Blog #12 End of the Semester Blog

During this class, we were asked to read and analyze different genres that we explored while reading Tompkins and Hicks texts. While thinking about all the genres that we have been introduced to and have developed a deeper understanding, I have to say that I had more background knowledge on four genres before coming into this writing class. These genres include descriptive, poetry, non-fiction and narrative. 

I gained knowledge in understanding what each genre consisted of and the different forms for each through my childhood school experiences and student teaching placements. However, while listening to my classmates genre expert presentations each week, I had the opportunity to develop a deeper understanding of which genres I am going to be teaching to my own students someday. Also, I had the great opportunity to learn about a variety of activities or strategies I could use in my classroom when I become a teacher. Reflecting back on my childhood experiences, I remember my teacher implementing us the multiple genres and then incorporating a fun engaging activity that we completed in class to help us sustain interest in the different genres we were learning about.

While thinking about all the genres that I have been taught, I believe that the non-fiction, descriptive genre, narrative and the poetry are the genres I feel better prepared to teach in my classroom. I have done a great amount of time researching different articles that would beneficial to use while introducing the descriptive writing genre to my students. Also, I learned some interactive activities that I could implement in my classroom. For example, building sentences, or making clusters that (Tompkin 2019) offers. These strategies will assist my students to become active learners, and be able to be creative in their own work. I think making clusters and building sentences is a great way to have students describe different characters, or objects while using the five senses (sight, feel, touch, taste, and smell). Furthermore, I have found some great mentor texts for both primary and intermediate that I could share with my students during a read aloud or during writing instruction in the classroom. 

Lastly, word choice is HUGE for descriptive reading. It is important that students stay away from tired words like "said" and try replacing it with more sophisticated vocabulary (stated, or explained). I understand how to teach vocabulary to my students in a bunch of different ways and as well as finding ways to help them choose the correct nouns, verbs as well as adjectives to make their writing more appealing for the audience. 

Another genre I feel that I am better prepared to teach would be the non-fiction genre. I have a pretty good understanding of the different text features included and where they are usually located in an informational text. Furthermore, I understand how to read non-fiction texts by following the five strategies that my friend Stephanie included in her genre presentation.  She offered some great strategies that I could try with my students in the classroom. For instance, taking a image from a book, and seeing if the students can point out the different text features that are important to recognize when being introduced to an informational text. 


The next genre that I believe I am prepared for would be the poetry genre. Poetry has always been my favorite genre because I have the great opportunity to use figurative language and be creative in many different ways. I understand the multiple components that are included when it comes to poetry. It is interesting to see how many different poems within the genre that students can attempt in the classroom depending on their interests. For example, descriptive genre and poetry are very similar to one another because they both include the five senses as well as the figurative language. 

The last genre I feel comfortable teaching would be the narrative genre. Reflecting back on my childhood experiences, I feel like my teachers covered most of the elements that should be included in a narrative text. For example, the character's physical traits and personality traits that most students are familiar with. In my own classroom, I would introduce my students to a narrative text, and then we would review the main character's personality traits (feelings, emotions, attitudes), and physical traits (her appearance) in the story in order for my students to gain more knowledge.

While reviewing all the digital media that we have learned in this class through our on-line moodle discussions, I am confident that I developed a deeper understanding of the video and audio texts that our peers provided us with great examples. The types of digital media that I think have a place in my reading/writing workshop would be the audio and video texts because we had the chance to closely focus on the variety of elements included in the different videos, such as sound effects, transitions, backgrounds, music, as well as the narrators voice that (Hicks 2013) explains. I believe that audio texts are great to listen to in the classroom when students are free-writing. I believe it would not distract the students because there are usually no images presented in an audio text. I have been introduced to different audio texts that I had the chance to listen to for one of my peers online digital presentation. I really enjoyed listening to a couple where many students were expressing their own opinions and thoughts on what they were learning. 

In my future classroom, I might use audio texts or podcasts during morning meeting or for an end of the day discussion. For instance, my students would listen to the podcast or audio text that aligns with what we are learning that day, and then I would ask them what they thought and if they had questions about it. This would assist my students to become active listeners and motivated in class. Also while they are listening, I might even have them write in their notebook what they learned about the podcast or audio text, therefore there is a purpose. 

Another type of digital media that would benefit in my classroom would include the digital presentation that I was asked to find and then present for this class. For this assignment, I had the opportunity to search for a digital presentation that I would use in my own classroom. I found a third grade presentation by a female teacher who was introducing the students to a science lesson. The students focused on classifying different animals (vertebrates, and invertebrates) depending on how they act, where they live, and what they look like. In this presentation, I was able to closely examine the different elements of authors craft that the teacher used to keep the presentation entertaining for the students. For instance, the teacher provided different visuals in order to show the different animals. Also, the author used different transitions and different color (fonts) to attract the reader.


