Blog # 4- The Final Blog

The Last Observation!

Middle School Placement-Last Day Challenge

Dr. Shannon came in to observe me at the end of my poetry unit (10th grade, Harrisburg). The students in my academic classes were required to construct their own poem with poetic devices (i.e. similes, metaphors, alliterations, hyperboles, etc.) and present them to the class. They were also required to write 4 stanzas containing rhyming lines. When I created the rubric and assignment sheet for the project I focused on the simplest, but most important elements which I wanted the students to learn. This included using poetic devices effectively in writing and following format directions. Along with this I wanted students to practice being professionals- this is why I required each of them to present their poems to the class. Back to the creation of the project...I thought it would be easy for the students to draft a poem because I clearly identified my expectations for them and each day would review them before we began working on it in class. Along with drafting time in class, I did a mini Prezi on each poetic term which was required in the project. Students took notes during the Prezis and listed examples which they could later use.

Now let me cut to the day Dr. Shannon came into my classroom. Each student had submitted their final (typed) poem to me, I printed them out, and brought them to class on Friday. I decided instead of having each student read their poem in front of the class that I would arrange the desks into a circle. My reasoning for changing my original design is because I realized that many of the students would rather receive a 0 out of 10 on their presentation grade than to actually present! To encourage the students I rapped my poem (ON A CHAIR) in front of the entire class on Thursday. We also viewed clips of children, students, and celebrities reading and performing poetry. So, not only did we spent an entire period talking about the importance of performance, but I rearranged the desks in the class to create the most comfortable environment for students to read their poetry. This is what makes a good teacher I have realized. I've noticed how much time and consideration I put into my students and their performance as a whole in class.

The observation began with rearranging the desks quickly after my period 2 honors English class left. I asked students to come into class and pick any seat they would like to sit in as long as it was in the circle. Once the desks were arranged I gave students the activity worksheet for the day. Each student was held accountable during their classmates presentations. They had to list examples of how their classmates used poetic devices in their projects. I forgot to mention that I rewarded students who came to class on time through the use of the presentation sign up sheet. The students which came into class early or on time could sign up the order in which they wanted to present their project in front of the class. The student who did not sign up were placed towards the top of the presentation list. A student to the left or right of me was in charge of this list during the presentations and helped me delegate the order. (It was also a good way for me to know who was absent that day). Once each student had a copy of the activity worksheet, I passed out the final drafts for the students to read. Since I am such an organized teacher, I then sat down with my rubrics, in the order of the presentations, ready to hear some great poetry!

Some students were reluctant to read, so I told them, "If I can rap on a chair in front of the entire class, then surely you can read a poem at your desk." The students found that amusing and it helped lighten the air. My words of encouragement helped students read their poems. There were still some students that chose to take a 0 instead of presenting. In reality, I was hoping for about 5 students to read their poems because as I mentioned there were many students who did not want to read theirs. During my observation though, I think all students but about 5 read their poems. I was in complete delight. There was only one brief moment during the presentations in which a couple of students in a row declined to read. I took that time to explain the importance of my lesson. I told them I did not want the students to present because I am a mean teacher who makes her students do embarrassing tasks, but I was doing it to help them . I also mentioned that the purpose of the presentations was to practice being professional, because in the real world they would have to do this; whether that be during a job interview or heading off to college and pursuing a degree. If students weren't listening to their peers read, they were listening now...at this moment the room was silent. They began to understand that I was trying to help them be successful and as a result more students read their poems. (Side note: students were aware that if they were be disrespectful during their classmates presentations they may be deducted points from their presentation grade). In addition, the students were completing their worksheet while their classmates read without my guide from me other than asking the presenter to repeat their example for the class for record.

My overall impression of my high school placement is still mixed feelings as I mentioned before. There were the good days, but yet there were some very bad days as well. I think the students understood that I had respect for them as individuals and without this I don't think I would have had any control of them!

