1. 1. Forr me, it is essential that student see writing as a meaningful way of expressing their thoughts, ideas and themselves. It is my desire that students are excited about getting their thoughts and ideas on paper and not overwhelmingly concerned with making sure every word is spelled correctly or that their paper is grammatically correct. I want my students to build writing endurance and learn to write until a complete thought or idea has been communicated. However, it is also important to me that my students learn that part of communicating is expressing themselves clearly. It is my hope that my students learn to use grammar and spelling as tools to better communicate themselves. I would like them to see writing as a process for which they can always learn, improve and grow. I would also like my students to see how writing can be used in their daily lives and not just for those who want to write books.
2. 2. I have witnessed writing in my classroom in three ways. I have seen my students do free writing, practice constructive responses for the MEAP and writing explanations for math.
Every morning my students write for five minutes about a particular topic. The topics are broad enough that all of the students are able to write about them and they change everyday. For example, the first time that we did a free write, the topic was Socks. Students are able to write about the topic any way would like – e.g., narrative, fictional piece, etc. Students are given a few minutes to think about the topic and some ideas are throw out by the class. My teacher begins the timer and when she says go, everyone writes – including the teacher. At five minutes, the timer goes off and everyone has to put down their pencils. Students then count the number of words they wrote. After the figure out the amount, they set a goal for how many words they want to write down next time. My CT has given examples of what appropriate goals would look like. The Goal of the free write, is that the students would gain writing endurance. The students are really excited when they see how much they can write in five minutes and how much they have increased from the last time. At the end of the week we plot everyone’s amount for each day on a graph so that they can visually see how much they have improved.
Constructive responses have been one the more painful writing assignments. Students have to read a passage and respond to a writing prompt. Usually the prompt asks the students to write three things from the piece. We are teaching our students how to begin their writing with an opening sentence and ending their writing with a closing statement. We have been doing constructive response everyday and my CT says we will continue to do them everyday until everyone gets the formula for what they are looking for on the MEAP right. In this way, doing a constructive response everyday is more like a punishment than something from which students can learn. The CT tried explaining everything that the students need to write – i.e. the opening sentence, three things, and closing statement – but it was clear the students couldn’t do all those things at once. So each day, my CT has worked on a particular part of their response they will need. So we spent an entire instructional period on what an opening sentence is. Then we talking about including three things. Finally, we focused on what a closing sentence should look like.
Writing explanations for mathematical answers is the only place I have seen writing used outside of a set literacy time. On almost every math worksheet the students have to complete, students are asked to explain how they would solve a particular problem. This is often difficult for the students because they are unsure about many of the mathematical vocabulary.
3. OC loves to write. When other students sometimes moan when they find out they have to write, OC is practically bouncing in his chair. During the first couple times we did free writing, OC wrote an impressive amount. Although OC was writing a lot, his writings were missing voice. Most of his writings sounded like he was making lists – e.g., I did this, then this, then this. However, ever since my teacher introduced the concept of voice, his writing has gotten much better. My teacher told the class to think about the reader and how do you want to reader to feel when he or she reads your piece. Now, I really enjoy reading his work because he asks all sorts of questions in his writing – e.g., have you ever . . . ? I can see how writing for a particular audience has improved his writing and given it more life (Writing Essentials, 145).
No comments:
Post a Comment