variations. I really like the "mini-lesson" approach that was in the readings from week two or three and in fact started this year out with that. My students have a writing journal and every day or so we have a mini-lesson whether its on pizzazz words, intro grabbers, or a specific skill. Then we use that within our writing for the week. THe mini-lessons have really turned out to be very useful and I see them being used in writing across the curriculum. I also like the idea of the "did-it-dots in the article Raising Writers. Anyone out there using those - how are they working for you? I still don't call it writer's workshop because I have really focused on keeping writing a part of everything and every subject we do.
I wasn't successful on my first attempt at writing workshop. I missed the structure, and students were writing but without any direction. Like Debbie, I was able to turn the whole process around with the use of mini lessons. Now I am a complete convert. I realize that writing workshop isn't free form. It must be carefully planned and monitored. The lessons must be short, and students must have plenty of time to write. I was very unhappy with the early models even Nancie Atwell's In the Middle. For me, Writing Workshop by Ralph Fletcher and JoAnn Portalupi published by Heinemann is the most accessible, helpful guide on setting up and maintaining a effective writing workshop. I have used this book with elementary and secondary teachers. I even use aspects in my college writing classes.
Check out www.ralphfletcher.com
Well I had the opportunity to read the first chapters of "Because Writing Matters". I haven't gotten a "round toit" on the "Teaching to the Test" yet for a comparison between the two as of yet.
I do agree with basic premise that writing instruction is needed across the curriculum. I've been studying writing by reading books written by writers on the writing process for decades. Each writer has said much of the same thing: Writing doesn't begin until the rewrite. Teaching students that they are not done when they hand in what they consider the finished piece is one of the hardest things to teach students about writing. I had to learn how to write on the job when I worked in different careers.
The research about those who can write will succeed where those who can't write will have limited growth in whatever occupation they work in is pretty much true. I've seen it first hand. Yet, most of us didn't consider ourselves as expert writers when we doing it. We only knew that to survive we had to learn to write.
I didn't become conscious of my writing process until I dropped out of the service at the end of an enlistment and went back to school as a full time student. I realized as I struggled to learn mathematics and science in my engineering courses that I lacked writing skills and the science track that I was on wasn't teaching me them. So, when I switched to Journalism, I found my writing courses covered a broad range of writing experiences that I didn't even think about before I switched majors.
That was a decade before I seriously thought about teaching in public schools. Many of my occupations after college involved a lot of writing. My writing skills that were developed in my Journalism classes served me well in these occupations. I didn't think about what the style of writing needed to be when given the assignment because it pretty much of a reflex action to write, edit, revise, rewrite and turn out a finished product that conformed to the style of writing dictated by the assignment by the deadline.
Basically, what is being addressed in the first chapter, I experienced first hand with my first teaching assignments. I remembering teaching my students to get their ideas down on paper first. Sometimes I would help a student rewrite one of his or her papers and develop a finished product. Other times, I would have the class help develop a writing project by modeling paragraphs, sentences, or the process on the white board. When I taught 4th and 5th grades I could take a leisurely approach to teaching writing as part of thematic units on science, social studies, and math. I really didn't think about it in terms of pedagogy at the time. It was more of a gut instinct developed from my own writing background. I knew I was doing something right when I saw my students' test scores starting to improve and seeing similar research based strategies appear in articles
in educational periodicals.
I don't want to toot my own horn, but I see some validity and accuracy in the chapters in the reading assignment. Do I do everything right in teaching of writing? Of course not! I am learning as much or more than my students when I teach writing. I find that something will work just because it tunes into how the student(s) learn(s).
When I give a writing assignment, I will write an example of my own along with my students. Sometimes it will be posted on the white board, typed on the computer, or on a sheet or two of notebook paper. It is a different experience each day and my writing style will be just as varied as the experience.
This first chapter was very interesting and confirming. The last thirteen years of my teaching career was in a small bush school that worked so hard to improve its reading and writing skills. From where we started as a staff to where our students were when I moved from Point Hope was phenomenal. But it wasn’t without growing pains along the way!
We were blessed with a variety of very good, caring administrators during my time there. Administrators lasted 2-3 years at most, so continually getting quality leadership was quite extraordinary for one little community.
The push started with reading across the curriculum. For a plethora of reasons, our students were very deficient in language based education. There were many different strategies incorporated that had success and not so much. One that worked well to show that the entire school was behind improving reading skills was to have everyone in the entire school including kitchen, maintenance, and office staff put down what they were doing and read for thirty minutes at exactly the same time every day. Initially it was met by skepticism, but the administrator held to his directive and everyone read for 30 minutes. More than anything our attempts showed the entire village that the school was intent on increasing reading levels.
The next step was to incorporate writing across the curriculum. I think that the hardest converts were the high school teachers. While everyone gave some sort of effort towards the cause, it was much harder for the shop and P.E. teachers to come up with creative ways to incorporate writing in their “everyday” lesson plans. The district was very good about hiring specialists to come for teacher-in-service days, but most of the training was geared more for the English teacher or maybe a social studies curriculum. It was much harder to be creative on a daily basis for a few teachers than others. I do remember some whining going on with several teachers, but all-in-all everyone gave a part of their classes to the writing process.
It was amazing progress over the years. Students were very proud of their achievements. Plaques were hung on the walls, books made and sent home to parents, and AYP was met the last two years I was there. This was a little bush community.
Now I work in a much larger school with every opportunity for students to achieve, and the writing and reading skills are centered on the English, Special Education, English-as-a -second language, Alternative, and grade school teachers. I only have a handful of the student population, but basic reading and writing skills are not there and the desire to improve is not there. I think getting everyone to pass the reading and writing Exit Exams would be entirely an easier job if all the teachers felt they had a hand in increasing these skills on an everyday basis like we had in Point Hope.
