Writing Instruction

Writing Instruction

Synthesis:

Hinchman & Sheridan-Thomas Chapter 9

Students don’t often get the chance to participate in class in writing full texts, and when they do it is usually in response to someone else’s writing. This can devalue students’ identities as writers. Choices that writers make are very important; they choose what themes to bring out, and which ones not to. This choice brings forth specific messages that are deemed important. Writing is thinking. This is one of the most significant points of this chapter. People write for many reasons, but writing is above all a thinking process that helps people to express themselves clearly. Students must be allowed to be responsible for their own thinking; in order to do this, they must be given the freedom of choice. Writers work focuses around thinking, and so they work with larger chunks of meaning that have specific purposes and audiences. When students truly revise, not just correcting spelling mistakes and grammatical errors, they must work towards these ideas to make their meaning clear. Another point is that teachers need to know their students and what their students’ writing experiences are. Many students participate in writing outside of the classroom, and these experiences can have just as much impact on student writers as writing that is taught in schools. Students need to write for a variety of purposes. The ultimate goals are that students are college and career ready. This chapter talks about using writing to think, and writing to get points across. Students must learn to use writing in order to harness their thinking. One way to do this is to keep a writer’s notebook. These are used to document their thinking and to serve as a way to come back and build on compositions. Students need time to write in class every day.  

Hansen and Kissel

This text focuses greatly on student choice. It argues that students should be given opportunities to experiment with both content and drama. The studies find that students who were given choice in writing were more willing to take on teacher led or mandated testing curriculum later on. Students need to think of themselves as writers; this means that they need to be given opportunities to write for authentic and varied audiences. In many school settings, the teacher becomes the only audience and this does not lend itself to genuine writing opportunities. For many students, their first audiences besides their teacher include their peers. Students need to feel like their voices matter, and then they need to be given the tools in order to successfully communicate their ideas. This chapter talked about having students writes about issues that affect their community, in a way that the community would have access to their thoughts through the students writing about the issues. To be a writer, it is also important that students be readers. Reading and writing are very closely related, and students who read more are more likely to recognize and more easily learn good writing skills. The research revealed that the impact of students from low socioeconomic background not reading was more significant than reading was for students from high socioeconomic backgrounds. This is because the latter students have more access to resources and experiences that would make them good writers, besides reading. However, reading is important for overall academic success. Different backgrounds must be valued in all classrooms, and teachers that come from different backgrounds from the majority of their students need to be extra careful in their approaches.

Sweeny

This chapter focuses on new literacies. There are many new forms of technology that are considered forms of literacy. Students today are very experienced in using these technologies, and are even aware that you need to vary your usage when dealing with different audiences. However, they might need some guidance when it comes to using these technologies for school work. These literacies are very relevant to students because they use them often in their everyday lives. Also, these literacies make the idea of audience very clear because the teacher is no longer the sole person reading their work.

Response:

Text to Text: These texts relate to other texts we have read because they emphasize the importance of getting to know our students and that direct, explicit instruction is crucial to adolescent learning. The purpose and intended audience of the text have also been addressed in the texts we have read about addressing disciplinary texts.

Text to Self: As a secondary ELA teacher, I found these readings to be very relevant. There are lots of ideas that I would like to start in my own classroom, especially student notebooks and having them keep track of the different ways they compose in their own lives. I admit that I am nervous and intimidated about the idea of community projects but hope to learn more about them and to practically put one in place at some point.

Text to World: As technology changes, the meaning of writing becomes even more broad. We need to help students understand that their thinking matters and to help them find effective ways to express themselves. People need to know that their ideas have worth, no matter where they come from.

Questions:

1. What are some strategies for writing instruction that you use in your own classroom (at any level)

2.  How have you used or would you use different technologies while teaching writing instruction?

3. I am a little bit intimidated by the community projects…thoughts?  Have you tried any community type projects?