End of term

It's the last week of the first term of my teacher education. My thoughts on the importance of ELA in the classroom have not changed too much since the beginning of the term, however, I did not realize at the beginning how important oracy is in the classroom, and how big of a role it could and should play.  Using audio technologies such as podcasting and voice threads seem to be a great way to engage students in oracy. 







 I found this image on google's homepage today to be very appropriate. Tom Sawyer ‘tricking’ kids into painting the fence, used in the article Tom Sawyer, Teaching and Talking (from Adolescent Literacies) as a metaphor for the teacher-learner relationship.  Teachers have to get students interested in the material so that work becomes fun, just like chores.  But more than that, it’s Tom’s high level ability to use oracy to convince his peers that something is fun and interesting that appeals to me; to give every student in the classroom the skills and confidence in their oracy abilities that they too can be a ‘Tom Sawyer’. 

I find it interesting that students have far less diverse vocabulary at school then they do at home.  Someone brought up the fact that in school, students are so used to being talked at, that they hardly get a chance to talk themselves. 

I envision my ELA classroom to not only be enriched with written language, but also spoken language.  Fostering healthy communication between peers, and facilitating meaningful group discussions is a way to start to build a democratic society in the classroom, which is the ultimate goal.  Students should feel like they have a voice, and through ELA learn to express themselves in many mediums and for many purposes.

Writing and Representing Balance

The most important, and often most difficult aspect of teaching writing and representing is, I feel, to create and maintain a balanced curriculum. Casey and Hemenway (2001) refer to this balance between “structure and freedom” in their study of writing students at the Linden School. A grade 3 class was given a balanced writing program, focused on creative writing and revision, with a final project of creating a class book. This project made even the hesitant writers in the class develop a joy of writing. During the next several years of their schooling these students were interviewed about their writing. To much dismay it was found that through middle school and high school, students' love of writing (and the ability to write thoughtfully for that matter) declined as students were made to only write expository pieces, mainly in the form of the 5 paragraph essay. These students were not writing their own opinion anymore, but merely what they knew the teacher wanted to hear.

Writing is a way of expressing personal thoughts and opinions as well as communicating information (Constructing Meaning, p. 238), and students need to be proficient in all forms of writing (ELA IRP).  Learning to write takes on many forms including using correct spelling and grammar, and the ability to get thoughts and feelings down on paper. Without a proper balance of the two approaches a student may either a) develop a negative attitude towards writing

(as in the Casey and Hemenway study) or b) lack the skill in formal conventions of writing necessary for life learning.

Within these approaches, different writing strategies also need to be balanced. Creating writing that uses a wide range of purposes, strategies, ways of thinking, and features is all part of a balanced literacy curriculum (IRP p. 5). Writing, like reading, is a cross-curricular goal and I think students need to be given ample opportunities to develop and explore all writing techniques and forms. A balanced writing curriculum allows teachers to “further students' thinking skills rather than merely extending their knowledge” (IRP, p. 8). Through writing students learn how to think, and communicate a purpose.

An authors purpose, combined with style and tone, forms the voice of a piece of writing. This voice can be expressive, poetic or transactional (Constructing Meaning, p. 263-264). Casey and Hemenway (2001) found that expressive and poetic writing in grade 3, with a focus on the revision process, made students enjoy their writing and the writing process. The heavy off-balance of mainly transactional writing in higher grades left the students yearning to have their voice back. Transactional writing can be enjoyable for younger students however, if their own needs and interests are taken into account. Julie Geller's grade 4/5 research project of local restaurants (Constructing Meaning, p 246-248) allowed students to engage in transactional writing in a variety of ways; from research, field notes, interviews, reviews, and resumes, to the final project of designing and creating their own restaurant for parents. I like this idea because it balances a fun and creative project with a purposeful voice. It is important, therefore, to teach students the many purposes of writing so that they can explore and find their own voice.

In order to have a balance of writing instruction for different purposes, a teacher needs to use a variety of writing strategies. For instance, many writers find it hard to know how to start a story. The use of writing prompts, writer's notebooks, journals, small pod sharing, and a communal writing idea wall are some of the different strategies in which students can draw ideas from to get their writing started (Class discussions, October 2011). I think it is important to teach student's that any idea can be the start of a great story and ideas can be drawn from a wide range of sources. If they learn to value and keep track of their own ideas and the ideas of others the students will be more thoughtful writers.

Students also need to have many opportunities to see their work, and the work of their peers, in different forms. In Sharon Creech's book “Love That Dog”, the main character Jack starts to appreciate poetry when he sees his own work typed up and presented as a 'published' poem that the whole class can read and enjoy. What began as merely an idea in a journal became a 'real poem' when it was typed up. (Love That Dog, pp. 22-24). This appreciation leads to ownership; as Jack began to write more and more poetry he started becoming concerned with it's presentation (p. 28). It is important to teach students that there are many ways of arranging and presenting ideas. Balancing traditional poetry with shape poems and small poems, for example let students experience and explore creative ways of presenting their work.

For students to become effective writers they need to learn how to share with others and how to give and receive constructive feedback. Working together to write a short story through group brainstorming can show students how easy and fun it is to write, and teaches them the value of other peoples ideas and how to work collaboratively (Robin Stevenson guest lecture, October 21, 2011). Students should also be able to work together when it comes to editing: The 'two stars and a wish' strategy works well as a way to have students peer edit each others work. Peer editing should be balanced with self editing drafts, supported by teacher-student writing conferences: Nancy Atwell's article “In The Middle” discusses how teachers can help students “discover the meanings they don't know yet” (p. 224). It is important that students learn how to edit and revise their writing, and understand that the writing-revising process is necessary for effective and thoughtful writing.