Sondra, you are right when you told us that the text was “easy reading.” Like Robert I finally tore myself away in the middle of Chapter 2 so I could get my thoughts down on paper before I got caught up in the next chapter.
I do see myself as someone who models, coaches, assist in planning and definitely a consultant. I think at first my girls were a little on the defensive side when I tried to help them “make their writing make more sense” where as now they just come over during the writing process if they get stuck and we talk it out and share ideas. Ours is a very relaxed classroom as it is all girls there is no posturing or showing off, let one of the boys walk into the room and the dynamics shift. It is a study in its self.
The most problematic area for me is that of assessor. I am not the best grammarian so I worry that I am not catching the more complex mistakes that would denote a higher level of writing. Or I might just be second guessing myself and I may be doing a good job after all. The problem is that I work and live with a brain that holds all this “stuff” in it and where I would have to look the information up Robert just pulls it out of his head. It can be a little intimidating even after 33 years.
The exciting thing for me so far is that I am already doing so many things that are considered good practice. Also, our school is offering opportunities for our students to write across the grades. Each writing assignment, whether a research paper in their gym class on three different types of foot ball or a Yuuyaq paper on animals in our region (expository essay) can be brought to writing class to be turned in and get credit towards a writing assignment required by the district. Most just need a little editing to qualify. Most students get excited about getting credit for their work in two classes. Like a two for one sale you can’t pass up.
Okay, I finally found time tonight to read the article, "Teaching to the Test". It felt like de' ja' ve' or a flashback to my teacher prep courses when I was studying how to become a teacher and spent hours looking through volumes of research on the writing process, six traits, and writing workshop. To say the least, it wasn't what I thought they were writing about. It had substance and even thought much of the research was a couple of decades old, some of the newer research quoted validated the older research.
I have always tried to teach to the standard as oppose to what was on the "test". I always found it hard to teach-to-the-test on norm referenced tests since the curriculum the test designers used, if any, was subjective at best. After finishing my SPED endorsement and my Masters class on testing theory, I do not have a high opinion of Norm referenced tests for measuring student achievement. Criterion referenced tests and the standards on which these tests are based seemed a better standard by which to measure student achievement.
Jan and I worked in a district in the lower 48 where several high schools got caught teaching the test to their athletes because of the drive to "improve test scores". It was a learning experience and an eye opener. I think the authors of "Teaching to the Tests" were more eloquent in their comments than I could at this time of night. But what I learned from that was it was the students who got cheated out of an education.
My school district has designed its whole writing instruction curriculum around a comprehensive writing program that integrates the 6 traits + 1, the writing process, and writer's workshop. It has helped our school achieve AYP last year. I think I've written about my methodology of teaching writing in my classroom practice in other comments, so I won't repeat myself here.
I want to underscore what Deanna, Jan, and Robert wrote in response to our text and reading: Jan said,After reading this article I was excited that I was already doing quite a few of the activities that they recommended.. Robert wrote, Basically, what is being addressed in the first chapter, I experienced first hand with my first teaching assignments. And Deanna was reassured and wrote, All I know is what I’ve been taught in my school district which is exactly what this article is about- writer’s workshop, writing process, and the 6 traits.These are the few things I actually do know about teaching writing, so perhaps I’m doing the right thing!
I suspect much of the research you are reading will reinforce what, as practitioners, we have sensed all along. It is good to be reinforced about what is happening in our classrooms. Too often we hear about what we do wrong. At the same time, we need to reexamine what we are doing that does not fit into these best practices supported by research and see if they are helping students. I also find that sometimes methods that are supposed to be "the best" don't work for me. Next week, you will be reflecting on "the good, the bad, and the ugly" in your classrooms so you might start thinking about it this week. (As if those thoughts are not on our minds most of the time!)
As several of you noted earlier, for many of us, writing workshop is effective because it allows us to "package" proven techniques in our teaching of writing. Many teachers note, however, that workshop does not necessarily promote integration of writing. How would you respond to those teachers, and how would you combine integration and workshop?
I do see myself in the roles of model, coach, assessor, planner, and consultant, but not always consistently, especially as a model writer, although this course is helping to kick me in the drawers a bit. When kids complain about the circular nature of the revision and drafting processes, I have found it to be very effective to unearth one of my last graduate school papers (which has 13 drafts) and tape those suckers to the wall for a tangible example of my own agonized attempts to help my writing mirror my thoughts, or as Jacques Barzun reflects in Nagin, to remind students to keep “reading and revising until your text seems adequate to your thought” (9). As far as challenges, planning really structured student writing conferences has been the most difficult for me, as there are no specific due dates in alternative ed. Kids work on the standards and levels that they need to at the pace they choose. I do much more independent consulting as a writing teacher in this system.
Deanna,
I feel your pain with regard to stragglers upsetting the revision process. I've had revision circles of four kids where only one produced a draft to revise (but boy, did it get a lot of attention!). In my regular ed. class, I don't really punish kids for late work, but I do assign credit for each step of the writing process, so ultimately, if they don't use the revision help of peers in class, they are still responsible for signatures and comments of two other reviewers. I also don't accept final drafts that skip any of the process steps. I do think it's important we still value the slackers, as some kids' writing processes take much longer than others. I keep them busy and engaged for class revision work as they still must offer feedback to their peers in the small group read around. My hope is that revising others' work will really help them hone their own editing and writing skills as well as bolster their confidence to give it a try themselves.
Immediately, the Higgins/Miller/Wegmann article reminded me of the Public Forum Debate resolution for the recent state DDF tournament - Resolved: That, on balance, the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 has improved academic achievement in the United States. Many teams debating the negative side of this resolution echoed the sentiments expressed in the Higgins/Miller/Wegmann article, particularly with regards to the evils of teaching to the test. While I do give my students practice HSGQE reading and writing tests to familiarize them with the test format itself, I've rarely if ever spent a great deal of time teaching to the test. Much of the research cited in this article (e.g. Manzo, Fletcher, Tchudi and Tchudi) seems to validate my previously held beliefs that good writing instruction, as opposed to teaching to the test, will produce good test scores.
