microtheme/big paper activity

Sherri,
Loved the activity today - what a way to take the stress out of generating a research topic. Everything you guys have done since I started makes me wish I were in my classroom so I can try them immediately. Instead of chewing on these questions alone, chewing on them with classmates helped a lot.

this afternoons activity was very helpful and calmed my nerves about creating a question. I also enjoyed the demo this morning. Thanks Chris!

Chris' Book Making Project

Chris,
This was a fun activity. I can see your student's little minds racing with ideas...I know ours were. I was just disappointed that we did not have time to color our pictures and bind our book. The examples that you provided were really cool. I bet the students had a blast creating them. Learning can be fun. I bet you are a great teacher.

Inquiry

I felt pretty good about the process of the inquiry after reading ch. 6 last night. Today, I'm feeling stressed even though we've gone over some ideas, and got feedback for more ideas. I'm still not sure what I really want to focus on. Maybe I am trying to narrow down too much at this point as Sherri pointed out. Maybe I need to backup and allow the broader question to guide my inquiry. I think I am very tired and overwhelmed right now. I'm glad we have help, guidance, and support.

Chris's Demo

Chris did an excellent job today during her Demo. It was a fun and creative activity and that students could participate in. I would probably assign roles in the group and them rotate the roles. One person would be the recorder, one an illustrator, and one the reader. That way they would all get to do all jobs and there would be no complaining. (I hope). Thanks for the great idea!

my thinker won't stop thinking...

I have really enjoyed this week. I have to admit yesterday was the point where I reached total exhaustion. I went to bed at 8:30 last night. I feel I have so much to think about. I have new ideas to use in the classroom. Thank you to all that have shared so far. I have new ideas about our educational system and the politics connected to it. I feel defeated in some ways. But...I keep thinking that I can still make a change. I can still make learning fun and jump through the hoops. I am armed with new ideas and a new attitude toward writing and teaching. I am excited, but scared to begin the Inquiry paper. I am always a bit leery of the unknown.

Post It Macro Themes?

This was a productive way for me to process the inquiry. I enjoyed the chance to comment on others ideas as well.  This strategy makes the hard work of generating this paper seem more collaborative from the start. 

WHERE WE ARE TOMORROW

Hi guys,

I know Don told you that you will me here in the lab first thing tomorrow morning and then head for Alden for the day. You can work anywhere in Alden you would like--well, the places you are allowed anyway. No lurking under stairwells. You will find us up in the Faculty Commons, where we met for the Pre-institute.

Chris and a great fun lesson

Chris, Thanks for the great lesson today. I sure had fun with Lois and Patty writing our own book. I would love to do this in my math class after reading a math literature book. I loved your sons creations. It's fun to see what other teachers/students do.

Inquiry Fear

Actually writing down a question now makes the inquiry paper seem less scary. I really appreciate the input from everyone and it offered some questions for me to consider as I proceed. I am now actually anxious to start. I also enjoyed the time to work on my personal essay. The bits of stuff in my head are beginning to come together.

Thursday, June 26th

So much to do and so little time. This is what I'm feeling right now. I greatly appreciated the time during lunch and this afternoon to work on the first writing project I will be doing. I have approximately 3 pages written, now to just add, revise, and edit. I think I know what I'll be doing this weekend. :)

personal essay

And I thought this would be the easy paper to write! I have plenty to write, some 52 years of experiences that have made me the teacher I am today-but I am having trouble establishing a voice. I keep wanting to choose a humorous approach because the more I think about these experiences the more I am afraid of releasing an emotional floodgate that may be hard to control! (Draining a brain that is already wary.) I have had to fight my way to this point in my life and writing about these "mountains" seems overwhelming. Further, I guess I just do not feel comfortable writing about myself, even in a group I trust.

June 25th

Sherrie's microtheme activity was valuable information. Just the idea of taking pressure away from otherwise hesitant writers by using small paper and quick results. brilliant! I can see many applications for these "mini activities" in any classroom, K through college.

