Teach and Support Students continued...
Chapters 22-32
There are so many insightful ideas and thoughts throughout this book that I am having a hard time limiting my comments and letting you all say what is important to you. It has been interesting reading your comments. I find myself responding to you as I read your blog. I'll say, "That's right. That's exactly what I thought too!" or "I didn't think about it like that, but it makes so much sense."
Throughout this book I am noticing the prevalence of two words: modeling and support. As Burke so often points out, these two important words apply to all aspects of learning.
"Improvement in any domain-singing, skiing, writing-requires guidance and support as the individual masters the skills and, over time, the craft they are learning." However, "we can have five large classes and just barely enough time to get to the bathroom or steal a quick drink of water." (page 117) I have always scheduled writing conferences with my students, but I had never thought of giving students my email address for them to send me their writing. (Duh!) Great idea! That would have allowed me time to get that much needed drink of water. I am also eager to use the "Quotations Clarified handout" on page 129.
What are you thinking?
7 comments:
Chapters 22-32
Reading Reflection: Chapter 28
Jim Burke hit the nail on the head with the instructional approaches for special needs. Many may have average or above average IQ's. When you see them out and about with their friends, but when you present them with reading and writing assignments, the differences are clear. Many of these students have "rule "aversion." They don't comprehend and retain rules. Writing is full of rules, so these students often feel defeated before they get started. The instructional approaches in chapter 28 build confidence, help them with organization, and provide them with a little comfort as they work on their assignments.
Reading 3 – Chapters 22-32
“Good writing is built, not born; it requires time, but not talent” (Burke, p. 107). I definitely don’t agree. Creative writing takes imagination, talent and natural ability. I do agree that “good writing is an act of discovery that takes time” (p.107). Many students don’t understand how much blood, sweat & tears goes into the process of good writing. The computer has blessed & cursed us in the writing process with “cut & paste”and excessive information; much of it unreliable. Many students don’t see the importance of original writing or how to avoid plagiarism.
“Of that eternal teacher problem: time, and the difference between what we should do and what we can” do begins the first day of school and ends with the final exam as far as I’m concerned. Don’t see an end to this until retirement.
The dilemma of beginning and ending a paper is another topic that caught my attention. In class, we will brainstorm on the overhead or board with ideas for beginning papers to avoid “I am going to tell you about…”:-0 Students may then select a brainstormed idea and develop it into an introduction. For example, when writing our Political Party position paper, ideas often include: history of pp, influential R/D leaders, recent current events and political decisions/positions, etc. Students then have no excuse for not being “original” in their intro.
I thought that some of Burke’s text could have been consolidated, such as chapters 24 “Make Yourself Available…” & 27 “Support Struggling Writers.” Did I put that period in the write/rite/right place????? Now that’s information that I could use.
...Dante needed Virgil to show him the way through Hell... (p. 117)
Yeah, sometimes I think getting through a writing project can be like this... And I probably do because I feel there are so many areas to focus on that it seems overwhelming. And I KNOW I can tell myself to focus on one thing at a time and just build up...gah. it's still overwhelming. P. 122-123 gave me some way to pick out bits to focus on, but...well, still...
My other big problem is that once I finish a writing project, I fail to follow through with the assessment after the assessment, so to speak. Once it's in and grade and handed back, I am so ready to move on that I don't always go back. but I just can't seem to make myself--the dead horse image comes to mind. (
But, I can resolve to try one or two baby steps to improve in concentrated areas.
One area that students often don’t value is process. The highest ability students believe their writing is flawless while the lowest ability students are just glad to have the assignment done. Process is an area that I would like to improve upon for next year. Burke addresses some key obstacles I have found in teaching writing: keeping student drafts, helping students begin writing, helping students to identify their own areas for improvement, helping students write independent of supervision and additional aid, and giving students feedback within a short timeframe. After this reading, here are some ideas I have for overcoming these struggles:
- Have students keep a writing folder in class per assignment. Previous drafts are stored here while the student keeps the last draft and the draft under revision. Even if student loses the last draft, there should be some form of the paper in the classroom to which to refer back. Perhaps also assign points for turning in the last draft with the newly revised draft.
- Have students keep individual logs of their individual revision/editing: this can reinforce the particular areas in which particular students struggle. Students can use these for self-revision/editing before meeting with a partner/teacher.
- Have students become aware of their individual learning styles and introduce brainstorming techniques that address these various styles. Students can learn to approach writing in ways that are most effective for them.
