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.