Chis' Demo

I.
I liked that Chris' demo gave students the opportunity to "shake things up a bit." (By "things," I mean those Western-type narratives we all learn at this age: rescued princesses, boy-meets-girl, etc.) When we worked in our group, we were looking for alternative ways to tell stories with alternative identities (hence the surfer, Latino, turtle). In fact, I loved the group who looked at Chinese pandas--social studies shouldn't be the only place we think of other peoples. Even Dreamworks' _Shrek_ works to shake up those norms (my WS100 even uses Shrek as a breaking point from Disney's fairytale hegemony). So, yes, I can see lots of places to take this idea!

II.
Collaborating in the 3rd grade, or even lower, is a marvelous endeavor--bravo to those who do this (I can't imagine)! Wow. If only more citizens learned those valuable, collaborative skills at such young ages so they could practice more . . . say, superintendents, parents, admins, and more teachers . . .

III.
Finally, I am swept away by all the publication opportunities you folks are giving your kids. How very meaningful this must be to them! Then you have all of these great examples to keep and use as well. I hope to do more publication in my own classrooms--so thanks for your ideas!

Possible Blog Topics for Thursday

Yo Yo Yo,

Here are some ideas for your blog topic this afternoon. As always, follow your heart can create your own topic if none of my suggestions are appealing enough for you.

Something from some other teacher's dialog journal from this morning
Your favorite "tool" from Reflecting and Sharing
Something you wanted to say about the Crowley article (but didn't get around to saying it yesterday)
Chris' Book Making Demo
The Giant Post-It Note Activity
Reflections on Your Personal Essay
Reflections on Your Inquiry Paper

Don't forget that we are meeting in Alden tomorrow for writing and consulting. Yeah!

For convenience sake, we are starting out here in the computer lab just to get things rolling and to set some writing goals for the day.

Library Link to Research Database

Here's the link to the library database to begin an article search.

Great experiences

Today was another amazing day. I wonder if I will ever get used to all this mental stimulation. I was so surprised by the free write this morning--I haven't used that method (for myself) in a long, long time, but it seemed to generate ideas for me that I had no idea about until I began. The experience taught me a lot. I really need to give my students this opportunity a lot more than I do. Also, I so appreciate Marlene's enthusiasm and compassion for her needy fourth graders. They are so fortunate to have her! Thanks everyone for comments and insights!

Crowley

What a challenge reading Crowley's article last night. Although I read the article, and reflected upon it, I was not reflexive. I didn't dig deep enough for a more profound meaning. This is what frustrates me as a reader. I lack the insight to dig deeper. I journaled somewhat with this article, but was not successful in identifying the thesis statement.

Sherrie, I am fascinated with the new idea of seeing or thinking of writing as a spectrum form thinking to communicating. I guess i am still making the transition in my mind from only looking at writing as communicating. I think i am stuck more in the realm of either/or not and/both. Because of that I still see the need to have an assessment or accountability for all to ensure the acquisition of those skills. I hear and agree with what Don is saying about standardized tests, but i also see abolishing them as a tactic the elite are waiting for. If we have no assurance of providing the masses with basic skills, i think the have nots will fall handicap more so than what they already are.

Don, Thanks for the explanations of today's article. I appreciate your passion about the subjects. At first I thought the essay/chapter was way over my head, but the more I persisted, the more sense it made. Luckily I could relate some of the ideas to experiences in an English literature class with an ancient professor who was in love with the arts and believed in the beauty of English. But he was not a snob about it and read and recited Shakespeare in the classroom to the delight of all. A wonderful teacher. Again, thanks for the insight. Lois

6/25/08

Jayne, Thanks for the nice comments. I'm glad you can use the ideas. Personally, I steal most of my good ones. Hasn't everything been intense? I wonder if I have any more room in my brain.

I really enjoyed all the discussion today. I think I am slowly synthesizing the information. Lois' presentation was fun and I can think of so many ways i can adapt it to my class.

The Courage to Teach Reading Group

In my reading group's book, The Courage to Teach, Parker Palmer focuses on (gasp!) the teacher and not learning. This is a refreshing view from an education guru and one I happen to share. I see my role as union president as making room for teachers to do their jobs to the best of their ability without undue influence from outside forces. I know that giving teachers the freedom to do their jobs will directly benefit their students.

my head hurts!