But to be perfectly candid, good writing instruction has eluded me. I'm intimately familiar with the 6 traits approach to assessment and instruction and have tried my hands at numerous approaches to writing workshops over the years, yet I still feel that my instruction is lacking in some areas. My past experiences with writer's workshops have been at times disastrous, occasionally successful, but usually somewhere in the lack-luster middle between the two extremes. I've found one of my greatest difficulties has been classroom management. I've had trouble keeping students engaged and productive enough to meet deadlines. Usually students will procrastinate endlessly and pen their first drafts in the same manner they remove their band-aids - do it quick and try to focus on something else to make it as painless as possible. As the article suggests, I often give my students free reign in letting them select their own topics and genres. This often does more harm than good. Students struggle with brainstorming topics and organizing their thoughts around a single thesis. The end result is often products that lack unity and cohesiveness. Of course, I try conferencing with students to help them work through these issues, but often the students and I find ourselves frustrated by our lack of progress. I've incorporated mini-lessons based on elements of the 6-traits. Additionally, I generally align my assessment focus to match the trait I'm seeking to address. For example, I'll model various sentence styles, sentence beginnings, and modulation between sentence lengths within a given exemplar to teach sentence fluency. Then, my students will be instructed to practice the same principles within their own writing. During the revision stages, I'll try to speak with my students about how to enhance their subsequent drafts based on the techniques and models discussed in our mini-lessons. Again, I've had mixed results with this process. Some students seem responsive to our discussions and my input, while others feign attention throughout our conferences. In the end though, many of my problems seem less rooted in flaws in the practice and more a matter of student initiative.
I've been thinking about what Sondra and Debbie have said about the power of the writer's workshop. In our high school, students have a daily advisory period to help them create and work toward a post-secondary plan, connect positively with another adult, and to receive differentiated instruction on specific learning goals. The problem is, no teacher has had training in advisory in our pre-service education or student teaching, so we're on our own figuring out how to measure and achieve these outcomes.
Writing reinforces both our teaching and student’s experiences with texts, in any subject. It is also a very complicated thinking process, as Nagin reminds us. It poses challenges not just for language arts instructors but for teachers in other content areas as we ask students to express themselves and wrestle with complex ideas. My friend who teaches high school science gets a lot of flak from students when she returns their lab reports for writing revisions. There is still the isolationist thinking that polished writing is an activity reserved solely for language arts classrooms. In my experience at the secondary level, another problem is lack of cohesiveness between teachers. In the Nagin text, Crystal England asserts “every teacher who interacts with children has a responsibility for the students’ development in writing as it applies to their subject area.”
Our daily twenty-five minute advisory classes could be so much more powerful if students could develop their writing in school-wide portfolio, a collection of writing not just from language arts, but all classes, and then work with their advisory teacher on mini-lessons or target skills, as mentioned in last week’s “Raising Writers” article. It would be easier for advisory teachers to see patterns in each student’s development as a writer if they had samples from every class, in all genre of writing.
Re-visiting Goldberg; (aka - the slacker who shares his thoughts late)
I'll say it too; like many of you I dig Goldberg's ideas. We're reared on freedom and wide-open spaces in our culture, so what's not to love about Goldberg's sentiments regarding the unrestricted, uninhibited flow of personal expression in writing. After reading this piece, armed with the temporal emotional high that English teachers have when we encounter a good idea, I strut into my classroom Monday morning ready to put Ms. Goldberg's ideas to the test.
"Guys, my days of being a fascist overseer of your thoughts and language are over. I've had an epiphany. By forcing modes of writing upon you, by being overly prescriptive of the product I expect from you, and by shackling with you with outmoded constraints like politeness and political correctness, I've been choking your inner voices. I say to hell with that. Be inspired. Write what ever you want for the next ten minutes without regard to conventions, expectations, or fear of grading. Be passionate, write whatever you want to and don't be concerned with what I think or what anyone else thinks."
I think I literally said the previous rant in one breath. I was stoked, no lie. And what followed this inspired set of instructions was an amazing phenomenon. Students, MY students, writing as if their own lives and the lives of everyone of their nearest and dearest family members depended on it. I witnessed an intensity of focus and intellectually inspired classroom silence such as the world has never seen, a hallmark moment in the annals of teaching history.
Then, after the ten minutes, I utter, "Who is ready to share what they've written," when my heart nearly stops beating at the reaction this request receives. I've solicited my students countless times in this fashion, but now my request is met by the most unexpected reaction. Twenty some-odd hands shoot up as bullets leaving a gun. I see David actually wince because he has ejected his arm out of his shoulder socket, desperate to be the first to share his ten-minute magnum opus.
"David, I'm ready," I say, convinced that this will be, finally, the great break through I've pined for in all of my years of teaching. David begins.
"Mr. Taylor is the shittiest teacher I have ever met in my entire life. I mean, who the f@*k does this guy think he is. Does he ever take a shower, really."
"No," I think to myself, but I temporarily to frozen, to defeated by the murder of my great expectations to say anything.
"Oh yeah, I hate that guy! He can't teach to save his life. And have you seen all of those creepy stuffed animals he has on his desk? What's up with that?", pipes Thasha from across the room.
"Dude," Jeff interjects, "let me read what I wrote about Ms. White! Check this out..."
I regain my senses enough to shut them all down in their roasting frenzy.