- Teach students my “feedback” system: teach how to read a rubric and what certain key words/phrases mean (for example, I use “limited” to signal under-developed, superficial AP essays). This can expedite how quickly I respond to and return work; it also helps students direct their own revision/editing efforts in my absence or until their individual writing conferences.
Blog #3 Chapters 22-32
Several of these chapters continued to provide teachers withninsights on valuable procedures and techniques that will creat the best possible writing enviorment for their studnets. I particularly liked the analogy in Chapter 26 "Prepare Students to Write" that compared sitting sown to write to the job of the painter. The gameplan going into a writing assignment and the mental preparation can be just as important as the actual act of writing. I liked the attention the author paid to struggling writers (Chapter 27) and also the support teachers must give to their students with special needs with regards to writing (Chapter 28). Finally, in Chapter 32 "use Computers to Improve Writing Instruction" gives teachers of writing a variety of ways they canuse computers to teach writing in the classroom.
Reminder 23: Develop Writers’ Capacity
I found this reminder particularly interesting since developing the “habits of mind” of writers is what I try to do in both advanced writing and creative writing (this is not to say that I shouldn’t do the same in other English classes). For the most part, I find myself employing many of the strategies Burke mentions, including training students to read as writers: to look for techniques they can steal from professional writers. But here’s the one thing I definitely do not do: incorporate the six traits of effective writing. In the future I will. It might prove helpful for students to read professional pieces from different genres and identify how they satisfy the six traits of good writing.
Reminders 27 and 28: Supporting Struggling Writers…Students with Special Needs
I struggle with this, especially when students make what I consider simple mistakes, such as not indenting paragraphs when they type or putting extra spaces in between every paragraph. Then they’ll ask, “Do you want this written in paragraphs?”—as if paragraphing and organization are optional in prose writing. Reading this reminder has reminded me that I need to deepen my patience. I should not assume that all students know the same “basic” things about writing, especially since a lot of struggling writers are also struggling readers. It’s not so surprising then that some of the small conventions of writing we pick up from reading are lost on students who read as little as they possibly can. Likewise, if they do not know how to fit together the bits of information they read into a comprehensive whole, then they will not know how to fit together their thoughts into comprehensive whole.
Reminder 30: Provide Timely and Useful Feedback to Student Writers
This is and has always been my biggest struggle. Part of the reason may be that I don’t ever remember receiving papers back from teachers in under a week, so I feel as if that is an acceptable amount of time in which to turn around a paper. Unfortunately, I often take much longer than a week, and though my students do not always seem to mind, I feel bad, and sometimes I can tell when I’m returning papers that whatever spark my students had when completing the assignment has gone out. But, I guess, to be fair to myself, I’m not bad with in-process feedback. I often stop and talk to students about what they’re writing, or students ask me to read their drafts and talk to them about what they’ve written. But commenting on the copies that they submit to me (not final drafts, after all) seems to take me forever.
After reading this reminder, I realize I need to use a more systematic approach. If use forms or stamps or use a color system that students will recognize, then I can move through a lot of papers quickly. I am particularly impressed by the idea of having students provide their own feedback. Doing that—having students read their papers for very specific strengths or weaknesses—would help me limit my own comments, which typically focus on one or two global issues—say, organization or voice—and one or two specific problems—say, sentence structure or wordiness.
Every semester, I tell myself that I will do a better job with providing timely feedback. Hopefully, with WRITING REMINDERS to help me, I will make a definite improvement in the fall.
Blog 3: Teach and Support Students (continued)
To me, one of the most important ideas in this section was the concept of allowing time for the writing process. As a teacher, I appreciate deadlines: I like being able to plan my schedule, and I think it’s important to teach students the importance of meeting a deadline. This section gave me a new perspective on allowing time to write, and I plan to re-visit some of my projects to allow for “before” activities and for revision. The process described on pages 109 and 110 can be applied to almost any assignment or project.
I particularly enjoyed the chapter called “Prepare Students to Write”. Most of the suggestions given, such as reading directions, having a rubric, modeling, clarifying, and discussing, I already incorporate into my instruction. However, I remember when I first began my teaching career I didn’t realize the importance of these preparations. I find that my students do their best when the expectations are very clear and they have an example to guide them – not one to just copy, but a guide.
One suggestion that I am having a hard time with is in Chapter 30. The suggestion is to limit feedback to only one or two aspects of a paper or assignment – in other words, to assign a grade based only on, for example, punctuation or something like that. Although I can see where that would make things easier for teachers, might it be confusing to students?
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