Entry 6

Dear Dr. Jones,

I was a little nervous coming into the class. I love writing, I love engaging in the writing process, and I love teaching writing to students. However, I get VERY nervous knowing people are going to read my writing. I do not like to be vulnerable with my writing. I enjoy writing letters to my boyfriend or writing in my journal, but that is because those writing pieces stay private, I am not sharing them with a whole bunch of people. However, I was excited to begin this class because you were a familiar professor to me, I have a pretty good understanding of your expectations and what a class with you would look like. I previously had heard what some of the assignments were going to be, and I was fairly excited for the creative freedom we were going to be given. I loved the idea of writing with some freedom, and not writing a research paper. I am surprised we spend a good chunk of class time working in a writer’s workshop. I am grateful for the time; however, it was not what I was expecting.

The habits of mind discussed by the Council of Writing Program Administrators, National Council of Teachers of English, & National Writing Project. (2011) is a relatively new concept to me. After reading this journal article I took a step back and really thought about which habits of mind I am strong in, and which habits of mind I am still developing in. I wrote in a previous blog that I am still developing my flexibility and persistence with writing and reading and I would still agree with this. I said in blog 4 that, “I need to commit to the writing piece and follow through. I also need to take time to focus on the conventions of my writing piece and not neglect my work.” While I know that I am slowly but surely making small strides to becoming better at these two habits of mind, I know that I need to continue to work on them.

Writing workshop is a somewhat new idea for me. I know about the Daily 5 for reader’s workshop, but writer’s workshop was not something that I was too familiar with before diving deeper into Tompkins’ (2019) work where he discussed all aspects of writer’s workshop in detail. Tompkins (2019) share the four components in the writing workshop: writing, sharing, interactive read-aloud, and mini lessons. Before reading the beginning few chapters of Tompkins book, I assumed that students simply engaged with writing independently and asked for support when they needed it. After reading Tompkins, I now know that there are many different elements that go into developing a well-structured writing workshop such as introducing the writing process, arranging the classroom, creating a community of writers, differentiated instruction, and incorporating technology. (Tompkins, 2019) I am incredibly grateful for being taught about writing workshop, it is something that I would love to incorporate into my future daily schedule as a classroom teacher.

I think right now I am just feeling a bit overwhelmed from being out last week and being kept very busy with funeral stuff that I am falling behind on my school work, not only in this class but in all of my classes. I am not sure what you can do to help me with this. All I do know is I that I need to use all of my time very wisely right now, so I do not fall even further behind and my work does not start slacking because that is not who I am. I look forward to starting the genre expert projects next week.

References

Council of Writing Program Administrators, National Council of Teachers of English, & National Writing Project. (2011). Framework for success in postsecondary writing. Retrieved from http://wpacouncil.org/framework

Tompkins, G.E., & Jones, P. D. (2019). Teaching writing: Balancing process and product (7th ed.). NY, NY: Pearson.

Entry 5

Providing feedback is a way to communicate between reader and writer. The reader is a fresh pair of eyes for the writer, they are able to provide an unbiased opinion of the writing piece, and give critical feedback that will help the writer make improvements to their writing piece. The writer is being a risk taker and asking for feedback on their writing. When given feedback from the reader, the writer must use their feedback to make improvements to their writing piece. Providing and receiving feedback plays an important role in writer’s craft. (Tompkins & Jones, 2019).