However I know if I become a third grade teacher, I will eventually have to teach this lesson to my students someday. Therefore, it was really neat that I was able to look at a great example to help me plan my own instruction for the different lessons that I will create. Lastly, I am excited to teach this science lesson to my students and incorporate fun interactive activities to go along with it to help my students develop a better understanding of what they are learning. 

 Tompkins, G. E.  (2019).  Teaching writing:  Balancing process and product (7^th ed.).  Upper Saddle River, NJ:  Merrill.

Hicks, T. (2013).  Crafting digital writing.  Portsmouth, NH:  Heinemann.

    
                                  Blog #11 Keeping a Blog is Essential

While creating a blog each week for this class based on Tompkins and Hicks ideas that they discuss in greater detail about reading and writing, these blogs have helped me to self-question, use background knowledge, self-reflect, and think more critically while reading the different chapters. Also, it helped me become more aware of the Learning Outcomes for this course and what I should take away from it. After I finish this class, I will be able to use my blogs for a future reference when I become an elementary teacher, because these blogs will be with me forever. Therefore, I will use the strategies or ideas that I enjoyed practicing in this class in my own classroom. I have spent a great amount of time creating these blogs each week, and was extremely excited to share what I have learned from both Tompkins and Hicks text relating to the teaching of writing and the use of digital technology. 

 
Making a blog each week helped me to notice which ideas I enjoyed reading that was explained by Tompkins, or Hicks, which encouraged me to reflect back on my student placement and observation experiences. I was able to connect the ideas I learned from my personal teaching experiences with the ideas that Tompkins illustrates on the teaching of reading and writing. Furthermore, I was able to gain knowledge of how reading and writing processes are similar and different to one another. Especially, while creating my genre project, I was able to look more closely at which genres I knew a little information and wanted to know more of, and which genres I had a pretty good idea of what it consists of with the features included. For instance, the genres that I did not have background knowledge on was argumentative, biographical, as well as the letter genre. I learned multiple strategies pertaining to each genre that I can teach to my students in my own classroom someday. 

While looking back at my childhood school experiences, I remember learning about some aspects of these different genres, but not in great depth like they taught us about poetry, narrative, non-fiction, and descriptive genre. However, I never realized that they were different types of poems within the poetry genre. For example, Tompkins states, "there are formula poems, color poems, I am...poems, preposition poems..etc"(Tompkins, p. 191). Therefore, it was fun to learn about the different poems that I could have my students create using their own imagination and creativity.

Moreover, I was able to decide which strategies I would teach and consider using in the classroom to help my students reach success in both reading and writing. Furthermore, I had the opportunity to dig deeper into the content I was learning, and be able to analyze some of the quotes that Tompkins included. Relating to author's craft, I never really thought about the word "author's craft" before reading Tompkins, I always considered them as "elements or traits" to use in my writing pieces. I am glad I now know that teachers call it author's craft. I will consider to teach the word "author's craft" to my students, therefore they can keep in mind of the different elements that should be incorporated while writing different compositions. For example, using organization, ideas, word choice, sentence fluency, as well as voice while having a purpose and audience in mind" (Tompkins, p. 84). While looking back at my first entry, I realized that I did not know about the different habits of mind that Hicks explains in his text. Now that I have read the chapter on this specific topic, I will encourage myself to be open-minded, curious, and be creative in my own work while I am writing my different pieces.

While looking at the Syllabus, I realized that"how to create a community of writers" that Tompkins explains was not one of the 6 components on the Learning outcomes. I think this the most important aspect in a classroom because you want your students to feel comfortable sharing their writing pieces to their classmates without hesitation. For example, I learned that it is important to allow students to engage with others either in partners, or in a small group while writing, therefore they can gain insight from their classmates. Also, while they peer review together, the students can determine not only what their strengths and weaknesses are, but also what they have become successful in, and which ideas need to be developed still. Not only should the students be looking other people's writing, but a teacher should evaluate the students writing as well, therefore they are receiving constructive feedback from a professional. Sometimes, depending on who is evaluating the students work, it may not be as effective as if a teacher was grading it. 

Furthermore, choice is a great motivator for students, especially allowing students to choose what they want to write about depending on their interests. Students tend to become more active learners, and appreciate writing more when they are writing something that has impacted or been meaningful to them. Most importantly, it is essential that students accept all students writing, and does not negatively judge other people's opinions. A classroom should be a place where the students are respectful and supportive to one another.  


I am excited to use most of these strategies during reading and writing instruction. Also, depending on what grade I end up teaching, I am happy I have the chance to introduce different reading genres to my students and incorporate engaging activities to implement to my class when I become a teacher to help support their comprehension skills. 

Tompkins, G. E.  (2019).  Teaching writing:  Balancing process and product (7^th ed.).  Upper Saddle River, NJ:  Merrill.

Hicks, T. (2013).  Crafting digital writing.  Portsmouth, NH:  Heinemann.





