Teaching Adolescent Writers
(Page 37) “But there is another valuable reason why our students should be doing more writing across the curriculum: the act of writing extends knowledge. Putting pen to paper (or fingers to keyboard) creates new thinking. The act of writing is generative.”
(Page 37) “But there is another valuable reason why our students should be doing more writing across the curriculum: the act of writing extends knowledge. Putting pen to paper (or fingers to keyboard) creates new thinking. The act of writing is generative.”
Y’all correct me if you think I’m off base here, but I think that many non-English teachers are hesitant about including writing in their classes because they aren’t very confident in their own writing and don’t think they know how to grade student writing. The thing is that teachers don’t have to be great grammarians to incorporate writing. Writing across the curriculum isn’t meant to make sure every student knows how to write an essay with no errors. As Gallagher points out in the quote above, writing helps students think, and isn’t creating good thinkers important? I think as we continue to read Gallagher’s book and the Content Area Writing book (if we EVER get it—did I mention I’m not responsible for ordering that one?) that we’ll discover tons of ways to incorporate writing into our class to extend learning.
How to Teach Students Who Don’t Look Like You
(Page 18) “The key to building the critical mass of students goes back to relationships. If you have a good relationship with your target students, you can begin to build a critical mass of students to focus on achievement goals.”
Don’t y’all think that our relationship with students is at the crux of everything we do with them? It seems to me that everything goes much more smoothly in the classroom if you take the time to get to know kids and show a genuine interest in them. Heck, if they know you care about them and you screw up something, they’re much more forgiving of you. I think that by getting to know them as individuals, you can get a better understanding of their cultures—and if they even adhere to any of the typical traditions within their cultures.
How to Teach Students Who Don’t Look Like You
(Page 18) “The key to building the critical mass of students goes back to relationships. If you have a good relationship with your target students, you can begin to build a critical mass of students to focus on achievement goals.”
Don’t y’all think that our relationship with students is at the crux of everything we do with them? It seems to me that everything goes much more smoothly in the classroom if you take the time to get to know kids and show a genuine interest in them. Heck, if they know you care about them and you screw up something, they’re much more forgiving of you. I think that by getting to know them as individuals, you can get a better understanding of their cultures—and if they even adhere to any of the typical traditions within their cultures.
13 comments:
I can understand teachers not wanting to grade papers. I don't enjoy it myself.
Teachers outside English, though, have far outreached the ELA community in their use of informal writing as a technique for learning and for formative assessment. Those of us who teach writing could take a few tips from the science and math faculty in that regard.
Informal writing activities are particularly useful in teaching writing mechanics topics. For some sample prompts, see
http://www.you-can-teach-writing.com/formative-assessments.html
Linda Aragoni
Teaching Adolescent Writers
Chapter 2
I have a secret to share with my SCRI study group buddies…. the high school media center is integral to the school’s writing program. No Marian Librarian’s here… the media specialist of 2008 is a teacher first and a keeper of the books second. The media specialist should be a literacy leader in the school modeling best practices for students and colleagues alike. The media center is a dynamic living thing where reading, writing, viewing, and learning are constantly occurring and the media specialist (working closely with a Library Advisory Committee) is ‘ole Barnum and Bailey’s circus master… leading Airport High School media center SUCCESSFULLY through the literacy stampede. The writing practices (i.e. pass the reflection, exit slips, writing to activate prior knowledge) Kelly Gallagher discusses in detail on pp. 32-39 can (and will) be implemented in innovative Airport High School media center programming. Details coming soon!
Understanding Diverse Learners
Chapter 2
The worst thing (about the only bad thing!!) about being in a high school media center is that I do not get to know all the students by their first names. I think being able to recall a student’s name is one of the best ways to begin to build a relationship with that student. My wonderful coffee house workers are all terrific kids! I have been able to get to know them on an individual basis. I can tell when they are distracted, tired, or out of sorts. They are all very empathetic and say (mostly) nice things about their peers and teachers. One of the girls is Vietnamese. Her mother was a Vietnamese boat child. I asked our student whether she had ever visited Vietnam. She said she did once when she was five, and that her most vivid memory was having elderly people throw eggs at her. I asked her why they would do such a thing to a child. She said the elderly thought she was too Western. This seems so sad to me. The same child brought me Vietnamese tea on a Wednesday morning not too long ago. Her mother asked her to bring me samples and compare that taste to the coffee we brew on Wednesdays.
