Critical Literacy

Au's piece brings up some interesting ideas that I had connected with schools but not exactly with literacy directly. While I realize school in general perpetuates mainstream culture and uses those same values to determine curriculum, I had not necessarily connected it to literacy. My favorite part of this article is when Au is discussing Paulo Freire's notion of "critical literacy" and I think he's spot on here. Being literate is not simply being able to read the classics, or understand cultural references, it is transformative. Think about how many ideas you can access through reading. Life changing ideas. Critical literacy focuses on literacy in schools as something that helps children understand an aspect where society is failing and working to change it, and isn't that what we want for our students? I think it's probably the ultimate teacher fantasy, that all of our students go out and change the world. Well, that why teaching critical literacy is so important because it arms them with the skills to do just that.

Assessment in Writing

The key points that I took out of the readings this week regarding assessment are:

1. Grade/Evaluate less: When students feel like all of their work is being graded they are less apt to take risks and instead focus on pleasing the teacher. I really like portfolios because it allows students to see all of the progress they have made, they usually allow for revision and it means students are graded less.

2. Use grading rubrics that are student friendly: I love this idea. So often we are given rubrics that are too complicated or unclear because teachers are trying to use big fancy words- put it in student language, or even better have the students create their own rubrics as a class.

3. Write, write, write: Both authors discuss how important it is to practice writing constantly in order to get better, but only grade a portion of it that way the kids improve on their own and you don't have to dole out bad grades. I also love the idea of doing daily free-writes and writing assignments that are not evaluated at all. My favorite assignments in school are the ones where I am simply given credit for doing the assignment- this allows me freedom to be bold.

4. Teach well- Not to the test! This one is scary for me to think about. Every education professor I've had as said something like, "A good teacher doesn't need to worry about passing the WASL" but with more talk about linking teacher pay with student test scores the more this will become an issue.

5. Like your students writing: I see the point Elbow is making here, if we like our students writing we will be more inclined to offer constructive criticism and we will like our jobs better. Find something you like about every piece of writing, and get to know your students well so you can understand their growth and where their writing comes from.

A little pick me up

I meant to post these earlier but somehow I never got around to it. I found these videos when I was researching slam poetry for my first lesson in the junior high, and thought they were worth sharing. All teachers, especially soon-to-be-teachers need a little inspiration now and then...enjoy!

Six-Traits

I found Spandel's chapter on "Supporting Writing Process" to be very helpful in thinking about writing as a teacher. I like that she made the distinction between teachers who assign writing and those who teach writing. I can't recall a time when I have seen a teacher model the writing process for me but oh, that would have helped me so much. I know that as a child I loved to write but it slowly got killed off by the expository, five-paragraph essay that began sometime in upper elementary and we never seemed to get back to creative writing. When I took a creative writing course in college I nearly had a panic attack every time I had to do an assignment. I just had no clue what to do and where to start.

Unfortunately, I am not seeing much of the six traits in either placement. I'm seeing the opposite in the junior high. Lots and lots and lots of form essay's with a box for each sentence and a prompt; attention grabber, topic sentence, bridge sentence...yuck. I know the kids must come out being able to write those essay's with their eyes closed, but they look pretty miserable doing it. I love the quote Spandel uses from Barry Lane, "Editors never ask writers for five-paragraph themes or expository writing..." Students that don't learn much about voice, or original ideas, or word choice write dry essays even if they know the form by heart. I think it's easy for teachers to forget how many parts go into writing and that you can't simply focus on one aspect but must teach it as parts of a whole.

Anne Lamott is my therapist

Bird by Bird has been fabulous to read. I do not consider myself a writer type. I never intend to publish any books or quit my day job to devote myself to writing but I love her book anyway. I think Lamott's writing advice can easily be translated into life advice. Every time I read her it helps me to feel better about myself, and reminds me what is truly important in life- it's like a mini therapy session. I love the anecdotes too. It's wonderful how she manages to make something seemingly unrelated fit into what she's talking about so seamlessly.

One of my favorite anecdotes that she shares is on early on in the book (pg. 46) when she is discussing developing characters. She tells of her friend who goes to alcoholic anonymous meetings and one woman complains about dragging her husband from the front lawn every time he gets drunk and passes out. A woman gives this advice to her:
"Honey? Leave him lay where Jesus flang him."


This phrase has been recycling itself in my mind ever since. Although this may sound silly I have a tendency to do things repeatedly that I don't need to at all. Here's a ridiculous example: Every evening I come home and pick up all the cat toys that they have drug out of the basket during the day, knowing full well that they will continue to play with the toys the next day. So why the heck do I waste my time picking them up every day?! Just leave them lay where Cho Cho flang them!

