Informal Response 2
Shawn Bally
ENG 484
1/26/09
I found Jack Wilde’s idea of having students begin the first week of his class with writing sentences. Furthermore, he explains then when he does this process; he has his students share one sentence of their choice to the class, without any response from the student’s peers or from himself. I think this is great idea for building a comfortable writing environment for students. Neman commented in her writing that a goal of an English teacher is to create a classroom where students are able to openly discuss their ideas without the fear of being ridiculed. By having students read initially without being judged, they are gaining confidence in writing to express their ideas as well as share them with the class. Also, with this teacher being responsible for teaching the fifth grade, he is building their confidence early in their writing career. Writing as a form of expression and the idea of sharing writing with the class is something that seems to be more common among the 6th, 7th, and 8th grade. If they can feel safe early on, then they will likely be more willing to share their ideas in the later grades.
Velvet McReynolds’s idea of writing on Mondays about recent experiences is also a nice way to build writers’ confidence. In this warm-up activity, students can write about anything from their life. First, this is great because students of all ages enjoy sharing something about their lives because it is something that any student can do at any time. At the same time, it not only builds on their reading skills, but also their confidence in sharing their stories. When students only have to share their stories, there’s no way for them really to be right or wrong, which builds their confidence. Each student can relate to the other students’ stories as well, for they are likely all experiencing similar situations in their lives. If students can relate, they are more likely to listen intuitively and keep attention. Facilitating conversation and discussion between students and the instructor is helpful in building a relationship between the students and the teacher that can be beneficial throughout the year.
I like Mr. Wilde’s use of read alouds. I can tell as he is reading the students are listening closely to the words he is reading. Furthermore, it is helpful when he pauses in between readings to ask questions about the story. He asks open-ended questions so that students really have to think about the story in order to respond. When students respond with answers that aren’t quite what he is looking for, he lets them finish their response and still accepts it as a valid answer. This allows students to feel confident in answering even when they are not sure if they are on the right track. It is also helpful when he asks the questions about the literary elements that the author of his book uses. In this case, he asks how the repetition of the story affects the feeling of the book. This element is something that can be used across many aspects of an English class as well as in their own writing.