February 20, 2011
Dear Dr. Jones,
I am really enjoying class so far and I am finding that everything I am learning about the parallels between reading and writing applies in all of my classes. Sometimes I even get confused which class I learned something in because there is so much overlap. I find myself making connections on a daily basis and I think I am developing a whole different philosophy on reading/writing and becoming digital writers. I truly hope that I can carry my new philosophy with me beyond this class and into my own classroom someday.
I think that it was a little bit difficult to really buy into the idea that reading and writing are parallel processes because they were taught to me as separate entities when I was in school. However, the more I read about the processes, the more similarities I see and I get excited about how I can someday teach a strategy that can be used during both reading and writing. By understanding that reading and writing are recursive and creative processes it enables me to eventually teach reading and writing in this way. I think I will become a more explicit teacher because I can more clearly articulate what a good reader and writer looks like. I want this to be a common consideration in my future classroom and I want to be an example of a good reader and writer for my students.
I am also quite intrigued about the digital literacies that we have been reading about in Hicks (2009). I often find my brain trying to sort this idea that these are not new literacies, but just alternative ways of reading and writing. In other words, I am continually curious about how technologies present traditional reading and writing skills in new ways. I have never thought about it like this until this semester and I think I will always view technology in this way from now on. Hopefully, this will prove to be beneficial for my future students because I am more willing to experiment with digital literacies.
Currently, I engage in reading and writing acts on a daily basis and usually multiple times in a day. I am definitely someone who is constantly thinking while I read or write. Sometimes it takes me a really long time to complete a reading/writing assignment because I become so engaged in it and find myself inquiring further about the piece. I get a little frustrated with myself sometimes because I can devote so much time to reading and writing tasks. However, I know it is time well spent because it helps me to fully understand or express whatever I am reading and writing. My metacognition comes into play while I am partaking in a literacy event because I have become more aware when I go back and revise in reading and writing, which occurs pretty often. When I forget what I read or wrote I will go back and reread, which I am frequently unconscious of, although I have recently become more conscious of this. I can definitely see how I read and write in a similar fashion as I work through understanding a piece. Sometimes I have too many thoughts in my head and I cannot get them all out fast enough when I am writing. Usually, I don't lose what I am thinking, but I have a period of time where I am in engaging in "flow." Once my flow ends I immediately go back and begin to revise and edit as I go, however there are also times when I leave my writing for days and come back to revise and edit.
With all of this being said I would say that I am constantly transacting with what I am reading and writing. Typically, after reading or writing I leave the literacy event with clarity or a new discovery. It is very common for me to synthesize what I am reading whether it is just in my own mind or through writing. When this happens, which is frequently (unless I really do not understand something that I read), I leave the literacy event with a sense of calm and accomplishment. I feel refreshed because I learned something new, thought about something further or discovered something that I had not thought of before. This is how I know I really love reading and writing.
When I consider how often I think when engaging in reading and writing I would say that majority of the time I am thinking before, during and after a literacy event. I refer to myself as "in the zone" and when I set my mind to it I can engage in reading and writing acts for hours. Then, I usually have to transition to another mindset if I have to go somewhere or engage in a different kind of activity. It is not often that I read or write without thinking. I am a person who has a hard time "turning my mind off." The only times I can think of are when I am reading a book or a magazine just to relax. I cannot say that I really write without thinking because even when I am writing to a friend or journaling for personal reasons I am still thinking. I may experiencing flow more than thinking, but I still think I am always thinking whether I am aware of it or not.
Maybe what I just mentioned above is a reading/writing habit that I could strive to change sometimes. I could attempt to turn off my revising and editing mind more often and just write to get the meaning out. This reminds me of the day in class when you had us turn off our computer monitors. This made me feel uncomfortable because I am a very visual person and it is so ingrained in me to revise/edit as I go. I am not sure if this is a good thing or a bad thing that I do this because it does not impede the message that I am trying to express since I am so used to it. I guess it does not have to be classified as either, but rather it intends on my purpose behind the writing that I am composing.
Another aspect of the writing process that I find myself struggling with a little is prewriting. I do not usually do a lot of prewriting before I begin writing a piece. Sometimes I will create a brief outline or notes and I have some kind of a plan worked out in my head, but it often changes as I begin writing. I have trouble getting started with writing once in a while, but once I start I can usually go on for a while (as you can probably tell :). I really liked the Card Strategy that you did with us in class and I felt that that helped me to organize my thoughts about my genre pieces project. This past week I was having a lot of ideas about what directions my pieces could take, but I left class that day with a clearer understanding of what I wanted each of my pieces to be like. I now feel like I have more of a clear direction to take with my first piece and it is becoming more manageable in my mind.