Understanding Diverse Learners
Seeing as though I have all of my students for 2-4 blocks a day, everything Mrs. Reed and I discuss and work on with them is based on building trust. They come to us with the huge conception that the world is against them and they cannot accomplish anything. If we don’t take the time to figure out who these kids are, what their interests are and what makes them tick, it’s a LONG 6 hours in the same room. Sometimes it takes weeks to get a new student to engage in work because of how frustrated they are about being in my room. I believe the key is that even if they are hesitant to open up to one of us, they are around long enough to see us showing interest on other students’ lives and understand that we’re not “the bad guys.” It’s a double edged sword spending so much time with the kids each day, having the students know we care about them and trying to then sternly discipline them and follow strict rules at the same time, but to me, I don’t know another way.
Also, I know it’s been said before, but I don’t think you can emphasize enough the importance of being there in situations that are significant in the lives of our students. I had one who began with me in November of last year, and honestly, by the time the 2nd semester rolled around, I was at my wit’s end from arguing with this student in trying to get him to do his work, control his mouth, etc. Thankfully, I found out he was trying out for the soccer team. It wasn’t so much the knowledge that I was in daily contact with his coach that changed his demeanor with me. It was more so that I came to his games. Even if I couldn’t stay for a whole game, I showed up, talked with his family, stayed during the times when he didn’t even play, and encouraged him when he was down about not playing. I can’t say things have been perfect since then, but it’s definitely something we bonded over and it’s helped tremendously.
I smiled to myself when reading the time on task part of article because there are times when I get frustrated that I have to repeat myself several times over and often tell the students that if they were paying attention when I was ready to start the lesson, they’d have known what we were discussing. Most of the time, they are not explicitly disruptive, it just takes them a bit longer to settle down and fully prepare themselves than it does me. I tend to think of it as being chatty vs. needing the interaction with others before beginning their academic work.
Chapter 2-Teaching Adolescent Writers
I’ve coached multiple sports and taught piano for years, so I really liked the analogy used on how “writing is a skill, and students need to mess around with paints before they learn how to paint, plunk at the piano before they are taught scales, fool around with the basketball to get the feel for it, before they are put through formal practice.” It’s very true. You must have some level of comfort ability in order to build confidence before learning the formal techniques. I think that’s where the daily writing journals come in. Not graded for grammar or punctuation, just free writing on topics that they can relate to.
I like the looping and pass the reflection strategies. I think that the looping strategy will be a great link into writing an essay on the same topic. The nice thing about pass-the reflection is that it can be used in any type of class, kind of like an extension to an exit slip. This way they can gauge how others feel about the topics at hand too.
How to Teach students Who Don’t Look Like You
Classrooms are very diverse so it is important to get to know your students. This will enable you to better teach your students. I always had my students fill out an extensive student information sheet. I really did learn a lot from reading those information sheets.
I also think it is a good idea to not arrange your desk in typical rows if possible and try different arrangements through out the year.
One thing I didn’t agree with was how you start class. I always expected my students to be ready to go. They had a quick start once they entered class, and I expected them to get quiet and start working on that immediately. I think before school, in-between classes, lunch, and after school is time for interaction with others.
Chapter Two
The first thing that caught my attention was having students have a portfolio that contains writing samples from all their classes. I would love to be able to do this to see what teachers are having their students write.
I definitely think it is important to teach students how to write. I think too many teachers assume students already know how to write. Just like Gallagher said we prepare them for other things such as sports. We need to do the same thing for writing.
I also really liked the way Gallagher does movies in his class. I like the idea of showing clips instead of the entire movie. Having them focus on an assignment, such as a movie chart, while watching the movie clips is a great idea. Serious discipline issues can occur during movie time without a teacher even knowing it.
The strategy he uses to teach students to respond to prompts seems quick and effective. I wish I had known about this strategy while I was still teaching.
This chapter contained a lot of good information. There were a lot of strategies that one could use in the classroom.
