Entry 12

Looking back at our course syllabus, I think that maintaining this blog journal has supported me in gaining knowledge and competency in each of the Student Learning Outcomes because each Outcome was addressed in our course content, texts, and learning activities, and this blog served as my outlet for reflecting on and clarifying my understanding of this material.  In the words of Tompkins (2012), “as they write, students shape their thinking and personalize their learning.  Because writing is such a powerful tool for thinking and learning, teachers incorporate journals into their instructional programs to nurture students' writing fluency and facilitate their learning in language arts and across the curriculum” (p. 108).  Also, even though we explored many of the digital writing tools that Hicks (2009) recommends throughout his text, I think that our continuous use of this blog over the course of the semester served as the most authentic learning experience with using a digital tool to authentically enhance the writing process.

I think that this blog did a great job of addressing a couple of Student Learning Outcomes in particular:

2. the role of purpose and audience in writing and reading and the rhetorical voices used to address the desired purpose(s) and audience(s)

Keeping this blog was a new experience for me because it was my first attempt at establishing an online writing identity.  As Hicks (2009) points out, “for purposes of the digital writing workshop, I consider blogs as a natural extension of the writer's notebook.  Blogs maintained by individual students who are sharing and getting feedback on their own writing allow them to set up their own online presence and give and receive feedback from classmates” (p. 29).  Aside from the occasional Facebook wall post, I have very limited experience with publishing my writing in online spaces with the purpose of having it read by an expanded audience.  I'm not sure if this is because I generally do not feel that my ideas warrant an audience or because of my trepidations about how anything one publishes online can potentially be misappropriated by others.  I found that in maintaining this journal, however, I became more comfortable sharing my ideas in a public forum, and I looked forward to having the members of our class read and respond to my writing. 

5. the role of metacognition in writing proficiency and reading comprehension

Writing in this blog was a great opportunity for me to push myself to think metacognitively about both my writing proficiency and my reading comprehension.  After reading in our course texts, it was helpful to have a place to go and write about my reactions to what I had read because there was not always time during our class sessions for this type of reflection on the course content.  Writing about my reading always seems to improve my comprehension of the author's messages as well as support the connections that I make between the text and my previous understandings (organizing new information into my schema).  I liked having the opportunity to “bless, address, or press” the ideas of my classmates because it challenged me to think about their thinking.  In regards to metacognition of my writing proficiency, this blog gave me a reason to write over time, and this collection of my writing served as a sort of portfolio to assess my writing development.

Something that I learned from keeping this blog that is not represented in the Student Learning Outcomes is that I need to work on making my learning through writing/writing about my learning more of a natural and automatic part of the way I approach reading.  I think that this type of writing activity is most meaningful if completed alongside reading rather than going back later and reflecting on what was read.  Actively writing in this blog was a skill that I worked on over the course of this semester.  

References

Hicks, T. (2009). The digital writing workshop. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.

Tompkins, G. E. (2012). Teaching writing: Balancing process and product (6^th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Merrill. 

Entry 11

As I reflect on our class genre exploration this semester, I am reminded of Hicks' (2009) discussion of formative and summative assessment.  During each of the Expert Presentations, I formatively assessed my understanding of and comfort level with reading and writing in each of the genres.  I also further explored the different genres through the genre pieces that I composed.  Now at the end of the semester, I am thinking more summatively; I am evaluating my overall learning about the genres and my development as a writer, which is illustrated through my Genre Pieces Project and portfolio.  At the start of this semester, I felt that while my educational career had provided me with the skills and experiences necessary to be proficient in reading and writing across the genres, I needed to re-learn the genres from an instructional standpoint so that I could begin to prepare for the writing workshop that I will have in my future classroom.  In addition to learning about instructional strategies and activities for using with my future students, I have enjoyed re-learning the genres as an adult and deepening my understandings and developing my skills as a writer.  Also, the opportunity to read books from the different genres during the Expert Presentations helped me to expand my own reading across the genres, gave me ideas for mentor texts to use in my future instruction, and further illustrated for me the importance of the connection between reading and writing.

Hicks' (2009) suggestions for designing and implementing a digital writing workshop combined with our in-class explorations of various digital writing tools has helped me to see the traditional writing genres through new eyes.  It is important for me as a teacher to become proficient with digital writing tools because they will play a large part in my students' writing process, and I will need to be constantly learning because there will always be new digital tools/literacies to incorporate into my literacy instruction.  Learning about collaborative word processors, and Google docs in particular, has helped me to grow as a writer this semester: Google docs enhanced and organized my drafting and revising processes for my Genre Pieces Project and made conferencing with writing group peers much easier.  I also found Google docs to be an extremely valuable collaborative writing tool as Keri and I assembled our presentations for this class.  This is definitely a tool that I plan on continuing to use for my personal and professional writing purposes.  Expository writing was a genre that I had plenty of experience with in school, but I tended to struggle with this genre because I lacked efficient methods for gathering and organizing information to be included in my writing.  After exploring the online options that Hicks (2009) suggests, such as RSS and social bookmarking, I feel better prepared to write in this genre.  With regards to personal writing, I had kept journals before for both academic and personal purposes, but I had never maintained an online journal in the form of a blog.  As someone who tends to over-revise/edit her writing, I struggled with this new journaling format because I did not feel comfortable posting an entry until I felt as though it was sufficiently polished for an expanded online audience.  

