Chapter 12 Teach writing your way

I could identify with Don Murray's article because I too believe in writing with my students
and the importance of surprise and discovery. I have enjoyed the editors' margin notes
and their comment on page 186 that Don's idea of one assignment for an entire semester
may work better for older students. "Writing is rewriting" and there are many ways to
use this in the classroom. I find distance importance. If I put my own writing aside for awhile
and revisit it, I am more objective and can edit and revise more easily. I try to build this into
my class assignments, sometimes collecting drafts and letting them cool for a few days or weeks, returning them with suggestions or options, or asking students to share with other writers they trust. Asking students to take the same writing and drastically reduce or expand, or take another perspective or time, exploring the same piece in three different genres, works well, too. I particularly liked Sandra Cisneros' statement at the end, about allowing someone to see you in your PJ's and writing in that voice about what makes you different. So honest. When students write what matters to them, the real writing happens. I will be looking for his two other books (and was saddened at the mention of his passing). This is why I like anthologies. They serve as
introductions, like samples at a buffet.
I was amused in the introduction that the editors would point out the features of this book and how to read it. But I do find that the margin notes like hypertext links enable vital connections esp. when reading chapters in order of interest, which this book welcomes. So, when I read Tom Romano's Chapter 11, Teaching Writing from the Inside, he reinforced the idea of surprise and discovery, the need for writing to be as natural as "slipping on sandals" or "taking the canoe up the wilderness river. " I have listened to stories told by men who never graduated from high school and been captivated by their language and imagery, by their honesty. Everyone has a story and a voice. When Romano ends with the story of his father calling, it all fits perfectly.
He does practice what he promises. Writing what matters most engages students and provides
personal investment. I have students include "writer's comments" to provide insight into the
process. I have learned so much from these. I suppose they are similar to Harvey Daniels'
letter strategy in Chapter 9. I remember one student who wrote a poem about the perfect
day fishing with his father. There was nothing remarkable about it but in his comments he
wrote that this was fiction, that his father never spent time with him and that his neighbour
taught him how to ride a bike while his father drank beer and watched TV inside the house.
It was a very special poem. When Romano includes the poem his friend wrote, it parallels
the piece he wrote about his father. It is the calling for the dog, for the child, and the need
for patience, for listening, for seeing. It is writing from the heart that matters.

Chapter 15: Making It Matter Through the Power of Inquiry

Great chapter choice, Nat! I had something marked on every page.

Certainly the issue of flow is an important one. I first came upon this concept when I accessed Konrad Glogowski's presentation on the K-12 Conference last year (BTW, this is a free online conference. You can access the 2008 conference here). His presentation examined the use of blogs and wikis with students and how to assess and evaluate them. Anyway, the concept of flow wasn't new to me but I can certainly recognize when I am in the state of flow. I think that the reason that many students are disengaged is because they aren't experiencing that flow. When Wilhelm and Smith listed the 5 principles of flow experiences and one of them stood out for me.

Clear goals and immediate feedback was one that resonated with me. This really ties in with assessment for learning. We know that feedback is the most powerful tool in improving student achievement and student motivation. Yet, as teachers, we still over emphasize evaluation and assigning of a grade. I hear time and time again that students won't do the work if they don't get a mark. This certainly can be the case with students but how can we re-train them and us so that we have cycles of draft - feedback-revise-feedback - revise-.... where a grade is not in sight until it will be used as a summative assessment? That why I like the traits approach to teaching writing. There is an emphasis on examining models, lots of feedback on one trait at a time and time to take that feedback and make things better. This should create conditions of flow with student writers.

Inquiry is key to creating this flow. When I think about the times that I am experiencing flow it is most always when I am trying to find the answer to a question. I like the suggestion that the authors made of creating classes around essential inquiry questions and then answering those questions by engaging in a variety of texts. What if teachers built text sets based around essential questions (and this would include not only print but web-based texts). How can we integrate text messaging, video gaming and social networking as part of these texts sets? How can we move away from our dependence on literary fiction and move into real life texts - the texts that we encounter as adults over 90% of the time? I believe that inquiry-based classrooms provide the answers to these questions.

I think that one of the things that we have to be careful of is having too narrow a definition of what it means to be literate. When the authors talk about expanding our notions of what counts as text and meaningful reading and writing, I keep thinking about how our education system is narrowing the definition - i.e. success on the OSSLT. Does it mean that students are literate because they can write a news report and an opinion piece? Our students are communicating in a variety of ways - and the new ways of communicating require different skills sets than the old ways.

Bottom line, as the authors state on the last page, we need to..."build bridges from the literacies they have to the literacies they need". And I think that we can do that through the power of inquiry.

Chapter 15- Making It Matter

To begin, I like the idea of "flow" ("experiencing something so intensely that nothing else seems to matter") and I think this is what we're all trying to do with texts; get kids to be so engaged that they're at maximum learning potential. I know that I want to create a learning environment where everyone can experience "flow". (I think this is actually one of the reasons I decided to become a teacher- because when I was doing it I was so happy and involved that I lost all track of time...I was in the "flow"...so I knew if I could do this job that I loved, it would be a very good thing...and it still is!)

This chapter reminded me how important it is that all students, and especially boys, understand a clear purpose or at least why an activity/assignment has value. As we head into a new school year, I will be thinking about how to get the "buy-in" by showing students why experiencing texts is important.

