A sexgenarian Reflects on Blogging....

Before I talk about my blogging experience, I have to voice my reservations about some of the unintended (or maybe indented) consequences of the new literacies. Can everything be expressed in abbreviated form? On my first tip to youtube I found this clip--Flutter has been downsized! LOL! Except, it hits close to my concerns. The JD 12th grade Writing Media English class reads Feed by M.T. Anderson. If you aren't familiar , it's about a future world where people have a direct feed to the Internet implanted in their brains. When I read the book, it didn't seem far in the future or far fetched to me! Now about blogging...

One of the many benefits of this class has been forcing me to try blogging. I say forcing because no way would I have tried this on my own! I have not really figured out how to link with other blogs...and this is partly because commenting on classmates' blogs was not a required part of the class. If I'd been forced to figure it out, I would have! In January, I wouldn't have been able to say that with conviction...so I'm personally grateful for being dragged into the world beyond email. I found blogging more stressful that writing journal responses on paper. I don't believe this is entirely due to the technical challenge; it's because when you push the button "publish" you've put something out there that anybody can read. It's broadens your audience, and increases the pressure on the writer.

Other personal pluses:

• Some understanding of how literacy is changing. Those of us who are generations older than our students may not grasp the speed and especially the interactive component that kids (and adults too) find through blogs and facebook, etc. The process of blogging underscored class readings on multiple literacies and the importance of audience.
• Increased comfort level with the Internet. Caveat: I never did figure out how to download a video to the blog. Had my son or daughter still been at home...I might have made it. Oprah "Ahahh" moment: you really do have to learn by doing and experimenting on computers. Fear of making a mistake is an enemy of progress !

A personal minus:

• I didn't fully do the blogging experience because I didn't check my blog for responses. This was partly due to anxiety with the technology and the content. I didn't want to think about the interactive part, so I just treated it as mode of writing journals. I shortchanged myself, but I'm going to correct that by posting a comment on your journal this week!
• Blogging makes you spend more time on a computer...when parent's say they can't tell if their kids are doing homework or facebooking, I have a better understanding of what they mean!

Professional Reflections:
I would try blogging in my classes IF I WAS CO TEACHING WITH SOMEONE WHO BOTH UNDERSTOOD THE TECHNICAL CHALLENGES AND HAD A CREDIBLE PLAN FOR AVERTING PITFALLS. After finally visiting youtube and reading the vindictive comments, I would never have students blog for class unless the blog community was limited and a teacher screened entries prior to their being sent. I believe blogging would encourage students to be more prolific in journaling and force the ones who slide by quietly in class to interact with the material and with the ideas of other class members. I anticipate that blogging would increase student interest and make assignments more authentic. Since kids are comfortable connecting through facebook and other interactive forums, I think blogging also has the potential to foster tolerance and understanding between students who might not otherwise share ideas and perspectives (a bit like the performance opportunities and critical partners in our class).

I would like to find a professional blog where resource teachers share new ideas, frustrations, successful strategies. Putting your thoughts into words does help you organize and articulate them. It makes you accountable in some way, and lets you give and get the support of a virtual community.

Overall, the blogging component of this class was a hassle for me, but very worthwhile. The only suggestion I would have, is requiring us to post a comment on at least one other blog per week. Making it an explicit expectation would encourage (force) reluctant "textors" like me to explore the community aspects of blogging.

Barb :)

Spoken Word Communities.....

Wow! After reading Writing in Rhythm and Bronx Masquerade I am in awe of how writing can change students lives--not just individually, but in creating a community that can break down barriers and misunderstandings among students. I have to be honest, though, I don't see myself in this creative, truth-based environment. The roles of Joe Ubilies and Mr. Ward (the, I'm assuming, fictional teacher in the latter work) seem under-emphasized in favor of the process. But when students are composing from the heart and soul, what a responsibility to respond effectively and supportively! I don't know if I would have even understood what the significance of many poems quoted in Writing in Rhythm. I was certainly grateful for Maisha Fisher's comments and the connections she made for me to literacy and the student's lives. The idea of "feeding" the authors seems very delicate to me. The students were very positive with each other and showed mature insight into what the author was about. I felt, though, that without Joe's special ability to inspire the trust and committed hard work a power writer's group might not be successful. I just fear that botched up, it could be seriously destructive. Don't you need to be part social worker to have the confidence to tread into deep waters?

Maybe not. A wonderful teacher, who is my TA this year, has a fantastic relationship with the "at risk" kids in our school. Every morning, they crowd around her desk for help with assignments and accepting conversation. They tell her about the tragedies in their lives and swear her to secrecy; they share family concerns, jailed parents, drug-selling siblings, suicides, new boyfriends, future plans. I think someone like Gayle could handle a Power Writer's
group. I'm fairly sure, I could not.

These readings and others in this class have made me recognize the importance of audience and voice. When student's care about their audience, their purpose, and their product...they are willing to invest in improving writing skills. I loved Joe's emphasis on the importance of literacy and switching between Bronxonics and more standard English. When students see themselves as "a Jedi of words" and care about "catching words" and owning them--what a far cry from the lists of vocab words that get looked up, but are never really mastered because they never really matter. Genuine opportunities for students to express themselves generate a focus and excitement about writing that I've never seen surround a literary essay assignment. I went to a garage sale once just after I began teaching Special English. A long time middle school teacher was giving away writing books that she had accumulated through her 25 year career. As she helped me carry some to the car, I told her of the struggles I was having getting my students to write essays about characterization and symbolism in The Pearl. "You have to start with what they know," she told me; "when they write about themselves, what they care about, what they think and feel, they will want to learn to write." I though about her advice this week. Writing is about having something to say, and then learning how to say it so others will understand and respond. Composing is about expressing and communication--as this week's readings show. I don't see opportunities for this type of written expression in typical Regents English classes in my NYS school. You have to take Creative Writing, or compose on your own time! At least in 9th and 10th grades, I believe we need to make space for creative expression through writing.

