I feel the article on writing to learn across the curriculum was very interesting. I have always heard about reading to learn, so writing to learn was a new concept to me. Writing for me was never a good experience. It was usually only done in English class and we were forced to write about a certain topic a certain way. I love writing creatively and always wrote stories as a child. I always felt when I got older that my love for writing diminished because of the lack of creativity was taken away. As a teacher, I feel that you should want your students to love what they are doing and succeed in creating something they are proud of. I have found that students learn more if they are enjoying what they are doing. This article gave many great ideas and strategies of doing this in a classroom and I feel like these are great resources I will one day use in my classroom.
I found it very comical that in ch. 8 it said that many teachers don't include writing in their classroom because they think it should be left to the English teacher. I think this is because most teachers never had a good experience with writing and are probably scared of it. I know that I am very timid to include it in my classroom. I do feel that writing is critical in all subject, even MATH. Including it in different subjects gives the students the opportunity to write about different things and maybe even something they love.
What would be some good ways to get a student who hates writing to become open to it and maybe eventually even like it? How could a math teacher integrate writing into his or her classroom?
Katy,
ReplyDeleteI really loved how you wrote about the fact that it isn't the writing you disliked it was the "chore" to make sure it was done to the teacher's liking. I too enjoyed writing creatively as a child and disliked when my teachers tried to "tone down" my writing to fit into their own little boxes. I agree that we as teachers need to think outside of our little boxes and branch out to teaching writing to learn in ALL subjects. We will all be scared when we first incorporate writing into every subject, but to have successful students we must overcome our fears. Very good points Katy. Well done.
Hi Katy,
ReplyDeleteNice to read your opening sentence, "I have always heard about reading to learn, so writing to learn was a new concept to me." It's such a huge part of how I teach every class, I can't imagine not thinking of it as one of my major tools for thinking and learning. I appreciate your personal connection too, just as Katie writes above. You wrote, "Writing for me was never a good experience. It was usually only done in English class and we were forced to write about a certain topic a certain way. I love writing creatively and always wrote stories as a child. I always felt when I got older that my love for writing diminished because of the lack of creativity was taken away. As a teacher, I feel that you should want your students to love what they are doing and succeed in creating something they are proud of. I have found that students learn more if they are enjoying what they are doing." I can relate with your experiences and with your thinking here. Let me encourage you to go a little deeper when you say "This article gave many great ideas and strategies of doing this in a classroom and I feel like these are great resources I will one day use in my classroom." I found myself wanting to know which ones stuck out the most for you and why. Otherwise, good post! Dr B