My Student Teaching Experience Final Reflection

First, I just want to say I am terribly sad!!!! I don't want to leave my students, even the students at my second placement who gave me the most trouble. I have learned that I am tougher than I ever thought I could be. I hold all of my students accountable for their work, but also give students breaks when I feel they have earned it. I like giving students options in class because I have found they like to have some control in their own learning experience. Their behavior is much better when I give them this choice. From my suburban middle school placement I learned how much I love...LOVE...middle school students. They loved when I embarrassed myself in front of the class by performing "The Dougie." That terrible performance and promise of desserts was enough to motivate students to complete their homework each night and as a result the students improved on the second exam during the parts of speech unit. At my more urban high school placement I learned the true meaning of classroom management  I wouldn't have traded that placement though if I had the chance because it helped me practice the best techniques for designing an effective classroom. "Carry On" by Fun. was a big inspiration for me during the my second placement because there were days were I didn't want to go to school the next day, but I continued to try new techniques and improve each day. A student from one of my academic classes (which Dr. Shannon observed) told me today that he actually liked writing poetry though it was hard and said, "Miss Frady, you are awesome!" I find this comment so funny because the entire time I was doing the poetry unit I thought my academic class hated me, but they praised me after realizing they can think on their own and meet my standards. :)

Lastly, I hope I inspired at least one student during my student teaching experience and made at least one life-long friend. I don't want to be a teacher because I get weekends and summers off, but because I absolutely love seeing my students' faces light up when they succeed. To me that is priceless. This is why I want to be a teacher. It is a simple explanation if you have your heart in the right place. :)

Second Placement Surprise Blog #3

                Last Friday, on April 5^th, I had my first formal observation at my second placement. I am now student teaching at an urban high school in Harrisburg. The student population and culture here is tremendously different in comparison to my first placement in Dillsburg. In Dillsburg (my middle school placement) I taught five classes: two upper level English and three mixed level English. Whereas in Harrisburg I am currently teaching two academic English classes, but will soon pick up three honors English classes as well. All of my classes are 10^th grade English.

                I want to start this blog off with a recap of my lesson for my observation, and then discuss the differences I have noticed in student behavior. The class and I had been studying Carpe Diem poetry the entire week, so I decided to try and end Friday on a lighter note.  I began class with a small discussion about the MTV show “The Buried Life.” If you are not familiar: it is a show in which four boys, in their mid-twenties, make a list of all of the things they want to do before they die. For every item on their list that they check off, they help a stranger complete something on their bucket list. After this brief explanation, I showed the class the trailer on YouTube. Then, I mentioned how their previous journal topic (on Carpe Diem) relates to this topic. I wanted the students to complete their own bucket lists in class. Before I passed out the assignment, I demonstrated what I expected them to write by reading examples from the book, “What Do You Want to Do Before You Die?” written by the cast of “The Buried Life.” I was pleasantly surprised that those examples held the students’ interest. It was as though we were having our own little story time as I read examples from the book and showed students the pictures. I will explain later why I found this so memorable. The bucket list worksheets were passed out and I shared with the students my expectations for completion. Dr. Shannon, my co-op, and I all noted that small discussion around the classroom was on topic with the activity. The students were excited to write their own bucket lists. We wrapped up the activity by having students share some of their examples and well as discussed how this activity fits along with what we had been studying.

                The Pros:

                One student left class and said to her friend in the hallway, “I liked that bucket list activity.” Hearing this compliment just lifted me out of my shoes…I have never received this type of feedback before from that class. It was nice to know that there are some students that appreciate my hard work and enjoy the lessons I plan. In addition, the students were excited about the lesson and I was able to keep the students interested and engaged. It was probably one of the quietest academic English classes I have taught so far.

                The Cons:

                There were many students missing from class, so I was aware that all of those students would be behind on Monday. There were some students discussing during the clips and others on their cell phones. I had to talk to students individually at their desks to get to work because they were not doing anything at times. The lesson was not highly focused on academic achievement, but it was a building block for the poetry project that we began this week. Yesterday, students used their bucket lists to choose a theme for their poetry projects (where students write their own poem, rap, or song and present it to the class).  I decided to move forward with the bucket list idea for my observation though because I knew one of the cons to teaching highly important material of a Friday would be that students would be unmotivated. My hope was to have them at least complete their bucket lists, this way on Monday they can just circle one item from their list as their theme instead of brainstorming their own.

