Dr Jones,
Overall I am very pleased with this class. It has pushed me to step out of my comfort zone. Before this class I was very timid to make my writing public. I am still nervous to do so, but I am slowly becoming more comfortable with it. I have seen public writing as similar to public speaking, in which I feel very judged as I am doing it.
My understanding for the connection between reading and writing has grown tremendously. Before class I had a close minded view of how the two were connected. Even in the first class session we had my eyes were widely opened. I had never thought about the strategies that writers use as being comparable to readers and visa versa. I now see writing as a way to think and learn. I have grown to be more comfortable just letting my thoughts flow out rather than plan and organize to an extreme. This has led me to be able to fully transact as I write. I now am able to have a conversation with myself as I write to discover new ideas and reconsider old ones. I now question my own thoughts as I am writing in a new way. Previously I would question whether I was "doing it right", now I question my own ideas and thoughts. This has pushed me to a different level of thinking, and in turn like I said, use writing as a tool to think. The only habits that I feel I need to change is writing more often. Although I have grown to be more comfortable with writing, I still don't feel comfortable enough to do it leisurely. This is something I hope I can do someday. I find writing to be a way to clear my head and get my thoughts out quickly and easily.
The first instructional strategy that I have learned and I feel will help me as a literacy teacher is to see the connection between reading and writing. I want to show my students that these are not two separate activities, but in fact there are many overlaps. Strategies that writers use can and should also be used to be good readers. The discussion we had on the first night sticks in my head. It was about rereading, and how many times students see those that have to reread as "poor readers" rather than readers that are looking to clarify or find a new idea in the text. I also want to be able to show my students that writing is not simply done with pen and paper. I addressed this in my previous blog, as I discussed how my eyes have been open to the wide range of genres. Many of which I had never even thought of as writing activities.
Overall I am very please with what I have learned from this class. I have many new ideas that I had never even considered before. Prior to this class I was nervous to be a teacher of literacy, hence why I chose the literacy program. This class alone has built my confidence and excitement for teaching literacy some day. The ideas are intriguing for me and I can't wait to pass them on to my students.
I do not have any concerns about class at this time. I feel it is all going very smoothly. Expectations and standards are clear and reachable. Thank you for such a great learning experience.
Sincerely,
Jennie Krolak
Wednesday, October 3, 2012
Tuesday, October 2, 2012
Entry #4
The more I read Tompkins (2012) the more my eyes are opened. I am enjoying reading this textbook, which is something I never thought I would say. I can not believe how many new ideas are presented in the text each week. The idea that sparks my most interest is the large number of genres that are described. I have never thought of half of these genres. For me personally this makes writing a much more enjoyable task to think about the creativity that can be used. Prior to this class I would say I had a very close minded view of writing. I saw it as the traditional pen and paper writing top to bottom. If I worked on it long enough I would publish it using Word on a computer. Never had I thought of using pictures and videos to help tell my story, unless I was ambitious enough to create a children's book. These ideas not only excite me for my personal use, but even more so to use in my future classroom. I feel that with these ideas I will be much more enthusiastic about teaching writing to my students.
The wide range of genres that is presented, especially in the list on page 287 makes it more obvious to me that writing is not just a pen and paper activity. These ideas are also very exciting to someday be able to use in all subjects, with creativity. As I look at the list some unique ideas stand out such as advertisements, cartoons, greeting cards, and post cards. Ideas like these are were never writing activities in my mind before, but I am excited to see how they can be use as such. These are smaller projects that can be used in countless ways. When projects such as these are presented it is less obvious to students they are working on writing, unless pointed out by the teacher. Social studies writing assessment no longer needs to be an essay, but could be a letter or timeline. Students are incorporating all of the important strategies of writing but are focusing on the content of social studies.
To address the wide range of technology used, I am impressed. The genre that sticks out the most is the digital story telling. I had never heard of this before, so I went to youtube and checked one out. It was impressive, but by no means something a child couldn't do. It was such a unique way of telling a story and had more emotion and impact than simply writing on paper and drawing the pictures.
