Monday, June 23, 2008
Monday- Day 1
I believe I have a better understanding regarding writing to learn and writing to communicate and I know I need to move away from expecting capital letters and periods with every sentence that students write but I wonder if parents or others will think I am not doing my job when I allow them to write without using capitals and periods.
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I totally agree. I'm also wondering if parents and others will believe I'm doing my job if I allow my students to write without using capitals and periods as well.
But guys, remember, you are going to be asking them to use capitals and commas and spell well in all kinds of places. You will be able to show parents and others that. Remember--both/and. But, I do understand your anxiety. Hopefully some of that anxiety will lessen by the end of the SI.
Parents! A whole other aspect to deal with at the elementary level. When I used to teach high school I rarely spoke to a parent unless I offered an incentive to the student to get their parents to call or come in! In elementary, parents are non stop! Most are welcome and appreciated! But some are very ingrained in their thinking, so I can see where there might be a problem in this situation with parents!
The parent issue is a big one, but one that can be handled by assuring the parents that having students do lots of writing to learn activities takes nothing away from those few high stakes assignments when the spelling, grammar, and usage do count.
This means explaining that not all the writing you do in the classroom is meant to serve the same purpose.
I can only hope that some of my student's parents are paying enough attention to their child's schoolwork to know what technique I was using to grade it. Personally, I feel that getting students to "Think" on their own, and have some way of expressing their thoughts on paper is much more important than capitalization and syntax. If a parent wants to debate my grading policies with me, then bring it on.
I see your logic - when no one else understands the approach assumptions are made and misunderstandings occur. I don't know how you avoid this, unless you share your philosophy with parents at the get-go. Is that possible?
If I am understanding things correctly...we will get to the conventions of writing. To build a snowman you start with the biggest snowball and end with the smallest. I think writing is the same. Student must first learn to organized their thoughts and be able to think and respond before they can fine tune the story. I am excited about this concept!
Boy, all our jobs would be great if parents didn't assume because they went to school they know all about teaching. I am also wondering if I give up more grammar and spelling correction to focus on content - how that will sit with parents? I have had parents regrade papers and return them to me because they didn't agree with my assessment.
Regrading assignments!!! Holy smokes. I'd encourage you guys to talk to last year's teachers as they stop in throughout the SI. They might be able to give you some tips on how they've managed some of these issues. The teaching that you all do is "on display" in a very different way from ours at the college level.
merrilee, I think you've hit it on the nail for me--we should surface our philosophies to anyone willing to listen.
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