How to Teach Students Who Don’t Look Like You
As I read this chapter I kept thinking about the quote that Mr. Jovanelly uses all of the time. “They don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care.” Like Karen I have to gain the trust of my students if I am going to be effective in helping them with their deficient reading, writing, and math skills and with their work for their other classes. Many of my students have struggled with school for years, and they don’t have a positive attitude about their classes, and I need to show them that I care about them as adolescents, first if I am going to get them to believe that I care about them as students. I absolutely agree with Karen’s comments about showing up our students’ events at school. Because I love sports, it’s easy for me to make games. It’s just as important, though, to support my students who are in the band, chorus, orchestra, plays, pageants, and/or academic clubs. It takes time away from evenings at home, but I sincerely believe it pays huge dividends in the long run. They know I care, they trust me, they work hard for me in Academic Support, and eventually they work hard for their other teachers because they know I will help them when they struggle.
Teaching Adolescent Writers
I skimmed over what I had highlighted last year, and of course I love the basketball analogy and explanation as to why kids need to mess around with writing. Just like independent reading daily improves reading skills, independent writing daily will improve writing skills. My students write at least 10 lines daily in their writing journals. Often, they have other writing activities in addition to their journals. The one thing I really liked in this chapter that I want to implement this year is the “The ABCs (and D) of On-Demand Writing (pages 40 – 46). I think this would be very useful to my sophomores to help prepare them for the HSAP. There are some wonderful practice writing prompts in one of the appendices to use with this strategy. Once I try this out I will report back as to my successes (or failures) with the strategy.
Deb says……..
Teaching Adolescent Writers—Chapter 2
In my class, my students are required to write in their response logs after their reading, writing journals on topics provided by the teacher and some written by the students, and quick writes to provide opportunities for my students to improve their writing skills. This chapter provided me with some new activities (strategies) that I would like to introduce to my students: 1. Looping p.38- to help my students explore their thinking through writing. 2. Pass-the-Reflection p.38-it states that this activity encourages students to extend their thinking through both the written responses they produce and through the written responses they read. I think my students would enjoy these techniques as well as benefit from them.
On pages 40 through 46, the author discusses the ABCs (D) of on-demand writing, the importance of students being able to develop their ability to write on demand. The steps include--(A) Attack the prompt, (B) Brainstorm the possible answers, (C) Choose the order of your response, and (D) Detect errors before turning the draft in. I hope by introducing this strategy to my class they will continue to build and improve their writing skills.
How to Teach Students Who Don’t Look Like You—Chapter 2
In reading this chapter, it makes me reflect back to when I was in school. Growing up in South Carolina during the era of desegregation, we were taught to be successful and have pride in ourselves and our education. The teachers helped to shape us in becoming all we can become and sought ways to enhance our self-esteem, we felt valued and loved. We were seen as persons who were expected to achieve. We had many educated professional- doctors, lawyers, educators and others; this was not new to us. We were not confronted with the fact we were different because of race. During integration we were expected to give up our culture and to assimilate. We were merely tolerated not accepted for who we were. My husband had an experience in a teacher’s class where he was not expected to be as smart as the white students and was accused of cheating when his grades were above average. This made him work harder to prove himself. I also worked hard and was an honor student and on the National Honor Society. I wanted to prove that the color of a person’s skin does not determine the intellect or the potential of a person. Now, I am not sure where this mentality or concept comes from by a lot of black students today. “To act or be smart” you are trying to be white; did cultural or economic conditions distort such a ludicrous concept? Do these students not realize what their race has accomplished in our nation? Do they not realize that the color of a person skin does not determine how smart or intelligent you are? What can we do as educators to change such a distorted view??? As a teacher my expectations for all students regardless of their economic background, race, and sometimes limited abilities is to encourage them and find positive ways to give them the best perspective on how to achieve their maximum potential. I cannot allow differences to be a barrier to hope and success for the already challenged young people I encounter each day.
Last, in reading this chapter my question is, “Will teachers take the time and effort to accommodate, embrace, and value all students’ cultures?”
“Understanding Diverse Learners” and Teaching Adolescent Writers: Chapter Two
I agree completely! So much of being a successful teacher is centered upon our relationships with our students. This article has made me think more about the students I don’t feel I’ve connected with this year. Out of 123 students, I must be honest and say that I haven’t connected with all of them on the same level. I think this chapter helped open my eyes again to the importance of getting to know each one of my students for who they are as individuals. In addition, I loved the emphasis on addressing stereotypes with students. My classes have just finished reading Nikki Grimes’ Bronx Masquerade. I love starting the year with this book because I think it’s a good read to encourage community in my classes. Most of the characters in the books are minorities; in addition, all of the students struggle with being misinterpreted. People judge them, label them, put them in a box. It addresses individual stereotypes, as well as cultural stereotypes. The book allows students to step back and think about the stereotyping they confront every day.
