...but not nearly as excited as I am to finally have a blog. Apparently, it's about time.
That being said, I wish I could say the same for this text, that of course being the Dornan et. al book Within and Beyond the Writing Process in the Secondary English Classroom. While the authors definitely make very valid points about the writing as a process, I think a lot of the information about Writer's Workshop was a little redundant and a little obvious for me (ex. "how to start a conference" (61), or the seven pages devoted to journal writing, or "the j" (48), alone. However, I can see the value in describing the writing process from beginning to end, in that it really did drive home their point about "all writing as rewriting." I agree that in order to create better writers, we need to encourage our students to write all the time, to rewrite that writing, and then reflect and write on the rewrite. Good writers write all the time. And as Atwell quoted (I believe it was Vonnegut!) in her article, "it is a lot like inflating a blimp with a bicycle pump. Anybody can do it. All it takes is time" (56). I hope to instill some of these beliefs in my own students, and show them that with patience and persistence with their writing, they can avoid some of the fears and hesitations I had with my own high school English experiences.
I really did like what they had to say about keeping student motivation through relevant and personal topics. Like the literature course last semester, students excel most in the classroom when they can relate to and find interest in whatever they're reading or writing about, and it's up to the teacher to help make these connections. I think the most valuable thing I got out of this chapter was when the authors quoted James E. Miller (in the 1970s, coincidentally) for saying that "when writing is motivated by such inner needs, students will draw on their own rich store of linguistic resources to say what they mean" (37). I think in this way, providing rich, relevant material for students to choose from will lead to better writing because they will stretch their own thinking, their own voice, and their own style simply because they are intrinsically motivated to do so. If they feel compelled to get the message out about a particular topic, story, or meaningful or significant event in their own lives, they will challenge their own thinking which in turn will lead to improved writing and better communicators.
Proof of this was at my observation on Monday. The 11th grade class was working on an "I-Search" paper, which is essentially a research paper about anything personally relevant to the students (hence, the "I"), but they must conduct primary interviews from relevant sources along with their secondary sources. While they were just in the pre-writing and gathering information stage, I was walking around and really saw how genuinely excited the students were about their proposed topics. Students were really opening up to me about their topics and what I thought about it, and I had only been there one day. Things from one student researching schizophrenia because her brother was recently diagnosed with the disease, to a student interested in the veterinary medicine program at the U, to another writing on chemical dependency because he admittedly just spent a couple months in rehab. As the text did suggest, using personal needs and experiences has already paid off by the quality of work and ideas the students are coming up with. I am already so impressed by their engagement and enthusiasm with the assignment, and am very excited to see how their papers turn out!
LINK:
As the homepage suggests, this is a website with "interactive prompts, lessons, and resources designed for teachers, students, and--most importantly--lifelong writers!" Really though, this is a good resource for teachers, it includes lessons, information on the writing process and genres, and other good ideas and activities for the classroom.