Although this is a lot easier to say than to do, I have really been working hard to just let some things go. Do I really need to put my husband's toothbrush back where it "belongs" every day, even though it is clearly more convenient for it to be on the counter? Do I really need to clean my entire house before I sit down to do homework? Can't I just do the homework and ignore the dishes in the sink for a couple of hours?
I know this has nothing to do with writing but it's clearly important to me-
actually it's kind-of changing my life.

Shared Writing

Routman's optimal learning model demonstrates how important it is for your students to see you as a writer. To model the writing process shows your students that you write for a purpose and I think it would be so valuable to see teacher's "think out loud."( I wish we had done shared writing in some of my college courses :) It makes total sense to me that you would demonstrate first and show what is expected of students in their writing and then eventually hand the pen over to the students and allow them to try it without the pressure of making it perfect on the first try. Often when I struggle with writing something it is because I do not know how to start, or what the finished product might look like, or even how to organize my writing. Routman's optimal learning model gradually leads students to independent writing. I think the one of the key elements in this process is making sure students feel comfortable and safe in the classroom in order to participate in shared writing. I am teaching my first lesson this week around writing poetry and I am nervous that because the students don't know me they will be reluctant to share-reading Routman has made me consider modeling the process of how I would begin the poem before I have them write their own.

Myself as a Writer

Like many of the students Routman mentions, I hate writing. It's not that I have always hated writing. In elementary I kept diaries and in high school I filled journals with teen angst poetry and stories. But somehow along the way I lost interest. Writing became a chore that I had to do- people stare at me in astonishment when I tell them I would rather do hours of statistics than have to write a paper. That being said my writing process is certainly not one I would EVER model for my students. Here's how I approach writing:

1. Procrastinate until last possible minute
2. Panic that I will not get done in time
3. Sit down to write and stare at the computer until I get up and find something to either, eat, clean up or search for on the Internet.
4. Write a sentence
5. Erase it
6. Write an opening paragraph
7. Erase it
8. Skip ahead and write the meat of my paper
9. Wake up at dawn the day the paper is due then write intro/conclusion
10. Revise quickly and turn in
11. NEVER look at it again!

I know it's terrible, but true. I hope for the sake of my student's that I can learn to enjoy writing again or at least learn to teach it well enough that they don't catch on :)

Charming....

Invented Spelling

I found Fox's chapters very helpful for understanding how to identify the strategies the students are using and also how to help them improve upon their existing knowledge. As far as invented spelling goes I definitely think it helps more than it hinders. I have seen older kids clam up completely when asked to spell correctly. I think spelling mistakes often keep children from writing. I think in younger grades learning how to spell certain words will develop as their phonemic awareness develops, and as they learn to use resources in the classroom to help. As students get older it is important for them to understand why we sometimes need to do our very best spelling in order to communicate most effectively but in general I don't feel that there needs to be a focus on spelling.

My k-buddy seems to understand letters and sounds pretty well. She makes white space between words and uses both upper and lowercase letters. When unsure of how to spell a word she can easily identify the sound the word starts with. From there she seemed to fill in letters as she felt appropriate according to what sounds were in the word. She would also look around the room for examples she could use to spell words she was unsure of. Overall, I was truly impressed with my k-buddy's skill level! I am equally amazed by how well primary grade teachers can decipher what students are trying to communicate- I am always at a loss :)

Emergent Literacy

Since I have yet to work with young children in my field experience I don't have many examples of emergent literacy. I sat in for an afternoon with a kindergarten class and observed kids during a math lesson in which they were learning about numbers and instead of writing the number 3, they would draw three things to represent the number. Some of the kids drawings were fairly easy to identify, trees or squares but then other kids drawings would be completely indecipherable for me- looking mostly like scribbles. I found it interesting the contrast between students. I wonder now, after reading the Sulzby and Teale article, if the children who have more experience with literacy in their homes were the ones who were drawing better or if it was simply a matter of varying degrees of motor skills.

While I was observing this classroom I also saw the teacher use different strategies to promote literacy among her students. She used flashcards during transitions while some children were making their way to the rug. The flashcards had the letter and a picture to represent it. The teacher would call on kids to read the letter, say the sound, and describe the picture. I remember finding it so entertaining to watch them during this activity. One child was given the letter N. He would say "N, nnnn, Egg" but the picture was of a nest. She would prompt him again on the picture but every time he would say "egg" instead. I remember thinking that he's right the picture does have an egg in the nest. Being in this classroom for the afternoon reminded me of how much we actually have to learn. All the literacy skills that we take for granted and seem so obvious, actually had to be learned at one point in time- amazing.