Teaching Writing

Both Rief and Smagorinsky discuss the value of content over form, as well as grading the process as much as the final product. Rief talks a lot about using the Writers Notebook as a prewriting tool. This plays into Smagorinsky's idea of using life as prewriting. By doing quickwrites, students easily bring their background into the classroom. Once they can connect their outside life to their academic life, they begin to care more about the work they produce. I like the idea of Rief going through the WRN and encouraging students to continue certain pieces. She must do this with certain assignments in mind, or by using quickwrites that play into whatever larger piece she plans on her students using. For example, asking students their opinion on a political/town issue during a quickwrite, then having them develop it into an argumentative essay. I liked how Smagorinsky emphasized that teaching writing does not involve using class discussions to write, but by asking students to read a new piece and use what they have learned. This makes much more sense to be able to evaluate a student's understanding of what they have learned. It is also very applicable to standardized testing. Peer evaluation is a tool that both authors encouraged but warned that effective feedback is a skill that must be learned as well. While I see the importance of modeling effective writing, I don't like Rief's idea of sharing past work, I feel it sets a standard in students' minds and may take away from their focus on the content.

Teaching Struggling Readers

When Jimmy and I sat down to this lesson plan, we were worried about not having enough material to cover. As we began to plan, we realized that we were too ambitious, especially for a struggling readers lesson.  It's easy to look at these lessons and think of them in our own educational mindset. The problem is that I've never been a struggling reader, so it's important to for me to remember that just because something seems simple does not mean it is. With struggling readers, it's crucial to slow down and teach them different strategies, but not go so slow that it's demeaning to the student. Struggling readers are aware that they struggle, and by high school, they know how to fake it. I feel like breaking down different aspects and strategies of reading allows the teacher to assess where each student excels and struggles. Allowing a struggling reader to slip through the cracks, or even not being able to help them, is my biggest worry as a future English teacher. It's nice that the "how we teach" section from our Current Issues class alines with teaching struggling students. All the readings came together to say: this is who is struggling, this is how the teacher helps. I look forward to the Teaching Reading class in the Spring.