As I was exploring the poetry genre with Keri for our Expert Presentation, I realized that my understanding of the different forms of poetry was very limited.  I had never heard of many of the poem forms that Tompkins (2012) discusses, such as list poems, apology poems, “___ Is...” poems, and clerihews.   Persuasive and biographical writing were two genres that I felt comfortable reading and writing in, but that I felt I had the least formal knowledge about when it came to approaching these genres with my future students.  I will definitely hold on to the Expert Presentation packets for these genres because they have great suggestions for instructional activities that I was unfamiliar with, such as collaborative biography writing and the STOP/DARE approach to persuasive writing.

References

Hicks, T. (2009). The digital writing workshop. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.

Tompkins, G. E. (2012). Teaching writing: Balancing process and product (6^th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Merrill.

Entry 10

As I perused my classmates recent blog posts, I decided to address the following ideas in Kaitlin's Entry 9:

“Going through school I hated persuasive writing.  I think part of that had to do with the fact that I hate confrontation.  I do not like arguing with people and to me that is what persuasive writing was, an argument. As Krissy and I continued to explore this genre I began to understand that persuasive writing is not so much an argument but a stance on a certain position.  To have and hold a stance is to have a belief in something. You are not necessarily arguing that your position is better than another, you are just trying to convince people to see things in another way” (http://ohara618sp12.blogspot.com/).

I had a more positive attitude toward writing in the persuasive genre in school.  I think this was because I found it to be a fun challenge to convince an audience to see things my way.  When one is arguing with someone face-to-face, he or she is required to give the other person a chance to speak and possibly voice a counter argument that he or she may not have anticipated.  With persuasive writing, however, one has the  floor to present his or her entire argument in an organized way and refute opposing viewpoints with the necessary evidence.  I think it is empowering to be able to persuade others through your words.  I also like this genre because as Tompkins (2012) points out, a writer can persuade his or her audience by appealing to their emotions, character, or reason; I like this interplay between fact and opinion. 

Kaitlin makes a great point when she states, “to have and hold a stance is to have a belief in something.”  I think that writing about what you believe in is intrinsically engaging, and as Tompkins (2012) points out, "topics for persuasive writing come from at-home and in-school activities as well as from literature focus units and thematic units" (p.255), so I think that students would be motivated to express their stance on a variety of issues that are relevant to their lives.  It is important for students to learn how to successfully write in the persuasive genre because  “persuasion is a part of everyday life.  Children and adults frequently try to persuade others to do or believe a certain thing” (Tompkins, 2012, p. 255).  Being able to effectively articulate one's viewpoint and persuade others is a powerful skill in one's personal and professional life, and I think that teachers would be doing their students a disservice if they did not adequately prepare students to write in this genre.  In terms of scaffolding persuasive writing over time, Tompkins (2012) suggests that "younger children focus on developing arguments in support of their position in persuasive writing; however, older students need to consider both sides of an issue, and by doing so, they show readers how deeply they understand the topic" (p. 254).  I like Tompkins' (2012) suggestions for incorporating persuasive posters and letters because the more traditional and formulaic persuasive essay seems to leave limited room for creativity.  Hicks (2009) has inspired me to make persuasive writing even more engaging by helping students to design multimedia persuasive compositions such as public service announcements and commercials.

In addition to learning how to write in the persuasive genre, students need to become critical readers of the persuasive texts that they transact with on a daily basis (i.e.mass media/pop-culture texts).  Tompkins (2012) emphasizes the difference between persuasion and propaganda: “like persuasion, propaganda is designed to influence people's beliefs and actions, but propagandists often use underhanded techniques to distort, conceal, and exaggerate the facts” (p. 253).  I will never forget the “ah-ha” moment that I had in high school during an Art of Communication class when I realized that I could empower myself as a consumer by using a critical lens to see through the “doublespeak” (Tompkins, 2012, p. 253) that runs rampant in the media.  Teachers need to help students identify the biases and intentions within texts because “the line between persuasion and propaganda is thin... students must learn to detect propaganda in order not to be swayed by it” (Tompkins, 2012, p. 269).

References

Hicks, T. (2009). The digital writing workshop. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.

Tompkins, G. E. (2012). Teaching writing: Balancing process and product (6^th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Merrill. 