 

      
                                  Blog 10: "Bless, Address, and Press"

Over the past week, I have spent some time looking at my peers' blogs to see if any of them stood out to me. During each week, I tend to look at my peers' blogs to notice which ideas from Tompkins do they address in greater detail. I love looking at my peers blogs and noticing the similarities and differences between mine. I believe that giving feedback to our peers is important especially since we are going to be providing feedback on our own student's work one day in the classroom. However, I realized that Katy's Blog #9 about argument writing stood out to me the most because I remember writing argumentative pieces in my fourth grade class all the time when I was in elementary school. I used to love writing argumentative pieces because I was able to make up my own claims and support it with evidence while taking a position.

Bless: I would like to take some time and praise Katy for speaking about the different types of persuasion that students should consider when being introduced to an argumentative piece. The three types include Ethos, Paths, and Logos. During her presentation, she did a great job explaining and giving us examples of each one that supported her understanding of this genre. I remember in fourth grade they never really named the three types, we kinda just focused on writing a position, naming claims and supporting the claims with evidence. I am glad that I am now aware of the different types of persuasion that I can teach in my own classroom. Katy also gives us great ideas on how persuasion is used throughout the world. For instance, she said that some students read magazines, texts, create commercials as well as advertisements to convince individuals to try out their businesses.

Address: I will certainty consider using some of the ideas that Katy introduced to me in her blog, as well as the presentation she gave last week. I also agree with her that you must have the ability to read and interpret arguments, but also be able to write an argumentative piece. I would like to address that persuasion can happen in the classroom or at home. For example, I remember when I was young that my mother would convince me to clean my room, or set the table for dinner as well as do my homework each night. Since she speaks about an article that she read about cell phones not being used in classrooms, I would like to know how many students thought cell phones should not be used in a classroom? Also, should you start with a book or should you start with different prompts while first introducing the persuasive genre to your students? and also In what ways could this genre support student's writing? 

Press: Overall, I really enjoyed reading Katy's blog about argumentative writing! It was very insightful and encouraged me to think more critical about argumentative writing. However, I believe it is challenging to write an argumentative piece because you have to make sure your argument is reliable for your audience. Also, a person needs to make sure their claims are convincing enough and that you have the right evidence to back up your different claims. I am writing an argumentative piece for my genre project right now and I had to think critically about the advantages and dangers to swimming, therefore I can convince parents to teach their children on how to swim when they reach four or five years old. I am enjoying writing this piece though because it allows me to become open-minded and creative. 

Tompkins, G. E.  (2019).  Teaching writing:  Balancing process 

and product (7^th  ed.).Upper Saddle River, NJ:  Merrill.

     
       Blog #9 Creating a Supportive and Respectful Classroom 

Throughout my graduate courses, I always thought creating a supportive and respectful classroom is very essential while becoming an elementary school teacher. My role as an educator will be to teach all students to the best of my ability as well as encourage high expectations of learning, to help shape both academic and social aspects within a classroom. Moreover, teachers should display the rules and procedures on the classroom walls to notify students what the expectations are during reading and writing instruction. My job will be to help all students become proficient writers and make the classroom an enjoyable and safe environment.

As a future teacher, I would keep post-student work on the walls in my classroom to demonstrate what my students have achieved during writing workshop. In the classroom, I would display posters that support my students reading and writing. In addition, I would provide my students writing around the classroom, therefore all children would certainly experience a higher level of comfort. It is important that students dominate the walls as well as having student ownership in the classroom. Furthermore, I would inform my students that we all need to support and respect each other while establishing a culture of learning. I will explain to the students that making negatively judgements or comments towards another peer's work is unacceptable and will make them feel uncomfortable. Therefore, all students will embrace their students cultural backgrounds. As a teacher, I will grow by accepting my student's cultures and languages that could affect their reading or writing. Moreover, when I provide writing and reading strategies around the classroom, it allows students to express their own thoughts and ideas, build relationships between students and teachers, as well as to practice interaction with their peers. Tompkins explains, "when students collaborate, they provide scaffolding for classmates, increase their motivation, and accelerate their achievement" (Tompkins, p. 35). I thought this quote is essential to reading and writing because it assists students to grow and maintain a feeling of emotional safety in the classroom. 

Tompkins (2019) speaks about how differentiation is based on a students readiness, interest, and learning profile. Therefore, for differentiation, I would create different activities that would meet all my students needs. For instance, if I was to teach third grade and try to support all learners, for visual learners I would provide them a graphic organizer or a type of web that my students can use to pre-write before they begin to draft their writing piece. For auditory learners, I would have another classmate that is reliable explain to other classmates the directions and expectations of the writing assignment they have to complete. Also, I would have them listen to a podcast or a video relating to what they are learning to help them achieve success. Lastly, for kinestetic learners, I would have the students create a higher-leveled activity or assignment that could benefit other students in the classroom. For example, I might ask them to create a poster that supports students reading or writing. During this activity, I would allow the group of students to engage with their peers and encourage them to be creative.


