Why I Write

“A Great Title”

            Why do I write? Well that is a very good question. Usually the answer is because my teacher/parents told me to do so. Whether it’s a research paper, a reflection paper, a poem, a thank you note, a response paper, or even a “why do I write” paper. I have never been one to write freely on my own time or even be a good writer when I am told to write. I have loved reading since I was a little kid but I have never found the skills or the drive to be a thoughtful writer, especially compared to the books that I read in my free time. There has always been guidelines to writing that have made it less of a interest and more of a math equation to me. I was told by teachers that I MUST have an intro paragraph where you outline the rest of your paper, three paragraphs in the middle that follow what you outlined in the intro and a conclusive paragraph to wrap it all up. This is on top of every other writing formula and millions of rules that teachers dump on you from a very young age. I guess I have always felt confined by these rules and I cant remember the last time a teacher just told me to write about whatever came to mind and to follow your heart. I have had a few too many traumatic experiences with writing and sharing my writing for any sane person to want to give it up all together. So why do I write? I would love to say it’s to release my inner thoughts and to connect with the reader but sadly the only answer that comes to mind is “because they make me”!

            In my past few college years I have written many papers more papers than I can count. You would think I would be a great writer by now but the truth is I can’t see my self getting better. Each teacher always wants something else from the paper whether it’s the format, type of paper, voice, MLA format (or any other of the four formats), or length to name a few. This brings me back to my early years of writing when the format of the paper was the most important thing and even if you wrote a great paper and it didn’t have a structured conclusion paragraph it was still a C grade paper. Szwed expanded the ways that we define writing in ways that I agreed with and enjoyed reading. I believe that there is a place for structure in our curriculum early on but after a time you need to let the students write freely. I loved when we got to read a book for class because I could read in my free time and enjoy it greatly, although when it came down to writing about the book I felt I couldn’t do the book justice in any way possible and found myself dreading the outcome. I have had a few traumatic experiences in my life that have kept me from fully putting myself out there as a writer. It was fourth grade with Ms. Mann that I can remember like it was yesterday. For some reason she thought it was a GREAT idea for us to write about a hard time in our lives, like I really want to think more about this horrible time in my life. My mother had recently been diagnosed with cancer so I decided to write about that. Needless to say it was very emotional for me and I was happy just to be done with it. The next day to my horror she exclaims, “so now it’s time to read for the class what you all have written down.” CRAP. I was forced to recount all these memories, in front of my peers no less. From that day on I made sure that if I knew if that I would eventually be reading in front of the class to write about something that was acceptable to my peers and change the whole outline of my essay choice. I would write about something socially acceptable like “how I missed the bus”, or “how my dog ate my homework”.

            “Oaths sworn… Loyalties tested… Forces collide” (Christopher Paolini). This is a quote from the second book in a series called Brisingr, written by Christopher Paolini. Fantasy books are a favorite of mine and I can get lost in one of these books for hours. I wish I could do the same with writing. While reading these books I can imagine what is happening in my head and create a whole new world. The trouble I have when it comes to writing is getting all of my thoughts from my head into a coherent blob on the paper. Reading allows me to own the information through my own cognitive filter, which sadly does not translate to my papers.  Some of my best writing experiences in my life have been when I was given the opportunity to use whatever writing style I wanted and portray what was in my head however I felt. I can still remember when I got to read a fantasy novel and instead of writing a paper on it I got to do a comic strip. This allowed me to express myself in a completely different way than what I was used to and let me illustrate my thoughts. For me, writing is like freestyle rapping using whatever comes to mind as compared to formulaic song writes with a verse then a chorus, then a verse and another chorus.

            “Now do whatever your heart desires”. This is what I plan on telling my students as a future teacher. I think it’s important for children to be compelled to use their imagination as much as possible. Especially growing up, when a child has a chance to grow exponentially. Write a poem, draw a comic strip, write a paper, write an article strip, do a brochure. These are options I wish my past teachers had given me. In everyday life you do not write many, if any, essays. If I can have a child form a love of writing in their early years than I have done my job. Yes, it is important for them to know sentence structure and spelling but when this is mastered their love of writing will take them so much farther then any “rule” will take them. So overall I plan on taking my past experiences and using them to aid my students to a better writing career. My word count may not be up to par but to tell you the truth anything past this point would probably be BS. J

Genre Theory

Meg, Gebbard, and Harman Ruth. “Reconsidering Genre Theory In K-12 Schools: A Response To School Reforms In The United States.“ Journal of Second Language Writing 20. The Future of Genre in Second Language Writing: North American Perspective (n.d.): 45-55. ScienceDirect. Web. 26 Feb. 2013

            This article was very useful to comparing what we learned in class. The article describes No child left behind act and how helpful genre theory is to kids who are L2 and ESL learners. This outlines the theory of how students that are second language learners understand the reading in disciplinary ways of knowing the language and making connections to the writing. By using genre theory the students will be able to analyze what they read and put it into view so they can fully understand what they are reading. The students are able to look deeper into the reading rather than just be able to read the words on the page. So teachers help the kids to read and write and make connections to the actual reading and analyze further.

Co-Authoring Classroom Texts

William Burns

ENG 333

Co-Authoring Classroom Texts: Shifting Participant Roles in Writing Activity

I liked this reading by Larson Maier because Maryrita’s approach to teaching is awesome in a way that she evolved these students involvement to create a new learning experience.  She made her class so that it was a community of kids wanting to learn. Instead of the teacher forcing her students to read certain books or write what they learned down, these students were excited about reading and wanted to do the best they could. “ She constructed a context in which she and her students were authors together, struggling over questions and problems authors struggle over.” I personally love reading and I would of enjoyed this classroom very much. Even if someone didn’t have a previous enjoyment of reading I think they would thrive in this setting and come out of it a better reader and writer.

