Archive for January 20th, 2009
Teaching Students to Write: Chapter 1
Tuesday, January 20th, 2009 | Uncategorized | 25,357 Comments
For Tuesday’s class we were asked to read the first chapter of Teaching Students to Write by Beth S. Neman. I am not just saying this because Lee is going to read this and I want brownie points, but I really learned a lot from this chapter. I think this book is going to teach me more than any other book I have read thus far for a class. It wasn’t just another textbook that cures insomnia, at least from what I have gathered by reading the first chapter. In summary, it showed different teaching styles for writing and gave the pros and cons of each, it provided different teaching strategies, and also gave first hand examples from former teachers that had used the strategies and styles listed in the chapter.
One of the teaching styles they talked about in the chapter was called the “affect-centered solution.” One aspect I really liked about this approach was the teacher’s role that was described. The teachers role in this approach was to, “consider themselves ‘facilitators’ whose role is to free the student’s imagination and promote growth by sustaining a positive classroom atmosphere.” Personally I feel like I can connect with this statement. I think one of the most important things a teacher can do is to create a positive learning atmosphere where the students feel comfortable expressing themselves. I also agree with this style because I believe that students will be more willing to express themselves through writing if they are genuinely interested in a topic they are writing about. Although I really like this teaching approach I agree with the author when she says, “we would recommend adoption of its many features, we would not suggest that teachers embrace it as the heart of the entire writing program.” I really appreciate the fact that this book is willing to give real advice to future teachers of writing by showing the pros and cons of everything they provide to the readers. They are giving the information and then allowing the reader to chose whichever style they prefer.
A lot of what I read I found very beneficial to my future as a teacher of writing. There were a lot of excerpts that I thought, “Wow…I better write this down, I could really use this when I’m a teacher someday.” For example, one quote I was particularly fond of was, “Certainly, it is important to let our students experience success, but we must understand that they experience a sense of success more readily when they feel they have met a challenge.” I had not put much thought into this concept before and I really liked the idea. I know it is important to be a positive motivator and encourager and it makes so much sense to me to implement this idea into my own classroom in the future. Another part of the chapter that I found very helpful was the part where they gave tips on establishing relationships with students. It was defiantly a list I could see myself referring back to, especially as I begin my student teaching next year.
Ultimately, I guess my point is that I will not dread doing the reading assignments in this book. From what I gathered from the first chapter I think I will find the information in this book to be very helpful to my future as a teacher of writing. Also I would like to discuss the essay in the end of the chapter, “In short why did the class fail?” I think it would be a good class discussion, at least to hear what everyone thought of it.