1. For me, it is essential that students value writing as a way of explaining and sharing your ideas with the world. I believe students need to see themselves as authors and write for an authentic audience. It is vital for students to use mentor texts especially ones that are written by children. Mentor texts help students understand the purpose of writing and that even at a young age they can create a published piece. Lastly I want my students to understand writing is a process and as Lucy says, “When you think your done, you’ve only just begun!”
2. I am impressed with the majority of my students writing as well as my mentor teachers writing instruction. Throughout the day there are multiple occasions for students to write and in each subject they have a writing journal, which is used often. My mentor teacher shows students that writing is a part of everything that we do.
Every morning the students have a short writing lesson such as writing small moment stories. When my mentor teacher instructs writing she is not extremely concerned with spelling as she realizes writing is a process and that when focus is put on spelling the quality declines. The idea that extreme attention to grammar when drafting adversely impacts writing is also discussed on page 160 of Essential Writing. My mentor teacher often uses Writing Essentials in her classroom practices and was very excited to hear I will read it for MSU. My mentor teacher will demonstrate her writing, using the mentor text idea that was previously read during read aloud time, such as a small moment. Again as Writing Essentials mentions on page 157 my teacher when modeling does not focus on conventions but on getting the overall message across to the reader. After the short lesson and model about the writing strategy students have a few minutes to turn and talk to their partner to either come up with idea to talk about or share their idea. Peer talk in Writing Essentials on page 183 is exactly what my students usually do when they turn and talk to their partner. My mentor teacher is always talking to me about the gradual release of responsibility that Writing Essentials notes on page 183. After the short lesson students have time to write on their own for around a half hour, with a short mid-teaching point to remind students what they should be focusing on that day. For the most part all students are writing, for some students we help them figure at topic to write about. Many students know that when they get all their ideas out they need to go back and re-read and add more details to the pictures or words. Many students understand that what we are working on now is a draft and that you can add words and change things around. I believe for the most part the students are engaging in their writing and truly thinking about their work. After our independent work the class comes together and we have a few friends share what they wrote. The share is extremely important as every child wants to share showing they value their work and the share demonstrates the purpose of writing. I hope to see more authentic audiences, aside from the teacher and the class. I know one student wanted to read to her sister’s class and I believe it would be wonderful if she wrote her own book to read to them.
3. One student who is silently struggling is P.M. This student is an extremely bright little boy but I feel he does not produce the quality of work he is capable of. I feel he simply goes through the motions to get I what is required completed and does nothing extra. I believe he feels if what he is doing is not valued then there is no point in doing it. I have heard remarks from him when work is assigned questioning the final purpose of the work. I noticed if it is going in the hall his work is extremely well done however, if it is going to be turned into the basket he could care less. One time I remarked okay boys and girls do your best as these may be hanging up in the hall way and his eyes lit up and he got right to work. Then about ten minutes later my mentor teacher decided they would not go in the hall and the little boy just completely stopped working. For this little boy I believe writing for an authentic audience really helps him value his work and he knows if it is turned into the basket it will never be looked at.
I believe if this boy had an authentic audience to write for his writing would drastically improve and provide him with a reason to do his best work. Writing Essentials notes the importance of writing for an authentic audience in chapter 7 and I believe this would help this student. If I were teaching I may have him write a few pieces and then choose his best one to take beyond the drafting stage and eventually publish it and read it to another class. Or even create an authors chair and have him share it to our class from the special authors chair.
Writing Essentials notes on page 147 mentioning the purpose of the assignment. I believe this student may benefit from seeing the purpose of the many assignments we do so he can find value. Lately I have been standing by the turn in basket and quickly reading some students work as the hand it in. When this particular student turns work in I make sure to make at least one comment about his work. I am trying to get him to value writing and see the purpose of it however I am still struggling with this student. I want to find a way to make him excited about writing so that he will write only for his own pleasure and not be affected by the purpose of the writing.
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