I have to say that I do love Kelly Gallagher’s writing style. This week’s chapter was another enjoyable read. I agree with Pam. I like how Gallagher emphasized the importance of letting students practice writing before you expect them to be good at it. Practices makes perfect. While I have to admit I am one of those teachers who feels overwhelmed when I do assign longer writing assignments (eww…I’ll be getting 123 essays this week), I must also say that I feel I’ve done a better job with assigning writing this year. I loved what Gallagher said on page 29. This is where explained the importance of allowing writing time…even at the expense of not getting through every standard.
“Shouldn’t we concern ourselves a little less with getting students to recite facts and figures and concern ourselves a little more with helping them develop these cornerstone skills they need to lead literate lives? Shouldn’t we teach the curriculum through writing?”
Amen! It’s so very true. By teaching them writing and giving them time to write, they can’t help but get smarter. It’s just like reading!
Finally, I loved the strategies at the end of the chapter. And I have to second Pam, again. I definitely want to use the ABCD method to teach students how to tackle writing prompts. This will give students a formula to follow in attacking a prompt that may otherwise seem overwhelming. Great ideas!
How to Teach Students Who Don’t Look Like You
I agree with Lisa. I don’t like traditional rows. My students complain all year about how much my room changes. I change the layout and assigned seating often in my classroom. Also, I expect students to come into class ready to work. Most days, I have bellwork when the students enter my room. I expect them to come in and get busy quietly. Students have the five minute break between classes to socialize and attend to personal matters. When they enter my classroom, they are expected to be seated and begin working immediately.
Chapter 2 (Gallagher)
I really liked the overall them of writing before writing. I like to teach lab report writing this way. On different lab activities, students work on writing specific parts of a lab report. This way they do not have to focus on a complete lab report, but they can sharpen their skills on one particular section of the lab. Also, when I do give writing assignments, I encourage students to use prewriting methods (brainstorming, outlining, etc.). I think they need to get their “juices” flowing before they write the formal assignment.
Chapter 2- Adolescent Writers
I really enjoyed this chapter. I made a copy of some of the quotes and will show them to my students so they see the importance of writing a BEING good writers.
Personally, I think students have become lazy when it comes to "old-fashioned" writing. The quickness of text messages, e-mail, and myspace has made "formal" writing nearly nonexistent in students' outside lives. Students come to school and expect to get by with writing that is not up to par, and often times they accept the grade they are given for the inadequate writing they provide. Teachers really must show students that they will not accept anything below what is expected of them.
I do think Gallagher had great points on page 29 where he outlines things teachers can do in order to create good writers. There were also wonderful activity ideas to use to challenge students and help them see the importance of writing.
Teaching Adolescent Writers
Kelly Gallagher
First, I’d like to start by saying I am in complete and total agreement with the following statement by Donald Graves on page 25; “If kids don’t write more than three times a week, they’re dead.” Perhaps my opinion is slightly biased seeing as I am English, but nonetheless, I feel it to be true, students do need to constantly be writing. Because of the emphasis in differentiated instruction this year, we as a school have been making, what I feel is, great improvements in this area. Writing (and grading the writing) is such a tedious task, but it is so important. I remember when I was in college I had this awfully hard English professor. We had a writing assignment every day and a formal one due every Friday. I was miserable, but looking back, I learned so much and have become a better writer because of her. I try to emphasize this to all my classes, writing is like a sport, you have to practice to become better.
A writing revolution: “we must teach the writer, not the writing.” Being a first year teacher, I am constantly having to step back and re-evaluate my teaching technique. Sometimes I expect my students to know so much more than they do and I have to remind myself to slow down and explain; and by explaining, I mean explain through example. It is honestly the best way for them to learn. They need to see both good and bad examples of writing.
I also like how Gallagher offered different in-class writing activities, especially the idea of a writer’s notebook. I am all about organization and I really like how the notebook organizes your thoughts and gives students the chance to “play with their writing.”
I hope everyone enjoyed their weekend. It was so nice to have grades already turned in.
My initial responses to the articles were as follows:
Gallagher’s text: I love the emphasis he places on writing and his ideas. The ABCD process was actually so impressive, I thought about doing it with my students! Part of me wishes I had more time I could have my students writing in English. But I suppose I should be having them practice in German, too!