I enjoyed this article because it was very interesting to learn about Maryrita’s teaching style and Larson was very in depth with the research and you could tell a lot of time went into this. As a future teacher I would love to implement these types of teaching strategies with my students. As far as I could tell Maryrita’s schedule was somewhat the same as most first grade teachers but she implemented reading into different aspects of her teaching. It’s always a great thing when you can see the spark light up in a child when they actually want to go out and learn something without the teacher telling them so.  It is very smart to make the child their own author because they can then have a personal connection with what they are writing and want to do the best they can. Dewey stated that kids learn more with hands on activities and this is exactly what Maryrita is doing with her classroom.

Readicide

            I plan on reading the book “Readicide: How Schools are Killing Reading and what you can do about it.” After looking at all the different books, this one looked especially interesting. I love reading and it would be very interesting to learn why students are having a hard time learning to read and what I could do as a future teacher to aid them in furthering their reading skills. I read the short review on Amazon and I thought it was very interesting how he said that “it is time to recognize a new and significant contributor to the death of reading: our schools.” I already agree with this because schools are taking away the love of reading for children and replacing it with monotonous text reading that discourages the child. I hope that after reading this book I will gain insight on how to become a better teacher of reading to my children and how to spur them to have a lifelong love of reading.

Wells

William Burns

Eng 333

Wells

I think that Well’s idea about how the “classroom is seen as a collaborative community” relates to Dewey’s article and adds an extra dimension. I like how Wells describes a classroom as a community and not just a collection of individuals. It is important for there to be discussion within a class setting to generalize what you are learning about and bring a different perspective from all the students to the forefront. I think it is very interesting that the diversity and background of each individual makes each lesson unique in a way that no two lessons can be the same with different individuals. Dewey relates to Wells in a way that they agree that achievement depends on a collaboration of these individuals past experiences and backgrounds as a whole. Each person has a different perspective and it can only help to share what each person thinks.

Literacy

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Literacy

In the article the “Ethnography of Literacy” by John F. Szwed, I agree with his stance that literacy is very important in our society. It’s important in everyday aspects of life whether it be getting a job, graduating from school, or just being a functioning member of society. I was surprised to hear that literacy rates are down as much as they are. I remember reading an article that stated that they were deciding on how many jail cells to build in California by how many students could not read by the third grade. As a future teacher, literacy skills will be one of my main focuses with the children because without these skills you can’t get very far in life.

            Szwed writes, “The stunning fact is that we do not fully know what literacy is. The assumption that it is simply a matter of the skills of reading and writing does not even begin to approach the fundamental problem: What are reading and writing for?” (pg. 422). I thought this quote from Szwed was interesting in the way that he steps back from the implications of literacy in the classroom and focuses on the importance of literacy within our society. I agree that literacy is important, not in the way it is tested by experts, but by ordinary people in ordinary activities in our society. When meeting someone you immediately base how smart that person is by the ay they speak and write without even meaning to. If we want to come off as a intelligent society then we need to focus our efforts as teachers to educate our students in reading and writing.

            I believe that it is important for students to gain a respect for reading and writing and an understanding for the importance it will bring them in their lives. Also, students need to know what they enjoy reading and writing because this will lead to a future enjoyment of literacy and they will not need a teacher to aid them in the discovery of new knowledge. I think that if our new generation of teachers can focus on these facts and implement what we know to the youth then our literacy problem can be resolved. The main importance is to have the students want to learn this. As a kid it is not very fun to work on grammar but it is our jobs as teachers to make this interesting and pass on our knowledge.

Teaching

 The article "The School and the Life of the Child" by Dewey was very interesting and brought about some very important ideas. The main thing I took away from this article was that we need to center our teaching around the students in a way that keeps them engaged with the classroom and not just mindlessly listening and taking notes. An important idea Dewey stated was “If you begin with the child’s ideas, impulses, and interests, all so crude, so random and scattering, so little refind or spiritualized, how is he going to get the necessary discipline, culture, and information?” (pg. 38). It is important to give the child the correct resources for them to want to learn on their own. If the students have an interest in what they are doing then this will prompt them to learn at an increased pace. Most teachers tell the students that they must learn the information because it is part of California’s standards. Instead of mindlessly dumping information down the students throat it would be much more beneficial to have the students want to explore the content themselves. When learning it is important to come across obstacles and work them out in a way that will help you learn the information in a whole new light. Once this is achieved then the information that is taught means a lot more to them and is retained at a higher rate.

            This article brings up memories of a clear-cut classroom setup that I experienced with almost every classroom from kindergarten through 8^th grade. The desks were very close together in rows that were all facing the front of the class. Students learn in different ways and I found that I work better in a group setting. Once I arrived in high school we had a few large tables with about four to six students at each desk. It allowed for the students to talk amongst themselves and come to conclusions that they would not have come to on their own. I believe learning is meant to be done in groups and I succeeded in this setting. It is also important to keep in mind as a future teacher that each student is unique in the way they learn. Instead of grouping every child together it would be much more beneficial to teach to each style of learning individually.

            In the Ken Robinson video that we watched the other day he talked about how we are grouping kids together and running our schools like factories. School systems are grouping kids together and expecting them to be all the same when learning in class. We need to separate ourselves from this sort of teaching and prompt the students to be interested and driven to learn and grow as a student. I believe this article agreed a lot with the video and it should be kept in mind when going into the teaching field.