The whole idea of a Multigenre project that we have been presented in class is something I can see myself using in my future classroom. I would love to introduce my students to as many of these genres as I see fit for the grade level. I think it would be interesting to keep a portfolio for students for each unit and have them create a multigenre portfolio with the information they have learned as the unit progressed. At the end of the unit the students would get their portfolio back and see all the work they did and how it fit together.
I plan to show my students that writing is not a boring activity that involves just sitting at a desk and writing on paper. I am much more excited to teach my students about the new genres I have discovered, and hopefully they will become as excited and interested in writing as I now am.
The wide range of genres that is presented, especially in the list on page 287 makes it more obvious to me that writing is not just a pen and paper activity. These ideas are also very exciting to someday be able to use in all subjects, with creativity. As I look at the list some unique ideas stand out such as advertisements, cartoons, greeting cards, and post cards. Ideas like these are were never writing activities in my mind before, but I am excited to see how they can be use as such. These are smaller projects that can be used in countless ways. When projects such as these are presented it is less obvious to students they are working on writing, unless pointed out by the teacher. Social studies writing assessment no longer needs to be an essay, but could be a letter or timeline. Students are incorporating all of the important strategies of writing but are focusing on the content of social studies.
To address the wide range of technology used, I am impressed. The genre that sticks out the most is the digital story telling. I had never heard of this before, so I went to youtube and checked one out. It was impressive, but by no means something a child couldn't do. It was such a unique way of telling a story and had more emotion and impact than simply writing on paper and drawing the pictures.
The whole idea of a Multigenre project that we have been presented in class is something I can see myself using in my future classroom. I would love to introduce my students to as many of these genres as I see fit for the grade level. I think it would be interesting to keep a portfolio for students for each unit and have them create a multigenre portfolio with the information they have learned as the unit progressed. At the end of the unit the students would get their portfolio back and see all the work they did and how it fit together.
I plan to show my students that writing is not a boring activity that involves just sitting at a desk and writing on paper. I am much more excited to teach my students about the new genres I have discovered, and hopefully they will become as excited and interested in writing as I now am.
Tuesday, September 25, 2012
Entry #3 (continuation of Entry #1)
When thinking back to the writing activities and exercises I did with my fifth grade students, there are many core principles of writing that I value and believe are important for children as they write. First I feel that students should not be left to feel their way through a writing activity. I feel that directions such as format, audience, etc should be clear from the teacher. Examples of the writing task, both strong and weaker examples are helpful to students to understand what their end goal is, and what expectations are set for them. Although rubrics are used, and should be presented to the students, opinions on good writing may still vary between students and teacher.
In an online class discussion, my classmates and I talked about freedom children should have in their writing. This freedom is also a huge belief of mine. Although the children should be guided, as I stated previously, I feel that students discover how they learn and about themselves when they are allowed freedom in their learning. Freedoms such as topic, genre, and format can all be left to the student in many writing pieces. This may take creativity and more planning on the teachers' part, but it is something that can be done.
Another principle I feel strongly about is brainstorming as a class. This is a great way to get ideas flowing. I believe planning as a class builds students' confidence in their writing. Students are able to talk with one another to build thoughts and learn from each other. Teacher guidance can push students' ideas further to lead to greater writing pieces.
In order for the students to feel confident, I believe students must also have adequate time to complete their written pieces. This can be time in class as well as adequate time to complete the assignment out of school. Teachers should be in tune with their students writing as far as pacing and quality. Steps should be in place to guide students, but as we talked about in class, the writing process does not have a linear set of steps. Students need to be encouraged to spend quality time with their writing piece. I feel if this is encouraged, they will in turn become more proud of their completed work.
Conferencing is a core principle that I value strongly. I feel that students should get adequate encouragement from their teacher on their written work. This is a time for teachers to encourage individual students and push them to their personal best. One on one time is extremely valuable to students, especially when it comes to their own writing. Their personal work is talked about and improved in just a short amount of time. When students' walk away from a teacher conference they should be enthused about their work and making it stronger.
