Entry #12

Using the blog for this class was really the first time I used a blog for extended writing. As there are many usages for blogs, the format we used was most helpful for the learning outcomes of the course. I had previously used blogger for a vocabulary journal in Dr. Jones’ other class. I think the purpose of using the blog in that activity was to make public our vocabulary choices. The purpose of this blog seems to be more closely linked to what actual blogs are used for--sharing our thinking.

The student learning outcomes writing the blog helped me achieve the most were (4) understanding the relationship between reading and writing processes and (2) the role of purpose and audience. I personally gained a new understanding of the relationship between reading and writing while writing the blogs. I not only had to read course material with more attention to detail, I also had to synthesize the information within my schema in my writing. I think this is the most important kernel of knowledge to take from using the blogs. If we aim to have students adding new information to their schemas while they read, then the blog definitely will help students make those connections quicker and more meta-cognitively than the act of reading alone. Teachers have tried to link reading with written activities but for some reason the blog may work better for more students. 

I think blogging may work better for students due to its purpose and audience. The purpose of our blog was articulated clearly as a place to explore our own thinking and learning. Knowing this before beginning to write lifted a bit of pressure from “finding the right answer” and making sure everything was correct. I found that I still attempted to try to hit the key ideas of each text we read. Over time, I let myself examine and concentrate on the issues I felt were important, which is where I got the most from my blogging. I think students would benefit from an explicitly stated purpose before beginning to blog.

The audience when publishing online obviously widens. The widened audience didn’t necessarily make me sensor any of my ideas. It did, however, push me to think more critically about what I posted, especially regarding comments. It is more powerful to have all of the students in the class observe our thinking because it allows for a larger conversation. Since we also needed to “bless, address or press” our peers’ blog entries, I gained new and different perspectives on the same topics. Plus, seeing other classmates’ thinking helped sharpen my own thinking.

I know I fell a bit behind in the cadence of the blogs, but I still gained from writing them. They helped me slow down my thinking. I have a tendency to close the books I read and consider it done, but blogging about the ideas helped extend the time I was thinking about a topic, which also helped me remember specific details better. Blogging also helped me find a stronger voice on topics, like standardized testing and my views on the importance of expository writing. I liked having a forum for a strong professional self.

Entry #11

Overall, the genre presentations were helpful for me. The format of Tompkins and how each person created their lesson helped me truly analyze the components of each genre. I am taking away new tidbits of knowledge about each genre we explored. I learned that journal writing can have different purposes. I generally thought journalling was best used for reflection of a reading. But Dr. Jones’ presentation reminded me that simulated journal entries can be of great value for students. In addition, I now understand the difference between an autobiography and a personal narrative more clearly than I did before. I guess I never realized there was a difference in the first place. I just lumped them both together. As for expository writing, I really enjoyed exploring different books through their text structures. I also found the multi-genre piece that Tompkins highlighted to be very exciting. Students would likely gain more knowledge about a topic by completing a multi-genre assignment than simply writing an essay. Similar to expository writing structures, students benefit from understanding story grammar. I was familiar with the persuasive genre because I had previously taken rhetoric courses, but did not have any ideas on how to work with students with it. I think persuasive posters are a fantastic way to introduce students to the art of persuasion. Once students are familiar with the components needed to persuade, then they can move to writing persuasive letters and essays.

The poetry genre and descriptive writing are closely linked in nature. I learned a lot about different poems to use with students. I didn’t realize how easily accessible many of the poems can be for students. Like I mentioned in a previous entry, students would have a blast identifying the different types of poems. Heather’s descriptive writing presentation shed light on the fact that it is not quite a genre in itself. Instead, descriptive writing is a component that many genres incorporate, such as narrative and poetry. I learned that to truly be descriptive, one needs to look at the essence of an object or thing and highlight that in their writing.

One thing I’ve noticed is that many of the genres seem to have overlapping components. Tompkins would agree that understanding the structure of a text greatly increases the chances of comprehension for students. I think understanding the structure and the components can only aid students in their reading and writing in each genre.