The other thing some of you mentioned that I love about this chapter was his focus on writing as a thinking process. When I get really upset, I write. (Because of this, I LOVE blogging!) And it always amazes me how, in getting my feelings out on paper, or cyberspace, I realize things. It seems so strange. After all, they’re my thoughts and were inside of me the entire time, yet I don’t recognize them until they’re outside. And I really think this is a valuable learning tool that many students are missing.
Students who don’t look like you: As most of you have already said, relationships are so very important. I find that, in my upper levels, I have considerably less classroom management issues because the relationship with my students is somewhat established. And like you said, Diane, they are more likely to be forgiving (as I’ve sadly found out… a lot.)
My gut reaction, however, was one of being overwhelmed. I completely understand that different cultures and experiences and learning styles need to be accommodated, but how on earth am I supposed to handle the student who needs to move and touch things, and the student who needs to think out loud and the student who needs things completely quiet in order to concentrate, all in the same class? I get so distracted when my students talk, even when they talk about the work, so I honestly don’t know what to do with students who need noise around them. I guess I’m still in frontal lobe development!
A couple responses to some of your comments: Lisa, I was also curious what the results would be if students had to bring in writing samples from other classes. I’m not sure my students would fare well. And Andrea, I just wanted to say how much I appreciate all that you do in favor of literacy. I think it’s incredible the way you look for articles that students might be interested in reading, everything you’re putting together for the mock election, the way you set up summer reading materials. You make literacy so accessible for the students!
Teaching Adolescent Writers
Understanding Diverse Learners
Chapter 2
Understanding Diverse Learners
I agree with all of you. The key to understanding our students is relationships! If we don’t take the time to develop that, then I fear that we have lost the battle. That is one of the things that I love about the Freshmen teams is that I feel that I have time to get to really get to know my students. I also agree with Pam; attending events here at school can really make a difference. The students KNOW if you were at their game, or pageant, or play. You can connect with them and they know that you care about them. Amanda, I like to re-arrange my room as well. It changes the learning environment a bit!
Gallagher, Chapter 2
I love this guy! But I have to say that sometimes I feel guilty, like I am not writing enough. I know that practice, practice, practice writing makes students better writers and all that but I DO feel overwhelmed sometimes by all that I have to do. I know that you guys can feel my pain and that this is a struggle for all of us. I appreciate Gallagher’s different ideas of incorporating writing such as exit slips, written conversations, movie charts, purpose charts- I have used all of them and found them invaluable. I was wondering something: he writes extensively about the writer’s notebook. Is this something that a non-English teacher would/could do in class???? I struggled with this both times I have read this chapter. I also like the ABC’s & D of writing. This would help lots with HSAP and could also be used in conjunction with the Collins Method.
Blog Four Teaching Adolescent Writers Chapter Two
How to Teach Students Who Don’t Look Like You Chapter Two
Diversity seems to be a buzzword these days both in education and politics. I am all for respect and tolerance, but I hope we don’t ever get to the point where we use diversity as an excuse for not doing what is expected. We work with a challenging population, but I’m not sure the challenges are due to vast diversity. Wasn’t there a song in the ‘80s called People Are People that tried to promote the message that we all have far more in common than we think? I try to get kids to see what they have in common with each other (who remembers the scene in Freedom Writers).
Now the relationship part of the chapter I totally agree with. I say frequently that instructionally I am an average teacher. My strength as a teacher is in the way I build relationships with kids which results in their responding to me in a positive way. Translation: when I ask them to do something, they do it (most of the time). Building relationships with kids is easy for me because I do actually like them. Also, I, like Pam, love sports so supporting kids that way is easy. I try hard to support kids in other areas as well. To me it’s one of the best parts of teaching high school and it has the potential to make a tremendous difference in what you can get from kids.
Upon careful review of chapter two of TAW, I was surprised that I didn’t highlight more. I remember how much I liked the ABC(D)s of writing and I had made some notes in reference to how important writing is to the thinking process. Teaching kids how to think should be one of our most important goals. If we truly teach them how to think, would standardized testing scores improve? I hope the rest of you are enjoying Gallagher’s book as much as Ruth Anne is. I sure do wish his schedule had been open to come visit with us!
Post a Comment