Barb

Digital Stories...some thoughts about text....

The new minister at our church entitled his first sermon "Who and I?" He entitled his second sermon "It's not about me." In that spirit, I am going to take a wild leap and move past my personal stumbling block regarding technology. (I'm referring here to the fact that being required to do anything beyond word processing causes my sweat glands to open, my heart beat to accelerate, and my brain to sound a frantic "Mayday, Mayday!" alert.) It is the 21st century; the world is digital. The "new literacies" may not be just using technology to present the old literacies in innovative ways. Our students need to learn to "navigate information networks," locate, evaluate, and synthesize information, and communicate their conclusions to others. The world they inhabit is also multi modal. Images--graphs, charts, pictures, video--are not just enrichments or illustrations but part of the messages we send and receive. What does it mean to be literate in today's society? Mulling this over in the light of this week's readings, I decided that literacy now involves audience feedback and multimodal approaches.

When Erica Boiling studied the reactions of her graduate students to integrating technology and literacy in the classroom, she found that many of her students initially thought of technology as a way to spice up their traditional practice with high interest motivators rather than as a pedagogical strategy to engage and support student learning in fundamentally different ways. Boiling's graduate students/teachers had concerns about safety on the internet when blogging, the revelation of personal information on blogs, the time and planning such projects would take, etc. Like the guest speakers Boiling invited to speak to her classes, the articles in Newkirk's book showed how teachers have integrated technology into their practice. Sara Kajder, Dave Boardman, and Lisa Miller wrote about how blogging, podcasting, wikis, and digital stories (there were more!) could be used to motivate students to become real writers in the real world. The readings placed two words before me: feedback and multi modal.

When writing for podcasts, blogs, or wikis, students felt that they had something to say and cared about how they said it because someone was listening and responding to their work. Not the teacher only, but other students. They got immediate feedback on their work--something that rarely happens when typed assignments are turned into a teacher who has a hundred essays to grade. I was surprised that students cared about revising their work before publishing--and independently edited their work before reading it for the podcast or making the final selection of text for a digital story. It seemed that student's attached more meaning to digital assignments--not just because they got to use technology, but because it allowed them to express themselves in ways more meaningful to them. This is so difficult for me to really "get"--sending messages and images into cyberspace, sharing personal thoughts with people you've never met...these are inhibitors, not motivators for me. But my students were not raised in 1960, and the world they inhabit is a virtual world. Using interactive technology in the classroom gives teachers the opportunity to directly address internet safety and copyright issues. Change comes at lightning speed...this is the world kids live in and write in as well. One thing this course has make me realize how literacy is changing in the "flat world."

The second word from these readings is multimodal. I ushered for a lecture by Persepolis author Marjane Satrapi on Tuesday. Her "defense" of graphic novels and comics, of the power of the blend of image and text, of the difference between "illustrations" and a melding of two modalities was eloquent. Lisa Miller's and Dave Boardman's articles highlighted the rewards of having students composes digital stories--using images, video clips, voice overs, and text. Since every word counts in a digital story, it is similar to poetry in that it requires editing and careful word choice. Images and text must be closely linked to create the final project. This teaches imagery and literary techniques, the emotional affect of words and images...and since students are composing for an audience, the importance of voice. It forces students to refine (edit!!) their work because they care about the message and how it is received. I had a very different understanding of multimodal. Multimodal meant adding a "visual" to a speech or using powerpoint so the audience has a point of visual focus and reinforcement. When I think of Jane Austen, I think of curling up in a chair with a book, not renting a movie from Blockbuster. But as Marjane Satrapi said Tuesday night, a movie is fundamentally a different artistic expression than the book. Images and the thousand other decisions that go along with text and dialogue create a unified experience to which we respond. I guess I am ready to admit that students expect to experience and learn new things in a multimodal way; they want to express themselves in this way as well.

I can't close without confessing that the Miller article was completely intimidating. I skimmed the overwhelming parts, as there is no way that I could ever comprehend, let alone support others, in interfacing the programs needed to create a digital story. I can't imagine having the time to do that in a high school classroom setting. So personally, I'm reversing my "wild leap" as I know my limitations and digital stories are beyond my reach. But I do see the potential of really integrating technology in the classroom; it will be essential if schools are to meet our students in the "real world" and prepare them to be successful in the "real world." In many ways, while I wasn't looking, the "virtual" world has become the real world.

Barb

"How to Write When You Can't"

Cynthia and Andrew Sheehan's article was really helpful. The mother's frustration didn't surprise me; so often, when students with LD get to high school the parents are exhausted and beyond frustrated by the long battle to advocate for their children. But that's another blog. Andrew's portion on the article really put a cognitive/socio-emotional face on the challenges faced by students with dysgraphia and ADHD. Andrew shared specific strategies he uses to be successful--and the one I'm going to chose to focus on in this blog is technology.

Those who have only known me a few months--nay, those who have only known me a few days--are painfully aware of my limitations in the technological arena. Right now our building is struggling with getting the Kurzweil reader up and running. Last Friday we had a conference day; Special Ed devoted the morning to fine tuning the Kurzweil system which has nominally been in place since October. At the end of three hours, half of us teachers/TAs hadn't been able to log on: some of us had figured out how to scan things in but couldn't figure out how to get them into Kurweil form.....you get the picture.
"It's just easier to read to the kid!" I heard.
"It's not going to be good for Mark and Evan, anyway," I heard, "the computer isn't going to discuss the readings. They won't understand what they're reading."
"This is a complete waste of my time!" I heard.