I feel like the Card and Puzzle Strategies that were discussed in the Kucer & Rhodes (1986) article were strategies that I would use in my future classroom. I like them because they turn prewriting into a more manipulative process, which is really helpful to many learners. I also think I could adapt the Writing Wheel from the Scott & Vitale (2003) article to make the writing process more manageable for not just struggling writers, but all writers. However, I would want to just use the wheel as a template and have the class develop definitions for each section of the writing process. I think this would be a helpful tool to reference when teaching the writing process. I also liked how the Furr (2003) article talked about using expository text to motivate and get struggling readers/writers to write. I have noticed that students with disabilities often turn to expository text because it is much more straightforward and clear cut. I will definitely keep this in mind. However, I would never want to restrict students to writing in one genre so I believe this would be a good genre to start the year off with. I will also utilize Tompkins (2008) when teaching literacy because she outlines how to teach each genre really nicely and I love how she has a list of books to use for each genre. Although there are many other strategies I could discuss, I will end with Tompkins (2008) rubric that involves self and teacher assessment based on one through three and then the final grade is the average (p. 33). I thought this was a unique, yet fair way to construct assessment for elementary age students and I would love to incorporate it into my own assessment practices.
Finally, I do not feel like I am really struggling too much. The only thing I can think of is that I need to find out more information about my topic, which is now more specifically Trier, Germany. I have not been able to find any books about this city so it looks like I will have to rely on websites. I am also planning on interviewing my dad in the near future so that should provide me with more information and enable me to get started with my first piece. Other than that I am really learning a lot and I appreciate the valuable information, resources and insight that you have been providing us with.
Thank you,
Heather
Sunday, February 20, 2011
Sunday, February 13, 2011
Entry #4
After letting the Hicks readings (Chapters 2, 3 and 7 )sink in over the past few days, I have really started to notice connections to RSS and blogging that I never had before. Just through my daily internet browsing I have been noticing links at the bottoms of pages that connect to an RSS. It is always kind of fun to see connections to new things that you learn, especially because I never knew what an RSS was before so I probably would have just ignored it if I saw a site linking me to one. Now that I have one I have been playing around with it a little and I plan on continuing to experiment with how to use it. My observation above made me realize that a lot of times teachers just do not know what technology is available out there. It is not because they are incapable of using it, but that they just are unaware. This really makes me see the importance of keeping myself updated with new technology, especially when I am no longer a student.
Some other features of RSS and social bookmarking that I found interesting and useful are having one "go to" spot where everything is located rather than checking individual sites constantly. I think this would be very helpful for students who are keeping track of multiple sources for a project. I like how teachers can tag articles and websites for students to access immediately at the beginning of class or just because they are interested in them. This really makes us realize how our world is becoming more closed in because of the availability of a vast amount of sources at the drop of a hat. RSS would also be a great tool to use for collaborative projects so students can easily access the sources their peers are viewing and sort through sources more quickly. It is so convenient that these technologies create what Hicks (2009) calls "a digital trail." I wish I had known about some of these tools when I was in high school!
I am more familiar with blogs and wikis, but I see how beneficial they are for the writing process now. I like how they make comments and feedback more permanent so they can be referred to at a later time. This also allows for more thought to be put into follow up comments/feedback, whether it is from the teacher or peers. Hunt also points out that "There's nothing new about making text to text connections, but there's sure something powerful in the representation of those links as semi-tangible things" (as cited in Hicks, 2009, p. 35). Posting a link on a blog makes information way more accessible than before because all we have to do is click a link. On that link there is not only text, but images, videos, audio and sometimes other links. This allows us to become more multimodal than ever before, which helps us to deepen our understanding further. I also think that by leaving public comments, even if it is just public to a class, is similar to sharing time. By leaving a comment you are sharing your views with your classmates and eventually this brings the class closer together and allows everyone to participate equally.
Hicks (2009) makes a valuable point about how technology changes the prewriting and revision processes, which are often the hardest phases to get through. The struggles of prewriting are eased by the availability of information based on students interests. It is now much easier to discover interests and learn more about them through the use of an RSS. Revision is also made much easier by technological features like highlighting and the ease of moving text around. Collaborative word processors (like Google Docs) make it possible to keep records of every revision so you don't have to worry about losing it if you want to refer back to a certain portion of your writing. In addition, files can be viewed using any computer with the internet, which makes writing a lot more convenient.