Reflection:
This is, of course, a worst possible scenario of what can happen when Ms. Goldberg's noble principals are put forth in a classroom with no restrictions. In all actuality, while the scenario described here actually occurred, the results I witnessed from a far more mature, well mannered classroom were extremely promising. When given no limits, the students of my 2nd period class demonstrated unparalleled creativity and articulateness. Still, it is difficult to know sometimes where we should draw those lines. I want my students to feel inspired, to engage whole-heartily in the writing process and mine their incipient young minds for all of the beautiful turns of phrases they can muster. Yet, I don't want this expression to be rooted in base negativity and insults. We walk a fine line in encouraging freedom of expression.
I have been thinking a lot this week about how I would describe my writing program if someone asked me. I'm not sure what I'd say. It couldn't be described as "Writer's Workshop" , 6-Traits, or any one kind. Instead after really looking back on what my students are asked to do it is truly a hodgepodge of what I believe to be best practices. There are definitely signs of 6-traits, and writer's workshop, some mini lessons that focus on a specific trait or grammar, there's a writing journal where we keep things that we can refer back to as well as some drafts we've written, there are weekly prompts that we write to, and the list is endless. I guess in a nutshell I think we as professionals will read, take classes or workshops, share ideas with one another and then take back to our classrooms what we feel works and what we are comfortable with. After 12 years I think I finally have figured that out and I don't beat myself up over it. I still keep trying new things that I think will enhance how I teach incorporate that and let the other go. The best two things that I have latched onto the past two years have been 6-traits and the mini-lessons, but again it would look like bits and pieces to anyone else.
Hello -- Thanks for many interesting posts. I apologize for the ‘sterility’ of this post but I need to use Sondra’s questions to clarify my responses, otherwise I find myself drifting into interesting but much less focused areas of discourse.
(Whiny tech note – 2 of my postings were problematic earlier this week, I apologize for the length.)
* What do you see as your role as a teacher of writing? Rickards and Hawes see writing teachers as "models, coaches, assessors, planners, and consultants." Do you see yourself in all these roles? Which roles are the most problematic for you?
On an ideal day I do see my roles as constantly shifting and varied as the list above. Where the ideal meets the real is when I am not able to accurately and effectively do what a struggling writer/reader needs. To blend salient instruction with developmentally appropriate practices – believe me I’ve tried to find a less annoying way of phrasing that -- in the context of our day can give me trouble, make me fret. To be all things to all writers isn’t possible but when I can rely on peer tutors and plenty of time the breathing space for what my role is expands.
* Let's keep the piece by Higgins, Miller and Wegman in mind throughout our Virtual. They challenge some current practices and reaffirm others. Do you feel the article offers support to your beliefs or contradicts them in any ways?
Yes. This article supports much of what I do and alleviates my reoccurring fears that the often-messy time we spend in workshop with small groups, partner reading, independent self-selected writing, mini-lessons, etc, is valuable time. And, I have been hearing echoes of this in all the posts so far.
The importance of real chunks of time for instruction and practice cannot be over-stated. As writers we know, intuitively and intelligently, that our styles and paces differ greatly. We know that linguistic understanding’ (as Vygotsky and Jimmy Britton and others have illuminated) is fluid and cannot be achieved without plenty of time and interaction and practice. Especially within the developmental spectrum that exists in the classroom. Also, as was mentioned in Because, it is essential to combine reading and writing, formally and informally, in workshop instruction. I know this may sound obvious but I always listen for this in professional development and best practices and it isn’t always there.
• In Because Writing Matters, Nagin starts by asserting that "writing is a complex activity: more than just a skill or talent, it is a means of inquiry and expression for learning in all grades and disciplines."
• Why is writing so complex?
That is a wonderful quote! The complexity of writing, for me as a teacher and writer comes (not to be too linear and obvious) from its base in language. And language is this mammoth, constantly morphing entity and tool that engulfs, unites and separates us all. I recall reading Bahktin (many years ago, so feel free to correct my now entrenched memory) and being gobsmacked by his revelations on how speech is acquired. The initial experience of a hearing a word or phrase, then the absorbing of this word, then trying it out, then seeing how it was received, observing it’s reception and augmenting or changing it and then beginning this circular process again with the newly acquired information. That process of language acquisition mirrors what writing is to me.
• How does this view affect the way we might approach our teaching?
At the time Bahktin’s studies truly changed how I perceived my role as a teacher of writing and continues to guide my practice. I try to approach the teaching of writing with a strong awareness of the individual’s history of language acquisition, their need to be successful in this language-rich culture and a desire to expose learners to the immense benefits of communicating successfully within a multitude of forms. That said I cannot say I am always successful but I do try to ignite the fire that leads to a love of language and the skills and temerity to work within its forms.
• … what challenges does it pose on our schools?
One of the most vexing challenges of how we teach writing connects directly to the Higgins, Miller, and Wegmann piece. We must teach a complex form to a diverse group of individuals in a limited amount time, and as many people have said in this posting, our training is varied and often nonexistent. We have many modes to choose from, some training and not much time to determine what works best for each student.
Thinking about Sondra's comment on how we integrate writing into the whole curriculum -- this year I have found that using CRISS graphic organizers has really expanded my ability to get kids writing in science and social studies. Using science journals is where I usually start but in the past I've had trouble expanding it from simply describing the steps of our process skills. But with the addition of concept maps, Question-Answer-Relationships and simple exit slips I have found that we are writing lots more. It isn't 'workshop' writing but we do revise and often as we work in small groups or independently to craft summary sentences we use peer editing checklists and other workshop tools.
In social studies we use T-notes to record "facts" and reactions, these always lead to some decent writing about our subject d'jour or current theme.
If people are unfamiliar with CRISS strategies here is the website:
http://www.projectcriss.com/
I took a refresher class this year and have found it really effective for using with writing across the curriculum.
As is read the article Teaching to the Test, this part of the article stuck out in my mind.
