Building on your book club discussion from week 2, consider
Routman’s advice on teaching writing (e.g., integrating basic skiils,
organizing for daily writing and talking with students about their writing).
What types of expertise do you need to develop in order to follow her advice?
What professional dilemmas might you encounter if you attempted to follow her
advice in your teaching context? How might you attempt to ‘finesse’ or
‘hybridize’ your literacy instruction?
As I was reading
about basic skills in writing I realized if I want to start with the whole writing
and then use the writing to teach individual skills I would need to know how to
write without meeting a set of predetermined requirements. I have never written
just to write and make changes later. So if I expect my students to write whole
stories or thoughts without a set of rigid guidelines I must first figure out
how to do that on my own. Just as the
book says when you write to a set of standards you tend to lose voice in your
writing, as well as not having an audience in mind. So as I learn to write
without a set of guidelines in place I need to work on my voice which could be
developed if I kept an audience in mind.
I will also
need to learn how to integrate specific district requirements into “good writing”.
The example in the book is a California requirement to “write a good sentence”,
the author suggests pointing out a good sentence in the context of a full
writing. Thinking in those creative ways
will take time and practice.
A challenge
in the professional setting that could occur are ones that I could encounter if
I were to teach in the school district I am currently in. There are both
reading and writing programs that the district follows. The programs have each
day set up with what the teacher should be doing and what the students should
be doing.
One easy
way that I could think to hybridize a lesson in the classroom could be adding
an audience to the writing. Adding an audience really stuck out to me in this
book because I think it is generally a huge piece of writing. Anytime someone
is writing professionally there is an audience. The students in my class just
wrote about an emotion, but they were not asked to think about an audience.
Then after they wrote about an emotion they were told to add concrete phases
and sensory detail. For many of them this just meant adding one concrete phrase
and one sensory detail. I think if they were writing with an audience in mind
they would have added more concrete phrases and sensory details so that reading
their writing would have been more exciting. If their desired audience got to
read the writing then it would be even more purposeful.
Much like Elizabeth, I also would need to gain more expertise in having my students write first before I begin my teaching on specific problem areas that I notice in their writing in an effort to "reduce isolated skills work" (Routman 142). I do not consider myself as someone who struggles with just sitting down and writing, however this entire idea of not starting with the basic skills of writing is very different for me. I do not have a lot of experience of teaching writing on my own, but my experiences with learning writing in school have always began with isolated skills work and THEN time for writing. So, it will definitely take some time and effort for me to normalize this concept into my teaching. I completely agree with Routman that “our lessons should arise from what you see your kids doing, or not doing, in their writing,” so this is definitely something that I plan on enforcing in my classroom (Routman 143).
ReplyDeleteAlso, I would like to work on my use of direct modeling for my students during writing instruction. Just as Routman mentions on page 180, you cannot expect high-quality writing from students unless you model what it looks like for them. I do not have any practice in modeling my own personal writing process aloud to students, so I would definitely like to gain much more practice in doing so.
Going off of chapter seven’s discussion about word walls, I would also like to gain more of an understanding in this area. Routman talks about using word walls correctly, making word walls with students, and making your word wall flexible—these are all things that I would like to learn more about as a teacher. I have never made one on my own, so I would be interested in talking with my mentor teacher about his process of creating his word wall in the classroom. I do agree with Routman that word walls are such an important source for writing and other literacy based activities in the classroom, which is why I plan on learning more about them.
In terms of professional dilemmas, I agree with Elizabeth that it can definitely be challenging at times to practice Routman’s writing suggestions while also sticking with your school/district’s writing curriculum. However, I do agree with Routman’s claim that “if you focus only on teaching students how to write a complete sentence or paragraph, you frustrate yourself and shortchange the students…” (Routman 153). There are so many important pieces of good writing, and we cannot strictly focus on one or two at a time. As teachers, we need to help students see the ‘whole picture’ of writing in order for them to improve. So, I would suggest in this situation to hybridize instruction. Like the example on page 144, I would take each of my grade level standards and create monthly writing goals for my students. That way, I am both sticking to any standards/curriculum and following Routman’s suggestions.
To follow Routman’s advice I would need to learn how to teach explicitly and tell students why. From my personal experience I never knew why I did a lot of things in school and it left me not caring if I retained the information after a test or lesson. Routman said, “They (students) would be unlikely to transfer skills that had no broader meaning for them” (Routman, pg. 147). I feel like this is very true however some concepts would probably be hard to relate to the real world therefore that is something I need learn how to do. I feel like I would finesse or hybridize my instruction to include how it relates to the world or have the students tell me. I would make this a part of a daily goal so that students will always know why they are learning something. I’ve already started to do this in math because it is a common theme of “Why do we need to learn this” and I want to tell my students why so that it will become more valuable to them. Routman also talks about focusing on the quality of writing before editing. “Overattention to grammar and mechanics while composing adversely impacts writing” (Routman, pg. 160). I remember in school spending a lot more time on trying to spell a word than actually write. Too often my fourth graders are worried about the same thing. Instead they should be getting their ideas and thoughts down on that paper. In order to have my students pay closer attention to quality rather than grammar I would need to learn how to do so. Whether it’s finessing or hybridizing. I would need to build things into the curriculum such as a free write time or allowing the first few weeks to focus on quality and not grammar. That why I’m still meeting the standards, but I’m also taking in Routman’s advice.