What I found most interesting was this: I wasn't making those negative comments. Was I frustrated? Yep. Could I think of more productive ways to spend 3 hours? Yep. But Andrew Sheehan's article had highlighted the benefits of technology for students with learning challenges for me. Andrew has good reading comprehension; some of my students don't. This technology won't be a panacea for every student with reading challenges. Yet Andrew's comments helped me see that technology can bring the possibility of independence...the "level playing field." So, I'm all for the Kurzweil. We just have to figure out how to make it work!

Barb

The pitfalls of conferencing with Struggling Writers

OK, this is why I signed up for this class--how can I better help struggling writers? Circling mistakes in red doesn't work...either the students merely copy the teacher's corrections into their papers, or (more likely) they don't even read them in the first place. I am a big fan of conferencing with students--but reading Glasswell's article opened my eyes to bad practices of which I am guilty.

Most important--interruptions. Because of the resource setting in which I work, I am constantly interrupted by students needing direction, asking for clarification, etc. while I'm conferencing on a writing piece with a student. The weaker the writer, the longer it takes to go through his paper--Glasswell is right, I do tend to take care of small problems with others and then come back to the writer. Now that I am aware of this, I will make it a priority to minimize interruptions and give the writer sustained attention. Interruptions are not as much of a problem in my Coteach English 9 class, as one teacher can concentrate only on conferencing while the other supervises/answers questions for the rest of the class.

Glasswell found that teachers conferencing with struggling writers tended to focus on lower levels such as mechanics, word choice, and punctuation rather than higher levels such as goals of the writing. Once again, I see this as an area where I can definitely improve. I can see that it is important to help the student see his writing as a way of communicating ideas, not just a sequence of sentences which contain mistakes.

Mrs. Marilyn Shelton, who teaches creative writing and 12th/10th grade English at JD, uses a technique where she marks grammatical errors with a red check at the end of the line. That just means that there is some error--the student is responsible for figuring out how to correct the sentence. This is very time consuming for her and for the students, but it forces a student to think about his own revision; the student becomes stronger at spotting and fixing the errors he/she tends to make.

Late for work--I'd save the draft and publish later, but I don't trust that I'll get the post back. Please forgive my "mechanical" error...no time to double proof!

Barb

Quindlen Author Update :)

As I was putting away my "Quindlen" stiff (alright, I did file some of it in the circular file!), I came across some essays that I had thought to use in my "talk." Some of them seemed pertinent to those with families and teachers, so I thought I'd use my new found skills and provide a link (!!). These are all from her Newsweek column:
"Write for your life" (1/22/07) is about journaling both in and out of a classroom setting, a respose to Freedom Writers.
"Playing God on No Sleep" was one I wanted to read about Andrea Yates, the mother who drowned her five kids in a bathtub; it was very controversial, but honest.
There are two that I really like about mothering "The Good Enough Mother" (2/2005) and "Doing Nothing is Something" (5/13/2002). The latter harkens back to the days before the scheduled childhood...

The nice thing about essays is that they are short!

Barb

Finding Voice

In preparation for my author's talk this week (Anna Quindlen) I have spent a lot of time thinking about voice. If you knew my history with "voice," you would find this ironic. "How can they take off points for "voice" they can't even explain what it is!" my 15-year old daughter would complain staring at the red circles on the graded essay rubric. I commiserated with her...How indeed?! T o me, voice was some undefined, elusive quality to which I responded without analysis. This class on composing has definitely made me more critically aware of "voice" in writing, as well as the inner and interconnections between what is being said, who is saying it, how it is being read, and who is reading it.

Two of the articles we read for this week, "'Speaking Up' and 'Speaking Out' " by Annette Henry and "The Listening Eye: Reflections on the Writing Conference" by Donald Murray caused me to reflect on the importance of a student writer finding his/her voice and the role of the writing teacher in facilitating this to happen. In both cases, but in different ways, Henry and Murray moved toward the importance of listening to the student, validating his/her concerns and manner of expression, helping the student communicate his/her thoughts and voice in writing itself. Henry, interested in designing a writing workshop that would help ESL, African Carribean 14 and 15 year old girls find their "voices." Her interest was in supporting freeing those girls speak up for themselves. She did a lot of prewriting activities (drama, problem-posing circles, discussion--great ideas I will use) to prepare them to write. She did create a space that empowered them to write. Yet as her students "came to voice," they challenged some of her assumptions. Some girls assumed traditional female roles in their writing; one raised issues private areas of morals and sexuality the Henry had not foreseen exploring. Henry found a "commitment to student's voices" and "collective curricular" decisions necessitated allowing her "research aims and agenda to be reshaped or even die off" (Henry 248)

Murray did not have an activist agenda--his article speaks about the value of conferencing. Like Henry, he created an environment where students were encouraged, actually required, to find their voices. His writing class is non-directed...the students write with their own voices. He models what questions they should ask themselves; they figure out what their writing will become and how to make it stronger. The teacher is first of all a listener...and he listens for the authentic voice and purpose of each author. I was struck by the fact that Murray respects the author's authorship. He says that you can't help edit until near "the end of the process, until the author has found something important to say and a way to say it."

After reading these articles, I will ask more questions of the author in a writing conference, rather than assume that I know what he/she wants to express. I realize I am guilty of this. I will try to remember that "it is not my mind's eye that is looking at the subject" or "my language which is telling me what the eye has seen" (Murray 17). Most of our writing conferences, though, are really about editing; the subjects have not been chosen by the students; the ideas to be expressed often have more to do with the task designer than the author. Expressive writing is not a big part of our curriculum at my high school except for a creative writing elective that can be taken repeatedly. At the high school level, we don't consistently create opportunities and spaces where students can find their literary voices. It's hard not to say, we should.