“1. Minilessons-Concise lessons that focus on one specific skill, strategy, or procedure. They usually last 10 to 15 minutes and can occur any time during writing workshop.
2. Status of the class reports-Quick teacher surveys of what each student does in writing workshop, usually recorded on a checklist.
3. Writing and conferring time-The core of writing workshop, the time when students write at various stages of the writing process and engage in conferences with peers and teacher. .
4. Group sharing-The time at the end of writing workshop when the whole class reacts to an individual's writing.”
I forced myself to reflect on how I do “writing workshop” in Kindergarten. I have kind of been maintaining status quo of what I have done for the past three years. I definitely do a lot of mini1essons, but usually on the same topic over and over and over again. “At the end of your thought add a stop sign.” or “Make sure to think in lowercase. Except for the beginning of a sentence or at the beginning of a name.” They seem to work, by the end of Kindergarten they all can write basic sentences. I do the status of the class everyday we write as I pass our journals, I have looked at where they are and what they should work on. I never say finish this one, but instead suggest you might want to finish this one or start a new one. I do spend the whole time when the kids are writing rotating around and conferencing with each kid several times. The area that I really fall down in is the group sharing. I never seem to have enough time, or that I do not make the time. The children love to share and it is such a great opportunity to practice public speaking. I need to just make myself do the sharing every or every other time. That will be one of my classroom instruction growth areas for the next two months.
I also look forward to moving up to 1st grade and being able to see my students growth in their writing. I also look forward to being able to introduce so many other aspects of writing, that are just not appropriate for Kindergarten kids. I feel that one area I feel unprepared in is, what will students be expected to do in later grades. Where do they have to perform in later grades? What do upper elementary grade teachers use as instruction models? I thinking looping teachers really have an insight to is, where students are going as well as where they are coming from. In the 2nd through 5th grade school here, almost all of the classroom teachers move grades every couple of years. I have heard wonderful reactions both from the teachers as well as parents. Do not get me wrong, I believe in getting comfortable in a grade and being knowledgeable. However I think that knowing where your students are coming from and where they are going in invaluable knowledge to have.
To get back to the article, I love that Higgins, Miller and Wegmann give the reenforcement to keep to best practices for kids in our instruction. Even at Kindergarten I think of where all kids must be by May, so that they can perform in 1st, and in 2nd, etc and not be behind. But some kids are just not ready, and part of doing best practices is knowing how hard to push and when to back off. Just keep the students best interests in mind and not test scores, which is not always the easiest thing to do especially with pressure from all sides. Thanks to the authors for reiterating this vital point.
Ok, so I have been a bit disconnected lately due to a lack of internet connection. However, here is a reflection I had after reading the article "Teaching to the Test." There will be more to come shortly!
Ramblings from reading:
Actions speak louder than words. We go on and on about our philosophy, goals, vision etc. Just look at district goals or site-level goals, they are everywhere. Take a step back and look at what the district asks of teachers. Consider, then, are the ‘teaching tasks’ aligned with that same goal publicized by the district? Do the tasks match the goal, are we really getting there or are we headed in a different direction entirely? Our district goal is to create life-long learners. I have a hard time understanding how computerized, standards-based assessments taken every three weeks by students throughout the district will create life-long learners. I can see how it could produce short-term thinkers, robot-like citizens storing only the information they need long enough to pass the test and then pushing it out of their minds.
When I reflect on my own learning experience and ask myself how I came to love learning and make it a part of my day-to-day, two things stand out: hands-on discovery learning, and books. Much of that was a product of where I grew up and what I was exposed to in my natural environment. My mother always had a book, or three, within arms reach. My father was always working on some project. As for me, I was soaking in everything I could. I was naturally curious, and my parents were patient enough to feed that curiosity. I would constantly ask my mother what she was reading, what was so funny when she laughed, or so shocking when she gasped. She would patiently pause, re-read whatever it was that had spurred her reaction and then wait for mine. It was an interesting way to develop a love for the wonderful way a person can lose themselves in a good book. When with my father, I would stand by, just watching him work at first. It would only take one question from me and we would be side by side. I would be fixed on his actions, while he explained every step of the way what he was doing, and why. I believe it was the ‘why’ that caused me to be continuously curious. There was so much power in understanding, for the first time, why something works a certain way. At school, it was projects like explaining step by step how to make a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, building an electric circuit, or tearing apart a piece of literature only to put it back together again – with a deeper understanding and a personal connection that no one could take away. All of this leads me to one big question: are we really doing what’s right for the children we serve each day?
3/22/09 3:41 PM
I apologize for waiting until Sunday to write - seem to have writer’s block this week. After reading the comments on this week’s readings, I see most of us are already using the Writing Process and the 6+1 traits with our students. What I also note is that we all have varying degrees of success with the process. I was introduced to the writing process when I returned to college in 1988. This approach to writing was so different from my high school experience many years before when you were assigned a topic and expected to turn in a polished paper by the end of the week. I still remember teachers saying that they would stop grading your paper when they reached the 6th grammatical error in your paper. Always with the ubiquitous ‘red pen.’ There was no concern for content, just grammar. Well, I am pretty good at punctuation, but I am not a good speller, so you can imagine I did not feel comfortable writing papers. When I met the Writing Process, it was such a blessing to be able to take a paper from an idea through the process to a final product w/o the stress of the ‘red pen.’
I am a believer in the Writing Process and Writing Workshops. They work. But, like many of you, I struggle to get my high school students to use the process and to workshop. Usually, they will only go through the entire process if I make it part of the final grade – they have to turn in all their work, from brainstorm to revisions to editing to final copy. I have to nag them a lot, so I find the last name of our text’s author, Nagin, quiet humorous. Naggin’ Nagin. LOL. Naggin’ Ms. Mac. Yes, it takes a lot of naggin’ to get results. Even then, I always have a few that refuse to keep up with us and a few that want to go ahead too quickly. I’m afraid I have not yet figured out how to keep everyone on the same pace. Yet, isn’t that the beauty of the Writing Process and Writing Workshops? No one has to be at the same place. If a student is ready for a response, they partner with another student at that time. There is always another assignment waiting to be started by the early finishers and there are always assignments waiting to be done by the slo-mo’s in the group.
