SI — Day 5 Reflection

Another SI day filled with lots of information and things to think about. I was interested in the Rant activity this morning because it felt safe to speak — and not to speak. So, even though I chose not to say anything doesn’t mean I didn’t have anything to “rant” about, I just want to know what to DO about those things. Maybe the point for today was just to get stuff off our chests. I think we feel like the students most times: someone’s always telling us what we’re supposed to be doing, how we’re supposed to to them, and why we still suck! (hmmm….this also makes me think of a rant that The Jakester — my 19 y/o — pulled on me his senior year of high school!).

The two demonstrations were as informative and wonderful as they were last week. I’ve used some of the Image Grammar techniques, but not very consistently, I’m sorry to say. However, I really liked the way Aileen presented the terms and the differing ways to incorporate them during revision and in student conferences. And then it helped when Lil pointed out that grammar should be a way to open up writing, not stifle it or make it stay within some arbitrary bounds.

I also became fascinated with Tara’s presentation of writing circles. I feel like I’ve done some form of this in my classes, but not as structured (I don’t think that’s the right word) — not as “shaped”? Is that a better word? I’ve read a few different ways of using writing workshop in high school from WritingFix.com (Northern Nevada’s NWP site) and from EnglishTeachersFriend.com. They both advocate for daily writing and circles/peer editing. But I haven’t been able to structure my time. With Tara’s resource plus the “steps” she outlined will help, I believe.

I was most interested today, however, with the discussion on assessment. I read Lil’s article on “The Development of Writing Ability” since it talked about myths in improvement. This concept intrigued me since the SI orientation–just before my school received the results of the state 10th grade writing test. I’ve had students who had made As & Bs in class, but fail the test; and the opposite, where students made Ds & Fs in class, but passed the test. I don’t know how to justify or explain this to my students who “should have” passed, and I suppose it wouldn’t matter, except my district decided five years ago to enact a punishment for students who didn’t pass. They have to take a “Writing Seminar” class, or remedial writing class either in the summer or in the Fall semester before they take Junior English. For the students who passed my class with As or Bs, yet failed the test, this was a punishment (is a punishment). For the students who failed or barely passed my class, and passed the test, they just moved on with their schedule. The message, of course, to the students is The Test is what matters. Anyway, I thought that Lil’s article shed some light on the problem of these arbitrary measures of improvement.

My question remains, though–how should we measure improvement? Or should we? Is that just part of the arbitrariness of school? Do I teach test-writing as a genre in itself? If so, how long do I spend on it? This really drives me nuts!

 

Investigate Nonfiction

     I’ve just finished Donald Graves’ book, Investigate Nonfiction….In barely one hundred pages, Graves  shows how to basically pace the introduction and use of nonfiction writing in elementary classrooms. He begins by showing how learning to communicate underlies the basics of nonfiction writing, and how talk in the classroom helps students figure out how to sequence their knowledge about a topic.

There were several places that I noted, one being that students voices are often left out of their essays–They forgot that they have a voice in their opinions, and those voices need to be heard. I try so very hard not to teach to a particular formula, but with the NC writing test, it’s so difficult not to! I’ve never formally written either a definition or a cause/effect essay for any class at any school/college I’ve attended. And I’ve been to a ton of schools! But I am pretty decent at letting my voice come through, I think. At least, in feedback, my instructors have noted it (even when my overall grade wasn’t as good as I’d like!). But it’s so hard to get my students to see that their voice needs to be heard; their opinion matters to the world or the conversation. It’s like they’d just rather be invisible.

Graves book, though, reminds teachers how small children learn to observe their world and how stories work. It’s within these stories that we can capture their natural inquisitiveness, harnessing it to develop writing (essays) on nonfiction topics of their choosing. The basic structure of listing, talking, brainstorming, talking, questioning, reading (use of picture books makes the “research” less threatening), learning to take notes, talking, and writing a letter about your topic, seems so simple–yet I know that my 10th graders would struggle at first. I mean, when was the last time someone really cared what they thought or had to say about important topics?

Here’s Graves talking about why student voice is important in all writing, but especially for “test” writing:

I want my students this year to produce writing they are proud of and want to share. Not just give me the boring five paragraphs. So, that’s one of my goals for the new school year — keep your own voice!!