Rief finally by Geri

Writing class Blog: “What’s Right with Writing” by Linda Rief

“Writing today is not a frill for the few, but an essential skill for the many.” – The National Commission on Writing in America’s Schools and Colleges

“What have we learned about writing and the teaching of writing”.

                Simply answered, I have learned that I need to be doing more writing.

I’ve learned that conferencing should be done often, by really listening and responding (Calkins, p.221). I’ve learned that I need to allow my students to take responsibility for their direction, (Calkins, p. 224) that we are teaching the writer and not the writing (Calkins, p. 228). Calkins also says that writing should be a daily activity, during a set time that the students can count on (p.183).

                I’ve learned that, “The spiral model of the writing process posits that is it possible to brainstorm, draft and revise all at the same time” (Warne, p.25).  I’ve learned that experienced writers are always revising, that they are thinking about the reader and the purpose of communication. To become experienced writers, students have to be given ample opportunity to read (good literature) and to write (Sommers, p. 384-386).

 I’ve learned that dialogue can help develop character. Characters drive the plot (Lamott p.54-55). To begin dialogue writing, the writer needs a scene (Parsley). Teaching the mechanics of punctuation can be taught while teaching dialogue writing (Lain, p. 23)

 I’ve learned that, “the one who does the work is the one who learns” (Lain, p.25).  This was really important for me to hear because I spend a ridiculous amount of time editing my students’ work. It seems intuitive that students don’t learn or develop if I’m doing all their correcting for them. Krashen refers to a study done by Stiff in 1967 which concluded that corrections and comments written in the margins by the teacher is an ineffective way to give feedback.  Students need verbal conferencing with the teacher in order to improve writing.

 From Emig, I learned that writing is developmentally a natural process (p. 136) and that students come to my room with a great deal of writing experience, which I need to honor (Emig, p. 141-142).

“Good writers have the purpose to affect their readers, ….good writers create a particularly rich network of goals for affecting their reader” (Flower & Hayes, p. 30).  Writers that write specifically with their audience in mind are better writers than writers who do not consider the reader.

                 It was good to know that teaching the writing process does have value. I’ve learned that, “Students of teachers who always encourage particular elements of process writing, such as planning and defining purpose and audience, were found to be generally better writers than students of teachers who reportedly never encourage these activities” (NAEP, p.5).  I will continue to let students know that they need to think and plan before they write, but that thinking and planning doesn’t stop once they start writing, that these are ongoing processes.  I will also make sure my students know that they can and should be revising as they write and not to wait until the end.

From Moffett (p.26-27), I learned that students need to write in as many modes as possible and to read their writing to the class and to others other than the teacher.

 Students should be encouraged to try things, make errors and learn from their mistakes so they can find their own voice.  From Falk, I learned that students who read more, write better (p. 438-439) and that “creativity comes with the risk of making errors” (p.441-442).

 Britton taught me that I need to have my students take a piece of writing and write it in different ways, such as transactional (as information), expressive (as a personal connection), poetic (emotional affects for all) (p.10-17). I’d love to see if my students can write can write a grocery list in expressive and poetic forms.  

Rief seems to sum up and echo so much of what we have read in all the other articles. According to Rief, “writing is thinking…writing lets us communicate what we know and helps us think of things we didn’t know we knew until we began writing. Writing is one way of communicating our understandings and misunderstanding of ourselves and the world……. We learn to write by reading extensively and writing for real audiences.  We need to give students ample opportunities to write on a continuous basis.  They need choices about topics and genres… Writers need constructive response….Evaluation of writing should highlight the strengths of process, content, and conventions, and give the write the tools and techniques to strengthen the weaknesses” (p. 33) “Writers need places to collect their ideas…teachers need to know their students well… writing is reading and when students write they are engaged in…the process of critical thinking”(p. 34).

                 Lamott presents compelling reasons to write.  I want my students to see all the things they can write about and regain their sense of wonder about their world. While reading Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott, I was particularly struck by these quotes:

“ ..our goal as writers…is to help others have this sense of….wonder, of seeing things anew, things that can catch you off guard, that break in our small, bordered worlds… we are supposed to be in the world – present and in awe  (Lamott, p. 100).  …….help your readers be braver, be better than they are, be open to the world again (Lamott, p. 206) ….writing can give you the pleasures and a sense of belonging…..and dealing with your wounds (Lamott, p. 234)…..writing matters because of the spirit….because of the heart.  Writing and reading decrease our sense of isolation.  They deepen and wide and expand our sense of life: they feed our soul.  It’s like singing on a boat during a terrible storm at sea.  You can’t stop the raging storm, but singing can change the hearts and spirits of the people who are together on that ship.” (Lamott, p. 237). 