One of the six traits Tompkins & Jones (2019) discuss as part of writer’s craft is assessment. Tompkins & Jones says that teachers can assess students using these four different ways: student-teacher conferences, rubrics, scoring practice, and checklists. (Tompkins & Jones, 2019) While they state that teachers can use these to assess their students writing, I think students can use these to self-evaluate and when providing feedback for other writers. Each of these forms of assessing students writing can be used in multiple ways. Rather than teacher-student conferences, they can be used as student-student conferences. Students who are ready to share their writing with others can get together with other students who are also ready to share their writing, and give each other feedback on their writing pieces. While conferencing, students could use either rubrics or checklists to monitor their writing. By having access to these tools, writers are able to either help each other or self-evaluate their writing.  Rubrics help students know what the teacher is looking for in the final writing piece. Students have the expectations for the writing piece and are able to keep the expectations of their teachers in mind which writing. Checklists are awesome! Checklists help students monitor their writing; teachers can prepare checklists for different aspects of writing for students to focus on. I love the idea of having the use of checklists being a regular part of a writer’s workshop. The last form for assessing students writing that Tompkins & Jones (2019) discuss is scoring practice. I had an awesome experience with scoring practice. I was working with students on their RACE writing responses. The teacher wanted us to use a rubric to evaluate the responses. The kids were so incredibly critical of the writing samples. It turns out that the writing samples were writing pieces from kids in the class. This activity was eye opening to the students. Having students practice scoring writing responses can help become better writers!

Having all of these tools that students can use when evaluating writing is great, but the students need to be explicitly taught how to give feedback to their peers. (Philippakos, 2017) In order for students to be effective when giving feedback to their peers, students must know how to do it. It is up to the teacher to make sure that their students are prepared to be effective peer reviewers.

When I think about my future classroom, I love the idea of having time for students to collaborate, and work together on writing. Philippakos (2017) said, “Peer review is based on such reciprocity, and when peers receive the feedback of their reviewing partners, they can use it to improve their ideas and their work.” (p. 14) Peer reviewing has the capability to be a very powerful tool in the classroom, and it will be up to me to make sure that students and engaging in giving feedback to their peers.

References

Philippakos, Z. A. (2017). Giving feedback: Preparing students for peer review and self-evaluation. The Reading Teacher,71(1), 13-22.

Tompkins, G.E., & Jones, P. D. (2019). Teaching writing: Balancing process and product (7th ed.). NY, NY: Pearson.

Entry 4

Donald Graves (2004) states “Writing is, after all, a medium for learning to think” (p. 90). For me, writing has always been a way for me to reflect and clear my head. Writing helps me organize my thoughts about my day, reflect what I have learned and what I have read, and to think back on my experiences. I approach different genres of writing very different, and I have come to learn that through my experiences with writing. When I am engaging in reflective writing where I am the focus, I take time to stop, think and analyze whatever it is that I am writing about. By analyzing my thoughts I am able to work through difficult decisions, reflect on my emotions and where they are being driven from, and most importantly I am able to walk away from the writing knowing that my headspace is clearer because I took the time to stop, think, and analyze. Taking the time to stop, think, and analyze my thoughts is something that I do with ease, it is not something that is forced. On the other end of the spectrum is academic writing. If I am being honest, I do not enjoy most academic writing. Now, don’t get me wrong I have enjoyed writing several writing pieces over the course of my education, but often times, the only ones I enjoy writing about circle back to personal writing, often in the form of reflection. Other academic writing I do not take the time to question, and re-consider, imagine or discover. I am writing to get the assignment done. I am not taking the time to clarify, refine or synthesize what I write. More times that I’d like to admit I have written an assignment from start to finish, and I barely will look back over what I have written, I typically only look from spelling and grammar mistakes.  I think I am like this because when I am asked to complete an assignment and I do not find much personal gain from it, I do not put forth my best thinking or writing. This is 1000% something that I know I have to keep in mind when I am asking my students to read or write. It is so incredibly important for there to be a purpose.

I love reading, and I love writing. I love the statement that Kucer & Rhodes (1986) made when they stated “We believe too that reading and writing are interrelated processes and support the use of the counterpart lesson during literacy instruction.” (p. 187) Reading and writing are so connected, and I think that it is important to be mindful of that while planning our instruction. There are so many possibilities to make meaningful connections between the two, connections that can make students fall in love with reading and writing, and change their mindset around literacy. Have students engage in learning logs or simulated journals (Tompkins, 2019) after writing. Ask students to read other students work during a writer’s workshop block. There are endless ways to aid in students literacy development by asking them to take time to think while engaging in reading and writing.