ReplyDeleteThe problems that occur when trying to follow Routman’s advice is time and district/state standards just like Elizabeth mentioned. A lot of the time there is only enough time to teach what the district wants or there are programs that tell us what to do each day so it’s difficult to deviate from that. Relating back to last week however, we cannot just teach what we are told to teach because too often those people aren’t the ones that are faced with the day to day dilemmas like teachers are (Kersten & Pardo pg.146). With Routman’s advice there would be no other way to teach these ideas without the thought of finessing or hybridizing. As teachers we would have to find ways to integrate (finesse/hybridize) this into teaching the state/district standards so we meet everyone's needs.
I agree with Natalie that model is very important for students to see. I think teachers remember more often to model in math and science but forget to model in language arts. Like Natalie I agree with Routman that students need to see the “big picture” and I think a helpful way to do that is with displayed learning goals like Natalie suggested. I also agree with Whitney’s mention about the focus that students have on spelling and punctuation when they are writing. The students’ flow of writing is interrupted when they focus on how to spell a word or punctuation.
ReplyDeleteI thought Routman’s chapters gave some great advice on teaching writing, and made me consider how I want to grow personally as a writer, and as a teacher of writing. I feel that all three of you focused on Routman’s advice to focus on the “whole” picture, and I completely agree. Natalie mentioned the importance of modeling, and that is definitely an area I need to become more of an expert in. Throughout the chapters there were sections labeled “Teacher Talk”. The “Teacher Talk” incorporates modeling and explicitly teaching, just as you three all mentioned. Yet, it shows explicitly teaching without saying things such as, “Now we will work on organization skills”. I found these extremely helpful, and reflective to read. Language and the words we choose during writing instruction (and the whole school day for that matter) are huge. Simple changes in language such as, saying, “When you’re an author you get to choose the words. Let’s listen to the words the author uses” (Instead of “We’re going to learn about word choice” (Routman, p. 152). Teacher talk was also something that I can work on for conferencing with students. Routman gave helpful language to use during conferencing, especially with ELL students. Some examples were, “Tell me what this is about” and “Tell me what happened next” (p. 224). While I feel like many of us probably use parts of these language tips automatically, it is still something that we can constantly be aware of and working at. Routman had a good example on page 194, of how even presenting the writing activity in a different way, can make all the difference for the lesson. Instead of telling the students they would be writing a “multiparagraph, informational essay because it’s required for your district” (p. 194), she gave a more student friendly, engaging introduction. As I mentioned already, language is crucial and an area I need to work at to be successful in Routman’s writing techniques. Along with language and talking about writing, I feel it is extremely important to give students the purpose of their writing. Whitney mentioned how she often had no idea why she was completing something for school, resulting in her not caring as much about it. Along with purpose, Routman stressed audience. “Writing for a real audience (not just the teacher) is one of the best ways to get quality writing” (p. 145). With an audience, it can lead to celebration of student’s, which can lead to growing confidence and increased success at writing.
ReplyDeleteLike Whitney mentioned, my 4th graders are constantly worried about spelling too. Routman suggests focusing on editing after students can produce quality writing (p. 160). It is completely understandable why students cannot write freely if they are caught up on spelling; however, I also see the importance of raising expectations of spelling (p. 163). This is another area of expertise I need to grow confident in, and find the happy medium for. I see students in my class worrying about spelling, but then also see careless mistakes, where I know students know how to correctly spell that word. Routman and Natalie both mentioned Word Walls. I will be interested to learn more about my teacher’s word wall and how the words were selected. I know she mentioned this year she would like it to grow with the students helping, and have it incorporated to other subjects. As I looked through the math curriculum, I already saw that there is vocabulary given, and wondered if that was something we could explore (yet still have the students picking the words).
ReplyDeleteI agree with the professional dilemmas you all mentioned, mainly being that it’s hard to find the balance between meeting the standards and curriculum, while at the same time engaging in meaningful writing. I think Routman gave multiple ways to hybridize and teach writing. I agree with Elizabeth, that adding an audience could be huge. I also agree with Natalie, the major changes Routman gave on page 144 were extremely helpful in thinking how you could meet both needs. I think focusing on teaching the “whole” verses teaching specific days, you can hybridize and meet the needs of both. My mentor teachers are following the writing program at our school; however, they don’t strictly follow what is taught each day. They tailor to meet the needs of their students, make sure it’s engaging, and that they are including the topics. The teacher talk I mentioned earlier is another way I would include or change my lessons.
I don't know why it wouldn't let me submit that all in one comment :)