Tompkins speaks about the importance of giving students the opportunity a chance of what they want to write about. (Tompkins 35). I believe that giving students a choice of what they want to write about allows them to think about their own interests and passions. Also, I believe that students should have the opportunity to work in partners or small groups during projects. Sometimes, it is more effective when they work with others, than working independently on a piece because they can receive feedback and gain insight from their classmates to allow their writing to become stronger. When students receive feedback from their classmates, they have the chance to look at which parts worked well and also which parts still need to be developed. Tompkins states, "students assume leadership roles, and students and the teacher share learning and teaching responsibilities"(Tompkins, p. 35). Lastly, I believe this quote is significant because all students should attempt at least once to take over the teacher role (giving feedback to their peers), instead of having the student role every time.

Tompkins, G. E.  (2019).  Teaching writing:  Balancing process and product (7^th ed.).  Upper Saddle River, NJ:  Merrill.

                  
                           Blog 8: "To Bless, to Address, and To Press"

Hicks (2013) speaks about the importance of students using "Bless, Address, and Press" to provide feedback to their classmates. Over the past week, I have spent some time looking at my peers' blogs to notice if any of them stood out to me. During each week, I usually look at my peers' blogs to determine which ideas from Tompkins the students addressed in greater detail. I believe that giving feedback to our peers is essential especially since we are going to be providing feedback towards our own student's work one day in the classroom. I realized that Catherine's blog #6 stood out to me the most because she spoke about the instructional strategies she was going to use in the classroom. Relating to the index card activity, I realized that most students including Catherine wrote about how they enjoy completing the genre piece project because it is engaging and meaningful to them.

Bless: I want to take the time to praise Catherine on deciding which strategies she wants to consider to teach in the classroom to help her students reach success in both reading and writing. Catherine offers some great ideas on how she might incorporate this activity while she introduces writing to her students. I noticed that she spoke about the index card activity that Dr. Jones introduced to us. I also loved the idea of using the index cards during the pre-writing stage for our genre project. She spoke about how she enjoyed this activity because as a writer she tends to skip the first stage and does not think about organizing her information with the topic she choose before she drafts her pieces. However, this activity allowed her to organize her ideas in a way that she could determine which words she wanted to use within her three pieces and which words were not necessarily important. For myself as a writer, I have realized that I have been just brainstorming ideas and then move on to drafting my piece, without even thinking about the pre-writing stage. I will now consider to use the pre-writing stage as a way for me to organize my important information.  Therefore, I will definitely keep this strategy in mind to teach my students that the first stage helps steer you in the right direction.

 Address: I loved reading Catherine's blog! However, I have a few questions that I would ask Catherine including what grade level do you think you could start this activity with? In what ways would this activity support students writing? Furthermore, I would like to know if she would use this activity only in reading or writing or do you think a teacher could apply this activity in other curriculum areas? Lastly, I am wondering which genres she decided to choose for the genre piece project since she loves to be creative in her own work.   

Press: While I was reading her blog, it seems like Catherine and I had similar writing experiences throughout our student teaching as well as observation placements. For instance, while being in high school, we both never really had the opportunity to write three pieces relating to one topic. Instead, our teachers asked us to concentrate on one long writing piece using the topic we chose. I believe creating three pieces for one topic through different genres assists you to become a stronger writer. Also, it enables you to become more familiar with a variety of genres that students are introduced to during reading or writing instruction. In addition, I am able to take on different perspectives for this assignment through multiple points of view. 

Furthermore, I appreciate how Catherine explained in her blog that being creative and curious are two important habits of mind. I could not agree more with her, I also think that being creative and open-minded while writing these three different genre pieces is significant. Moreover, we both wrote in our blogs to Dr. Jones that creating interactive and fun activities in the classroom allows the students to sustain interest in their work. 

I believe it is challenging to provide feedback and think critically of what our peers wrote in their different blogs. At this moment, I am still developing as a writer and practicing giving constructive feedback towards my peers. Honestly, I believe it is important to apply this skill, because sometimes students do not even think about celebrating other students writing and giving them positive feedback that they became successful in. Before reading the chapter from Hicks I have never heard of this phrase before. In additionally, it encourages me to think outside the box and gain insight from my classmates. 

I am glad that I get this opportunity to reflect on one of my peers blogs during this semester as well as to notice how my blogs are similar or different from my classmates.  

I am excited to write a creative poem filled with lots of figurative language, a persuasive essay, (speaking about the advantages and dangers to swimming), as well as writing a descriptive piece while including the five senses, dialogue as well as word choice. Also, I had a great experience writing poetry and descriptive pieces while being in undergraduate school here at Nazareth. I believe it is very engaging and interactive for me.

While creating these three different genre pieces, I will highly consider using (Tompkins, 2019) 6+1 traits while I brainstorm, pre-write, revise, edit before I publish my one large piece of writing. The 6 +1 traits that I will focus on includes "organization, ideas, voice, word choice, sentence fluency, as well as conventions" (Tompkins, p. 70). It is important for me to use these different traits while I am writing because it gives me the opportunity to determine my own strengths and weaknesses.  Tompkin states, "Writers need to know how to organize their writing and learn ways to make their structure clear and logical for readers" (Tompkins, p. 73). I think this quote is empowering because in order for me to prove an argument, I need to make sure to see if my sentences flow nicely in an organized way. Also, I do not want to distract my audience to the point where I could lose them. 


