Writing

"On vacsonon 1999 we went to New Jersy. We visted our grandma and grandpa and coinsen. It was fun. Vacsonon is better than school, but I think school is better."

That is my very first journal entry, written in 3rd grade on August 17, 1999.

Since then, writing has been my window of expression.  Writing provokes learning.  Writing engages new thoughts and ideas.  Writing inspires the imagination.  Writing is freedom.  My writing is my voice.

This is what I want for my students.  Even if they do not journal for the rest of their lives, I want them to take ownership of their writing.

Gallagher and Smagorinsky both suggest AWESOME ways to make this happen.

They both underscore the importance of helping students identify the purpose of writing.  This goes hand-in-hand with the idea that classroom writing must connect to real-world writing.  Early in the year, I would love to have a conversation with my students about why writing is important.  It would be more meaningful to construct this knowledge together.  Writing thus becomes accessible and student-controlled.

Students need to have choice in their writing.  This is important because writing then becomes relevant and interesting.  It further helps to develop their voices.  When students write about topics that they care about, they take writing seriously because it becomes an extension of them.  It is their passion in ink on paper for the world to read.

Daily journal (or blog) writing is one of my preferred strategies for writing development.

Dialogue journals are also great because they demonstrate how writing fosters conversation and sparks new questions.  This does not need to be in the form of a notebook either; students can write together in blogs or other online resources (Tumblr, class Facebook pages, etc.).

Dialogue journals (and online resources) allow students to write for each other (and the world).  Gallagher introduces a discussion on audience, suggesting that if students are going to take their writing seriously, the teacher cannot be the only reader of their writing.  I am particularly excited about hosting open mic opportunities (especially in the community) and having student work available to check out in the school library (and possibly even in the local public library).  On this thread, I plan on having anthologies in my classroom as well, in which students can choose their best or favorite piece of writing from the year to be immortalized in the class library.

Today, in the 12^th grade classes that I am observing, the students wrote dialect dialogues to explore the use of dialect in Zora Neale Hurston’s Their Eyes Were Watching God.  After they wrote their pieces, Mrs. Duong invited the students to perform their pieces in front of the classroom.  It was so cool to see how excited the students were while writing their dialogues.  Mrs. Duong allowed a lot of choice: The students chose the characters, dialect, and situation for their writing.  They also worked hard because they had the opportunity to share their work with their peers.  In the end, it was so much fun to watch the students share their work.  They demonstrated incredible creativity and humor.

When students choose, they are passionate about their work.  It becomes their own, and anything that belongs to us is sacred – especially our voices.  Students need to be taught that their voices are sacred.  Then, they need time and opportunity to develop and share those voices.

I would further love to invite writers of various mediums (prose, poetry, blogs, newspapers, etc.) into my classroom to share and inspire writing.  It could be valuable for students to enter into conversations about writing with professional writers, especially if students are able to share their writing with them and receive feedback.  Gallagher discusses removing the “Grecian Urn” from the classroom by showing the teacher’s initial sloppy writing.  Imagine the potential for breaking down this “Grecian Urn” when a professional writer shares his sloppy drafts.  This becomes a great way to demonstrate the accessibility of writing – as long as I find supportive and encouraging writers!

Writing also is a way to teach students to ask questions.  This past weekend, I attended a conference.  In one of the sessions, a professor was talking about student research and writing.  She noted: “Students look for answers and once they find them, the research and inquiry stops.”

Asking questions does not only expand and deepen writing, but also critical thinking.  Writing is, thus, also a means to develop students’ critical thinking skills.  Gallagher notes that “students (and adults) who cannot identify an author’s purpose will go through life susceptible” (127).  This is an imperative skill to have in today’s world, especially with an Internet culture in which anyone can say anything.

Gallagher’s ultimate goal for writing in his classroom is: “Everyone improves” (142).  I love this because it takes away the stress of enforcing a standard of writing by promoting the growth of each individual writer instead.

I love all of Gallagher’s and Smagorinky’s ideas, and would love to implement a lot of them.  However, after observing all of the craziness in my first placement, I have to admit to some doubt about making my real classroom coincide with the ideal classroom that I imagine.  Gallagher suggests putting the standards on hold in order to develop strong – and necessary – writing and thinking skills.  I absolutely agree with him – 100%.  But in the classrooms that I have observed, there is so little time and so much to do.  Between daily assignments required and reviewed by the administration and too much material to cover, there was hardly any time for the students to write.

The last thing I want is to be a teacher who pays lip-service to the importance of writing while implementing writing-done-wrong in my classroom.  I love authentic writing, and I want to fight for it in my classroom.  However, I am trying to be a little more realistic about all of this and, in the process, am struggling to  understand how this methodology will be possible.