Week 2: Lost in the Process
The readings this week were frustrating me for multiple reasons. After carefully reading each chapter and taking notes, I did not feel any closer to any pedagogical strategies for teaching writing. The entire subject felt intangible, but I will attempt to articulate some important topics that are worth discussing.
Andrews and Smith
I have a much better understanding of what is problematic about teaching writing because of these chapters. In class we also touched on this topic. It seems that because of new standards and requirements, and because of the emphasis on the writing process, writing is used more as an assessment tool than a skill worth developing. There is a "writing process" that seems to dominate most classrooms that involves in some way pre-writing, writing, and re-writing. The book suggests that this short-term development is less-than-useful because it really narrows the scope of how writing and writers can evolve over time.
This concept of developing writers is incredibly valuable. Considering the rapid growth of the digital world of our students, writing development should be happening in our classrooms in the shape of instruction that considers purpose, audience, and growth. I was able to draw a connection between writing instruction and Understanding by Design. Chapter four suggested that meaningful writing instruction can happen by starting with a rubric and working backwards. This seems more purposeful, however, there are many more aspects of writing development.
I was also interested by the emphasis of development on individual levels. This makes writing instruction seem so much more complex and impossible in a public school classroom, however it seems relevant. How can we isolate our individual students' writing processes and hone in on their personal instructional needs?
Winn and Johnson
It is at this point that culturally relevant pedagogy comes into play. The more relevant (and not "prove-to-me-that-you-know-something) writing is to our students, the more they will be affected and invested by their own writing. They might be more willing to develop as writers if they are benefiting on many levels from this development. For my last question: How can we find balance in necessary writing skills (like grammar and Standard English) and culturally relevant instruction in our classrooms?
I thought this website was a pretty cool resource that combines digital writing and creative development. The teacher starts a story, and the students take turns adding and changing the story as it goes on. The teacher initially selects the length of the story, and there is an option to publish the story once it is completed. The students are also able to vote on their favorite contributions and endings. It is called http://www.boomwriter.com/home/schools/
Sara,
ReplyDeleteI definitely agree with you regarding the frustration over the lack of new ideas and teaching strategies in the readings this week. I feel like a lot of what we’ve covered in all of our course is just repeated, and I’m excited to actually get to put this stuff into effect.
You mention Understanding by Design and how it may fit with the rubric/backwards progress model proposed by Andrews and Smith, then you go on to say that there are many aspects of writing that they are overlooking. What are some of those processes? I agree with you; I’m just wondering what specifically you had in mind when writing that response. I also understand your concern about the importance of individualization in the writing process and struggling to balance that with the fact that we will likely have 30 students and 50 minutes each day. I don’t have any answers on that, just wanted to let you know that you aren’t alone in your concern.
Regarding your question on balancing “standard” American English with culturally relevant pedagogy: I don’t think they have to be mutually exclusive. I think calling attention to the fact that if the students want to be taken seriously by the dominant culture, who unfortunately has a stranglehold on the academic, scholarly, and business worlds, they will need to be proficient in “standard” American English. Addressing this fact is pretty vital for a culturally relevant classroom, I think. Also, if you help the students gain access to “standard” American English, they will be able to use it as a means of infiltration, entering the dominant world and subverting it from within.
Nikki.
Developing Writers!
ReplyDeleteThis is a tricky statement to make. I feel as though I have yet to grasp this concept. I'm still working on my own pedagogy in how will I develop writers within the space that I create. The Backwards design that is mentioned in other learning space that we are in is troubling in itself. This Design is saying that we should create a rubric, before we create a rubric of our students. Shouldn't we focus on that as well. Is the importance of developing writers that they meet the criteria for grading purposes or writing purposes? That is what I have been asking myself as I constanly create rubrics based on students testing score, which is troubling in its own right.