What would I have done differently?

I thought it ran smoothly. If I had to change/revise my lesson, I would ask for students to chose their theme on Friday and explain in a short paragraph about why they feel it is important for them to achieve this goal and briefly list items associated with completion of it.

Student Behavior Differences

                 My middle school placement students were absolute angels. They understood my expectations and respected my wishes. At my high school placement, the students (in my academic sections) do not raise their hands when they have a comment or answer and they seem to forget my expectations. They have almost no desire to complete work in class. Honestly, I feel worn out because I have to work so hard to motivate the students to complete the activity. I do not accomplish nearly the amount of work that I did at my middle school placement.  There are times I have felt that I am too easy on the students when it comes to the amount of work I expect from them. I have been advised by my co-op do not ask the students to complete as much work as I do in one period. Side note…I do not assign them any homework and are asked not to do so!!!!!! In comparison, I assigned homework every day for my 7^th grade students.  I struggle each day to get students quiet when delivering instructions.  Sometimes I wait about 5 minutes for them to quiet before I begin class. I am happy that I am able to see this distinct difference in student behavior. It has helped me solidify my desire to be a middle school teacher. I know not all middle school students are well behaved, but I feel as though there is still some hidden desire to absorb knowledge deep within them.

So far My Experience

                I have had many good, but also bad days in my second placement. My commute from Shippensburg to Harrisburg every day alone is tiring, but so are the students. I cherish each good day that I experience with my students and struggle to understand my bad days.  I look forward to those good days each time I walk into school. That is what makes teaching truly worth it. I do wish sometimes that my co-op would give me more feedback and plan with me, but really he has made it all up to me. My leash has been cut, and I don’t think I am doing that bad. I guess we will see how it goes after my second observation…I am crossing my fingers!

Post Observation #2

I was fully prepared (like always) for my observation...except for when Dr. Shannon text me around 7:00 am, saying that she would be coming a little earlier. My heart almost dropped because any earlier would mean she would observe almost my worst class. The students do not have behavioral problems, but are not highly excited about participating. This could be because it is the first class of the day. So, even before Dr. Shannon arrived I was brainstorming. How could I get the students to participate more? What if the journal topic was not engaging to them today? 

After the morning announcements, class began. I put up the journal topic onto the smart board and asked for a student to read the topic for today. I felt that the topic may be difficult because it was asking the students to write a book review about one of their favorite books. Honestly, I almost wish I switched my topic to something else. The day before I did a "Price is Right" topic, where students wrote about where in the world they would go if they won the showcase on "The Price is Right." I used that topic to my advantage because Theang and I were in the audience in 2011 and I used that clip as my activating strategy. It made the topic realistic then because they could connect to this idea that they could possibly be in the audience as Theang and I once were. (Sadly though, Theang and I were not called on stage during the show!) Now...back to the observation. My favorite book topic worked once I mentioned the idea that they could write about their book they are currently reading for reading class (each student is required to read a new book of their choice each marking period). I thought the topic went well after we brainstormed together as a class before writing, but it did feel like I was pulling teeth a little when I asked for volunteers to share their entries. I have noticed that if the topic is engaging, then the students all want to share. Most of the topics I have done are engaging, but favorite book was one that I felt was not. 

I asked a student to read my response to the topic. I wrote about The Notebook, by Nick Sparks, since it was one of the first books I picked up on my own and became really engrossed in. I wanted to make my response personal again, so I included a picture of me at the NCTE conference in Las Vegas...when I actually met Nick Sparks and his brother. They enjoyed the connection and it helped me transition into talking about the homework from the night before.

The homework leader that I selected to lead the homework check was a little soft spoken when giving the answers to the rest of the class. (The homework last night was to complete the preposition study guide). I reminded the student to speak louder when giving answers and the audience to respond in the same matter. The reminder did help! While they completed this task, I checked their homework. Sadly, my period one class has not had a perfect homework check in a while. A perfect homework check means that everyone in the class has their homework completely finished. (The perfect homework check idea corresponds to my research project). I had hoped that the incentive would have helped motivated the students to complete their homework, but for this class my incentive of Dougie and desserts is useless. On the other hand, my period 5 class has continued to rack up the perfect homework checks since the day I implemented it into the class.