Before class, I thought I had a good understanding of many of the genres, for instance narrative, expository, and persuasive. I still think I have a strong understanding of these genres however, my understanding has widened to working with students effectively. Sometimes, I have felt in classes where we learned about these genres that what to do with students was missing from the conversation. Now, I have a good idea of different activities that highlight the intricacies of each of the genres. I think one of my greatest gains in knowledge and confidence about the genre is in poetry. Starting a poetry unit can be vast and overwhelming because there are so many different avenues one can go. Tompkins and Sophia’s presentation gave me a tool-kit of the different types of poems that students can study.

I think I have gained more confidence in my understanding of each genre since the presentations. I already had a basic understanding of each of the genres, due to being an English major in my undergrad. The presentations reminded me of the components in each genre and offered fantastic opportunities to highlight the importances of each genre with students.

Believe it or not, the one genre that still intimidates me is narrative. It’s almost humorous but I have had the least amount of time working with a narrative genre in my own writing. College offers writing opportunities for expository essays and even reflections, but not so much for personal narrative pieces. It could simply be a result of less time to read for myself, since I usually read narrative. I guess its also related to how I haven’t had the opportunity to teach students a narrative text, that alone makes me less comfortable when thinking about working with students. Anyway, I have gained a greater appreciation for each genre and understand much more about each individual component about each genre.

Entry 10

Carrie mentions the integral issue of our writing assessments--they do not allow for full execution of the writing process. The standardized tests have always been an issue of contention for me. I understand the need to assess students and hold them accountable, I just think the way we have gone about it is unfair and frankly unpedogogical. My reasoning stems from experience as a student and belief as a teacher. Anything we assess a student on should be something they have been exposed to in the same format as it was taught. The assessments clearly do not align with what teachers are teaching--the writing process.

Interestingly, Dr. Jones’ mantra “form follows function” actually relates to the issue of assessment. If the form of our assessment, multiple choice and contrived essay tasks, does not fit the needs of our assessment, then why are we still using the standardized tests as a marker of success or failure in school. Hmm...politics sound familiar? When it comes down to it, it just does not make sense to me as a teacher to use the format of a standardized test to truly assess our students. I realize we are attempting to assess and hold accountable thousands and thousands of students. That’s why I think Dr. Jones’ suggestion of maintaining writing over time iwould be a logical addition to assessing our students.

Here comes the kicker, how do we make such changes in such a vast political arena that education in the U.S. has become? Yes, the writing portfolio addition to the standardized tests will begin to balance the potential distortion the tests create in the first place. But to really address the issue is to possibly revamp how we assess thousands of thousands of students. I’m not really sure what the answer is. Perhaps simply adding the portfolio component would be the most effective way to assess the writing process.

In addition, I think students connect writing with judgement and evaluation due to how we assess them. These tests are unforgiving representations of student performance. They are a snapshot of how that student performs on that given day, in that given setting, likely different than their normal classroom. This also highlights that we as teachers need to combat this association students have with writing and judgment even more throughout the school year. I think one of the most important things we can do as teachers is to build up our students’ confidence about where they are in their learning. When students can self-evaluate their writing, then they gain more confidence in their abilities.

In short, writing assessment needs to be multifaceted. It is important to assess students over time using a portfolio. Teachers need to help build students’ confidence regarding writing and the writing process. Both teachers and students also need to assess their own writing. If we must rely on the standardized tests, we must also balance that assessment with the portfolio component. We cannot be biased and outweigh one day’s writing over writings over time. Hopefully, with a multifaceted assessment, students will begin to realize that critiques are just suggestions to improve their writing. 

Entry #9

Reflecting on chapter 5 from Hicks (2009), I think this chapter has some of the most important information teachers can take from the book. We, as teachers, need to fully examine the different processes that writing for digital outlets forces students/authors to operate in. Each medium, whether a blog/blogfolio, class anthology, or audio anthology, requires focused attention to different details by the author. For instance, an audio anthology requires the author to fully examine his/her “text” as the audience, thus, aiding his/her understanding of their work. 

