(Page 116) Gallagher quotes Laura Robb, “We have a nation of students who can’t write very well. We will not have a nation of students who can write well until they are allowed to write about the things they care about.”
I love this quote because so often as teachers we’re telling kids what to write instead of allowing them to have any input. When I was still in the classroom, I had my students keep a daily journal where they could write about whatever was on their minds, and I would write them back every day. I rarely had difficulty getting students to complete this assignment because they were allowed to choose the topic. (I did always have an “If” question on the board in case they needed something to jumpstart their thinking.) I know some of you do this as well and have had success with it. I was working with a student last spring who didn’t consider himself a reader or writer…he completely discounted the auto magazines he read and the journal he kept in his resource class. He equated writing with the “five paragraph essay.” He actually used those words…ugh. He thought that “real” reading and writing involved things he didn’t enjoy doing. As teachers, we’ve got to make sure that students see the value in reading and writing that they’re currently doing and are good at…not just the scholarly type of stuff. It’s not that we don’t want them to be able to read and write at a higher level, but we’ve got to build some confidence in them first so we can take them to there.
This chapter is chock-full of ideas for creating choice in writing. In retrospect, I probably should have asked y’all to try out one of Gallagher’s ideas and share how it went. Instead, write about which of Gallagher’s writing assignments you like best and how you think you could adapt it for your classroom. Or…share another idea you have for creating choice in writing, so we’ll have something else to add to our toolbox.
I love this quote because so often as teachers we’re telling kids what to write instead of allowing them to have any input. When I was still in the classroom, I had my students keep a daily journal where they could write about whatever was on their minds, and I would write them back every day. I rarely had difficulty getting students to complete this assignment because they were allowed to choose the topic. (I did always have an “If” question on the board in case they needed something to jumpstart their thinking.) I know some of you do this as well and have had success with it. I was working with a student last spring who didn’t consider himself a reader or writer…he completely discounted the auto magazines he read and the journal he kept in his resource class. He equated writing with the “five paragraph essay.” He actually used those words…ugh. He thought that “real” reading and writing involved things he didn’t enjoy doing. As teachers, we’ve got to make sure that students see the value in reading and writing that they’re currently doing and are good at…not just the scholarly type of stuff. It’s not that we don’t want them to be able to read and write at a higher level, but we’ve got to build some confidence in them first so we can take them to there.
This chapter is chock-full of ideas for creating choice in writing. In retrospect, I probably should have asked y’all to try out one of Gallagher’s ideas and share how it went. Instead, write about which of Gallagher’s writing assignments you like best and how you think you could adapt it for your classroom. Or…share another idea you have for creating choice in writing, so we’ll have something else to add to our toolbox.
7 comments:
I agree wholeheartedly with Gallagher and Diane that students write a whole lot better when they care about what they are writing. I also think a big job for teachers is to help the students to overcome their aversion to writing and get them interested in writing by providing lots of practice (p. 93). Having done the finding a fib activity it is definitely a good introduction for students to be comfortable with each other or a new topic. The topic blast was another good way to get students to develop an idea into an essay by allowing them to break it down into the smaller parts.
I most want to try the ‘what bugs me’ strategy but apply it to specific topics within my subject with a question such as “What bugs me about the War in Iraq?” With it being an election year and me teaching US History, I feel like it would be a great way to tap into misconceptions and channel some of their youthful passions while at the same time giving them good, solid information to help motivate them to be active and vote. This strategy would most certainly lend itself to establish the students’ interest in what they find irritating about the subject but more importantly cause them to really think critically about the subject.
Another one of the strategies that I have used is the “I remember” from a little different standpoint. The project is “Your Oldest Living Relative” and really helps to review the decades of the 20th century through the eyes of a person who lived it. The students come back with a plethora of experiences and ideas that they had never been privy to prior to the project. This semester perhaps I will assign it as an “I remember” poem based on some of their oldest living relative’s memories or create a ‘words of wisdom’ project adapted from the memories from their elder.
The ‘ever wonder why’ concept would be a really fun way to introduce the unit on experiments in psychology that deals with algorithms and heuristics. Imagine that…a topic that begins looking a little “Math-ish” turning into something that can be written. Who would have thought?
Teaching Adolescent Writers
Chapter 5
I feel like I write this after every chapter in this book, but, “What a great chapter!” I don’t know if I can possibly pick the one strategy I like best. I think Diane’s point about kids needing to have a choice in what they’re writing about is definitely true, but I liked the way some of Gallagher’s strategies combined required pieces along with choice pieces (Words of Wisdom Project, the Half-and-Half Research Paper, and the Four-Sided Argument). That way, as teachers, we can get what we need from students while at the same time giving them some choice. This chapter made me wish I was still teaching English; but as a health teacher, I think some of the strategies that have kids make lists (Ever Wonder Why?, I Am an Expert, What Bugs Me, Good Ideas/ Bad Ideas, Find the Fib) could really be fun to try. Plus I think those strategies require kids to really push themselves to think. I also think it would be neat to work with Ruth Anne Potts, the English teacher on my team, with having the kids establish their writing territories. I hope we’ll work together next year to improve our students’ writing. As a side note, the Four-Sided Argument seems like it would be a great way to get students thinking about more than just their own points of view when it comes to writing persuasive pieces. I’ve always thought that kids do poorly with persuasive writing because of their inability or refusal to consider all the sides of a particular issue.