I have many thought fragments hanging around my mind. When we talk about "the test" and the direction of education I can see from reading Crowley that some things really haven't changed that much. It frustrates me to watch "the powers that be" who have not been a classroom in ages, to dictate what I should do in my classroom. It frustrates me that we fight to set up programs that are successful and the administration brags about just to find out that when it come to money these programs don't really matter. It frustrates me that teachers are not replaced as they retire or leave the district, class sizes are larger, children who need IEP's are not being identified but we are expected to perform like masters on the test. I feel defeated.

I do love teaching. I like the idea of being a rebel in the classroom. How should I dress for this?

Lois and thought

Lois, great lesson. I really enjoyed both activities and can instantly use them in my classroom. I am sure my kids will have a great time with them. I really enjoyed today's discussion about questioning tradition and having the gumption to not just accept something because "that's the way it has always been." The rich discussion of today really made me engage in more meaningful thought than I have for a some time.

Lois' Demo

Lois,
I thought you did a great job today. That was an exceptionally fun activity which allowed us all to participate and yet still come up with different products from all of us. Very Cool! I hate it when there's an assignment and everyone ends up writing the same thing. Teaching science I may have to be a little more inventive to incorporate it into my classroom, but I can also use it as an ice breaker at the beginning of the year, or as a time filler on those 2 hr delay snow days when we only have 3rd period for 15 minutes, or for a fun activity just as a fun activity. Nice job. Thanks for the ideas.

thoughts 6/25

Today was mindboggling. I found the discussion on the reading last night very enlightening. I'm still ruminating on that. Wow, Don got wound up, and wore me out, but I'm following his thoughts and I'm totally seeing that contrivance in testing, and the whole political side that I never really knew was there from the get go. That makes me angry too. I also believe in the "revolution". I always think of the line in Hunt for Red October where Sean Connery says "a little revolution every couple of hundred years is a good thing." We're past that by several years. But I also believe we can do that revolution within our classrooms, even if we aren't like Don with tenure, we can begin somewhere in changing how we operate within our own realm. I'm finding many areas where I can start that change.

The Revolution will not be televised

This is a test of the emergency reality network. It is only a test. Had this been an actual existential crisis; you would have been given directions that you would find ultimately pointless and depressing. Please move along your merry way.

Wednesday, June 25th

The discussion in our reading group was interesting. We were discussing how we feel we need to go back and allow our students to do more "free" writing without taking their writing through any further steps. We talked about our students needing more time to write and discuss "childish" things that only children truly understand. We want them to write like children and no longer try to get them to write like adults. As a 1st grade teacher, I totally agree with this aspect. I am going to totally rethink my students writing time and what I focus on this year.

Wednesday June 25

Third day has brought me a feeling of routine, which I find wonderful. I am getting comfortable with the excitement of learning. The discussion today was stimulating and brought about all kinds of thoughts I had never considered before. I guess I was most challenged by the discussion about Crowley's essay and Don's presentation regarding SWE. I totally got Don's point of view and can see how the English requirement was used to protect and exclude people based on gender, class and race. I can see his point on how the standardized test still does this. I am still conflicted on some things however. Is it really ok to not prioritize rules of grammar and sentence construction? Is it really ok to ignore my students when they say, "I ain't got no (whatever)"? Shouldn't I WANT to help my students reach above the Hockingese speaking mentality to prepare them to be ABLE to dwell and succeed in another world outside of Hocking County? I know I am not alone in equating AIN'T with poorly educated when I hear it spoken - how can I protect them from future bias in any other way than to persuade them to drop its use? Despite our lengthy discussion, despite Don's convincing argument, I still haven't resolved this. Can someone address this issue and help me out?

Blog Topics for Wednesday June 25

Hey Campers,

You can blog on anything your heart desires, but lacking the heart's desire to come up with something, feel free to draw from my list below:

Sherrie's Mircotheme
Points of Interests from your Reading Group
Freewriting this Morning
The Politics of Writing Instruction
The Politics of Standardized Testing
Anything That You Want Clarity On . . .
Lois' Teaching Demo

Have Fun.

