Entry 6

Before reading Tompkins (2012), I struggled with finding a balance when it came to assessing my students' work. For being a new teacher, I feel as though I am still learning the best ways to complete certain tasks as a teacher. One task I have been struggling with is what is the best way to assess my students' writing pieces. Throughout my student teaching places, I had two teachers who had completely different views on writing but they both had similar conventions that were used with their students. Both of my cooperating teachers taught their students to go through the writing process and steps, but the way they went about it was different from each other. One of my cooperating teachers thought it was best to model, use mini lessons and walk students through the process, while the other one just did mini lessons on different writing styles and genres and then had their students go through the writing process. I am not sure which one I believe was the best strategy. I would like to think that I use a little bit of both in my own classroom.

I do not feel as though I am struggling with how to teach my students how to write or how to guide them through the process of writing; what stumps me is how much to assess and how to assess a students writing. I am afraid of being too critical with my second graders writing abilities and stifling their writing passions. So I believe that I am still trying to find the balance of how to exactly assess my students work the correct way. I am still not sure there is a correct way to assess a writing piece. Do I correct all spelling and grammar mistakes? Do I work with them to revise their writing so they are learning their mistakes having to do with grammar and spelling? There are just so many questions that come to mind when thinking about assessing a student's writing. I know that certain writing pieces should be assess based upon a rubric to make sure they are meeting the standards and requirements for a particular writing style or assignment and that a teacher should not assess every piece of writing a student produces since students will be producing more writing than a teacher will have the time to look at. Also, I know that as a teacher, we should be constantly observing and performing informal assessments on our students to gage their understanding of a certain topic or concept which then helps to guide our instruction.

So after reading Tompkins (2012) about assessing writing, I have gained a little more clarity on the topic of assessing students' writing, but I still see to have a lot of questions. I believe that if I follow Tompkins (2012) suggestions on how to assess students' writing then I will be on the right track and better able to guide my students in learning how to become better writers. After reading Tompkins (2012) I think I am going to try to implement more time to have assessment conferences with my students. This way I can be constantly monitoring my students' progress on certain writing pieces and see what strategies they may be struggling with and need some reinforcing with. Through these assessment conferences that I am going to implement with my students, I also think I will get a better sense of what type of writer each one of my students is and better able to support them in their writing while getting to know them on a more personal level by reading their writing.

Entry 5

September 27, 2012

Dear Dr. Jones,

               When I begin to reflect back on how this class is going so far the only word that comes to mind is well. I do believe that this class is going well so far and I cannot believe how much I have learned so far. Since I am currently teaching right now, I am beginning to implement many of the ideas and strategies that we use in class within my own classroom. There have been so many insightful discussions and readings that we have done so far. I cannot wait to see how much more I learn about writing, digital media and literacy overall throughout this semester.

               Throughout the past couple weeks my understandings about the connection between reading and writing have begun to develop more. I have begun to see more of a close connection between the two subjects. I always knew that reading and writing were closely connected to each other, but after just a short couple weeks in this class, I have started to see even more of a connection between the two. I know see the importance of reading widely, meaning having both teachers and students reading a variety of genres to have some experience reading them for specific purposes or just for fun. When students and teachers read widely, they are then able to work closely with a specific genre and see all the different features and characteristics of a specific genre. This then can lead to being able to practice writing using a specific genre. With the help of exploring different genres with your students, a teacher can then teach students different styles and genres of writing. 

                Before entering this class, I do not think I was very aware of how much I did or should think as I write. I have begun to write more for pleasure  (when I have the time) and to write freely meaning that I write exactly what I am thinking about. After I am finished writing, I notice I go back through my writing and reread what I have written to make it flow and sound better than just my free flowing thoughts being written down. In a way, I see myself going through the same writing process I teach my students to do without even knowing it. I am trying more and more to think during my writing, but not necessarily about the conventions of writing but more about the topic in which I am writing about. I believe that I chose to think while I am writing because I am then more focused on the task at hand. If I did not make myself think about what I am writing about then I think I would be more apt to get off task and daydream. So for me, thinking while I am writing is the best thing to do.

                I think I have one reading/ writing habit that I need to actively take a part in changing. I seem to see easily distracted when I am both reading and writing. I have learned that I need to be in a room that is quiet and with the least amount of distraction to be able to get any active reading or writing done. All my technology that I am not using to read or write needs to be put away and I just need to focus on reading/ writing. While I block out the distractions I am better able to engage in my reading and writing and interact with what I am doing.

               The one main strategy that sticks out in my mind that could benefit my work as a teacher of literacy is the card strategy. This strategy involved students writing all their ideas down on cards which then they can sort, add and delete items from while they are prewriting and beginning to focus their topic for a writing assignment. I could see my students using a modified version of this strategy while they are thinking about all the ideas they want to include in their writing piece. This strategy could also help my students organize their ideas before they begin to the drafting stage of writing. 

              I do not think I am struggling with anything at this moment with the class. You are doing a great job and I love how we get time every class to just write and work on out genre pieces project!

Sincerely,

Gretchen