After the homework check, I asked students questions about conjunctions and interjection. I was searching for how they would define them before we talked about what they actually are. Many of them struggled to define what a conjunction and interjection are, but this was the point of my exercise.  I gave them two examples in the directions of the journal topic that day and asked them to recall those two examples and then try to define what they are then. (The examples in my journal topic were "hurray!" and "and"). Once I began to list examples, then the student felt more confident and volunteered to give me more. I was happy with this transition. Next, I passed out the conjunction/interjection study guide and asked a student to direct us to the page in their book where we could find the definition of a conjunction. I explained the directions of the study guide and gave the students time in class to start working on this (because it was there homework!) 

To finish off the class, I felt it would be appropriate to show the class the "Conjunction Junction" Schoolhouse Rock video. Previously, I showed the verb Schoolhouse Rock video and decided to wait a while to show another Schoolhouse Rock video. I wanted to show the conjunction video because it was the most popular Schoolhouse Rock video and had a catchy song. The song idea also connected to their homework for the night, which included making a rap (or song) of their own using the definitions of a conjunction and an interjection. 

The period did not end as smoothly as I would have liked because the teams were running out of time to write their answers down for the team challenge (the Schoolhouse Rock video). This tends to happen though period one because it is my first run through. I did improve and was able to manage my time more effectively as the day progressed.

Overall, I thought my observation went well. I was hoping to have more engaging and fun activity to show Dr. Shannon, but this lesson was still very helpful to the students. I have learned, lesson do not have to be "edge of your seat" thrilling to be effective. If all of my lessons were that way the students would be tired and worn out! Differentiated lesson planning is the best way to go! 

I was happy I improved since my last observation :). Also, I am taking Dr. Shannon up on her recommendation to call parents and leave positive messages this week! Let's see if it will have some affect on student behavior :). 

P.S. My coop and I were talking about classroom management and began preparing for my Susquehanna Township high school students. I may ask Nicole and Tyler for help here too!

Post-Observation #1

With my coffee in hand, I can now reflect on how my student teaching experience has been thus far. Yes, I said thus...thus thus thus! Also, I am happy to be blogging again, I have really missed it!

So, recently Dr. Mortimore-Smith came to visit my 7th grade classroom on Wednesday (February 13th). To be honest, I felt pretty much completely prepared for her observation and tried to treat it like another day in the classroom. I wrote her a personal letter and left it in my enormous binder on my desk in the back of the room. Side note: I feel so important sitting at my desk in the classroom. I feel even more important sitting at my coop's desk. Haha. When planning the events for this week, knowing that I would be observed, I tried to pick any activity where the students would demonstrate what they have been learning. The trouble was that the date Dr. Shannon was suppose to come was a last minute change. I am not complaining about the date change, but celebrating it. Dr. Shannon was able to observe my class on word power Wednesday...wait I am getting ahead of myself!

Let's start from the beginning of the class. I started off period 2 with the journal topic of the day. We complete a journal entry each day. The journal topic for my observation was describing a "step by step" process of a skill you may have. I decided to do this topic because recently we have been studying the parts of speech. I have come to realize it is a 7th grade standard in almost any school district. Any who, we just start studying verbs and the different categories of verbs. I was shocked when designing the verb study guide because we had to teach 7th grade students about action, linking, helping, main, transitive, and intransitive verbs! Okay, back to the journal topic...the students were supposed to write a paragraph describing the step by step process they have done before or could explain to someone else. The purpose of this journal topic was to practice writing using present tense verbs. We talked about some examples of what they could write about and the brainstorming really help. I think it was a great journal topic to connect to the verb lesson of the week. I have to admit here that the classes I teach at Northern Middle school are very well-behaved. Dr. Shannon even took notice to this! So, when I asked them to start writing, the class was completely silent and every student was on task. If they struggled to write I individually discussed some possible ideas with the student at their desk. After the students finished writing, I had many of them share. The only difficulty I encounter when asking students to share their journals is that there seems to be the same students raising their hands to volunteer. The way I try to avoid calling on the same students each day to share their journal responses is by calling on them by rows and having each person in that row share. Then the next day, I chose a different row. I got this wonderful advice from my coop-who has been so helpful. There were a couple of students that called out during the discussion of student journal responses. One students in particular called out and I ignored him until he raised his hand. He has had warnings about it in the past as well and this was the approach my coop suggested I take when he does call out. After the some students shared their responses, I asked for a volunteer to read my sample. I find it interesting that students prefer to read my model than to read their own; when I asked for a volunteer to read mine almost every hand went up. I think modeling the response for the students in important and it gives them confidence that the topic is not too difficult to write about. I made my journal response a little mini lesson on the parts of speech. It in I highlighted one noun, one verb, one pronoun, and one adjective. The students that could correctly identify the part of speech were awarded a point of their team. (The "team" division of the class may be discussed in another blog because that is a whole other topic for discussion. I find it a very unique way to organized the class into groups). 