In all, I feel students should have freedom in their writing, whole class brainstorming, guidance and examples from teachers, as well as one on one conferences with the students to make improve their writing skills as a whole.
In an online class discussion, my classmates and I talked about freedom children should have in their writing. This freedom is also a huge belief of mine. Although the children should be guided, as I stated previously, I feel that students discover how they learn and about themselves when they are allowed freedom in their learning. Freedoms such as topic, genre, and format can all be left to the student in many writing pieces. This may take creativity and more planning on the teachers' part, but it is something that can be done.
Another principle I feel strongly about is brainstorming as a class. This is a great way to get ideas flowing. I believe planning as a class builds students' confidence in their writing. Students are able to talk with one another to build thoughts and learn from each other. Teacher guidance can push students' ideas further to lead to greater writing pieces.
In order for the students to feel confident, I believe students must also have adequate time to complete their written pieces. This can be time in class as well as adequate time to complete the assignment out of school. Teachers should be in tune with their students writing as far as pacing and quality. Steps should be in place to guide students, but as we talked about in class, the writing process does not have a linear set of steps. Students need to be encouraged to spend quality time with their writing piece. I feel if this is encouraged, they will in turn become more proud of their completed work.
Conferencing is a core principle that I value strongly. I feel that students should get adequate encouragement from their teacher on their written work. This is a time for teachers to encourage individual students and push them to their personal best. One on one time is extremely valuable to students, especially when it comes to their own writing. Their personal work is talked about and improved in just a short amount of time. When students' walk away from a teacher conference they should be enthused about their work and making it stronger.
In all, I feel students should have freedom in their writing, whole class brainstorming, guidance and examples from teachers, as well as one on one conferences with the students to make improve their writing skills as a whole.
Monday, September 17, 2012
Entry #2
Thinking back to Hicks (2009) and the three elements of framework for a digital writing workshop, I notice that a digital writing workshop could easily be implemented in the classroom I student taught in. All the necessary components were there, they were just not being used for a digital writing workshop. As Hicks says "Just because we have access to the tools does not mean that students are engaged in digital writing" (p. 127).
The school I was in was a rural district with about eighty students per grade level. Many of the students had not been outside of their local area before, therefore they had minimal exposure to other ways of living. Technology was present in almost every room, as there were at least 4 laptops per room and a couple classroom sets of ipods for teachers to share. Many, if not all of the rooms also had Smartboards that the students were familiar with. Although the technology was present in the classrooms, the students did not have much time to interact with the technology. In my experience the students had "computer time" for a half hour twice a week. This was not time to write or create using the technology, it was simply a time for the students to practice their typing skills. To me, this seemed almost pointless, because they were only retyping the sentences that appeared on the screen to complete the next level of the game. There was never a time that the students were able to type what they wanted, or something that pertained to them. This "computer time" was generally a negative in many students eyes. The "game" meant nothing to them, and was only a time waster as many of the students expressed to me. They wanted to be able to put the skills they had learned to use and type something with meaning to them. In my experience, the students were never given a time to be digital authors, which is disappointing that the computer time was not a productive time. From my readings over the years, I have learned that students learn best through realistic exposure and don't need explicit teaching for everything. I believe that students should be taught the basics of typing and technology explicitly and explore the rest through general use in context.
As far as writing topics for a digital writing workshop, as mentioned above, this was not present in my student teaching placement. This is something that should be implemented. Students should be exposed to various types of digital writing, such as Microsoft word, wikis, blogs and possibly even social media. Students should be taught the differences between each of the types of digital writing. One does not write a Word document the same as on a social media site, or even a blog. Students should also become readers of digital texts says Hicks (2009). When teaching students to read and write using digital technology they also need to be aware of copyright. This is a topic that should be explicitly taught and periodically reviewed. In my opinion it is much easier for students to "copy and paste" when using digital writing. Students should be informed of the reasons behind copyright (the author wants to claim what they have written as their own ideas) and the consequences for not respecting the copyright.