As far as teaching to the test, I am with Higgins in believing that using best practices in the classroom, ie the Writing Process and Workshop approach is the best preparation for test taking. However, I do use on-line practice tests on Homeroom.com by the Princeton Review. These tests give students instant feedback and are in the format of the HSGQE and SBA tests. They also give me instant feedback as to what mini lessons I need to review or present before testing in April.
My classroom schedule for a week goes like this. Monday’s is grammar and punctuation day. This is mostly because I do not have computers on Monday’s.
Tuesday – Wednesday – Thursday we workshop. Students are always at varying places in the process. I conference T/W/Th to check on progress and review drafts. During conferences, I am coach, critic and consultant.
Friday’s we do not have class.
Thoughts about writing (and the text):
According to the introduction, one purpose of the Because Writing Matters book is "To make the case that writing is a complex activity." That sentence cracked me up as being SO OBVIOUS I couldn't immediately see the need for MAKING A CASE FOR IT, that I had to search my brain to try to remember when that thought became clear to me.
I know it had something to do with tutoring in the Writing Center at UAA while I was earning my English degree there. I met lots of people there and read lots of writing, and I remember being a little surprised when I would meet someone (often an English Language Learner) who could speak perfectly well but had trouble putting thoughts down on paper. Before that, I guess I assumed that if you could speak well, that is, if you had a grasp of syntax, vocabulary, etc. so as to make yourself understood, that you would automatically write well. After all, that's how I write, I thought. I talk in my head, and my fingers pound out the sentences as they go through my brain. (Since then I have attempted to learn a second language through Rosetta Stone online, and amazingly enough, the sections I have the most trouble with are the writing sections. Turns out I CAN'T SPELL IN SPANISH, something that completely flabbergasted me).
Anyway, my experiences in the Writing Center were part of the realization for me that writing is complex. And I guess, taking Rosetta Stone is another part. That whole thing about not knowing how to spell--which has never been a problem for me in English--gave me empathy for people who are good oral communicators but who lack the "automaticity" of being good spellers. If I had to stop at every fifth word to try to remember how to spell it (like I do in Spanish), my writing would be much more painful.
Another way I figured out that writing is complex is through online communication, particularly chatting. Chatting is like a cross between speaking to someone and writing. In chatting, I have the immediate feedback of an oral conversation, but I don't read it off a person's face, I read it from their next message. Through chatting I realized how important tone is to writing (or speaking), and how difficult it is to communicate tone through writing (while relatively easy to communicate it through speech). I found myself having to backtrack and explain things, or I found my sense of humor changing as I grew tired of backtracking and explaining things that the person on the receiving end had misinterpreted.
And finally, I guess getting to know kids and evaluating their writing sealed the complexity of writing in my mind. Trying to teach six traits is tough, and I have only about 10 students per class. And maybe this is carryover from my writing tutor days, but I can easily spend 20-30 minutes with one student on a piece of writing, while the rest of the class works unsupervised. And then one more conference like that, and the class is over. I have had to modify that strategy somewhat, but I have found it difficult to give quality feedback in tiny little mini-doses (and thus reach the entire class in a given period). But in writing workshop, so often each kid is at a different place. Even if they're working on the same assignment (or piece of the assignment) the revision one student needs is so different from the revision another student needs, and I get frustrated by the fact that I can't help each one individually.
All this to say, writing and teaching writing are complicated, oh yes they are. Yikes, perhaps I should have stuck to the questions, like Molly. Oh well.
Sandy, boy can I relate to the "red pen" as a student. I promised myself before I started teaching a red pen would never ever be a part of my tools. I just remember as a student in grade school and high school getting a paper back with red pen, it definitely didn't do anything for me creativity with writing.
Why is writing so complex and what challenges does it pose on our schools? I think the answer to this question is key in understanding my stuggle with teaching writing recently. When I say recently, I mean in the last five or so years where reading and math blocks, and standardized testing has become the prevalent standard we measure a good day of teaching or a good day of teaching against. Writing, according to Writing Matters is complex and not linear. Writers begin, plan, reflect, revise, and most importantly problem solve and activate critical thinking. The act of writing isn't about recall it is at the upper end of the new Blooms Taxonomy 21 Century.
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When we look at writing in the way Writing Matters describes writing, in many ways testing misses assessing these skills. Because writing isn't just about remembering, or filling out dots. Writing includes comprehension, synthesis, and evaluation - and not in that order. instead writing is a process that is dynamic and includes skills that prepare a student for the 21 century. Perhaps that is why writing appeals to me. Generally speaking, it is authentic and is about thinking not memorization. Life and the world are not about filling in dots or solving problems in isolation. Writing requires more.
One stuggle I have with the Teaching to the Test article isn't the 6 traits +1 idea etc. or that we report on it. I really felt and see that the 6 traits piece was instrumental, if not critical, in helping teachers see beyond the red pen that Sandy and Debbie talked about. My struggle has more to do with this very dynamic, in many ways organic, process that writers go through when they write.
I recall helping with scoring (Title-1) and wondering during the readings if we were evaluating how quickly a student was getting through their process as well as how they could communicate. I understand the notion that folks need to communicate quickly, but what of the student who warms up first, maybe with timed writing?
I wonder if we should first take a look at a student from the earlier stages list in the article, The gradual release of writing.