The Writing-Wordless Books Connection

                How can I use what I have learned in connection with using wordless books to teach writing? First, what the experts say and second, what I say.

1.

·         “Wordless picture books offer a wonderful foundation for creative writing. Often, students struggle with ideas and topics for writing. This genre of books offers a platform for students to develop their writing skills” (Henry, Laurie A.) Henry says that students that have wordless books are able to “begin developing story lines orally and in writing.” She also says that “educators can easily incorporate various instructional strategies into students' writing, such as use of dialogue, setting development, character descriptions, sequencing of events and story development.”

·          According to J.K. Cassady, in the Journal of Adolescent and Adult Literacy, “Wordless books enhance creativity, vocabulary, and language development for readers of all ages, at all stages of cognitive development, and in all content areas. The creativity stimulated by wordless books encourages older students to look more closely at story details, to carefully consider all story elements, and to more clearly understand how text is organized so that a story develops.”

·         “[wordless books] they stimulate thinking and language use across modes and text-types.” “With their built-in story structure, these books encourage students to produce longer, more detailed, coherent, and cohesive texts, which in turn fosters linguistic confidence in the students.” (Margaret Early). In 1991, Margaret Early published an article in ELT Journal, supporting the use of wordless books for ESL classes.  She says that wordless books “develop the language of description”, and “to develop the language of prediction, hypothesis, and cause/effect.”  Early also says that students are “evaluating characters and their actions, and the language of judgments can be developed.”

2.

For emerging writers, wordless books provide a framework and direction to get started.  By looking at the pictures closely, students can describe the setting, the mood/tone, the characters and the story line.  Students can employ the use of dialogue. They can approach the story from several different points of view and identify cause and effect.  Wordless books can be the catalyst for students to want to write and read their own stories.

“What do our students need to help them write well?”

                Rief condenses the answer succinctly into four areas 1) time, 2) choice,  3) models and 4) response.  I need to give my students time to think, write, share and revise.  The time to revise has been one of  the missing components in my writing program.  To some degree I will still be directing and prescribing what I need my students to write, however I will also give my students the opportunity to choose their own prompts, their own products and their own writing styles.  I will also provide models of my expectations through books, and products made by other students or me. Students will be able to write in different genres, for different purposes and different audiences.  Response, conferencing or feedback, is the other component missing from my writing class.  In the past, I have written corrections and responses in the margins of my students’ writing. I then expected my students to read them and learn from them and could not understand why this didn’t work.  Krashen’s research found that the teacher making the corrections on papers is an ineffective way to improve writing.   I need my students to correct their own work.  I need to train my students to help each other in peer conferencing so that I also have time to conference one on one instead of teaching whole group, and I need to do this more often. 

“What stands in the way of powerful writing instruction?”

                Rief only mentions two roadblocks for good writing instruction, but she mentions one of them four times and that is testing, testing, testing and testing.  She also mentions lack of tools.  The former is more problematic than the latter, because testing is politically driven and mandated.  Testing is going to take place, but that doesn’t mean that we are required to teach to the test.  If students learn effective writing skills through reading and writing, and incorporating structure within the writing process, their ability to test will be there without having to ‘teach to the test’.  The lack of tools can be managed if the teacher takes the time to plan, collaborates with their colleagues and uses their local library.  Books are wonderful teaching prompts for writing.  Life, students themselves, nature and anything can be the source of good writing prompts. For me, the only thing standing in my way is time and my own self.  If I can get out of my own way, and integrate writing in all my content areas, I’ll be able to have more experienced writers. 

                I plan to take on just a few things to get me started: mini-lessons, workshops, time to write, revision rocks and conferences nail it.  I know I can’t take in everything we’ve done. If I want this to work, then I need to pick and choose, do what I know I can do and then add to my repertoire a little at a time.  This class has given me direction, the tools I need and the confidence that I will be a better writing teacher.  Halleluiah!