Many lines and comments in the Dorman text struck me and made me think more critically of my current situation teaching sixth grade at Northeast Middle School. While it is not my first time working in an urban school (I participated in my practicum at Crosswinds Charter School in St. Paul) or with a diverse group of students (I tutor AVID in Robbinsdale School District at Plymouth Middle School), NE Middle school is my first time working in an urban setting and in a traditional (non-charter) public school. Immediately, I found myself highlighting lines such as “the rules and conventions of written language”, “writing is thinking” and “the best practice in writing instruction emerges from a fundamental understanding of how learning to write can piggy back off of learning to talk”.
I personally connected this to previous reflections I have had on the conventions and skills of “proper” speaking. Many of my students come from a background of ELL or speaking a different language in the home setting. Further, the discussion of Ebonics or African American Vernacular English often comes into discussion when speaking of students in an urban school district (specifically, Minneapolis). I, personally, have no problem allowing my students to speak however they find most comfortable. My teaching philosophy, thus far, is one that encourages deep thinking and further critical analysis – to me, their thoughts are more important than the way they express them. I feel that there is a time when “proper” English must be used in the classroom, obviously, as it will one day it will most likely be expected in college or the work place; however, I have given little thought until now as to how my students should write. Do I teach them to write the way they speak (and therefore write in AAVE)? Or do I require “proper” writing when not emphasize speaking “properly” or “most correctly”? Dorman goes on, in the chapter, to say that “writing is a socially constructed process”; therefore, does this mean that it should be o.k., in the context of particular settings, to allow my students’ voices to show through by using language most comfortable to them (i.e. AAVE)? One resource I found was a website with articles entitled “Rhetoric, writing, culture, and politics: The Writing Crisis in Urban Schools: A Culturally Different Hypothesis”. This resource really applies to my response this week and the concerns I am starting to accumulate around the specific topic of teaching writing in an urban setting. The article even covers information and discussions on relating African American spoken language with that of written processes.
Another concern while working my way through the first chapter of the Dorman text was the comment, “we learn to write by writing” and “we don’t become good writers by studying about writing; we become good writers by writing” pg 5. This is not, I’m sure, a concern that solely applies to me, but how do I teach writing if I cannot get my students to write in the first place? If we learn to write (and learn to love writing) through the fundamental practice of expressing language in written form, what happens if we cannot get our students to begin that practice and learning in the first place? Many of my students argue about even writing a sentence? I am curious, what tips do others or know of that might work for the mere motivation to occur in order to allow them to learn to write? I am hopeful, over the course if this method’s class and semester, that I learn tips of motivating students to write so it is not a hated and difficult struggle every time. One suggestion I have, for myself, is to use computers to type (therefore practicing writing skills) without actually writing (papers and pencils). Eeek! Imagine something as trivial and ancient as paper and pencil! Ha!
One thing I really enjoyed about the Dorman text was the comment that the text “is not just a theoretical text” but instead “provides in-depth coverage of classroom strategies for teaching and assessing writing based on these socio-cultural-linguistic principles”. This leads me to hopefully believe that this text will be an excellent source of support, information, and suggestions for teaching writing as I make my way through student teaching and my first years as a novice ELA instructor. Chapter 3 further led me to believe this as I found concrete examples and suggestions for teaching writing to my students – and even more specific and helpful, how to teach to meet state standards! My school, Northeast middle school, is an IB structure, and many times I have heard my cooperating teacher referring to standards as models for her curriculum instruction, so this information is specifically applicable to me!
The Romano text was, to my surprise, quite a quick, interesting, and (maybe it’s my nerdy-English side coming out) very entertaining! I really enjoyed reading all the examples of multigenre writing and styles. The contributions from real students and writers made the information and text less “theological and method-y” and more applicable to my current classrooms This ease, I’ll admit, in the middle of all the stress that student teaching brings, was actually quite relaxing and nice to have something easily presenting to me and not have to think too hard (I’m semi joking about not wanting to think, ha).
One thing I noticed is that the text kept referring to high school or college students or how something could be easily accessible and relatable to them. Since I am teaching middle school (more specifically sixth grade which is no where near a freshman in high school), it would have been nice to have more suggestions for sixth to eighth grade. While it was fairly easy (even while I was reading) to make connections in my mind to how I could/will present it to my middle school students, I have come to realize that sixth grade and seventh grade is an especially “turbulent” time in adolescent development; therefore, I do no think it would be wise to present lessons/ideas to them the same way I would a ninth or tenth grade student.
Also, because this is the first week, I thought it would be fun to also include a video (now that I know how to embed on my blog!!). I haven't seen the movie yet (it's in my Netflix queue as we speak) but here is the trailer for Freedom Writers - a story about an English teacher who gets her kids to write... how appropriate! Now I just need to see the movie... haha