Personal Narratives

I think the opportunity to process through our personal experiences related to our teaching may be as cathartic for many of us as Peter Elbow's was for him! I am challenged to review some of my experiences through  more than one lens! 

museum activity

The "museum" microtheme activity was interesting. I can see many applications for this in just about every classroom. It really does take away some of the stress of writing to use smaller format paper. Of course, as an art teacher I just love the reference to the museum. I can see setting up some art prints and giving my students a post-it note to write their reactions to the art. I might even discuss vocabulary of art terms to help make their writing more descriptive. I am looking for more ways to bring art experiences into my classroom. A lot of my indicators deal with art appreciation and I have found it difficult to include this in my curriculum. This mostly due to a time constraint but also a lack of inspired lesson ideas on my part.Thanks for the idea!

June 24

As I toured the room examining all of the "art" work in our museum, I noticed that there were far more similarities than differences in our products. There were several phrases which stood out that I thought made several pieces very good for me. One included the words, the teacher must have an infectious love of writing. Another statement was to be honest, but not brutal.

I like the idea of microthemes and look forward to trying them in the classroom. I want someone in this group to e-mail me once a week next school year and remind me to try new techniques every week.

Teaching Demo

Great job connecting literature to worldly events. I would like to simplify the list and use it in my first grade classroom.

good writing instructor.

This is not Merrilee, it's Missy' Blog....sorry, I forgot to log in.....

I have learned that being a good writing instructor one must be very versatile. It helps to know a little bit about many subject areas. It also helps to be aware of the many different learning styles that students have. Also, don't be pushy, especially when students are already stumped...it only deepens their anxiety. Give them a safe environment to where they can feel comfortable in sharing their true feelings. In any learning environment, it helps to have a good sense of humor. This makes students relax, and makes you approachable for questions. It also helps to accentuate the positive....(I just had a flash back of the Disney Song of the South...now that song is going to be stuck in my head all night)....Anyway, it's true, if you are too critical of a student's work, they are liable to shut down complete. Always have something good to say. Furthermore, I do feel there is a difference in being a teacher and being an Educator. It may be a fine line, but it's the one that separates the men from the boys, or the women from the girls, as it may be. An educator is that special someone who is willing to go that extra mile to help others learn, and who is a life long learner themselves. Many teachers just run through their routines and put in their time, not really caring what kind of students that they produce. Which one are you?

recipe

Here is the bean salsa recipe. Also known as Hillbilly Caviar.
2 cans of black eyed peas (rinsed)
1 can of hominy (yellow or white) I think yellow looks prettier!
a couple of chopped tomatoes (can used canned)
approx, 1/2 cup each (chopped) of: green onions, red onion, parsley, green pepper (vary these amounts if you particularly like something)
8 oz. bottle of Italian dressing
I also throw in a bit of garlic (a minced clove or two)
Just throw everything together in a bowl. It is best if let to soak overnight before serving. It will keep for about a week, but it never lasts that long at my house!!
You can actually substitute or add anything. I didn't have any black eyed peas once so I used pinto beans. I have also used regular corn instead of hominy...and you can add some hot sauce if you are so inclined.

Enjoy!
Jayne

Elbow's "Failure"

While I don't consider Elbow's personal trials and tribulations failures (teaching at MIT after dropping out of Oxford is not like ending up working at a canning factory on the New England coast) I'll suspend my disbelief and allow that he saw it as a failure.

That said, I do think we learn more from "failures" than we do from "successes." I'm using quotes because (as we can see in Elbow's case) one person's failure is another person's success and vice-versa. It is how we deal with those failures that is crucial to our learning. Hopefully, the critical comments we receive or give to our students will be constructive and delivered with good humor so they will be well-received and learning can take place.

I liked doing the museum or gallery walk this morning with the micro themes. I think it would be a good way for students to review before class. Definitely worthwhile for a math class, seeing what the students learned or what they were confused about from the day before. i also appreciated what was listed as character traits of a good writing teacher. Mostly I appreciated the talk about language; spoken, written, and read. Given the language skills and experiences of our student clientele, I think much reading and discussion needs to occur in the classroom before and as the students write.