Entry 9

As I read through Tompkins' (2012) chapter on poetry writing in preparation for my and Keri's Teaching Expert Genre Presentation, the following question at the end of the chapter caught my attention: “Isn't it true that students either have poetic ability or they don't?” (p. 177).  I felt a bit troubled by this question; isn't it our responsibility as teachers to help all students discover and develop their writing abilities?  A teacher should never write a student off as simply not having a writing ability in a given genre.  Tompkins (2012) of course, goes on to respond that, “everyone can learn to write poems successfully...students benefit from experiences with poems; they develop a sensitivity to language and learn to play with words and evoke fresh images” (p. 177).  Reading through the poems in this chapter written by students of all ages, I was very impressed (I even got choked up when I read the "I Am..." poem about John F. Kennedy on p. 158).  I think the wide variety of formulas for writing poetry could serve as a great scaffold for students who are a little hesitant about this genre: “students write poetry successfully using poetic formulas... these poetry experiences help direct students toward authentic poetic expression” (p. 156).

Though I have never considered myself to be much of a poet, I must admit that I am pretty proud of the final draft of my poem for my Genre Pieces Project, and after reading Certo's (2004) article, “Cold plums and the old men in the in the water: Let children read and write 'great' poetry,” I concluded that if my objective is to help my students compose poems that they can take pride in, then my writing instruction needs to be grounded in my students' experience with reading and analyzing poetry and poet's craft.  In the words of Certo (2004): “by examining models, children will make their own reading-writing connections and begin to see writing as an act of discovery for them to reconnoiter the texts of others... this process should be celebrated, for it is a time when students are formulating ways to play with the meaning, form, and elements of the original poem in order to create their own” (p. 268).  I think literacy instruction should capitalize upon this reading-writing link in order to best support student writing in the different genres.

Reflecting on my own educational experiences with poetry writing, one memory stands out in particular.  When I was in fifth grade, each student in my ELA class was required to go through the writing process to compose a poem about the fall for a class anthology.  I remember being very excited to publish my poem because rather than the typical requirement of writing a final draft in our best handwriting or typing up a word-processed document, we were supposed to use the classroom computers to design a multimodal representation of our poem.  We each had time to use the class desktop Macs (those old-school ones that came in all sorts of ridiculous colors) to create a page for our poem using different fonts, colors, backgrounds, photographs, clip art, computer drawn images, etc.  I found this application of technology in the publishing process to be very engaging and motivating for me as a writer because I was able to express my creativity in ways beyond just written words.  Tompkins (2012) points out, “the power of technology to engage students becomes clear when they use technology to write poems and create poetry projects” (p. 174).

After having read Hicks (2009), I think an assignment like this could be made even more meaningful for students by including the option to represent poems through multimedia such as photo-essays, podcasts, and digital videos.  I also think this sort of project could be enhanced by expanding the audience through publication on a wiki, blog, or Google site.  In terms of other ways to authentically incorporate the read/write web into poetry instruction, I really like Tompkins' (2012) suggestion to share with students the websites of the poets whose poetry they are studying.  Who better to get poetry writing tips from than a poet him/herself?  The websites that Tompkins (2012) recommends for students to submit poetry to online writing contests seem like they would be a great way to engage students in writing outside of the classroom. 

 

References
Certo, J. L. (2004). Cold plums and the old men in the water: Let children read and

write “great” poetry. Reading Teacher, 58(3), 266-271.

Hicks, T. (2009). The digital writing workshop. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.

Tompkins, G. E. (2012). Teaching writing: Balancing process and product (6^th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Merrill. 

Entry 8

In this entry, I would like to address the following ideas presented by Sara in her Learning Log Entry #7:  

“Something I might struggle with as a teacher and a writer is deciding when description is just right, overdone, or not enough.  Such a scale is subjective and I know that in my own writing I have difficulty determining if I have included too much information.  Teaching students to be concise and precise in their word choice is a difficult task and I'm still not sure of the best way to do this" (http://sertel618sp12.blogspot.com/).
 

Sara,

I definitely struggle with knowing when enough is enough in terms of descriptive writing.  I feel as though I have been trained over the course of my education to pad my writing with unnecessary detail and wordiness in order to reach a page requirement.  By the time I was in college, I must admit, I had become an expert at this!  It was not until graduate school that I was assigned writing tasks with only a page or two within which to concisely express my ideas.  It is the shorter writing assignments that force me to sit down with my words and determine which are the most important in conveying my ideas and which can be omitted.  I find this task to be more challenging than filling up page after page with superfluous details.  I agree with you that it is important to help students discover how to “be concise and precise in their word choice” because I think that good writers are intentional writers; powerful writing is all about word selection.  With writing, longer does not necessarily mean better.  I have been learning in my online course this semester that keeping writing short and sweet seems to be especially applicable when it comes to digital writing because who wants to read a two page long Moodle or blog post/comment?  

