Finding 1: There are many diverse, engaging writing activities and techniques that middle school students should be exposed to outside of a five-paragraph expository essay.
My Learning
Two classes revolutionized the way I think about writing: ECI 520, The Teaching of Composition; and ECI 550, Foundations of Middle Grades Education. Before enrolling in grad school, I must admit I had a healthy fear of teaching writing. I stuck with the five-paragraph expository essay as my main mode of writing instruction, and even that was not very good. Most of all I lacked profession development in teaching writing. These two classes shifted my thinking and exposed me to new ideas.
In ECI 520, I was able to study a number of different writing activities and assignments I can engage in with my students outside of the five-paragraph essay. Kirby, Kirby, and Liner (2004) discuss how to create a classroom culture of writing in their book Inside Out: Strategies for Teaching Writing. Their book provided many useful tips on how to teach everything from journaling to poetry to reaching an audience in a persuasive text. Two huge takeaways I had from their book is that all students have a writing voice they need to develop, and teachers should serve as encouraging coaches (Kirby et al, p. 76, 4) . Ultimately, students are in the drivers' seat in a writing lesson; we teachers are there just to coach and guide from the passenger side.
My courselong project in ECI 520 was to create a multigenre paper. Never have I DREADED and LOVED a project so much! I created my multigenre paper on a topic that was very interesting to me: the Indian Health Service. In this project, I wrote ten different genres about this important issue affecting Indian tribes across the US. I have never been so stretched out of my comfort zone, but I absolutely loved my project and the experience in the end:
http://ihsmultigenre.weebly.com/.
In ECI 550, our studies of Howard Gardner and his book, Five Minds for the Future, encouraged me to think about how I differentiate writing experiences for my students as well as pushed me to think about how I assess students and sometimes confine them to a box with my writing assignments. This course urged me to use a variety of approaches to assess students and to get them creating in addition to writing. Students have a lot to showcase and practice outside of expository writing, and it is up to me to create a classroom space where students are able to create art, music, and other writing forms to share their learning. These practices are key in engaging students in writing.
My Learning in Action: The Multi-Genre Project
I have finally become brave enough to try a multi-genre writing assignment with my students. We are currently in the middle of this unit! In this project, students are conducting their own research on a topic of their choosing and then writing five different genres to put together as one paper on that topic. I am using my IHS weebly as the model project to demonstrate each phase of the research and writing process. I must admit that this is the most freedom and independence I have ever provided for my students on a particular assignment. So far things are going very well!
Check out the assignment my students received as well as the rubric:
Two classes revolutionized the way I think about writing: ECI 520, The Teaching of Composition; and ECI 550, Foundations of Middle Grades Education. Before enrolling in grad school, I must admit I had a healthy fear of teaching writing. I stuck with the five-paragraph expository essay as my main mode of writing instruction, and even that was not very good. Most of all I lacked profession development in teaching writing. These two classes shifted my thinking and exposed me to new ideas.
In ECI 520, I was able to study a number of different writing activities and assignments I can engage in with my students outside of the five-paragraph essay. Kirby, Kirby, and Liner (2004) discuss how to create a classroom culture of writing in their book Inside Out: Strategies for Teaching Writing. Their book provided many useful tips on how to teach everything from journaling to poetry to reaching an audience in a persuasive text. Two huge takeaways I had from their book is that all students have a writing voice they need to develop, and teachers should serve as encouraging coaches (Kirby et al, p. 76, 4) . Ultimately, students are in the drivers' seat in a writing lesson; we teachers are there just to coach and guide from the passenger side.
My courselong project in ECI 520 was to create a multigenre paper. Never have I DREADED and LOVED a project so much! I created my multigenre paper on a topic that was very interesting to me: the Indian Health Service. In this project, I wrote ten different genres about this important issue affecting Indian tribes across the US. I have never been so stretched out of my comfort zone, but I absolutely loved my project and the experience in the end:
http://ihsmultigenre.weebly.com/.
In ECI 550, our studies of Howard Gardner and his book, Five Minds for the Future, encouraged me to think about how I differentiate writing experiences for my students as well as pushed me to think about how I assess students and sometimes confine them to a box with my writing assignments. This course urged me to use a variety of approaches to assess students and to get them creating in addition to writing. Students have a lot to showcase and practice outside of expository writing, and it is up to me to create a classroom space where students are able to create art, music, and other writing forms to share their learning. These practices are key in engaging students in writing.
My Learning in Action: The Multi-Genre Project
I have finally become brave enough to try a multi-genre writing assignment with my students. We are currently in the middle of this unit! In this project, students are conducting their own research on a topic of their choosing and then writing five different genres to put together as one paper on that topic. I am using my IHS weebly as the model project to demonstrate each phase of the research and writing process. I must admit that this is the most freedom and independence I have ever provided for my students on a particular assignment. So far things are going very well!
Check out the assignment my students received as well as the rubric:
Students hard at work on their multi-genre research.
My students are conducting their research using Google Docs. Then, I go in and make suggestions using the "comments" tool. Students can respond to my comments. I have not shared the example to protect the student's privacy but did include it in my presentation.