Inspiration in the midst of mental chaos

I am not sure what to say about today yet. I think I am still mentally processing all the highways on which my mental thoughts were trying to travel. Several things stick in my mind a bit; the micro-theme activity from this morning, (I definitely want to use Don's "museum" activity in the future) the stimulating discussion following Marlene's wonderful presentation and the additional discussion following the activity of the afternoon (selecting a sentence that had meaning - great strategy). It was the exchange of thoughts and attitudes however, that I found most provocative and will continue to ponder throughout the evening. I could see the stress on Marlene's face as she talked of her life as a teacher at New Lex and I new she paid a price for caring. Not all teachers have the strength, stamina and love of students to tolerate the toll that is exacted on them by dealing with difficult students under difficult situations. Kudos to you, Marlene. I think that was the most memorable part of my day - considering her willingness to still show up every day and give her best to kids who need her, despite the toll it takes. You are the inspiration of my day, Marlene. Thanks for sharing.

Resistance/Compliance

I have been thinking about Elbow's essay. On page 22 he says, "Resistance gives us our own thinking and the ownership over ourselves that permit us to do the giving in that we need for learning; compliance fuels resistance and gives us the skills we need for better resistance."

I think this statement rings true in all areas of life. I think of teenagers who are compliant by following the rules, but grow their hair long, dye it green or have some strange hair style. They are resisting, trying to find their identity, grasping ownership of whatever they resisted. Yet they are following the rules in other ways.

The concept of the resistance/compliance tug-of-war as it applies to learning is huge. I think of Einstein. He was far from the norm; thought to be insane. Babe Ruth was thought to be incorrigible but he sure could play ball.

I know that we learn through the process of disequilibrium. We are taught something or thrown a new concept to chew on and end up in a state of confusion. Our brains work through this confusion and some where along the line we begin to grow and understand new concepts. Our brain wants that balance or equilibrium.

So my concern is...how do I get my third graders to not give up, or not whine, complain, cry to go to the nurse because I have thrown them something to chew on? Where is the desire to figure it out? How do I get them there?

Microthemes

I liked the concept of microthemes regarding the qualities of good writing teachers. I thought with first grade I could have them draw or write about the topic we were learning about and post it on the front wall which I would read the post-its if it were early in the year.

Tuesday, June 24th

Today...what a great place to be! I've learned so much and it's only the 2nd day. Especially on my anniversary. It's a good thing I'm at least having dinner with my husband this evening.

Okay onto more serious issues. Reading the Elbow selection was difficult, confusing, yet interesting all in one. The best part was choosing a sentence that spoke to me. The only difficulty with this was the actual choosing of one. It was hard to choose just one. I chose the sentence dealing with helping students love their writing and love their own ideas. I felt that valuing a students' work, words, and thoughts, would allow them to write, take chances, and be willing to share.

The microtheme was an excellent way to begin our day as well. Noticing so many of the same ideas about the qualities of a good writing instructor was comforting. The teaching demo was helpful and I was able to come up with some ways to use a few of the ideas in 1st grade.

Finally, we discussed our personal essays. So many ideas and I have no idea how I'm going to put them together to make sense to anyone other than myself. So now I have lots of work to do and only a little time to do it in.

Microthemes

I really liked this mornings lesson using microthemes. It was a quick write and non threatening. Posting the stickies around the room allowed everyone to communicate with each other! It gave us an insight into what others want a writing teacher to be like. It was neat to see how much in agreement most of us were. Good activity that can be adapted to many subjects!!