Barb

Just Some Thoughts--Revising and Editing

I have to say that I would love to be student in a class led by either Barry Lane or Richard Kent. Barry Lane would make me want to write. I loved the visual prompts he provided--thoughtshots and snapshots, the flashlight activity for focus, inside questions and outside questions, and seeing the tension in the story as "the potato, the thing that both the writer and reader want to dig up and find out more about." The reader and the writer are working together to uncover the truth (as is always the case, really.) The idea of soliciting reader questions to spur and give purpose to revision seems promising. Students tend to view revision as basically unnecessary..just a matter of correcting the grammar and spelling. In the real world, revision is a critical part of composition. When readers have raised questions about the meaning, intent, etc. of his paper, an author would be revising for a "real-life" purpose--and least more "real life" than simply to meet the expectations of his teacher.

Richard Kent's Room 109 with its sense of community, gift of choice, emphasis on peer editing and reader reflections student's work seems like a warm, supportive, yet challenging writer's environment. I was struck the part of Matthew's year end reflection: "Reading other people's papers has also helped my own writing." I had not fully considered the benefits to the editor as well as the writer in effective peer editing!

Barb

WAC article- "Can you Hear Us Now?"

"Can You Hear Us Now?" by Julie Reynolds and Vicki Russell from Duke University (WAC Journal vol 19, Aug 2008) considers whether the quality of student peer reviews vary depending upon the form in which they are delivered. In 2004, Duke University began giving each student an IPOD to support academic learning. These professors used the IPOD to review student work, creating podcasts which they would either post on blackboard or email to students. The professors felt that the audio reviews were more time effective, and resulted in feedback that stressed higher order concerns (HOC; organization, argument, etc.) and specific rather than generic comments.

Reynolds and Russell designed a study to determine whether audio peer review would improve the quality of feedback over traditional written peer reviews. They also investigated which format (audio or written) reviewers and authors preferred. The study involved 3 Duke freshman Academic Writing classes in spring, 2007. Each student received an audio and written evaluation of his work. Each peer reviewer "wrote" an equal number of reviews in both formats. At the end of the semester, 75% of the reviews were scored for quality, and 91% of students answered an attitudinal survey.

Results found:

• Audio reviews contained significantly more HOC (comments on argument, organization, etc.) than LOC (punctuation, word choice, etc.)
• Audio reviews contained more specific comments; written reviews tended to have more generic comments.
• 73% of student responders preferred to receive written peer reviews, many citing they valued LOC comments and having a hard copy. Listening to the audio and taking notes took them more time than just getting a written review.
• 72% of student responders preferred responding to another student's work in written form, siting that it was easier for them to organize their thoughts in written form.

I found it interesting that IPODs could be used for this purpose and was surprised that students preferred to write and receive peer reviews in the written format. It could be that they are just used to responding in writing, and will prefer the audio method as they become accustomed to using it. However, the technology itself couldn't be a barrier, as students are facile with IPODS. It could be that the writing process itself, putting the words on paper, forces the composer to organize and clarify his/her thoughts. On the other hand, the quality of the peer reviews was higher when audio recorded. This makes sense, as people tend to be more descriptive and expansive when they speak.

I chose this article because one of the challenges for students with a language disability is written peer conferencing and journaling. Last year, a 9th grade English teacher tried having a pair of students with learning disabilities journal about their outside reading book using tape recordings. (IPODs would have been way cooler!) The students were reluctant at first, commenting that it seemed unnatural to talk into a machine rather than write. By the end of the book, though, both felt that removing the writing piece encouraged them to be more expansive in their entries. They also found it less time consuming. My student made brief notes before taping.

The peer reviews in Renold and Russell's study were far more extensive than any we use in non-college, non-AP high school classes at JD. The audio responses ranged from 2-30 minutes (mean=10; SD=6); written peer reviews ranged from 213 to 705 words (mean=496; SD=146). The authors append instructions they gave their reviewers and authors which provide comprehensive criteria and standards that I will consider when designing peer review sheets. In our high school classes, the peer reviews tend to be more superficial and generally focus on LOC. From what I have observed, peer reviews do not tend to be truly helpful in the composing process. These are often superficial, viewed as one more step that needs to be turned in "for full credit." Authors often don't understand the cryptic comments of the reviewers--- due to poor handwriting, lack of specific detail, or both. The study suggests that using an audio format fosters more HOC feedback. Students might enjoy recording a pod cast, uploading, and downloading. Usually the more technology, the higher the interest in the task; the higher the interest in the task, the more invested the student. Using an audio format might make the peer review process more meaningful. I know our school won't be providing IPODS (!), but I think the use of audio peer reviews should be considered as an alternative and/or modification in high school classes.

If you want to read the article, I'll try to provide a link to the article. Nothing venured, nothing gained!

Barb

Two small things--grammar and spelling (yawn!)

I feel badly about my last post--just wanted to clarify that I was thrilled that my wonderful niece wrote us a lovely thank you note. My point about the spelling was that when students present themselves as adults--say, writing a note to a child's teacher or a paragraph about past job experiences for a perspective employer--misspelling common words such as "been" will reflect on them in negative ways. Poor spellers (like me) need to learn when and how to use some form of a dictionary. Instead of circling "bin" in red, teachers should make the student learn how to spell "been." (I speak as a student who had to write "first" two hundred times in 10th grade because I consistently spelled it "frist.")