Before taking this class, I knew that writing in digital spaces was going to be the push in education. I did not have a good idea of what each of those writing spaces were. Thankfully, Hick’s outlines specific writing spaces, like the ones in this chapter. As teachers, we should be excited about the new digital spaces because they offer authentic writing for students. And the authenticity of traditional written papers is becoming less prominent when compared to the digital writing spaces we have discussed in class.

Blogfolios, class anthologies, and audio anthologies can be great outlets for our students to express authorship. I think students will be excited about using technology to express their ideas. Also, the collaboration that students and teachers are required to have while working with these mediums mirrors the collaboration needed when students leave school. It’s important to note that we must always keep our writing purpose(s) at the forefront of any of these projects so that we do not get “caught up in the tools” (Hicks, 2009, p. 95).

If nothing else, I hope that everyone takes a better understanding of fair use with them when they leave this class. As leaders of our students and hopefully of our professions, we need to have a strong understanding of what is ethical and sound regarding use of secondary material in digital texts. We need to educate other teachers, possibly hosting school wide workshops, and we need to educate our students as early as possible.

The Code of Best Practices for Copyrighted Material includes a key component for protecting educators and students: the fair use bargain. The fair use bargain states:

“we as a society give limited property rights to creators to encourage them to produce culture; at the same time, we give other creators the chance to use that same copyrighted material, without permission or payment, in some circumstances. Without the second half of the bargain, we could all lose important new cultural work” (Code of Best Practices in Social Media Website).

The most important kernel from this quote is that cultural growth is the deciding factor in usage being sound or not. As long as the creator is “re-presenting” the material for purposes of educational and/or cultural growth, the use is protected under fair use. The user of the copyrighted material cannot simply repeat the work at “the same intent and value as the original” (Code of Best Practices in Social Media Website). No, teachers and students cannot simply steal or plagiarize material. The material needs to be transformed for a different purpose.

Please take this information and, as mentioned in the video, talk about it! The more everyone knows the more widespread our protection will be!

Entry 8

I would like to bless Heather’s Entry 6. She highlights some key points about student and teacher roles during writing workshop. One of the key ideas she mentioned was that students should see themselves as writers. I agree that during writing workshop, and in other content areas, students should be able to see themselves as potential masters of their craft. Especially regarding writing, when students see themselves as authors, they are more empowered to take risks in their writings. And by taking those risks, they will learn more deeply about writing. 

Providing a nurturing environment for students to see themselves as writers will empower them. One way to help students become authors instead of student writers is to give them the necessary knowledge to create awesome writing pieces, much like the way we learned about each genre. I feel much more equipped to write and read in each genre because we learned about specific intricacies within them. I think much of what happens in classrooms is that students are taught step-by-step how to complete an assignment, rather than being taught the craft itself that the assignment was created to assess anyway.

Students could also meet actual authors, like at events like the teen book festival.  There is something compounding when someone gets to meet the person that created the book they have read. I was lucky enough to have that experience last year when I met Terry Trueman, author of Stuck in Neutral and Cruise Control First, Terry Trueman is a fantastic, witty individual with a big personality. Secondly, he shared his personal experience that led him to write the books. It really brought to light the reason authors write in the first place--to share the human experience. I think students would gain a tremendous appreciation for authorship if they met some of the authors they read. Students would likely start to grasp their own purpose for writing, helping them get a greater sense of their personal authorship.

One pertinent aspect to helping students think of themselves as authors is the class climate, essentially how the teacher views students’ writing and how she talks to students about their writing. Heather quoted Tompkins (2008) saying that teachers should be “listeners and guides” for students. I am happy she pulled this quote because the most important trait an effective teacher can have is to guide their students to their own understandings of the content. Today, the many pressures of standardized tests and a fast-paced curriculum make it difficult for teachers to have the time to guide students learning in the most effective manner. It is so important that we as writing teachers take time to teach our students at their level of understanding.