Maybe we should reserve the test until after a student has normlized through these stages, and only then decide to test them
Ruthinak shares a lot of great ideas and prompted this rambling. I appreciated her empathy for people who are good oral communicators but who lack the "automaticity" of being good spellers.
I find that when students and myself write, we will select words that we wouldn't say. It appears Kids somehow know there is a word, or want to say a word that means, and a dictionary or online resource helps the writer communicate in a way that would necessarily be verbalized.
I think in an earlier week there was a post by one of us explaining their written voice was different than their verbal voice. I can go back from here, take time, and then revise my recollection so that it is clearer. This is something I really like about writing, there is time to be brave, and time to clarify, and time to say what I want to say. But only if we give time to do process.
Ruthinak also offers chat as a place to consider audience, and again I agree. Chat is so fast and often offers so little time between thinking I wonder if it is more a catalyst to thinking than a place to share thinking. Then there is space, Consider twitter, 140 characters then I have to be done. In twitter I offer asynchronous writing, so have time -but 140 characters (ugh). And as a reader, I wonder if I really will accept more or deeper thoughts.
So then I wonder, how much time and how much space is necessary to communicate effectively and I guess that has a lot to do with audience, and the type of writing. What if I can really pack a lot into 140 characters - What if it packs everything I need I need to say into 140 characters....then how long will it take for the reader to unpack it.... hmm. There truly is a lot to consider in good writing.
I am taking a couple of different classes right now along with this writing one and I have been excited to have some overlap in instruction. One of the things I (re)learned at my Friday night class was the difference between how boys and girls write. I had dinner with Ralph Fletcher last fall and we were talking about how boys write in verbs and girls write in nouns. I definitely see that in my own classroom but I wonder how it will translate as the students get older and are writing for more inquiry based purposes. I was a little frustrated reading the text because it seemed to be more geared to upper elementary and secondary grades and I didn't find a lot I could use for me. I did like the brief history of how writing used to be taught and how the pedagogy of writing has matured since the drill and kill methods described in the chapter. One thing that I definitely took away from this chapter was the need to have my students write for more purposes. I am very guilty of relying heavily on journaling and responding to reading as my two major forms of writing instruction. In fact, I was so chagrined that I came in to school on Sunday and hung up my hamburger writing form and made up all sorts of writing format templates for my easel center. I noticed that a lot of us on here have done writer's workshop but it seems like it has some very mixed reviews. I did it in my 3rd grade classroom last year with some success but after trying to do the same in my 1st grade this year I lost momentum and gave up. I probably introduced it too early in the year and now could revisit it but I am not eager to do so. I think Sondra said that she lacked the organization and I think that was my downfall also. I haven't come up with the perfect set up to make writer's workshop work for me. I was thinking about what BWM said about how writing is the most visible way to assess students' knowledge. I too agree with that in so many ways. In student journals I do not insist on correct writing format, grammar or spelling but I have noticed as the year as progressed the writing has naturally improved as the students learned more. I personally find writing instruction really challenging and signed up for this class because I am seeking ways to make writing instruction more authentic in my classroom. I have not done the 6-Traits in my room this year. I will have to pick this up later, my class is waiting for me to pick them up.
Journal writing took a spin in a conversation I had with a principal some time back. He shared that he didn't mind Journal writing as long as the student was directed what to write about. He wished that the teacher would include directions indicating "personal and private" items should not be shared because he had been in a parent custody case. Then, it was a tough call, today, with online journals I wonder if that is more prudent today. Just a thought.... that could live on the internet indefinitely or perhaps an audience that may change
I just finished an in-service for proctoring the Exit Exams and SBA’s. There was much discussion for the teachers to start teaching to the test. I don’t think it was literally teaching to the test, but more to acquaint the students to the format of the test. At least that’s the way I took it. You can tell how these tests can negatively affect the school by the amount to tension that fills the room when the administrators start explaining the rules of the tests for students and teachers alike.
I do go over the format of the test right before the test is given, but I focus more on teaching the students to believe in their skills and just enjoy the tests as if they were another assignment. The students who I get in my area are generally non writers and dread taking these tests. So often these students value the tests as confirmation to how dumb they are instead of how much they have learned over the year.
One of the biggest problems I deal with is the student’s inability to make sentences without convention problems. Many of my students are very poor spellers and don’t understand basic grammar. While we work on editing projects in class together. My students aren’t very good about doing it on their own. I have given extra credit points for every mistake they find and correct while editing each other’s work. This seems to work because they view it more as a game, but to have them critically look at their own work just for their own improvement is a struggle.
To work on their spelling errors, I have a hand-held computer that my father gave me as a graduation present. It is a Franklin Spelling Ace. Of course it is an antiquated technology, but the students like its novelty. They are more likely to use the speller than to look a word up in the dictionary. I do find that there are less spelling errors on their completed essays, so much so that I ordered 5 new spellers that are made with updated technology for next year. My hope is that the students will use them enough to realize when they don’t know how to correctly spell a word and get some type of assistance when editing.
It’s too bad that the Exit Exam can’t be returned to the students so that they could look at how well they did, not just get a piece a paper back with a number on it. The entire concept goes against the best teaching practices we’ve all learned an implemented in our classrooms. I know exactly how the students feel because when I was trying to become highly qualified in English, the writing portion of the test was given in the same manner as the Exit Exam. I was given some prompts to answer and a writing booklet and a pencil. The test was timed (at least the Exit Exam is not) and I wrote the worst I have ever written in my life. I rarely, if ever, compose without the use of a computer. My hand writing is poor; I don’t spell well; and to correct hand written thoughts takes forever, and is very messy. Whereas, when I make corrections using the computer, it barely slows my typing down.