Our reading noted that direct teaching of grammar had a negative correlation with writing improvement. I'm not surprised. I spent part of each 9th Grade Special English class last year on grammar (parts of speech, homonyms, verb tense, possessives) and "got ya" do nows--I saw minimal carryover into students' spontaneous writing. Sentence combining seems promising, but there must be something more. How can grammar be remediated in the secondary classroom? How can a teacher discuss parallel structure when her students can't identify a verb in a sentence? Does anyone have experience with techniques that work? Any links to helpful websites? Should we go back to diagraming sentences (I'd have to learn how, of course!)?

Barb

Writing Next--the power of the test

In response to our class conversation about blogs, I'm going to pick out one or two ideas from the readings that struck a chord or raised a flag as I read. This week's readings was sort of a time line of teaching philosophies; as Scherff and Piazza entitled their article "The More Things Change, the More They Stay the Same." The tension between process and product as always been there. Current concerns and contemporary norms shift the emphasis as it cycles around. As Coker and Lewis noted in their discussion of the tension between educational psychology and composition studies approach to teaching writing, there is crossover. (They mentioned that the usefulness of strategy instruction, set goals, collaborative writing and inquiry activities have been adopted by each camp.) Each time we go around a cycle between process and product, educators gain vaulable insights and strategies we retain.

As someone who has been around education as student, parent, and teacher since 1953, I can attest that "the test" is a huge motivating factor in what is taught and how it is taught. Someone showed me an old English Regents from 1899--I could never have passed it--assessing spelling, grammar, classic literature, formal composition. I'm sure everyone who passed it had the perfect, even handwriting borne of creating endless rows of uniform O's and lines. When I passed the Regents in the 1960s, I had to answer multiple choice questions about literature, spell a few words, and write a "literary essay." I had been practicing this essay for four years, and could have chosen, compared, and written 5 paragraphs comparing two works of literature in my sleep. I can probably still do it, just as I can recite "Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow" and the Preamble to the Constitution. What one can predict will be tested is, and I suspect always has been, over-learned in schools.

The NYS English Regents is now a 2 day, six hour ordeal encompassing four tasks. JD devotes the entire 11th grade year to preparing for this test. Students begin writing critical lens (task 4) essays in 9th grade. Of Mice and Men and A Raisin in the Sun are read 4th quarter junior year because they can be productively viewed through almost any conceivable "critical lens." Any junior who can't recite the "format" for the introduction of a critical lens essay by June has clearly been asleep at the switch for three years. Poetry and common poetic devises are studied so that students will be prepared for Task 3 (which involves formulating and writing about a controlling idea given two texts, one of which is usually a poem). Note taking skills are emphasized for 10 weeks in preparation for task one. Eleventh grade English is "The Year of the REGENTS" just as it was in 1964.

I believe the English Regents drives changes in what is read in classes as well. In 1964, we had to answer questions about "traditional" classic works a well-educated person "should" know. We read Romeo and Juliet, Macbeth, Othello, Julius Ceasar, The Turn of the Screw, Daisy Miller, The Mayor of Casterbrigde, Joseph Andrews, Hard Times, The Scarlet Letter...you get the picture. I have no memory of any teacher being concerned about whether or not students were interested in reading these things or how they related to our lives. We read them because were told they were important and teachers helped us draw lessons from their texts. In my 9th grade co-teach class this year, we chose the novel The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian over The Pearl. Our primary consideration was the relevance of the material to the student's lives. English teachers are picking contemporary novels as texts; genre units are taught using book circles or individual choice selections. There are clear advantages in broadening the texts studied--choice, motivation, relevance, variety, novelty. However, I think that the present form of the Regents encourages this. Except for the "critical lens" task (hence, Of Mice and Men!)--the regents is about process. Texts are presented to the student, and the student must apply the processes learned to construct each type of essay. Since a specific body of literature is not pre-supposed by the test, teachers are free to pick and choose from an endless variety of classic and contemporary texts and genres.

The Regents is also about product...does your essay fit into a category 2, 3, 4, or 5. The holistic grading approach brings its own limitations) as noted by Graham and Perin as they discussed the protocol of their meta-analysis.) Grammar and sentence structure counts less on the rubric. I remember reading a level 5 sample essay and thinking, "You've got to be kidding me. This would have been mediocre at best when I took the Regents." On Task 3, if you don't mention a literary device you lose mega points. Students are taught to insert "characterization" or "setting" or "symbolism" even if it is not clearly connected or explained. Anyone who doesn't think we are teaching writing to the test, needs to sit in on an 11th grade English class. The upside--students do learn how to write an essay.

Which brings me the the question of authenticity. If we are teaching to the test, how reflective is the test of the skills students will need in the future? The readings, especially Coker and Lewis, elucidated the writing skills students will need to bring into higher education and the workplace: adaptability and flexibility to adopt to specific formats, language, and expectations; ability to write collaboratively; practical communication skills; ability to tailor writing to a specific audience and purpose; ability to modify writing skills as technology changes. Papers and projects written in the "real world" are not thrown out after getting graded--which struck me as a scary concept. As a teacher, I'm used to the artificial world as well. All high stakes assessments are, by nature, contrived. Students in school are usually writing a "decontextualized" composition for a "fictionalized audience." I'm not sure that the tasks required in the NYS Regents do the best job in emphasizing the writing skills that students will need to succeed in college or in life. Is a literary essay the best way to measure writing skills? Does the Regents encourage best practices in teaching writing skills? I'd love to hear what you think.