6/24 Good Writing Instructors

I really liked the activity we did this morning on the sticky note listing our thoughts on an ideal writing instructor. It was not really all that time consuming, but gave us time to think, reflect, and share ideas. Then when we did the "museum" part, we could read what everyone else wrote, agree or disagree with it, and keep it in our own journal. That process was simple, but allowed deep thinking, and sharing at the end through discussion was also very helpful. The key point was that no one listed "edits well, or criticizes paper" as something an ideal instructor should do. One common idea was that the instructor should be positive. Validating another's writing is key.
Kris

Day Two Post Ideas

Feel free to blog on the topic of your choice or choose from this list:

Microthemes
"What makes good writing instructors"
Today's Teaching Demo
Elbow's "failure"
Issues of Authority in writing.
Writing as "performance"
The usefulness of "Writing to Learn" activities
Anxieties about your personal essay
Something you learned in writing group

I also wanted to say/ask/explore . . .

I.
When Don assigned the microtheme topic asking us to describe our "ideal" writing teacher, I was especially glad/anxious to see someone write that such a teacher would "assign meaningful readings."
I've been questioning this "meaningful" business in my own teaching: what is meaningful? to whom? Even after a few years, I'm often surprised when my freshmen do not find the topics I'm particularly invested in, well, interesting or meaningful. (I guess this issue also ties into Patti's "bubblegum" debate--where she used bubblegum as an example of engaging students in topics they care about). Well, having typed all of this out, now I've come to conclusion: I'm sure Sherrie will tell me to do both--introduce topics meaningful to both me and topics meaningful to students. Hello. I'm queen of reiteration.

II. I _loved_ our Elbow conversation. For me, Lois' implicit observation that we were mostly talking about young boys resisting writing spoke volumes about internalized gender expectations--especially in terms of what Don was saying about "performance": if males in our culture are socialized not to submit, and if they are indeed afraid to be labeled as "sucking up" and "brownnosing" (all implicit, sexualized forms of submitting, as Elbow notes 24), then their resistance to writing may also be attributed to gender aspects of their identity that we must consider.

So! How do I address that (all of the above and more)? Day to day? Perhaps I need to make adjustments to my own "performance" as a teacher. Back to Elbow: even if I can't completely swallow his "hypothesis that everyone is brilliant" (12), ehem, perhaps I should teach/perform as if they were! I must admit, my strongest classes have been those where I've found myself practicing this very technique (some may simply call it "acting positive," I guess, but I believe the performance goes deeper in ways I should explore).

The discussion about Elbow's essay was very enlightening. Everyone, regardless of our teaching assignments and our experience with personal writing, seem to have serious concerns with helping kids write willingly and well. It's not surprising that we worry that kids have so many problems writing in standard English. We are trying to produce capable, literate students--it's what we do. What I liked about Elbow's essay was his understanding of this problem and his desire to give students exactly what they need--from recording the earliest, least readable thoughts to creataing the finished product. The class discussion was helpful in that we were all struggling to get our heads around some pretty important ideas, and ones that seem on surface to be contradictory.

june 23, Presentation

Patti's presentation was wonderful! I really like the idea of hands on to keep students engaged. I can see many applications for me in my art classroom. It would be better for students in elementary school to write a sequence of steps to explain how the "art" was made than to get into the weighty discussions of judging art and using art terms that may be unfamiliar to some. This would be excellent practice that could spill over into the regular classroom. I actually do a 2nd grade project called a paper sculpture that is very similar. Students could write after the fact to inform someone as to how the process unfolded and tell it in their own words.

Monday, June 23

Well, I'm glad my demonstration is finished! That makes today a stellar day. Only 17 days left. Now if I can just get my personal essay done tonight, and my research paper done this weekend, I'll be all set.

I loved the "Writing as Reflective Action" article and am anxiously awaiting the opportunities to use them. I really think these are going to make me a much better thinker. I am also eager to use the response journal to reinforce what my students recall about text-based assignments. I have found that my students do not often understand or recall important vocabulary or major concepts even though I try to provide hands-on experiences that will reinforce them. I think the response journal would be a perfect technique.

I am glad Peter Elbow so eloquently expressed some of my more primitive thoughts about student dialect and SWE. I have long resented people who say we speak "Hockingese." What else would I speak since I live here? He suggests a balance between SWE and the mother tongue, which I find interesting. The diagram and discussion about writing to learn and writing to communicate helped me to understand his article even more.