Blog Entry # 9 (Teaching Adolescent Writers: Chapter Five)
I agree with Claire’s comment about every chapter in this book being fabulous. I like the following two sentences on page 93. Gallagher says, “Job one is to get students interested in writing. Until students warm up to writing they will never work hard developing their writing skills.” I get this because it’s just like getting them to read. If you hand them a book they can connect to, then they will work hard developing their reading skills. So getting my students to write means incorporating assignments they may actually enjoy. Maybe, then they will want to write!
One activity that Gallagher mentions is “Writing Territories” compliments of Nancie Atwell. I’ve been doing this activity for a number of years. The students have their lists in the front of their writing journals. This helps to eliminate the comment, “I have nothing to write about.” Currently we are writing memoirs in Academic Support, and I am using the memoir that one of Gallagher’s students wrote, “Too Short,” about a trip to Disneyland as a model. I plan to use the Funneling Graphic Organizer this week when I conference individually with my students. I’ll let you know how it goes.
Two other activities that I would like to incorporate in the future are “What Bugs Me” on pages 102-103 and “Explorations” on pages 104-105. This chapter really is fabulous, Claire! Here’s another thought. Why not get Kelly Gallagher to be the keynote for next year’s Winter Literacy Conference? That will solve the problem of not enough sessions for the high school people.
This chapter had a lot of great ideas on jump starting students writing prompts. I, like Jamie, like the "What bugs me" prompt. I have use this, like Jamie, with a twist in my GSII classes. When discussing the French Rev. I had the kids write a few things about this chapter in the textbook. While te vast majority of them hated it because it is absolutely BORING, some were "bugged" that only a small part of the French population controlled a vast part of the wealth and paid no taxes while the vast majority of the population, the poor, had no wealth and had to pay all the taxes. We compared this to what a certain political party and candidates in the US were campaigning on ( Two Americas) this presidential season.
Choice is where it starts…. (I totally agree). Gallagher writes that “It has been my experience that students write a whole lot better when they care bout what they are writing.” (p. 91). Isn’t that true with about anything? When we care about what we are doing, we are much more apt to want to do it and to want to do it well. We try to provide kids with choices in food, clothes, toys, but rarely do we provide them with choices at school and especially with writing. We may allow them to choose their own book, but often we give them the exact same type of writing assignment regardless of their choice of book. If we do provide students with choices of what and how they can write, then the “chain reaction” will occur. Students must buy in to what they are doing in order for it to become meaningful and motivational for them. By students taking ownership in their writing, it will lead to better revision as well. When I was in graduate school, I remember several writing projects that I really enjoyed, and looking back, I am sure those were projects that I spent more time on and was more careful in my revision of. Those papers that I didn’t enjoy, I didn’t spend as much time writing or revising and am sure were lesser quality work than those that I had some choice in and took ownership of.
I completely agree with Gallagher’s idea that “Choice generates a welcome chain reaction: it creates student buy-in, which in turn generates writing motivation, which in turn causes students to write better. Choice is where it starts for reluctant writers, and if we want them to warm up to writing, we need to structure our classes so that our students have some say in what they write.” (pg. 91)
My Academic Support students write in a writing journal everyday - this idea came from Diane and what my students do closely resembles the approach she used in the classroom. I am in the process of trying to “up” the quality and thought put into the writing journals as well as work with my students to help them edit and revise the writing they have done. I know it sounds as though letting them write about whatever topic they want has plenty of choice but my students seem to be getting bored with the monotony of writing about random things everyday. By random things I mean whatever they want to write about – many students are having a hard time coming up with things to write about even with the journal prompt(s) I give them. I would have loved to have the Areas to Explore for Writing Ideas (pg. 104) strategy at the beginning of this school year. This strategy would have given my students many topics to write on that could later be used to teach my students how to expand and edit their written work.
Although I don’t focus too much on persuasive writing with my students, I think the Four-Sided Argument is a great technique!! Earlier this year, I had my students write a persuasive writing journal and was very disappointed with the result. As I read the journals I realized that my students struggled with what it actually means to persuade. Instead of giving reasons why a person should choose one thing over another, I got a whole lot of what my students chose. Their writing stopped at their opinion and never went into detail about why their choice was better than the other. Since I only gave this topic to get an idea of my students’ abilities in the persuasive writing area I know that when I want to teach persuasion I will have a great technique to use.
Teaching Adolescent Writers- Chapter 5
I even like the title to the chapter- fake writing. How many times have WE written something because it was something we thought the person reading it wanted to hear??? I think it is our job as teachers to help students see the real value of reading and writing. I loved his quote on page 93: “Tests come and go, but attitude about writing can be lifelong.” I believe that we are seeing that right now in our own state. They can’t decide what test should stay and which should go yet we teachers keep on plugging on. It would be hard to pick one strategy because they are all good! I would like to use some of these at the beginning of the year and keep building on it. Since I have my classes all year now, this would be especially beneficial. I like the Find the Fib activity and these would also be good community builder among the class. Topic Blast and Writing Fountain would also help students get plenty of topics for writing.
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