The space in which the students could have written for a digital workshop was laid out nicely. The computers were in groups on round tables with about five students to a table. This would have worked very nicely, as students could collaborate with each other. There was also enough space in the room that the students could move around and actually go sit with another classmate by their computer if need be. The only thing I would have added to the classroom was a board for the teacher to show students examples, or how to navigate around a new website. I feel it is much easier to show students as you are verbally explaining directions when it comes to technology, rather than to simply explain out loud.
Overall there is a lot I would change in the classroom that I student taught in to create a digital writing workshop. I think the students would have enjoyed the time in the computer lab much more than they were. I also feel the time would have been more productive, as the students would be producing work rather than copying what showed up on the screen, a mindless task for many of the students.
The school I was in was a rural district with about eighty students per grade level. Many of the students had not been outside of their local area before, therefore they had minimal exposure to other ways of living. Technology was present in almost every room, as there were at least 4 laptops per room and a couple classroom sets of ipods for teachers to share. Many, if not all of the rooms also had Smartboards that the students were familiar with. Although the technology was present in the classrooms, the students did not have much time to interact with the technology. In my experience the students had "computer time" for a half hour twice a week. This was not time to write or create using the technology, it was simply a time for the students to practice their typing skills. To me, this seemed almost pointless, because they were only retyping the sentences that appeared on the screen to complete the next level of the game. There was never a time that the students were able to type what they wanted, or something that pertained to them. This "computer time" was generally a negative in many students eyes. The "game" meant nothing to them, and was only a time waster as many of the students expressed to me. They wanted to be able to put the skills they had learned to use and type something with meaning to them. In my experience, the students were never given a time to be digital authors, which is disappointing that the computer time was not a productive time. From my readings over the years, I have learned that students learn best through realistic exposure and don't need explicit teaching for everything. I believe that students should be taught the basics of typing and technology explicitly and explore the rest through general use in context.
As far as writing topics for a digital writing workshop, as mentioned above, this was not present in my student teaching placement. This is something that should be implemented. Students should be exposed to various types of digital writing, such as Microsoft word, wikis, blogs and possibly even social media. Students should be taught the differences between each of the types of digital writing. One does not write a Word document the same as on a social media site, or even a blog. Students should also become readers of digital texts says Hicks (2009). When teaching students to read and write using digital technology they also need to be aware of copyright. This is a topic that should be explicitly taught and periodically reviewed. In my opinion it is much easier for students to "copy and paste" when using digital writing. Students should be informed of the reasons behind copyright (the author wants to claim what they have written as their own ideas) and the consequences for not respecting the copyright.
The space in which the students could have written for a digital workshop was laid out nicely. The computers were in groups on round tables with about five students to a table. This would have worked very nicely, as students could collaborate with each other. There was also enough space in the room that the students could move around and actually go sit with another classmate by their computer if need be. The only thing I would have added to the classroom was a board for the teacher to show students examples, or how to navigate around a new website. I feel it is much easier to show students as you are verbally explaining directions when it comes to technology, rather than to simply explain out loud.
Overall there is a lot I would change in the classroom that I student taught in to create a digital writing workshop. I think the students would have enjoyed the time in the computer lab much more than they were. I also feel the time would have been more productive, as the students would be producing work rather than copying what showed up on the screen, a mindless task for many of the students.
Wednesday, September 5, 2012
Entry #1
When thinking back to the writing activities and exercises I did with my fifth grade students, there are many core principles of writing that I value and believe are important for children as they write. First I feel that students should not be left to feel their way through a writing activity. I feel that directions such as format, audience, etc should be clear from the teacher. I feel that brainstorming as a class is a great way to get ideas flowing. I believe planning as a class builds students' confidence in their writing. Students write very differently if they are writing for a journal entry compared towriting for the principal as I found with my fifth grade class. Although students need to be guided there must be room for them to show their own individuality. Whether it be their own opinion or the viewpoint they would like to write from. In order for the students to feel confident, I believe students must also have adequate time to complete their written pieces. This can be time in class as well as adequate time to complete the assignment out of school. Conferencing is a core principle that I value strongly. I feel that students should get adequate encouragement from their teacher on their written work.
...... TO BE CONTINUED
...... TO BE CONTINUED
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