I'm old...I admit it. Yet my niece in law (a single mother who graduated from high school in Ohio in 2007) sent a thank you note for a baby gift. "How are you. We have bin fine. I'm going to have to start baby proffing everything...Thank you for the extreamly generous gift. It will be a great start for his saveings acount." Teaching students to write a "critical lense" essay is nice. To my mind, a more important question is when our graduates present themselves for a job or higher education, will their writing skills impede their paths? In the end, spelling does count.

Composing Process A

I never thought much about the composing process..especially as it relates to art and music as well as writing. I remember reading a book by C.P. Snow while I was in high school. I can't remember the title after all these years, but it changed by thinking about creativity permanently. The protagonist in this novel was a scientist, who was every bit as involved in the creative process as any writer. This week's readings made me think about composing in a similar way...that art, music, and words are all mediums in which composing takes place. They can complement and reinforce each other in significant ways.

The Ross, et. al., article on Mask-making challenged some of my long held prejudices about including visual art as part of a student's response to literature. In my day (we're talking 1950s-1970) English teachers dealt with words. Students responded to literature by writing essays. Students expressed themselves in English class by writing poems, sonnets, persuasive essays, stories, memoirs. When teachers began assigning collages in the early 90s our resource room began filling with magazines, paste, scissors, and construction paper, I must admit I didn't see the value. How could composing a poster be equivalent to analyzing a poem? Many resource students are much stronger with visuals than language, so I was glad to see they could express their ideas this easier way. However, personally, I saw art as a cop-out; OK for elementary students but enabling secondary students to avoid composing in words. Ross's article focused on three senior boys who created masks of themselves as part of a unit on identity. The analysis of their composing processes revealed not only the value of creating a visual representation of self-identity, but the way in which narrative and language were involved both in creating the mask and in presenting it to others. Peta drew on his affinity for poetry, seeing similarities in the process of composing in each medium. A critical point here, though, it that the project introduced with pre-composing activities to focus students on ways of representing their identity (visual, written both) and was followed by a consideration of the role of identity as the class investigated British literature. Cindy gave her students time and space to create these masks...and an opportunity to express the insights they had come to in writing as well as in art. It wasn't just throwing together a collage... Yet, the process of artistic composition described was valid and certainly valuable on its own; for these students it complemented and enriched composing with words. And if I'm honest with myself, is a thrown together collage really any less valuable than a thrown together character sketch? Getting students to engage honestly and intensely with the medium and assignment is key.

The Composing Process: A Model supported some methods that we talked about in class last week. In "real life" writing situations, the audience is critically important in how the author words, frames, and structures his argument. In school, the audience is primarily the teacher. On the NYS Regents, the audience is the rubric and several teachers. The article made clear that in research, professional and business writing, the composing process is shaped by the knowledge of the context and the audience for which the writing is intended. Authentic writing experiences benefit students in that they bring the importance of knowing your audience and purpose to the forefront of their planning. If all writing is writing to persuade on some level, student need opportunities to go beyond the formulaic 5 paragraph essay to incorporate critical thinking into their writing.

I'm not quite sure how to save this draft, so I'll publish it now. More to come...

Barb

The Nitty Gritty

This week's readings were thought provoking and informative. Peter Elbow's article "Embracing Contraries in the Teaching Process" and Lad Tobin's "Reading Students, Reading Ourselves" explained some of the tensions inherent in the process of teaching writing to our students. Elbow's analyzed the paradoxical roles of the teacher--ally and gatekeeper--and the tensions between them; his insists that a good teacher can and must be totally committed to each role. He posits that this is possible as long as the teacher sets high expectations at the beginning and evaluates by these standards (gatekeeper), but acts as a coach to do everything he/she can to help students refine their skills to reach those goals (ally). In working with Special Education resource students, it is easy for me to tip toward the advocate role, yet I know that it is equally important to hold students accountable and to insist on their best effort. Reading Elbow's article made me consider ways in which I can separate the two imperatives in my resource room. Lad Tobin's article raised an issue I hadn't considered--a writing teacher's role can not be truly objective, since the very process of conferencing with a student involves deconstructing and reconstructing the student's text in order to help them clarify what we think they intended to say. The transference and counter-transference at first seemed overly deep, but when he went through case studies of the ways in which his unconscious attitudes affected both his interpretation of student behaviors and his response to their writing, I could see how becoming aware of our own preconceptions and emotional triggers can only increase our effectiveness. Conferencing with a student does involve a personal dynamic.

Another thought provoking aspect of these readings was the focus on the interrelationship between reading and writing. Rather than viewing these as separate skills, Nancie Atwell's article "Writing and Reading from the Inside Out" stressed creating a literate community, like a dining room table at home, where students assume responsibility for their reading and writing choices, respond to reading through discussion and writing, and are "nudged" gently in fruitful directions by their teacher. Alwell elaborated on the benefits of "reading like a writer," and having students incorporate elements of their reading into their own writing. The reading-writing workshop seemed to help both prolific and reluctant readers discover their own voices adn identities as readers/writers. Atwell did note that she has added more mini-lessons and direct teaching of craft into her program over the years.

But the real "kernals" for me were the articles in the Newkirk and Kent text that addressed specific techniques for teaching different genres in the classroom. The Gretchen Bernabei article about writing an essay without making it the boring 5 paragraph "dreaded school essay" still provided a 3-step format for students to use as they learn the genre. ("Decide what to say, design a structure, flesh it out.") I was struck by her assertion that the traditional 5 paragraph essay is about the teacher's thoughts, not the student's thoughts. "Given the permission, students really do prefer to do their own thinking," (p 82) she wrote. I loved the idea of writing a "kernel essay" to see if an essay will work before expanding it into a rough draft. In her article "The Writing Conference: Journeys into not knowing," Terry Moher definitely comes down on the side of the writing teacher as non-judgemental encourager. She is sensitive to the greatest fear of student writers--that their written words will not do justice to their thoughts. Like Tobin, she sees a teacher as a creative participant in the writing conference, on a journey where the end product is being refined and the end is not yet known. She recommended using less formal types of writing (letters, journals) for struggling students, and talked about the value of quick writes in the composing process.