I really liked the idea of developing inquiry units and reading different texts around a "common question". The premise sets a teacher up nicely as facilitator of motivated, self-directed learners. It also naturally allows students to seek out a variety of texts and collaborate as answers and approaches come together. I agree that inquiry units also provide the opportunity to combine skills to be taught (essay writing, grammar, theme) thus saving time and maximizing similarity to real-life applications as skills are used in sets rather than in isolation.

Following Sharon's current focus on revamping our texts, this chapter also encourages us to "widen our notion of texts" and consider what may be captivating- fantasy, mystery, magazines, graphic novel, etc. Most importantly, we need to select texts that utilize pre-existing schema or interest or expertise so that kids feel successful while they explore and make meaning.

It's common sense but a good reminder: "Who enjoys feeling dumb all the time?" We need to ensure that our lessons follow Wilhelm's five M's of promoting competence: "model, mentor, monitor, and provide multiple modalities and measures". Reflecting on my own practice, I know I can always push myself further to ensure that every kid is feeling like a success in English. I need to start checking for that "correspondence concept" at the end of each semester so that I can check that my students are progressing towards becoming competent readers and learners.

I'm sure that many of the boys I teach at Century have a "damaged learner identity" and that, oftentimes, our English teachers (including myself) need to do quite a bit of repair work and building up of their self-esteem as learners. Our kids need to have a "virtual identity" as a reader, researcher, analyst, etc. so that they can "build the bridge" to success with increasingly difficult texts.

Overall, I'm finding that the timing of this book study is perfect as I'm considering this text as I plan for September.

:)
Natalie

Flying Blind

This chapter resonated deeply with me. In my current position in alternative education I am both a teacher and an on-site administrator, and in this capacity I spend a lot of time talking with student one-on-one addressing numerous issues. I have had the experience Chris Crutcher writes of -- a deeply troubled teenager who fondly recalls his grade three teacher. Their relationship is so strong, they meet periodically over coffee. When my student speaks of his former teacher, he glows. It is one of the few positive and deeply meaningful relationships he has, and it clearly speaks to the connections that are possible.

Crutcher's inclusion of stats. on page 16 -- one in three girls sexually mistreated, etc. -- is so powerful in illustrating every teachers role in working with adolescents facing huge challenges and makes us realize how critical our relationship with all our students can be. The potential there is very exciting and for many, the reason they were drawn to becoming educators -- it's the possibility to make a positive difference in people's lives. I have learned you will be remarkably successful with some, less so with others, but you never stop trying. His statement that real education consists of "response, expression, relationship" makes me think of the character development program we are currently building in our board. As the character development teacher in my program, I plan on sharing this article with my colleagues.

turning promise into practice

I thought about the subtitle of the book for some time especially as I have time to read
books for leisure during the summer. I want my students to feel the same eagerness
and excitement that I do when I get to read a novel I have been saving. I want them to enjoy my class and the material we discuss. Lit. circles are vital. One novel for everyone just doesn't do it. I do like an anthology text that offers short stories, plays and poems for grade levels because there is nothing as frustrating as students announcing that they have encountered the same material last year. It gets tiring trying to find appropriate material for various classes.
An anthology does allow students to select a range of reading material for group work without
controversy. A good anthology provides a mix of themes and contemporary pieces. I have often
researched an author and read more, after encounters in anthologies. They are good introductions to finding writers that provoke interest.

Great Start to Our Discussion

I think we have made a great start to our online book discussion! We'll move on and Dorothy can join us when she can. Why don't we move on and see if we can do 2 chapters next week.

Natalie, why don't you choose a chapter and Darina, you choose one. Post the chapters that you chose in the comment section of this post and then we'll aim for responses for both chapters by the end of next week.

Looking forward to our next readings!

P.S. To upload an image, just click on the picture icon above. If you have an image saved on your computer or have one that you want to use from the 'net, you can upload it in about 5 seconds.

Introductory Chapter

One thing that caught my eye while reading the introduction is that the organization of the book reflects its philosophical stance that literary instruction and development is not subject specific -- accordingly, no chapter focuses on a single content area. As the editor notes, "In the same way that we want learners reading a variety of texts to synthisize information, we want you to do the same." I like how they are modelling the process that we would apply in our classrooms. To me, it suggests a well-considered and thoughtful approach to creating this anthology, one with a clear philosophical direction, and it bodes well for the chapters/articles to come.

Secondly, in a letter sent to contributing authors, the editors note that jobs in the very near future (one can argue, now, in fact) require a skill set that includes "creating, synthesizing, and evaluating." They go on to state that individuals who hold such skills possess "ingenuity, imagination, and empathy... take risks and work cooperatively." This passage reminds me very much of statements found in the Ontario curriculum, particularly for the elementary panel. Strateiges like portfolios and cooperative learning and cross curriculum activities seem to be more the norm in grammar school, but as students move to the secondary panel, many of the strategies that develop and encourage the skill set noted above seem to vanish. I hope that the chapters to come support or demonstrate the successful integration of various strategies that secondary school teachers can explore with their classes.

Finally, reflecting on Sharon's posting, there are many different theories in the great field of literary criticism, and many different approaches to understanding a text. In fact, some theories question the definition of what a text is -- novel, short story, poem, menu, road map, newspaper, etc. What is deeply exciting now is the possibilities of differentiated instruction along with the introduction of differntiated texts. I hope at least one chapter explores these possibilities.