I had a chance to look over the CD Rom. It was quite helpful and seems well-organized. Sharing and Responding looks interesting; again I'm looking forward to trying out some of these strategies. I am already beginning to think of the many practices I will change this coming year.

I'm anxious to see how our discussions develop regarding In the Middle. It's one of the first graduate classes I've taken where we (several students) will monitor our own reading and discussion of a text.

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.

Day 1/ Patti's Demo

I thought this was a great hands on activity that can be used in any subject area at any level. Students love to collaborate on projects and activities, especially if they are hands on. This is also a good activity to stress the importance of following instructions. So often students misinterpret or completely disregard directions of a particular assignment. This activity will illustrate to the students the importance of following instructions to a "T". This activity could be used in science to stress the importance of finding certain locations on the globe. For example use a Styrofoam sphere and have the students use different items to locate the equator, north and south poles, prime meridian, Pacific, Atlantic, and Indian Oceans, continents, ring of fire, etc. This can be done with given written directions or with the "Write it/ Do it" technique. The students may find it frustrating at first, but once they get the hang of it...watch them go.

Theory v Practice v Real Life

My greatest concern is being able to transfer writing theory, e.g. Peter Elbow, into classroom writing practice. I teach five English classes with an average of 25 students per class and I want to find the balance of doing right by my students and having a life. I'm confident, however, that I will find what I need to strike the balance.

OAWP- Monday

I love this class because I have learned more about teaching writing through the readings and the information presented in the last two days than I have learned through any teacher training or any other experience. One thing I might have some trouble with is my journaling. I start out with reflections and connections, etc. but I seem to end up with summarizing the text.

Writing to Learn/Writing to communicate 6/23/08

The whole discussion on the writing to learn continuum to writing to communicate was very engaging. I think I have so often focused writing assignments on only one end or the other and left out a lot of the middle ground. I have found it difficult to know how to grade and felt like Marlene at times, where I feel there is not enough time to do writing justice. When I was teaching intervention English, I felt so inept at helping the kids grow their writing ability, as well as teach grammar, literature, and research. Now I am seeing that writing daily, small amounts of time about what students are thinking is just as important, or even more important than just focusing on spelling, grammar, etc.. Writing to learn is a freeing concept. I don't have to expect kids to have a finished draft for every writing assignment. I can feel OK about an assignment that I just check as done or not done. But I also need to move students toward the end of communication at times. I liked Don's explanation "What is the Goal?", as well as Sherrie's explanation that it is "Both, And". The question "What is the goal?" helps me see what I want the kids to focus on and let them know that, so they don't focus only on spelling, and grammar. The "Both, And" concept helps me see that we don't just do one thing or the other, but rather we are trying to accomplish student learning and work toward the communication end as well. I found the discussion very thought provoking.

Mother Tongue!

After the discussion today on Elbow and the Mother Tongue I understand the difference between writing to learn and writing to communicate. However, I still fill apprehensive about when and when not to worry about conventions in the early grade levels. I can imagine one of my students writing on a topic and the paper will be one mass of words not making any sense to them or any one they share it with. I am going to really work hard on my thoughts and practices concerning this topic!

June 23, 2008

Today in class we discussed writing to learn versus writing to communicate. As a 1st grade teacher I'm having difficulty finding the ability to allow my students to write without using typical conventions. I understand the reasoning behind allowing them to write freely but on the other hand I find the need to make sure that they learn those conventions such as spelling, punctuation, grammar, etc. This will be a true learning experience for me. I definitely need to loosen my expectations at the beginning of the year and then add expectations of those typical writing conventions as the year progresses. This will benefit myself as well as my future students.

Also during class today we had a presentation by Patti. What an interesting activity that I can adapt for my 1st grade students. I was thinking instead of having my students write the directions, I could have them tell another adult and they could scribe for them or they could record their directions onto a machine and then the partner could listen and then follow along. This will be a great addition to my classroom routine. Thanks Patti!

First Day

Until today I was pretty fried with any ideas for writing or teaching writing. In fact, if any one asked 2 weeks ago, I would say I hated teaching writing. Last quarter was a difficult one - mostly just work/grading overload.

