Final Reflection

I have learned a great deal from reading Tompkins (2019) and Hicks (2013) over the course of this semester. I was eager at the start of the semester to dig deeper into the multiple genres of writing, and the types of digital media that are available now. Tompkins (2019) allowed me to dig deeper into the multiple genres of writing. Hicks (2013) allowed me to discover the types of digital media that are available now.

Over the course of this semester, I have learned about eight different genres of writing:  journal writing, narrative writing, poetry writing, nonfiction writing, biographical writing, argumentative writing, descriptive writing, and letter writing. I was excited to get started learning about the different types of genres that we teach students in school. I was excited when I was assigned to the narrative writing genre for my genre expert project. When I was student teaching, I was teaching about the character, plot, and theme, but I did not know the connection between what I was teaching and the narrative writing genre. I now know after reading Tompkins (2019) that why I was teaching about characters, plot and theme, was to create building blocks for what students need to include in their writing to make a good narrative writing piece. Now that I have the knowledge that I have learned from Tompkins (2019), I am better equipped to teach the narrative writing genre. I have strategies to use to teach the genre, in a way that students will be able to understanding and later transfer what they have learned.

Hicks (2013) discusses five different types of digital writing: crafting web texts, crafting presentations, crafting audio texts, crafting video texts, and crafting social media. This whole concept of digital writing is fairly new to me. I have always been very excited about the use of technology and integrating it into multiple stages of instruction. Before, I was only going off of what I have observed in classrooms that I have previously been in. Now that I have had the opportunity to read Hicks (2013) book about crafting digital texts, I have a wider range of tools to use that incorporate technology into instruction. Out of the five types of digital writing the one that I feel I have learned the most about and will be able to use in the future is crafting audio texts. I loved learning about the multiple ways to use audio texts such as podcasts. I have learned to love podcasts more than I ever thought possible. I have begun listening to podcasts daily because of what I learned from Hicks (2013). Podcasts can be incredibly powerful, stimulating, and thought-provoking!

In general, I would not consider myself a master in any of these genres or digital writing so I would have to say most of them still intimidate me to some extent. I do not think I will fully be comfortable with any of them until I have the opportunity to teach them, and begin mastering my instruction around the genres and digital writing. I am aware that I still am not 100% confident with all of the genres of reading and writing, and the multiple types of digital writing. I believe knowing this will make me a better teacher in the future.

References

Hicks, T. (2013).  Crafting digital writing.  Portsmouth, NH:  Heinemann.

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

Student Learning Outcomes - Reflection

I remember thinking back before this class even begun. I was excited by the title of the class, “Reading Improvement Through Written Expression”. I knew that in my Literacy Specialist program there was not a specific class that we were required to take that was mainly focused around writing. So, when I discovered that I would be taking LTED 618 to fulfill one of my elective requirements for my program, I was excited to explore the connection between the reading and writing processes.

There are six student learning outcomes that were presented to myself and my classmates at the beginning of the semester. At the end of the semester, we were to have gained knowledge and competency to these six learning outcomes. The six student learning outcomes are:

1. The variety of genres that readers and writers use to communicate, including digital and traditional print formats
2. The role of purpose and audience in writing and reading that the elements of author’s craft used to address the desired purpose(s) and audience(s)
3. The cognitive processes and strategies of reading and writing, including the composition strategies used in crafting digital compositions
4. The between the writing and reading processes
5. The role of metacognition in writing proficiency and reading comprehension
6. The role of assessment and evaluation in determining student writing proficiency and strategic reading comprehension

Writing these blogs is one of the ways that I have achieved the student learning outcomes. Each of the student learning outcomes that address digital formats or compositions, was achieved through writing this blog. I was asked to write weekly blogs about a variety of topics. All of the blogs addressed a variety of genres, elements of author’s craft, and required metacognitive processes. We were also, often asked to read our peer's blogs. When I read my peer's blogs I often spoke with them and provided them feedback on their blog. I learned how to communicate with them, and provide them with effective feedback that they could use to improve or enhance their writing.