After the journal topic, I told the students to take out their homework. The homework from the night before was to complete their verb study guide. We have a really cool system to checking homework. A homework leader is selected to give the answers by calling on students they chose while I check students' homework for completion. The only flaw I find in this, is that I have trouble listening to the answers students give during the homework check. But, it is a unique system because a different student each day becomes the homework leader and stands in front of the class to give their fellow classmates the answers to the homework. 

I was excited to get to the last part of class. The activity that I designed was for the students to make a "Draw It" mini poster. Basically, the purpose of the activity was to illustrate their understanding of the six different verb types. I thought I did a very nice job explaining the directions to the students. I put them on the smart board and showed them my model. I have noticed that models are key to showing students what you expect them to replicate. I remember when I start student teaching I was scared to take over five classes. Now though, I feel like I belong there. I have established authority in my classroom and continue to work on improving this. Explaining the directions to the activity got easier as the day progressed and this provided the other classes with more time to begin working on the Draw It homework assignment. Before the period ended, I asked the class to put away their homework because we were going to do a team challenge. I showed the class the Schoolhouse Rock video on verbs. The students were required to write down the answers to the questions I displayed on the smart board. It was a nice way to summarize verbs in a fun way  and it held the student accountable. I was running out of time though, so I had to cut this activity a little bit shorter than I would have liked. I was able to get through most of the video, but we have to cut out the last two questions I wanted the students to answer because we didn't get that far in the video.


Overall, the students (and I) were moving the entire period. This brings me to finally explain what word power Wednesday is. Word power Wednesday is a special day where student raise their hand when they hear me say one of the word vocabulary words from the previous vocabulary unit. Whomever raises their hand first has to tell me the word I said and give me the definition, then I will reward their team a point. It is a fun little system and the students get really excited when I say a word. It is like they have won the lottery. Haha.

After Dr. Shannon left at the end of period 2, I reflected to myself whether I thought the lesson was successful. Compared to when I started teaching (like two weeks ago), I have made many improvements  I was proud of my accomplishments and felt that my evaluation from Dr. Shannon showed this. I felt the "grade" I received for my observation was well deserved and I hope to outdo myself again the next time Dr. Shannon visits. I hope to continue to keep the students, my coop, and Dr. Shannon on their feet as I come up with new lessons and teach grammar in my own unique way.

Lastly, I am going to try and get involved in the Thon at Northern Middle school. The reason is because I feel like I am apart of the school district now and I would love to participate in an extracurricular school activity. This connection I have made with Northern won't surely be forgotten and I feel that as a student teacher I am making myself known. :) Student teaching has been a lot of work, but the work has all been fun because I am designing it. I love my job (can't wait to get paid to do this!).

Also, one of my students is making a Prezi for their history presentation and asked me for guidance on how to use it!!!!! I am spreading the word about Prezi and the students love it! They call it the "Powerpoint on steroids!"

This is Miss Frady signing out until next time!

_Peace!

1996 Heather Would Be Proud of Me

Let's Reflect...