Therefore, I believe that teachers should introduce a genre piece project to students during writing instruction as a way to become more familiar with the different genres they are reading. Also, students can practice writing one-word phrases relating to their topic on index cards while thinking about a purpose and an audience in mind. As a future teacher, I will give my students an opportunity to create a long writing composition on a specific topic that is intriguing to them. Lastly, this project would support students understanding of multiple genres.

Tompkins, G. E.  (2019).  Teaching writing:  Balancing process and product (7^th ed.).  Upper Saddle River, NJ:  Merrill.

Hicks, T. (2013).  Crafting digital writing.  Portsmouth, NH:  Heinemann. 

                           Blog #7 Descriptive Writing

Throughout my undergraduate and graduate courses, I have learned about multiple genres that are important to teach to students in a classroom. While researching for my upcoming genre presentation, I gained insight in knowing more about descriptive writing. In the article Improving Student's Achievement text through think, pair and share, this author explained that descriptive writing vividly paints a picture in a student's mind. It portrays a person, place or thing in such a way that the reader can visualize the topic and enter into the writer's experiences. In addition, interacting with others about their visualizations and personal experiences allows students to discover and share what is meaningful to them in the text. Through writing, the article explained that students were able to express their own feelings, and thoughts during a pair share activity.  However, a descriptive text is a piece of writing that is intended to convey meaning to the reader. It stimulates the five senses and provides an image for the readers. Giving students to visualize as they read gives them confidence; it helps them learn to think as they write.

In the article, Descriptive Writing from Tompkins (2012) edition, he states that the five techniques that students should keep in mind while writing a descriptive piece includes "adding specific information (identfiying examples), choosing words carefully (enriched vocabulary, using abstract nouns, and vivid verbs), creating sensory images (sight, taste, hear, touch, and smell), using figurative language (smilies, metaphors, imagery) as well as to writing dialogue (correct punctuation, writers SHOW, not tell)" (Tompkins, p. 146).

Furthermore, "students were asked to gather descriptive words or phrases during pre-writing and use them as a resource while writing their rough drafts"(Tompkins, p.145). This would allow classmates and teachers to give feedback on their writing. Also, teachers may teach mini-lessons about the different writing techniques used for descriptive writing that would support students understanding of what the descriptive genre consists of. For example, the teacher would choose appropriate mentor texts for students and then explain why she decided to use this book to help their learning. Furthermore, in the article, it states that this activity the teacher introduced can be applied in partners, small group or as a whole class.

Also, I learned from reading this article were some instructional procedures that the teacher attempted to assist students with improving their writing. For instance, "the teachers distributed objects to students and in a sentence the students would identify what the object is and explain it to a partner" (Tompkins, p. 144). If the descriptions the teacher taught were not meaningful or useful for the students, then she would be flexible in her instruction and add more sensory words, craft images as well as to teach more vocabulary to help them gain more knowledge of what they were learning.

In the article, the teacher demonstrated two activities that she would teach and model in front of her class. One activity that the teachers completed with their students was "making clusters and building sentences while using the five senses" (Tompkins, p. 145). The teacher would choose a big topic to discuss and the students would describe the object in short phrases to understand the topic they are learning. I would incorporate making clusters in my future classroom during writing instruction because it supports students to understand what an object consists of. I believe that my students would be engaged and excited to try this activity. The students would have the opportunity to use the five senses and be creative in their work. Meanwhile, this allows the students to take ownership and responsibility of their own learning.

In elementary school, I have always been asked to create either a visual map or graphic organizer in order to describe an object or character from a text during writing instruction. I remember when I read a text, "Owl Moon" I had the opportunity to choose a character or object to speak about and describe it while using the five senses. I enjoyed this activity that my teachers introduced me to because I was able to become creative in my own work and think of great descriptive words to use. This mentor text was great because the author included most of the senses in the book that I could use in my web.

Lastly, the article spoke about how a teacher can assess a student's writing. "It states that teachers can observe and conference with students to make sure they are on the right track with their writing" (Tompkins, p. 152-53). In addition, teachers can look at students use of information, including sensory images, figurative language, as well as the dialogue.

Therefore, I am excited to teach this descriptive writing genre in my future classroom while using the strategies that I learned in the articles I read. I hope to gain more insight with using the descriptive writing in my graduate classes this semester as well.

Tompkins, G. E.  (2019).  Teaching writing:  Balancing process and product (7^th ed.).  Upper Saddle River, NJ:  Merrill.

Tompkins, G. E.  (2012).  Teaching writing:  Balancing process and product (6^th ed.).  Upper Saddle River, NJ:  Merrill.