I really don’t think teaching writing to a test is such a bad thing as long as it isn’t used as the entire writing curriculum. It may tighten some areas up, such as grammar or focus. I may concentrate on some area that I know will need to be employed in the test that I may not have covered well. We all are tested in our lives. We just need to prepare for the particular test and do the best we can. It doesn’t help to get all freaked out and make the test more important than it really is…what you can do at that particular moment in time.
Once again life has gotten away from me and I'm wondering how to prioritize when everything seems important. A son home on leave left no question about how to spend time and gives me much to think and write about. Some things are more important than others.
First, in honor of Week 3---an Irish toast should probably be in Irish. "Slainte" (pronounced in English slawn-cheh). It means to your health.
My son being a Murphy, I am often reminded of how the Irish treat history as current events. You can be punched in a pub for having an opinion on the wrong side of a centuries old issue.
Regarding Teachers as Writers/Roles & CH 1:
I think it is important to remember that academic and emotional needs can't be separated. Skill instruction is not enough. How students feel about themselves and writing creates blocks. Some struggling writers need help starting over. Writing needs to be easy, fun and failure-free to help them feel secure about learning how to write.
I think the role of assessor is the most difficult. I like to expose kids to examples of good writing and give them tools to evaluate their own writing. For my struggling writers I rarely "judge" their writing by making too many marks on their work, conferencing works well.
I have never forgotten how I felt when I got back my first essay in college in a writing class after being out of school for about 10 years. I was struck by all of the corrections and very relieved that the instructor had actually commented on the content. I know my students' writing is often all about the content.
Revising and editing are a challenge. Word processing makes it more tolerable because they can manipulate the text easier. I like to use portfolio assessment with writing. Some pieces are compelling and worth more time and others in the collection demonstrate growth in skills. Sometimes we collect writings and select one piece to edit.
I used a science curriculum that incorporated lots of daily journal writing and descriptions of experiments and procedures. I found editing to be more tolerable then for students because the information was not so much their creation, but factual and sequential with much description.
This week I read a student's writing that was weak in some areas, but like Nagin pointed out, his voice was strong and entertaining. These are times that being the assessor is difficult. Instead of using a 6 trait rubric that scores every area I can pick 2 traits that were done well and emphasize the positive.
Teaching To The Test:
Having seen so many high school students that are poor writers I don't think that we can spend too much time teaching writing. I remember a 6th grade teacher that spent each year diagramming sentences with her students all year and they hated it. That might be the only exception. I'm convinced it didn't warrant that kind of time and labor. I think best practice and mandated testing can coexist. Like any thing it is about being well rounded. Learning to enjoy and use writing for a variety of purposes so students see value in it. Organizing and communicating our thoughts improves all areas of our lives. The last sentence in the article says it all, whether we are testing it or not "writing prepares students to be full, literate members of our society." Even when teaching difficult writing concepts I think we can add an element of creativeness, fun and value. Except for a year of diagramming sentences.I don't know if that can ever be fun!
Slainte-
It looks like many of us have had similar training regarding teaching writing. I have always liked writing. I took every writing class in high school and writing pulled me through all the college classes that made no sense or that I didn't study for. I've taken as many writing classes/inservice as I could. There are so many ideas. I believe that if you write well you can get through anything. However, I can't say that I have extraordinary writing skills. I always remember the joy of writing though and that's what I want to pass on to my students. When they find joy and meaning in something they are more cooperative about wading through the skills we need to polish for testing. When they invest the rest is easy. Students can't invest in something they fear or dislike. So, I always think back to why I liked writing before I ever knew about 6 traits or the writing process and try to recapture that and bring it to my students. They have to have success. Simple, manageable strategies that they can handle before moving on to more sophisticated writing regardless of their age is key to me. I use 4 Square writing to teach organization. It's simple. It lends itself well to a paragraph or an essay. It seems to make sense and isn't some foreign idea that makes them feel like they aren't getting it. In sp ed I have the luxury of developing curriculum and teaching for mastery. I can't imagine moving on until a particular skill is mastered or teaching skills out of order because you have to move through the curriculum. Sometimes the skills aren't even on my radar and the behaviors, social interactions and peer relationships are what we develop through writing. Building an environment that is safe to write in is always first. I am grateful for the time I have with students and being able to allow them to absorb what they are ready for. During my first years of teaching I remember a hs boy telling me it was the first time writing ever made sense to him. How can you run before you can walk? If we develop the right tests we wouldn't have to teach to them.
The extent of my teaching "writing" consist of making sure students are beginning at the left hand side of their paper and starting their letters at the top. Most can by this time of year write their name so others can read it.
I suppose when I read stories to them and ask them to predict what they think will happen next, or ask them what the author might mean by a particular statement I am actually doing some pre-instruction for writing.
I have never believed in teachng to the test. Each student is an individual with various strengths and abilities. The test results do not indicate a students true abilities. The test is merely a snapshot which may or may not be accurate. They may have had a rough morning at home the day of the test which impacted their ability to concentrate.
I thought I was current in my postings. However, after logging in this evening it looks like I am behind.
Shelly- I like how you pinned up your 13 drafts of your paper. It is good to have them see all the work that everyone needs to put into their papers. I correct the principal’s written work (my husband) before he sends anything out. Sometimes there are marks all over the article. Then I had to do some work for another project I’m involved with, and I had him correct my work. He had the paper torn all apart when he gave it back to me. My students were amazed. I was glad to show them that all work needs to be edited several times before a clean copy is turned in. It was a great teaching moment, and I believe it helped them to understand that a marked up paper is just one step in a good final draft. dc
Lance- I don’t understand where your administration would object to journal writing. I always tell my students that their writing is private between the student and me. No one is supposed to read each other’s work unless the student gives a specific OK. I do, however, tell them that if they write something that worries me like their safety or something illegal, I may have to talk to them or tell the counselor in the school. It is not writing that I will share with other teachers or parents. I use it as a good warm up for writing in class, not as a diary. dc
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