My 3rd graders in Hangzhou, China

I have been waiting my entire life to make it to where I am now. I remember in middle school thinking student teaching was so far away. So, how would I reflect my experience in methods? I think I "made it." As my blog title indicates, I did not think I would make it through methods. But, before I began methods, there were many questions buzzing through my mind as to how I address myself as a teacher. Then after receiving an "R," I began to question whether I was fit to be an English Teacher. Like other English majors, I am excellent at English, but just because I preform well in my English classes does NOT mean I am a good teacher. My conceptual unit suffered because I was not capable and successful at writing a rationale. I never fathomed that teachers would have to explain themselves in formal rationales! When we were students, we assumed teachers knew their material and taught it to us in a loving and forgiving way. In addition, the principal was not a "pal" at all, but the big wig of the school who called our parents and scared us anytime they saw us in the hallway. After making the distinction between what I assumed teacher did and what they actually do, I began to understand the profession a lot more than I did the previous semester. Working with my cooperative teachers really provided me when the reality of teaching and important things to think about before stepping into the teaching world. My coops supported me in the classroom when I taught my extended lessons and I am so glad they did because I was discouraged after having that "R" placed on my forehead. Having an "R" on my forehead felt worse they having an "L." :(  The benefits on this dreaded "R" though I feel were not realized until I made my revisions to the assignments Dr. Shannon suggested. They turned out three times better and contained the focus I had been missing. I even recall texting Dr. Shannon that she would enjoy my student learning map post-revision because I had that much confidence in my work. Confidence was on of the main goals I had hoped to accomplish through my time spent in methods. I believe I had a reality check which included: understanding not everything I submit will be perfect, it is okay to revise, and there are people who can praise and criticize you. Through this reality check, I lost my confidence and spirit as a teacher for a brief amount of time. It was through the revisions, advice, guidance, and support that I regained my integrity. I know right? What a heart-warming reflection! 

Post-methods, I feel that I am prepared for student teaching. I have finally accepted that teachers do not know everything about their subject and that is okay. We know how to teach, but we can also learn along with our students and teach something we have not read before. As I said in one of my earlier blogs, I want my students to learn something about themselves and express this to me. Teaching English is not just about literature and grammar, but about living life-this is one philosophy I will continue to stick to when asked the question, "why do you want to be a teacher Heather?" I want to be a teacher to help students find and discover that they too can be successful in school and in life. Watching students' eyes light up, when they understand something or are inspired by my teaching, really does make teaching worth it. This is why sometimes I hated leaving for the day after I spent time with my coops. I was enjoying my soon-to-be job and did not want to leave just yet. I know you may think, well this feeling will get old, but I disagree. The more I am immersed in a classroom, the more I find things I love about teaching. I enjoy the challenge and feel amazing when I make a connection with my students. I promised myself when I was a little girl that I would become an amazing teacher and be the friend who listens to my students when they just need someone to talk to. I think my childhood Heather would pat me on the back and say I will make a fine teacher as long as I have the passion in my heart that I do now. Methods brought back this passion and I want to thank Dr. Shannon for this. This class, along with my coops, has changed and strengthen me as a teacher and I am excited to begin student teaching in the spring. 

Childhood Heather

We don't take pictures of our books...we take pictures of our students :)

Teaching Grammar

    Every student hates when they hear the word grammar and it is my job has a teacher to develop a unique strategy which encourages students that grammar can be fun. So, how would I do it? Well of course by allowing student to access their strengths and by this I mean adapt a grammar lesson around their preferred way of learning. I would feel horrible if I sat through a class which was completely auditory. This is because I am visual and kinematic learner. I can't imagine student becoming interested in grammar if we solely teach it to them in "one direction." (Oh boy, I did just reference One Direction in my blog...where has my mind gone). Therefore, I would like to enable my students to learn grammar through pictures, sounds, and movement. One way I have seen pictures or comics used to teach grammar/vocabulary was by my middle school Coop. He used comics as a link to the meaning of the new word or phrase. For example, one of the words for the last unit was "efface." Its link was "erase." There was a pictures of a person effacing a picture and a sentence which described the picture using the vocabulary word. My Coop then had some students read the word, link, and sentences below the picture. I think one reason for doing so is because sometimes students need to hear the word to remember it and also because if you hand a packet to middle school students who says they are actually going to read it. Haha. One I idea I have to spice up this lesson would be to include some form of physical movement. Like, the activity Nicole and I did for our brushstroke teach. We had students act out the action verbs through a game we called "What Are You Doing?" I am sure everyone enjoyed this...especially Evan. Haha. I am almost positive students would have enjoyed this activity over the one we found in the book. When teachers use activities to make grammar fun then I think students actually enjoy learning. For example, this small comic I included in my blog made me laugh. It encourages students to use correct grammar through the use of a  funny ninja. I think students would remember this comic and probably ask to see more comics like it. I thought about using comics like this also as maybe a free write activity or discussion activity before class starts. My purpose in using this comics would be to lighten the mood before a grammar lesson or have a mini lesson on grammar before the main lesson begins.
 