"Learning from Goldilocks" by Monica Wood and "Poetry Arrives" by Maureen Barbieri focused teaching students to write short stories and poetry respectively. Wood teaches her students the 6 elements of a classical story, using a fairy tale as a model. She then has her students write a short story, which is then revised to be sure it incorporates the elements of a classic short story. As Elbow advocates, Wood sets the standard high, but provides her students the tools and encouragement to reach it. It was exciting to read Maureen Barbieri's article. Several of our English teachers have been using some of her suggestions, such as incorporating song lyrics and rap into poetry units. The 9th grade English teachers used the "Where I'm from" poem with our students and it was extremely successful--with reluctant/challenged students as well as the high achievers. When students compose something that they care about and can relate to, it does make a difference!

Barb

Part B -- Teen Writing Today

Our class discussion was enlightening. Changing ways of communication are happening so quickly, that even my youthful class members have noticed changes since they were in school. Class members agreed with some of the concerns I and my contemporaries have about the superficiality encouraged by instantaneous access to information, and instantaneous communications with peers. While electronic communication can be wholly connecting, it has created places where students can start rumors, "trash" or bully each other, causing hurt and leading to conflicts. Conflicts fester on line or via text messaging--school staff and parents may not be aware until a crisis erupts. I would think it would be easier to hurt people on line--communication takes place without facial gestures or vocal inflection to clarify meaning.

I find I don't look forward to the writing workshop portion of our class. Sharing is not fun--I'm insecure about my writing as it is not "deep" or "creative." My reaction has surprised me, and has gotten me thinking about the the pros and cons of sharing written work with the class. JD has two "special" 9th grade English classes--both small, co-taught by English and Special Education teachers. The Transition class is a group of at-risk students who stay together for core classes, taught by a "team." Transitions student do more authentic writing, more narrative and personal reflective writing. They are expected to share their writing with each other--in fact the first quarter is really all about community building around language. On the other hand, the class I co-teach is comprised of mostly Special Education and advanced ESL students and focuses more on building skills around writing about literature in preparation for success in 10th, 11th, and 12th grade. We have done journals and personal reflections, but we do not have our students share their work with partners or with the entire class. We're afraid that apprehension around sharing their work with others will add a layer of stress that might make writing more distasteful. Lately, I've been thinking that we are missing an opportunity in not offering/encouraging sharing student's writing. Now I don't know--having to share what you've composed can lower your confidence as well as raise it! I'm going to be thinking about this as the course progresses.

I have mentioned Jessica Singer's article Preparing Students for Life After High School to a couple Senior English teachers at JD. The experience of conducting an interview, connecting with someone in a career of interest, and writing a meaningful reflection would be a valuable literary and personal opportunity for seniors. According to PEW student, they should buy into it because they would be choosing the person and area of interest and plans after high school should be useful relevant to their immediate futures.

Barb

Readings-What teens are writing--Part A

This has been quite the experience so far--blogging, I mean. Between constantly resetting my password, searching for my blog in cyberspace, publishing without proofing over at least a 24 hour period--why would anyone choose this completely avoidable form of stress? Clearly, it is not really avoidable in current times--even fellow AARP members are out there on the web connecting on social pages, blogging their reflections...Like the poem in one of the readings for this week professes, change can't be stopped, so we just have to hold onto our "threads" and adapt (wild paraphrase, unworthy of the poem!).

This will be a short reflection, as I am interested to hear the perspectives of classmates who are much closer to the technological revolution and its implications on teen writing and communication styles than I. I was struck by the Pew study finding that teens are motivated to write by "relevant, interesting, self-selected topics, and attention and feedback from engaged adults who challenged them." The three articles in Newkirk and Kent (Chs. 16,17, and 18) continued the theme of authentic writing assignments that fits with this criteria. As I read, I was evaluating whether these types of projects could motivate the students with whom I work. For the most part, our students are learning disabled around reading/written expression issues or ADHD with focusing and organizational issues.

The Deans and Marie article "Composition and Community Action" focused on service-learning, using a community based experience to achieve specific academic goals including the opportunity for critical reflection. There were different models--writing for community (partnering with nursing home residents to write poems), about community, or with community (writing fact sheets, proposals for a community group.) Each stresses the importance of knowing your audience, editing and revising because the final product has meaning/importance outside of the classroom. Many high schools have a service component required for graduation; at JD, it is part of the required Participation in Government class. Students must write a 10 page narrative and reflection about their experience--but writing is not generally integrated into the volunteer experience itself. Many seniors find their community service project for government affects their values/outlook or leads to career decisions. I think expanding the idea of community involvement into English classes holds this kind of potential. While it would clearly take organization and preparation by the teacher (not to mention additional transportation costs in a time of austerity), there are real opportunities to forge community connections/good will and to engage/motivate students around purposeful writing. I'm going to share this idea with my co-teacher and see if we can incorporate it in our planning for next year.

I was most excited about "Preparing Students for Life after HS" by Jesse Singer, a project that requires learning to interview, writing up the interview, while gathering information on a possible career path of individual interest. Students select an interview subject based on their career goals and area of interest, and they are preparing questions for a real situation--both of which should be highly motivation according to the Pew study. I'm not sure our 9th grade students could handle this as yet, but I'd love to see it as part of an 11th or 12th grade English class. Conducting and preparing an interview could be planned as part of a unit on recent historical fiction or on family stories. Singer was specific about how she set up this unit, and her student worksheets and process could be adapted by teachers as a starting point. Interviews are indeed important "gatekeepers" and conducting an interview will help students understand the process from the "other side of the desk." I think this project would yield many benefits for the types of students we are trying to engage.