An issue related to this idea of overdoing description in writing is the inappropriate use of sophisticated language from misuse of a thesaurus.  Tompkins (2012) addresses the following question at the end of her chapter on descriptive writing: “I've seen kids who start using a thesaurus and then their writing gets worse because they substitute inappropriate words- words they don't even know the meaning of- for the words they've written. What can a teacher do?” (p. 153).   I had to laugh when I read this question because I am the queen of right mouse clicking to find a “better” word to use in my writing so as to avoid overusing the same old words.  I like your idea of creating individual or class lists of descriptive words so that students have an accessible thesaurus comprised of words that they can define and use appropriately in their writing.  I definitely agree with Tompkins' (2012) response that, “When they consult a thesaurus, students learn new words and shades of meaning for familiar words; this new knowledge will make them better writers” (p. 153).   I often appropriate words that I find as suggestions in the thesaurus into my writing vocabulary once I familiarize myself with their definition and use.  

During my second student teaching placement, my cooperating teacher encouraged the students to use “chewy delicious words” in their writing.  This was her way of helping them to consciously choose words that enhance their writing.  She also challenged the students to use "words other then said” as a way to make dialogue more descriptive.  I think it will be important for me to make explicit the attention that good writers pay to word selection when I establish writing workshop in my own classroom. 
 

References 
Tompkins, G. E. (2012). Teaching writing: Balancing process and product (6^th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Merrill. 

Entry 7

Emily and Sara's expert presentation on biographical writing got me excited about the creative opportunities for writing assignments in this genre.  I really enjoyed participating in our class collaborative biography of Susan B. Anthony, and I thought that using a Google doc to complete this task served as a great example of authentically incorporating technology into writing in the biographical genre.  One of the project ideas from Tompkins (2012) that I thought would be great to incorporate in my future writing curriculum was the bio bag, so I decided to try it out for myself (in my case, it is a bio blog).  Tompkins (2012) points out that, “The best part of the project is the sharing” (p. 234), so here it goes!

Carly's Bio Blog 

All Tutus Should Be Pink, written by Sheri Brownrigg and illustrated by Meredith Johnson (1992)

This easy reader is important to me because of its significance in my early literacy development.  This is the first book that I remember being able to "read" on my own.  I had asked my mom to read this story to me so many times that I had memorized the words on the pages.  I loved this story because it was about some of my favorite things: best friends, ice cream, and the color pink! 

Homecoming, written by Cynthia Voigt (1987)

This chapter book is important to me because it was the first "long" book that I read.  In my fifth grade reading class, our reading groups were based upon student text selection.  I was apprehensive about choosing this text because of its length, but I was determined to be in the same reading group as my friends who wanted to read this book.  I really enjoyed this story and even bought the next book in the series. This book gave me the confidence that I could tackle any text that came my way no matter the number of pages!

Dear John, written by Nicholas Sparks (2007)

This novel is important to me because it is the most recent pleasure book that I have read outside of required academic reading in the last few years.  As I mentioned in Entry 4, an overwhelming emphasis on efferent reading experiences later on in my educational career discouraged my reading engagement, and I have struggled with rediscovering my motivation.  Sparks (2007) sparked my excitement about reading aesthetically for pleasure with this text.  I enjoyed going to see the movie version of this book and identifying the differences between the two modes (my poor boyfriend got dragged along). 
I hope this bio blog has helped to illustrate my life so far as a literate person!  

Tompkins (2012) emphasizes that, “Students' greatest source of information for writing is their own experiences, and when they write autobiographies, they draw from this wealth of experience” (p. 233). Tompkins (2012) points out that children tend to have success with personal narratives early on in their literacy development because they are writing about, “what they know best- themselves” (p. 231).  This week we also discussed expository writing, and I think Tompkins (2012) makes a great point when she provides a caveat for the classification of the biographical genre: “It's important to compare and contrast biographical writing with narrative and informational writing, because life stories involve characteristics of both.  Biographies- personal narratives, in particular- read like stories, but they're nonfiction so writers must stick to the facts” (p. 243).  It is important for students to understand the purpose and characteristics of biography writing. 

Tompkins (2012) addresses the following question at the end of the chapter: “I don't have my students write autobiographies because they aren't middle class.  Many of them are homeless.  Others have parents who are in jail or deal in drugs.  They don't have anything good to write about.  What do you think?” (p. 249).  I agree with Tompkins (2012) that, “all students have some experiences they could share in an autobiography” (p. 249), but I am not sure how I would approach autobiography writing with a student with a troublesome home life.  My main concern would be that when students share their writing, which is the culminating component of the writing process, they might expose their peers to difficult issues that parents or administrators would object to.  What would be the best instructional approach in this case?

References 
Tompkins, G. E. (2012). Teaching writing: Balancing process and product (6^th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Merrill.