Siburian, T. A. (2013). Improving student's achievement on writing descriptive text through think pair share. 3(30), 43rd ser., 30-43. Retrieved June/July, 2013.

                                                               Blog #6 Reading/Writing

Dear Dr. Jones,

For this blog, I was asked to focus on Tompkins text as well as Hicks to gain insight of the different habits of mind that I should consider while reading multiple texts. Also, for this blog I was asked to think about what instructional strategies and learning activities would I incorporate for my students in my own classroom as a future teacher. While being enrolled in this writing extensive class with Dr. Jones, I believe that this writing class has been going well for me. When I first saw that I was going to be attending a writing college class for graduate school every Monday, I expected this class to have a lot of writing assignments. However, I was surprised that we were going to be writing blogs each week relating to the readings we have discussed in class. I enjoy writing blogs each week relating to the readings we read for that week because it helps me focus deeply on the content that the author includes as well as paying attention closely to many of the quotes that are explained in the articles or text.  In addition, it gives us a chance to work with technology. Also, it gives Dr. Jones to write feedback to us on Moodle, as well as looking at our peer’s blogs for enjoyment.

 One thing I did not realize is that our and I are completing a genre piece project where we will be focusing on a topic that we are interested in. For this assignment, I did not know that we were going to be creating three pieces representing different genres while using a voice, audience, and purpose for writing. I thought initially we were going to create one long piece of writing instead of multiple to engage our audience. Another thing that I did not expect was creating a presentation that I would consider using in the classroom when I become a future teacher. I found this assignment to be interesting because I was able to search for a mentor presentation where I could use in my third grade classroom. Furthermore, I did expect that we would continuously speak about the instructional strategies or learning activities that we can incorporate in our classroom someday.

     Some habits of mind that I have used to develop through my writing and reading experiences would include being open-minded and curious of what more information I wanted to learn, while asking questions about the text. Also, I tend to be creative while investigating and representing ideas while I read multiple texts. In addition, when I engage in my learning and sustain interest in the text, I usually can understand the text better. If I continuously to use these strategies and habits of mind while writing, it will support my comprehension and assist me to achieve success. Throughout my literacy graduate program, I have certainly been asked to compose in multiple environments. For instance, I have wrote many writing assignments and essays by hand and on the computer using technology both at school and at home. I find when I type on the computer; it is easier and faster for me. However when I have to edit or revise my essays, I usually print out the paper and complete the revisions by hand, therefore I do not miss my careless mistakes. Within this class, I feel like I have developed new rhetorical knowledge while learning about the different important genres and what each genre consists of in greater detail.

The instructional strategies that I learned that would benefit my work as a future teacher of literacy would be introducing my students to create their own presentations; therefore they become familiar with utilizing technology in the classroom. Some students in my classroom will have limited experience with using technology at home. Therefore, I will teach my students to concentrate on the author's craft that each presentation requires such as using different fonts, words, images, backgrounds and many others that authors show to readers. Many teachers use learning activities during instruction as well. For instance, many teachers use reading logs and personal journals in their classroom. I will consider using reading logs and journals in my teaching, therefore students can write about their personal experiences or events that have happened to them to practice reflecting. Then afterwards, I will provide them with supportive feedback on their journals or reading logs to enhance their writing.

    At this moment, I do not think I am struggling with writing these blogs, however I am having difficulty creating a poem for my first genre piece project. I am challenging myself to write a poem, because I enjoy writing poetry. I remember in elementary school I loved using poetry for many writing assignments because I was able to become creative and write about a topic I desired. Lastly, I am able to use my own figurative language while writing this descriptive poem. Therefore, I am hopeful to write this swimming poem and have the opportunity to engage my audiences and hold interest in them.

Sincerely, 

Anna 

References

Hicks, T. (2013).  Crafting digital writing.  Portsmouth, NH:  Heinemann.

Tompkins, G. E.  (2019).  Teaching writing:  Balancing process and product (7^th ed.).  Upper Saddle River, NJ:  Merrill.

Blog #5 Feedback

While reading the article, Giving Feedback: Preparing Students for Peer Review and Self-Evaluation” by Philippakos, and reading Tompkins, they both speak about the importance of providing feedback and self-evaluation. I gained insight in knowing how to give constructive feedback to students in a timely manner. Also, I believe teachers should implement students on how to give feedback to their classmates. For example, I think teachers should model on how to give constructive feedback to their students in a positive way. I believe feedback should be specific and well-detailed, therefore the student understands what she needs to adjust or work on to become an effective writer. If students do not write positive feedback or does not know how to give specific feedback to their peers, there could be many conflicts between other classmates in the classroom. Furthermore, if a teacher decides to write a negative comment on a student’s paper, it could hurt them emotionally and they will be distraught. This might cause them to not want to continue writing if they are not supported by the teacher. When I create a rubric I believe that my criteria will not include numbers for the grading, I feel like I would use descriptive words like proficient, somewhat accurate and not proficient some terms like this. I do not think numbers support students writing, especially if they receive a zero or one on their rubric. I believe that the writing needs to be detailed by the teacher of what the students have performed well and which areas need to be developed still.

