Reading and Writing a Reciprical Approach

As a 5^th grade teacher, I have had experience with students who dread every part of writing and students who have loved the self expression writing offers.  As a student, I would most relate to the students who were on the fence with the idea of writing.  When I was able to write for pleasure or on a topic that was applicable to my life, I seemed to take off with ideas. Also, I did my best writing when I was able to dive right into writing.  Planning was always a struggle for me, so when told to plan first, I struggled to overcome the mental roadblock that I developed as I spent time filling out webs, lists, and charts.  

 Being a struggling learner, I developed insecurities and used creative writing to release these.  It wasn’t until 5^th grade that I felt recognized for my ability to manipulate my words and thoughts into an impressive piece of work.  At that time, I had written an essay to accompany the learning I gained from the DARE program.  The engagement and excitement from this program left me eager to share the journey I had taken.  As I was writing, I remember being engrossed in the concepts I was taught and the application they had to my future.  After turning in the essay, I was proud of what I had done, but I did not expect anyone to notice it.  To my surprise, my hard work did not go unnoticed.  However, it was acknowledged and awarded the honor of being read aloud at the DARE ‘graduation.’  From that experience, I developed more self efficacy.  Even though this moment was exciting, I still went through ups and downs with writing during elementary, middle, and high school.  

In hindsight, I recognize and understand the purpose for all the writing activities I was required to engage in. The book mentions reading and writing working in tandem in order for students to remember and understand content.  What a great idea, but how do I get my students on board?  This question is one I raise year after year.  However, when I brainstorm ways to make it exciting, I now have strategies to refer to.  One strategy mentioned in An Approach to Factual Writing was using using frames to support students.  This was strategy I this year to introduce current event writing.  Last year, several students found it difficult to summarize the non-fiction content obtained in the current event articles they had chosen which often resulted in copying the original work.  Therefore, this year my teammate and I created a frame for the students to use.  This made a 100% difference in the work that was being turned in.  The students began to recognize how to use the information obtained and create a summary in their own words.  While I was receiving quality work, the students were developing an “I can” attitude.  This caused their confidence to sky rocket.  Many students, who had difficulty in writing, were beginning to shine!  It was such a rewarding feeling for all of us. 

 I found it especially eye opening to read that students do not necessarily consider the writing they engage in online as writing.  I found this to be entirely true during my students Independent Reading Project blog assignment.  When introduced, the students were so amazed at the idea of blogging that NO ONE struggled with developing something to write about.  Even my struggling writers produced writing that was the best I had seen them produce all year.  The engagement with the blog had a reciprocal impact on their reading comprehension.  So many of the students were wanting feedback from their peers, they worked even harder to generate blogs that would entice their classmates to read.  It was amazing to see how motivating the idea of blogging on line and having peers respond to the blog could be!  

Noted above, there are a colossal amount of strategies that can integrate writing in all subject matter.  I am always trying to come up with innovative ideas to ‘test’ students’ learning.  When I read the admit and exit slips, a light bulb went off.  What a great idea to start and end a class.  This is something I plan to use at the start of this upcoming school year in all the subject areas.  Moreover, the incorporation of the learning logs seems to be a fantastic way to keep students connected with what is being learned.  This is important to ‘stay on top’ of because often I discover a problem after an assessment has been given.  However, with the implementation of learning logs I may be able to solve a problem before it causes frustration and confusion for the student.  I am excited about incorporating a variety of the writing ideas into all aspects of my curriculum, but I most looking forward to using in reading class.  At the start of the school year, I am always excited about using a whole class novel to get the kids interested in literature.  However, I feel torn with tracking their comprehension.  Incorporating any number of these writing activities would be a great way to ensure a meaningful interaction with the text!  I’m very excited to incorporate this into my unit(s).  

Clearly, after reading chapters 9-10 and the article on Leveling the Playing Field reading and writing are important to student learning.  As I read the article, it was enlightening to see the scaffolds in place for students who struggle in writing.  From reading this article, it is obvious that engagement students are in as well as the structured approach the instructors take students find success.  This is a testament to how important it is to practice writing.  This has caused me to re-evaluate my own writing instruction and the engagement my students have with writing.  After reading the article, I will be sure to implement more opportunities for my students to develop self-efficacy in their writing.  Like Kao, most of my students find writing to be difficult because they struggle with organizing their thoughts.  Therefore, I was excited to learn about the number of ways information can be organized.  All too often, my students receive organizational tools that work best for me.  For example, the use of the standard note taking sheet has always made sense to me.  While, I have always known this is not always right for my students, I have not known how to change this for them.  However, reading chapter 10 has offered many ideas that will surely help most students be successful. I was really captivated by the problem solution outline and comparison/contrast matrices.  

Overall in this weeks reading, I was reminded how important it is that students have opportunities to write in order to be successful.  Providing these opportunities will promote student self-efficacy and in return will assist them in developing a like/love for writing.  Using writing as a means of learning encourages students to make connections and build prior knowledge, which is essentially the underlying theme of this class.