Becoming good at anything you do involves taking risks, being “wrong,” and continued effort. We need our students to feel they can take risks. So many students, even college students, do not take necessary risks to gain knowledge for fear of being wrong. So much of our society is based on wrong or right, when in reality things just are. If we create a class community that promotes taking risks, no matter what the consequences, then we have fought half the battle for our students.

Entry 7

Understanding a genre gives a strength to the reader or writer.  By studying the different structures and types of writing within a genre students will be better equipped to comprehend these texts.  The same goes for any literacy practice--to understand the big picture will help comprehension.  For instance, computer literacy or more specifically, internet literacy, is better understood when the individual using the tool knows why they are using it, understands the components such as internet search tools, media video footage, etc.  The same is true for the major genres in reading and writing.  Students would benefit from the roadmap that understanding each genre can give to them.

Biographical reading and writing offers students a gateway to thinking about their lives through language.  It is one of the first introduced types of writing to young students, which makes it more important to foster clear goals for this writing genre.  Students need to be specifically aware about the intricacies of biographies, personal narratives, and autobiographies.  Until Carrie’s presentation and activity, I was not entirely clear what constituted a personal narrative.  I’m sure I was previously exposed to such writings, but perhaps not explicitly told that it was a personal narrative so I never truly understood the essence of personal narrative until now.  Students deserve to be explicitly exposed to the different types of writings within the genres.

As I mentioned in my presentation, expository writing structures are a vital tool for readers and writers.  I think the text structures and signal words are key to unlocking the difficulty readers have with expository text.  Once a reader has an idea of the type of organization a reading has, it is easier to add information to their schema.  I think students with reading difficulties and disabilities would greatly benefit from practice with the structures.  It would give them much needed confidence and the skill of at least comprehending the basic meaning of a text.  Plus the different types of expository writing that Tompkins (2008) offers gives students a chance to write expository texts without the overwhelming idea of an independent research paper.  For instance, a multi-genre project can incorporate factual information in a narrative form of wri After the recent genre presentations, it is evident each genre has key attributes that can enhance student comprehension and composition. To be honest, at first I thought these presentations would simply be a review of the information in the Tompkins chapter. Albeit, most of the information is found in the chapter, yet I still gain something more from the presentations. I think the benefit of the presentations is that we personally can interact with language within the particular genre.

The presentations make me think about each genre and how they operate in a categorized and organized way. Thinking of each genre as a mode of language use with its own general guidelines is helpful and would empower students to feel more confident while reading or writing in that genre. As referenced by Tompkins, “children’s concept of story plays an important role in their ability to comprehend the stories they read” (Stein & Glenn, 1979). I think the same is true for students’ understanding of each genre. A framework for understanding is one of the most important things students can have to better equip them to comprehend a text. It would help them concentrate on overall meaning, not so much decoding the language.

I find myself reinvigorated to experiment within these genres from the class activities we have participated in, which I’m sure students would find engaging too. I am starting to think of myself as more of a writer because of the presentations for some reason too. 

I would love to use many of the activities that were highlighted in the presentations. For instance, Jenna’s body biography project was quite useful. It could easily be used in many content areas and for different genres. While I did that activity I was highly engaged and students would likely be as well. There is something about drawing or representing a character without actual text that frees part of the cognitive load, therefore allowing for a deeper connection to content. I also really enjoyed Sophia’s activity where we identified each type of poem. That could easily be turned into a game and students would probably have a lot of fun with it. The added healthy competition would relieve some students of their stress to create a perfect poem or to always be “right.” As a future English teacher, I didn’t usually think about the many different types of poems beyond a haiku. Now, I realize some poems can be short and witty. They can be a great aid to get to know students/teachers, like the bio poem. In a similar vein, Heather’s descriptive genre presentation also opened my eyes to examine language use more closely. I really liked the book Heather highlighted with The Most Important Thing poem about a daisy. There are clearly many simple ways to incorporate descriptive language in student writing.