I am still a little nervous about teaching grammar because student may find it boring. I will strive though to make it as interesting as I can and I will also ask other teachers for advice. I guess we will see how it goes when I have to teach some grammar during student teaching. :)

Write Right? Oh the Joy of Homonyms

Is there such a thing a writicide?

After reading "The English Teacher's Red Pen: History of an Obsession," I would say Zemelman and Daniels would agree that writicide does exist. For instance, how many middle school and/or high school students write for fun? Probably not too many right? This is because English teachers have lowered students' confident. I can't blame students are not wanting to write - who would like to be told they are not good enough? The famous red pen has placed this crime in our hands now. The trouble is though, we evaluate students extremely different than other subject teachers. For example, when I was in high school I hardly did any writing in my science classes. We did lab reports, but we were not graded on the same criteria which we were in English class. Instead, science teachers searched for our understanding of the lab and the results we were able to obtain. They were measuring what we learned from the activity, not what we had previously known. Do I think there should be more writing in other subjects? Yes, of course! This would limit the expectation that English teachers have placed on their shoulders, so instead of spending their entire weekend fixing grammar mistakes, they can concentrate on content, organization, and focus. It is sad that "our obsession with perfection in mechanics" actually causes us to lose "fundamental aspects of composing [like] content and clarity." I hope in my classroom to focus on focus...meaning I don't want to weigh the papers heavily on conventions. Yes, I'll be frustrated when I see reoccurring mistakes in a paper, but I will only mention the mistake twice. If a student lack focus that is a much bigger problem than misspelling a word.

In my classroom, I want to take the same approach as the piano teacher. Like her, I want to read the paper and not stop every sentence to fix mechanics. We would never have great music if we stopped musicians when they made one mistake! Also, if possible I would like students to meet with me to talk about one problem I may have found in their paper. I would be curious to see what problem they would say they have when writing as well. I will emphasize to my students that writing is a process and grammar will improve as they continue to write. If they need further help with conventions/mechanics, I will help them too. As Smagorinsky reccomended, I would like to instead incorporate grammar alongside reading and writing activities (165). Another reason I would employ conventions alongside other activites is because I don't want to bore my students. My middle school Coop uses this method, so it is nice to actually see it in action too. Student don't want to learn about grammar, instead they want to talk about things they interest them. I find my Coop's daily journal entries way more helpful than an entire period spent on grammar.

So, to reflect- there is not a right way to write. I think is it sad that English teachers are expected to evaluation students as if they are polished adult writers. Also, there is not a right way to evaluate writing either. It really depends what you as a teacher appreciate in student writing. I would definitely say that I appreciate a well-developed clear paper with a few convention mistakes rather than a flawless paper with no content or direction. Writing should not be about being "right," it should be about how you express yourself. This is a message I will pass on to my students. I would, however, be tougher on student writing towards the end of the year because I would have expected students to have improved their writing conventions.

Side Note: My friend, who is a freshman in college this year, sent me a paper to look over. He asked me to give suggestions on how he could improve his paper. I have not read over the paper yet, but I would be interested in bringing it in to class to show everyone. We could compare it to the WFYIS paper we read in class. The reason I find this paper interesting is because he is a friend of mine from China. He is attending Chinese University of Hong Kong and his classes are taught in English. His conventions therefore are not up to par, but I think his focus his there...so how would you evaluate it? After reading these sections on writing evaluation, I think I have a better idea of how I will approach his paper.