I have never heard of “Habits of Mind” before reading the framework discussed by the Council of Writing Program Administrators, National Council of Teachers of English, & National Writing Project (2011) I have of course heard and am familiar with each of the habits discussed, but I never thought of them as a way to look at learning. (Council of Writing Program Administrators, National Council of Teachers of English, & National Writing Project, 2011) After taking a closer look at the eight different habits, along with their descriptions, I am noticing that in order to be fully engaged during writing I will have to change my flexibility and persistence with writing. I need to take time to make sure that my work is completed well and to its greatest capacity. I need to commit to the writing piece and follow through. I also need to take time to focus on the conventions of my writing piece and not neglect my work. If I am able to change these two “Habits of Mind” (Council of Writing Program Administrators, National Council of Teachers of English, & National Writing Project, 2011) then, I will be working towards becoming a better writer.

References

Council of Writing Program Administrators, National Council of Teachers of English, & National Writing Project. (2011). Framework for success in postsecondary writing. Retrieved from http://wpacouncil.org/framework

Kucer, S. B., & Rhodes, L. K. (1986). Counterpart strategies: Fine tuning language with language. The Reading Teacher,186-193.

Tompkins, G.E., & Jones, P. D. (2019). Teaching writing: Balancing process and product (7th ed.). NY, NY: Pearson.

Entry 3

There are six different types of journals that Tompkins (2008) discusses that children use for a range of purposes. The six different types of journals are “personal journals, dialogue journals, reading logs, learning logs, double-entry journals, simulated journals” (p. 102) While I think it is important that young children in primary grades are exposed to writing, and journal writing specifically, I think students in intermediate grade would benefit a great deal from using these different types of journal writing. I think that each of these types of journals can be beneficial to students in several different aspects of their learning. Simulated journals, as Tompkins  (2019) discussed students are able to make connections between content areas such as social studies. Students are also able to explore their creative side while still focusing on the mechanics behind writing and the content of the subject their writing about. Double-entry journals can be used to make predictions about a reading or an activity, and then, afterward reflect on what was read about or completed during the activity. Reading logs is an excellent tool for students to use to critically evaluate and reflect on what they are reading. Learning logs are a way to directly connect writing with content areas. Learning logs can be used to collect data or write down information that was learned during the content area subjects. My two favorite types of journal writing that I would love to use in my future classroom are personal journals and dialogue journals. I think it is incredibly important for students to have the chance to write in a personal journal different feelings and emotions they are feeling, and if they wanted to also write about what they were feeling and experiencing in life and have an adult respond to them in a dialogue journal, students would benefit from that type of conversation with a trusted adult.

Journal writing is something that I try and do every day; well nowadays it’s more like when I have the time. But still, journal writing is an activity that I find so incredibly therapeutic and love to engage in. I do not find journal writing to be a task, I find it to be an activity that allows me to explore my thoughts and find my creative side. Like Tompkins (2008) stated, I use journals for many reasons such as, “to record experiences, to explore ideas, to ask questions, to activate prior knowledge, to engage the imagination, to assume the role of another person, to solve problems.” (p. 102) I have a few different ways that I journal. I have one journal where I track different tasks for a month, I am not sure what type of journal it would fall under, maybe a combination of a personal journal, mixed with a log of some sorts. In this journal I decided what habits or tasks that I want to focus on, for example: eating healthy, working out, mindfulness, and emotions. I then, draw a box that represents a calendar for the month. At the end of the day, I take the time to fill out each box for that day and reflect on how that day went. At the end of the month, I am able to see how my month went with each habit or task I am trying to improve on. Another journal that I keep is a personal journal. I love reflecting on my life, and personal journal writing is a way for me to organize my thoughts, and critically reflect on multiple different aspects of my life. I often find myself using my personal journal writing when I have a lot going on in my life and need a way to channel everything that is filling my thoughts and distracting me. I also use it when I am experiencing high emotions and need to work through what I am feeling. For me, journal writing is a large part of my life.

References

Tompkins, G. (2008). Journal Writing. In Teaching writing: Balancing process and product (5th ed., pp.98-125). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall

Tompkins, G.E., & Jones, P. D. (2019). Teaching writing: Balancing process and product (7th ed.). NY, NY: Pearson.