Giving feedback helps students achieve success and helps students notice their own strengths and weaknesses. It is important to model and use a students sample as a demonstration, therefore students can get a sense of what they are expected to complete for peer review during writing workshop. I believe that teachers should “think aloud” while they show students on how to give feedback towards their peers. Giving feedback to other students also foster’s students’ critical thinking as well as to support teachers to reflect on their own learning. Also, it gives students a great opportunity to collaborate with each other in the classroom. In addition, when students are peer reviewing with others during writing workshop, students may find that they could add to their writing or determine which sentences need to be fixed to capture the audience’s attention.

The benefits of giving feedback in preparation to peer review is supporting students in developing a sense of audience. Also, I believe feedback should be done in a systematic way and help students comprehend what the writer is implying (Philippakos, 15). I do agree that when students are paired up randomly, the students are more honest and are willing to help students become better writers. When they are editing their friends papers, they usually say “Nice work!” but in reality their writing might not be consistent and does not make sense for the readers. However, if they criticize their work, it could affect their friendship in the classroom. 

As a teacher, I will consider to use a rubric when evaluating my student’s writing pieces. I will implement my students to focus on organization, word choice, sentence fluency, and other conventions that the article explains in great depth. I believe that the writing process is significant when teaching many students on how to write effectively. When students write different pieces, they should attempt to focus on story grammar identifying main characters, setting, problem, solution, and goal attempt. Story grammar assists students to understand the meaning of the text or a writing piece. This is why teaching students on how to give feedback to their peers is important in the classroom. 

                                               References

Philippakos, Z.A. (2017).  Giving feedback:  Preparing students for peer review and self-evaluation.  The Reading Teacher, 71(1), 13-22.  DOI: 10.1102/trtr.1568

Tompkins, G. E.  (2019).  Teaching writing:  Balancing process and product (7^th ed.).  Upper Saddle River, NJ:  Merrill.

                                      Blog #4 Instructional Strategies

Donald Graves (2004) states "Writing is after all, a medium for learning to think"(p. 90). According to both Hick's and Tompkins instructional strategies, writers should consider using writing to question, clarify what you read or write, as well as to synthesize information. When I read or write, the element that I focus most includes writing to question. When I read or write a text, I tend to use the headings, subtitles or explanations that author use to prove a point to the audience. When I look at a heading in the text, I usually form it into a question, therefore later I can reflect back and answer the question in the margins if I can locate it in the text. I usually give myself at least 10-15 minutes per page to write down any questions that I am curious about. This allows me to notice if I am capable of answering them in greater detail. Usually when I write questions based on the headings or the title, I am able to understand the passage in more depth and is able to make connections with my own personal experiences. Sometimes, I begin to set goals as well as monitor my writing pieces to get more involved in my learning (Tompkins 2019).

       Another element I concentrate on would be clarifying. I give myself plenty of time to make sure my sentences make sense and I am grabbing the reader's attention. I believe that clarfiying is a huge component because it helps me know if I have retained any of the information given and allows myself to notice if I comprehended what the author is conveying.  In addition, it encourages you to deeply think about the passage or any thoughts and ideas you may write. Re-reading your writing piece can give you motivation to generate more ideas that you might think are important to write about. I believe that writers who re-read are highly more effective than students who do not re-read their work. Sometimes when I clarify, I try to keep the ideas I already have, but attempt to write it differently to determine if it makes sense.

      Another component would be making connections. When I write or read, I tend to use this strategy the most because I can relate some of the author's ideas to my personal experiences. For example, if the passage is speaking about the teaching process, I can relate to this because I have been placed in many classrooms who have utilized a variety of instructional strategies in different grade levels in which Tompkins explains in his text. I spend the majority of my time making connections with the passages while using text to self, text to text and text to world.

   Another component I focus most on is reflecting on my work. In my field observations and student teaching placements, I was asked to reflect on my teaching as well as reflecting on what I learned from my cooperating teachers that I worked with. I choose to reflect each day on what was challenging and what I enjoyed while working with many students in the classroom. As a future teacher, I will consider reflecting on my own teaching each day in order to become a better teacher. Lastly, I will encourage myself to use different strategies as well in order for my students to reach success.

     I choose to engage in this thinking because it assists me to become more aware of what I am reading or writing. Also, I have the opportunity to notice my strengths and weaknesses when it comes to writing pieces representing different genres. The habits of mind that I would change in order to fully engage while writing would include to be more open and willing to consider new ways of thinking in the world (NCT 2011). Meanwhile, I will try to become more sensitive to the texts I am reading as well as acting upon new knowledge that I have already discovered. I attempt these strategies in order to understand the content I am learning. In addition, I will take risks by exploring questions that are unfamiliar to me. Furthermore, I try to use some deep thinking in order to fully develop my ideas when I write to gain more knowledge. Lastly, I will encourage myself to conquer challenging texts that I have not read before to determine if I sustain interest in them. This is why I believe that the writing to learn process is essential when teaching students in the classroom.