When reviewing the student learning outcomes one thing that I did notice that was missing was the use of research in our writing or discussions around the reading and writing processes. Both of the textbooks we were assigned for this course provide a wealth of knowledge. I have learned a great deal from both Hicks (2013) and Tompkins (2019). What I have learned through them have a great influence on how I will run reading and writing in my future classroom. I will use what I have learned from Tompkins (2019) and Hicks (2013), in my future classroom.

As this semester is coming to a close, and I have had time to reflect on the class and what I have learned. The student learning objectives have helped me reflect on what I have learned, and also reinforced what I may still need to spend more time learning about.

References

Hicks, T. (2013).  Crafting digital writing.  Portsmouth, NH:  Heinemann.

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

It's time to "Bless, Address, or Press" Denise!

For me, it is still a little weird to write a blog post based off of someone else blog. But, I am always up for a challenge, and this type of blog posting pushed me out of my comfort zone, bring it one!

I love Hicks’ (2013) quote, “To bless is to simply offer praise. To address means to ask specific questions about the ideas. To press is to ask critical questions in order to help the writer move towards a stronger version or the writing or a clearer explanation of his/her opinion.” (p.83) This quote helps me as a peer give feedback to my fellow classmates and friends on their writing in a way that they will be able to take something away from my response, and I will be able to learn how to become more critical and reflective while reviewing others work. During the last blog where we were asked to “Bless, Address, or Press” one of our peer's blogs, I wrote using one of Catherine’s blogs. This week I will be diving into one of Denise’s recent blog postings titled: “Entry #9: The Power of Descriptive Writing”. I look forward to “Bless, Address, or Press” different aspects of her blog.

Press

While reading Denise’s blog on descriptive writing, she began her second paragraph by stating that she loved Tompkins’ (2019) chapter on descriptive writing. Denise then went on to share the five different techniques that Tompkins discussed in the chapter that help the writers move from simply telling their writing to showing their writing. (Tompkins, 2019) These five techniques include: “adding specific information, choosing words carefully, creating sensory images, using figurative language and writing dialogue (p. 136). While I love the way that Denise introduced this paragraph, I would have liked her to expand on one or more of the five techniques in a personal connection to the chapter. I think by expanding on one or more of the techniques, this section of her writing piece could have added to the strength it already had!

Address

I love the way that Denise started off this blog post. It was very personal. It takes courage and guts to write about yourself as a younger student, especially if it wasn’t always rainbows and butterflies. Denise wrote about how writing was difficult for her, how she felts like she was lousy at it. When Denise learned about descriptive writing she assumed that her reader would automatically be able to paint a picture in their heads about what she was talking about. Now as an adult she knows that the reader doesn’t always get it right away. My question for Denise would be, how will you help students who were just like you in school? How will you help students develop an understanding and love for writing?

Bless

I think it’s important to end on a good note, and that is why I have left the bless portion of this response to the very end. Denise is a great writer! I love the enhancements that Denise has made to her blog, they really add to the overall presentation of her blog. I enjoy the pictures, and how they flow with her writing! You rock Denise, keep up the great work!

References

Hicks, T. (2013).  Crafting digital writing.  Portsmouth, NH:  Heinemann.

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

Genre Pieces Project Thoughts

At the start of this semester, we read Tompkins’ (2019) chapter on the writing process, where I was more formally introduced to the stages of the writing process. I was familiar with writing workshop because of my previous experience in schools. There were times when I was observing in some classrooms where the teacher had the stages of the writing process posted on a clip chart where students would put there clip on whichever stage of the writing process they were currently in. However, I cannot recall learning the 5 stages of the writing process or using all of the stages of the writing process during writing while growing up. What I mostly remember from writing at a young age is writing a piece from start to finish, and then drawing a picture that went along with writing. I do not recall ever going back to the first copy and going through all of the stages of the writing process.