However, gearing up for this institute with the readings and then Patti's demonstration this morning has re-energized me. Being with other teachers and building off one another's passion to teach well is always a boost and gets me hooked all over again.

I think we covered a lot of ground discussing the tension we all experience between addressing our responsibility to teach standards/ conventions and encouraging thinking and processing through writing. I often feel, as a college level instructor, that if middle and high school teachers of all subjects did more of the learning through writing experiences so that students come to college prepared to think and respond critically in writing ( and speech) that I would be happy to spend the time refining the conventions, honing the communication skills.

I just want students to explore what they think - and care about showing thinking in their writing! So many come to college still wanting to be told what to think or avoiding thinking to any degree or depth. Grasping this continuum concept for writing at the earliest levels of writing instruction is such a welcome idea. Intuitively, I would expect that many of us already do this, but to understand it as strategy takes it to the next level.

journals

I am excited about using journals across the curriculum. I like this idea for a couple of reasons. One being that the student will have to read to respond. Another reason is some kids don't like to ask questions out loud and this would give the opportunity to ask questions or make comments. I think it will take time to get the students in the practice of writing good journal entries. It will take a lot of demonstration on my part. This will be my second year in 3rd grade and I feel like journal writing will fill in some of the gaps I felt existed last year.

I think I can set up a KWL journal for some topics/subjects. This would be very similar to the Triple_Entry Incident Journal mentioned in the article "Writing As Reflective Action." I am looking for ways to get all the student engaged. I think this is one way.

I also want to incorporate more shared writing activities to teach some of the mechanics of writing. This will allow the students to learn in a non-threatening environment.

June 23 - Writing to Learn?

Writing to learn? What a concept. I found myself very engaged in Don and Sherrie's diagram of Writing to Learn (versus writing to communicate). The discussion really got my brain working and wondering about how I should change old attitudes about writing. It was exciting to consider writing as a means to learning WITHOUT BEING HELD ACCOUNTABLE FOR GRAMMAR AND FORMAT ACCURACY! Wow. Case in point: my father was a journalist and an excellent writer. I still remember him gently and sometimes not so gently, tearing apart my writing as he looked for grammatical problems. He was trying to build my skills but all I remember was feeling like a failure. He tried to point out positives, but all I remember was my sense of inadequacy. My dad (the expert!) spent more time rebuilding my work than finding any redeeming value in my message. My experiences directly point out the problems with focusing TOO much on structure without developing a sense of confidence in the development of a message. With that in mind, imagine my epiphany moment as I realized that I am fundamentally a product of the problems that occur when there is an over emphasis on structure! I have had that approach so ingrained in me that I find it difficult to rewire my thoughts about the way to approach writing. But rewire I must. Wonderfully, I find myself excited about this rewiring I find happening in my head. In fact, just like when I have seen a great movie I want all my friends to see, I want to tell every teacher I know about this great way to view the teaching of writing. The good thing about my previous teaching is that since I was not actually an LA teacher, no great damage was caused by my ignorance. The great thing about future teaching is that even though I do not teach LA, I can be a more positive influence in the development of m students writing skills!

First day demo

6/23 Demonstration was great. I really enjoyed the exercise and am still tossing around ideas in my head about how I can adapt to my personal setting. I am anxious to try not only the paper sculptures, but also some concrete objects or pictures of some sort. Kudos, Patti!!! I also think the writing exercise will work well with a story that I do about precision of language. The story is kind of lame, but the kids like it. The basic premise of the story is about two animals (one new to the neighborhood) having dinner together. The preparer of the meal is not quite ready so tells her guest to "take a seat". He actually does. She then tells him to "help himself to some books"... etc. When she finally is ready to serve him, he has cleaned out her living room so she thinks he is a nut case who has robbed her. He took her comments literally and thought she gave the things to him. Might be a good lead in to explain precision of your words to the kids.

OhioWins PreInstitute Survey

As an obligation to one of our funders, participants need to fill out surveys at the very beginning and at the very end of the workshop. Here is the link to the pre-Institute survey.

We appreciate everyone's patience and cooperation with this.

Thanks,
Don