Overall, as I stated earlier, the presentations were helpful. They helped me slow down my thinking about each genre. Now I feel I understand each genre, the types of writings within each genre, and student activities that would greatly benefit students’ understanding.

Entry 7

Understanding a genre gives a strength to the reader or writer.  By studying the different structures and types of writing within a genre students will be better equipped to comprehend these texts.  The same goes for any literacy practice--to understand the big picture will help comprehension.  For instance, computer literacy or more specifically, internet literacy, is better understood when the individual using the tool knows why they are using it, understands the components such as internet search tools, media video footage, etc.  The same is true for the major genres in reading and writing.  Students would benefit from the roadmap that understanding each genre can give to them.

Biographical reading and writing offers students a gateway to thinking about their lives through language.  It is one of the first introduced types of writing to young students, which makes it more important to foster clear goals for this writing genre.  Students need to be specifically aware about the intricacies of biographies, personal narratives, and autobiographies.  Until Carrie’s presentation and activity, I was not entirely clear what constituted a personal narrative.  I’m sure I was previously exposed to such writings, but perhaps not explicitly told that it was a personal narrative so I never truly understood the essence of personal narrative until now.  Students deserve to be explicitly exposed to the different types of writings within the genres.

As I mentioned in my presentation, expository writing structures are a vital tool for readers and writers.  I think the text structures and signal words are key to unlocking the difficulty readers have with expository text.  Once a reader has an idea of the type of organization a reading has, it is easier to add information to their schema.  I think students with reading difficulties and disabilities would greatly benefit from practice with the structures.  It would give them much needed confidence and the skill of at least comprehending the basic meaning of a text.  Plus the different types of expository writing that Tompkins (2008) offers gives students a chance to write expository texts without the overwhelming idea of an independent research paper.  For instance, a multi-genre project can incorporate factual information in a narrative form of wri After the recent genre presentations, it is evident each genre has key attributes that can enhance student comprehension and composition. To be honest, at first I thought these presentations would simply be a review of the information in the Tompkins chapter. Albeit, most of the information is found in the chapter, yet I still gain something more from the presentations. I think the benefit of the presentations is that we personally can interact with language within the particular genre.

The presentations make me think about each genre and how they operate in a categorized and organized way. Thinking of each genre as a mode of language use with its own general guidelines is helpful and would empower students to feel more confident while reading or writing in that genre. As referenced by Tompkins, “children’s concept of story plays an important role in their ability to comprehend the stories they read” (Stein & Glenn, 1979). I think the same is true for students’ understanding of each genre. A framework for understanding is one of the most important things students can have to better equip them to comprehend a text. It would help them concentrate on overall meaning, not so much decoding the language.

I find myself reinvigorated to experiment within these genres from the class activities we have participated in, which I’m sure students would find engaging too. I am starting to think of myself as more of a writer because of the presentations for some reason too. 

I would love to use many of the activities that were highlighted in the presentations. For instance, Jenna’s body biography project was quite useful. It could easily be used in many content areas and for different genres. While I did that activity I was highly engaged and students would likely be as well. There is something about drawing or representing a character without actual text that frees part of the cognitive load, therefore allowing for a deeper connection to content. I also really enjoyed Sophia’s activity where we identified each type of poem. That could easily be turned into a game and students would probably have a lot of fun with it. The added healthy competition would relieve some students of their stress to create a perfect poem or to always be “right.” As a future English teacher, I didn’t usually think about the many different types of poems beyond a haiku. Now, I realize some poems can be short and witty. They can be a great aid to get to know students/teachers, like the bio poem. In a similar vein, Heather’s descriptive genre presentation also opened my eyes to examine language use more closely. I really liked the book Heather highlighted with The Most Important Thing poem about a daisy. There are clearly many simple ways to incorporate descriptive language in student writing.

Overall, as I stated earlier, the presentations were helpful. They helped me slow down my thinking about each genre. Now I feel I understand each genre, the types of writings within each genre, and student activities that would greatly benefit students’ understanding.