On the other hand, Chapter 18 "Writers Reading Local Places" by Kim Stafford advocates a process that I don't believe would make sense to most of my LD students. I think writing impressions of a place, emphasizing details the eye of the artist sees, and keeping a journal of thoughts/observations specific to place could be highly motivational. Anne Lamott and several other writers I have heard speak over the years have stressed that they record scraps of specific details and then weave them at a later date into their work. Attending to detail--specific descriptive language--is huge for our students, who tend to use very general adjectives and bland verbs. Many of our students, however, would not be able to make that third connection Stafford is hoping for--to find an underlying theme/motiff connecting the place with the text. I was struck by Stafford's emphasis on the teacher's delight in finding the original, unique voice of her student writers. My co-teacher was just remarking yesterday how mind-numbing it can be to read 75 essays that are basically the same! Creative writing is not stressed in most English classes in my high school; I have the sense that academic writing is more prized, because that is the language of state tests and college research papers. As I read this article, one particular student of mine kept appearing in my heart-- he has a wonderful writing voice and would totally understand the nuances and creative opportunities of this approach. I'm going to bring up some of Stafford's ideas when were talking.

In the spirit of the new technology, I hope you don't LOL reading this blog. If my BFF from high school should stumble on this blog, please friend me on your facebook account!

Barb

Readings - week 1 authencity and voice

As this is my first ever blog...here goes. For me, the first week's readings coalesced (do they have a spell check on these things--yes! they do!) around three themes--implications of social class in literacy, importance of authenticity in assignment selection and in expressing voice.

Before reading the article by Payne-Bourcy and Chandler-Olcott, "Spotlighting Social Class..." I hadn't considered the implications of class in the types of responses to literature or the implications of literacy differences in transitioning to the expectations of college academic writing. Although Crystal had had a very successful high school career and received A's in English, she felt like an "outsider" when confronted with the more academic literacy expected in her courses and taken for granted by her middle and upper class peers. Crystal indicated that she modeled herself on her middle class friends families during high school; the types of literature she felt competent to explore (song lyrics, films, and TV programs) were not incorporated in her high school curriculum. She did not see "academic literacy as a set of practices to be learned," but as 'club' too exclusive for her to gain membership. The authors recommended that high schools address the ways in which social class affects literacy, and suggests instruction to "build a bridge" so working class students are more prepared for the types of writing required in post secondary educational settings. Jamesville-Dewitt has been holding teacher workshops focusing on Ruby Payne's Framework for Understanding Poverty; Crystal's reflections corroborated Payne's contention that people from poverty rely more heavily on narrative and relate stories in a non-linear fashion. Payne was focusing on families in poverty, rather than working class families, but there seem to be common issues in adapting to academic expectations of literacy.

The article on Exchanging Writing and Difference by Mahiri, Martin and Sullivan presented the idea of a writing exchange between high school seniors and grad students as a way of encouraging students not enrolled in honors classes to consider attending college. As the grad students commented on the high school student's persuasive papers and personal statements for college, they helped prepare the 12th graders for collegiate literacy expectations and provided a model of someone who had successfully made the transition. The idea of writing exchanges was effective for other reasons as well--not least among them the authenticity of writing to an for a specific person.

My favorite article this week was "Boys and Writing" by Michael Smith. He wrote about the effectiveness of planning real world authentic writing tasks as well, but stressed that teachers will inspire boys to write best by carefully analyzing a writing task and providing "practices in miniature" to teach each skill. Linking the first of these practices to something immediate (listening to a tape, watching part of a movie, etc.) will help boys be more successful than asking them to write from their imaginations initially. Smith's discussion of why the 'assign and assess method" is ineffective confirmed my subconscious suspicions of this method. When English teachers switched over to rubrics, my daughter was still in high school. "Mom, I only got a 3 out of 5 on Voice. How am I supposed to raise my grade when I don't even know what they're talking about." Another thing that struck me from this article was that boys reported that they avoid putting effort into tasks at which they perceive themselves as incompetent. This method of teaching and providing scaffolded practice with component skills maximizes a student's chance of feeling that he or she is a competent writer. I see this discouragement in the students I work with of both sexes--they see themselves as writing failures. My co teacher and I have done some similar task analysis and scaffolding of skills already this year. After reading this article, we will do more--and add more authentic pre-writing activities. If skills can be practiced separately, this should go a long way to building confidence in all our students.

I was interested in the article about the lost boys of Sudan ("From Storytelling to Writing..." by Kristin Perry) for the affirmation of encouraging student's to write in their own voice, even if the composition is far from perfect grammatically. Language delayed and LD students are not unlike students negotiating an unfamiliar language. When the paper comes back covered in red ink when they have worked hard on their composition..or when the ideas inside just won't express themselves on the page...their frustration is palpable. Techniques for helping ELL learners discussed in Fu's article "Teaching Writing to English Language Learners" include helping the student edit so his story can be understood, but the voice is the child's own. Sometimes over-editing a student's written work can indeed squelch his/her sense of ownership and voice. The Perry article interviewed three Lost Boys from Sudan, who moved from an oral tradition of storytelling to writing both to express their own stories, to raise awareness of the crisis in their country, and to persuade readers to help. Once again in these readings, writing for an authentic audience inspires the writer. Writing a comparative literary essay pales beside giving voice to one's own experience and story.

Hope this is a blog....I've entered the modern age (sort of). Barb