I think that Chapter 7, Writing and Rewriting has some very interesting points. I was really interested in what Christenbury said about the traditional model vs. the new model of teaching writing. It seems to me that the new model is built for student success in writing, not just an end product for the assignment. If we can step outside our own "time" limits that we think should about how long we take on a particular writing assignment in class and really focus on making our students better, we, the teacher and the students, will be happier with the end result. From what I have observed over the last two years in which I've been in and out of the classroom, students need confidence and support, not to ripped apart for every single error in their paper. I think that we can save the proofreading and editing until the very end (unless there is an unreasonable amount of mistakes or the same mistake is made multiple times, like Christenbury refers to on page 227) and we should really focus on what the student is saying or attempting to say and help each student develop that and show them that what they have to say does matter and they do have opinions and ideas of their own.
I love the idea of the teacher-and-student or students themselves developing the topic of a writing assignment. I think that if we give students options, it not only shows trust and builds the teacher-student connection, but if a student can write about something they see as relevant or interesting they are more likely to spend a little more time on the assignment. This is not to say that there might be times in my classroom where I feel like giving my students a particular topic is the only way, but hopefully even within a specific topic, I can still find a way to giving them options in direction in which they can take the assignment.
I also see the idea of a writing portfolio, like discussed on page 232, being something I will use in my classroom. That way my students and I can see the progress in which they make over the semester and/or year.
I think that in the Deeper Reading chapter, there are multiple examples of ways in which we can help our students in developing their writing assignments. Focus groups, character charts and trouble slips were a few of the activities that I hope will be very effective in my classroom.
3 comments:
I agree with you on the proofreading and editing. As long as they're getting the information, the rest is just house keeeping.
The writing portfolio is a great idea, and that's something that could be kept all the way through high school if all the teachers cooperated to help students build on their portfolios every year.
I agree about allowing students to choose their own topics of writing. Obviously, we can't do this all of the time, but if we do give them some freedom, then it will probably be easier when we ask them to do something specific.
I am also a fan of the writing portfolio idea.
I agree. I think it is pointless to rip students papers apart. I think it is important to help them with things they are struggling with but what they are saying in their paper and how they convey that is most important. It is also a great idea to give students choice in their writing topics. I think one thing I would want to encourage students with is to come up with a list of topics so they have a lot of choices to chose from.
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