References

Hicks, T. (2013).  Crafting digital writing.  Portsmouth, NH:  Heinemann.

Tompkins, G. E.  (2019). Teaching writing:  Balancing process and product (7th ed.).  Upper Saddle River, NJ:  Merrill.

Council of Writing Program Administrators, National Council of  Teachers of English, & National Writing Project. (2011).  Framework for success in postsecondary writing.  Retrieved from http://wpacouncil.org/framework/

Entry 3: Journal Writing

                                          

The quote that stood out to me the most while reading (Tompkins 2019) chapter on Journal Writing was "Writing to learn integrates writing into all content areas" (Tompkins p. 119). I believe that this quote is significant to teaching because writing does not only occur during literacy or reading, but writing is incorporated in math, science and social studies as well. The main topic that I will focus on for this blog will be Journal Writing.

Many teachers decide to teach students on how to write personal journals in many different ways. I believe teaching journal writing is effective for all grade levels. However, there are many journal writing types including personal journals, learning blogs, double entry journals, reading logs and many more. Students use journal writing as a way to keep track of what they have learned throughout the day, or week. Sometimes, students will write about events that are happening in their lives. Other students may consider writing about a person that they are interested in, about a place they visited, or something they learned that grabbed their full attention.

 Reflecting back on my personal elementary experiences, I remember in third grade my teacher encouraged me to keep a personal journal or diary to write down any interesting or inspiring things we learned throughout the different lessons she taught us. Even for math and science, I remember using our journals everyday during instruction to write down any thoughts or ideas we were curious about. Also, we had the opportunity to share our ideas or thoughts with our peers, which helped us to know which lessons in the content areas they favored more than others. However, some students might prefer to keep their journal writing to themselves, because sometimes they write about personal events that have happened to them that is not worth sharing to others, especially if it makes them depressed. I believe personal journals are effective for students to utilize in the classroom.

Last semester, I took a literacy class named content areas, which I absolutely enjoyed every minute of. Our teacher gave us the opportunity to look at and read different kinds of texts including trade books. During class, we created questions to write in our journals as a writing prompt to see if we retained any information we learned for that one lesson. In this class, we experienced many reading and writing strategies that we can implement in our future classroom including GIST, Pyramid, Teacup, QAR, Quick-Write, and many others. I believe that the recurring process of writing to learn is essential. The writing process will assist students to understand on how to write correctly, including the multiple traits of writing which is organization, presentation, word choice, audience, and some others that Hicks refers to (Hicks 2013). However, Tompkin states, "when students write about what they have learned", they become more engaged with their writing piece (Tompkins, p. 119).

One journal writing type that I would consider teaching students in my classroom would be Double Entry Journals. I believe that this type of journaling is interactive for students because they are able to predict what is going to occur in the text they are reading. Then, after they read, they have the chance to reflect back and determine if their first assumption was correct. Double Entry Journals support students reading comprehension and vocabulary skills. Therefore, I think Double Entry Journals are effective for students to use in the classroom daily.

Another journal writing form I would incorporate in my future classroom includes Dialogue journals. This gives students an opportunity to write to me everyday with any questions or concerns that they would have relating to the topics that are being taught. Also, I noticed that these dialogue journals can be used as an exit ticket or an end of the day discussion. Therefore, I believe Dialogue journals are an effective resource for students to use in the classroom.

The last form of journal writing that I would use in my future classroom would be Reading logs. I believe reading logs supports students understanding of what they have learned while reading different texts. It also helps them realize which genres they have experienced. It is important for students to write down what they have learned, therefore they can activate their background knowledge. Furthermore, reading logs assists students to know which books they have attempted before and which ones are unfamiliar to them. Students have to understand that there is always a purpose for reading a text. Furthermore, reading logs allows students to dig deeper in their learning while focusing on the story grammar itself (main characters, setting, problem, solution, and goal attempted). Therefore, I believe reading logs are effective for students to use in the classroom.

All journal writing forms are effective for students to utilize in the classroom as a helpful resource guide. I believe students need to be taught different forms of writing throughout learning content in all subject areas including reading, math, social studies, and science. When students use journals in a classroom, it helps them explore and develop ideas while gaining knowledge from reading different texts or writing personal stories. For my classroom, I would want to meet all students needs in the classroom including visual learners, kinethstic learners as well as auditory learners. For my gifted students, I want to challenge them and have them work on an assignment that allows them think deeper with the text we are studying. From writing this blog and reading Tompkins chapter on journal writing, I believe that journaling is a great genre for students to experience and be exposed to in the classroom in order to interact with their classmates and teachers.

References

Hicks, T. (2013).  Crafting digital writing.  Portsmouth, NH:  Heinemann.

Tompkins, G. E.  (2019). Teaching writing:  Balancing process and product (7th ed.).  Upper Saddle River, NJ:  Merrill.