The genre pieces project has challenged me greatly. I have loved being able to write about a topic that is of high interest to me, that aspect of the project has made this project much more enjoyable. I decided to have my topic be about the Girl Scouts of America Organization. I have such a strong passion and love for the organization, which is why it is the perfect topic for me to take time diving in deep with on three different genres pieces. I have been able to create three different pieces, all of which have a unique voice, purpose, and primary audience.

While I have been having a lot of fun with this project, it has really challenged me as a writer in several different ways. Like I talked about earlier, when writing I typically just dive right into the piece, I typically skip over the prewriting stage because I get so excited to start writing. I don’t normally just take the time to think about the topic and write down everything and anything that comes to mind. Now, I have learned to take time to consider the topic I am writing about while I organize my ideas. I now consider the potential audience who might be reading my piece and my purpose for the piece. The last step in the prewriting stage that I never considered was deciding on the appropriate genre for my piece. Now, that I have learned all through Tompkins (2019) the importance of the prewriting stage, I make sure to take time during this stage.

The other two stages that Tompkins’ (2019), which I typically neglect, is the editing and revising stages. Typically, I complete a writing piece or a writing assignment, run the piece through spell check and a program called Grammarly, and then I am done with the writing piece. I am ashamed of even admitting this, but I don’t always reread my writing pieces. I simply use spell check and leave it at that. Now that it is a requirement to show proof of all stages of the writing process, I have been challenged to engage with each of the stages. It has pushed me to become a better writer. I am grateful for the challenge this project has given me.

References

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

"Genre Expert" Workshop Presentation

Over the past few weeks, I have been working on my genre expert workshop presentation. The genre I was assigned was narrative reading and writing. Initially, when I was thinking about this project, I really wanted to do my presentation on letter writing. I love writing letters and receiving letters from others. My boyfriend and I write letters to each other very frequently. Even though we see each other several times a week, we still enjoy writing letters to one another because it helps us reflect on our relationship and work on our writing skills. When I was assigned to do my project on narrative writing and reading, I had to stop and think about what experiences I have had with narrative reading and writing. There are only a few experiences from my experience during undergrad that I can recall involving students and narrative writing. The first experience was in a second-grade classroom, the kids were writing personal narratives like crazy. They were not really taking time to go through the writing process. I also did not notice that the teacher was teaching the different structural elements that I learned about while reading the chapter about narrative writing in Tompkins (2019).  When students are explicitly taught about the structural elements of narrative writing they will develop into better writers.

Tompkins (2019) discusses the five story structures that a writer uses are plot, setting, characters, theme, and point of view. For my presentation, I initially was not sure how I should approach the genre presentation. There was so much that I read and learned about this genre, I wasn’t sure what to focus on. When I reread the chapter on narrative writing, Tompkins (2019) said, “Often character is the most important element because the experience the author creates for readers is centered on a character or group of characters.” (p. 176) I decided to focus on character development for my genre expert workshop presentation. I had so many ideas running through my head when I made this decision. I began my research looking through the Reading Teacher journals and found several supporting articles, which support my thinking, and validates what Tompkins (2019) discusses in the chapter on narrative writing.

I am very proud of the work I have put into my presentation for Monday. I thought through each of the slides I created making sure that I will only use the slides as a tool and not to read directly off of. Knowing myself, I needed to include a few amounts of details into the presentation or else I would sit a read directly off of the board. I also took a lot of time to find an excellent read-aloud book to use for part of my presentation. I also found a lot of additional picture books that have strong characters that will aid in my presentation when it is time for independent practice. I really hope that my presentation goes over well. I get extremely nervous presenting in front of people. Even though I am friends with all of the people in our class, and I know they will not judge me for my work. They are always so encouraging and supportive of me. However, I still get very anxious about presenting in front of people. I am excited to see how the presentation goes over on Monday!

References

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