I found it intriguing that Hicks (2009) mentions using audio recordings instead of written feedback on students' writing. At first, I was not sure how I felt about this. From the teacher's standpoint, I can see how it would save time, but the teacher would have to be very careful not to offend their students. I think it might be a little strange to give or receive an audio comment, but after a couple of times I think we could get used to it, just like we can get used to anything else. As long as the comment is permanent for the student to refer back to, then I say why not use this technology! I have used Audacity before to create a podcast and it is really easy once you do it once or twice.
A theme that I have been noticing in Hicks as well as other texts that we have read is that the idea of new literacies is actually not so new. We have also talked about this in class, but I think I had a hard time wrapping my brain around it. Hicks (2009) says "it is simply using a traditional pedagogy (teacher-led discussion) with a new technology" (p. 16). At first, I thought Hicks was implying that the technology was not new, but I am now beginning to see how he means the technology is what is new, but the instructional practices are the same ones that good teachers have used for years. The technology just presents instruction in a new format, which can be extremely beneficial during the writing process. We saw this when we watched Mrs. Cassidy's classroom video to a teacher in Australia, which was similar to the genre of letter writing just presented in a different way than the traditional pen and paper format. We need to utilize these new technologies if we want our students to become well-equipped to enter today's globalized world.
Some other features of RSS and social bookmarking that I found interesting and useful are having one "go to" spot where everything is located rather than checking individual sites constantly. I think this would be very helpful for students who are keeping track of multiple sources for a project. I like how teachers can tag articles and websites for students to access immediately at the beginning of class or just because they are interested in them. This really makes us realize how our world is becoming more closed in because of the availability of a vast amount of sources at the drop of a hat. RSS would also be a great tool to use for collaborative projects so students can easily access the sources their peers are viewing and sort through sources more quickly. It is so convenient that these technologies create what Hicks (2009) calls "a digital trail." I wish I had known about some of these tools when I was in high school!
I am more familiar with blogs and wikis, but I see how beneficial they are for the writing process now. I like how they make comments and feedback more permanent so they can be referred to at a later time. This also allows for more thought to be put into follow up comments/feedback, whether it is from the teacher or peers. Hunt also points out that "There's nothing new about making text to text connections, but there's sure something powerful in the representation of those links as semi-tangible things" (as cited in Hicks, 2009, p. 35). Posting a link on a blog makes information way more accessible than before because all we have to do is click a link. On that link there is not only text, but images, videos, audio and sometimes other links. This allows us to become more multimodal than ever before, which helps us to deepen our understanding further. I also think that by leaving public comments, even if it is just public to a class, is similar to sharing time. By leaving a comment you are sharing your views with your classmates and eventually this brings the class closer together and allows everyone to participate equally.
Hicks (2009) makes a valuable point about how technology changes the prewriting and revision processes, which are often the hardest phases to get through. The struggles of prewriting are eased by the availability of information based on students interests. It is now much easier to discover interests and learn more about them through the use of an RSS. Revision is also made much easier by technological features like highlighting and the ease of moving text around. Collaborative word processors (like Google Docs) make it possible to keep records of every revision so you don't have to worry about losing it if you want to refer back to a certain portion of your writing. In addition, files can be viewed using any computer with the internet, which makes writing a lot more convenient.
I found it intriguing that Hicks (2009) mentions using audio recordings instead of written feedback on students' writing. At first, I was not sure how I felt about this. From the teacher's standpoint, I can see how it would save time, but the teacher would have to be very careful not to offend their students. I think it might be a little strange to give or receive an audio comment, but after a couple of times I think we could get used to it, just like we can get used to anything else. As long as the comment is permanent for the student to refer back to, then I say why not use this technology! I have used Audacity before to create a podcast and it is really easy once you do it once or twice.
A theme that I have been noticing in Hicks as well as other texts that we have read is that the idea of new literacies is actually not so new. We have also talked about this in class, but I think I had a hard time wrapping my brain around it. Hicks (2009) says "it is simply using a traditional pedagogy (teacher-led discussion) with a new technology" (p. 16). At first, I thought Hicks was implying that the technology was not new, but I am now beginning to see how he means the technology is what is new, but the instructional practices are the same ones that good teachers have used for years. The technology just presents instruction in a new format, which can be extremely beneficial during the writing process. We saw this when we watched Mrs. Cassidy's classroom video to a teacher in Australia, which was similar to the genre of letter writing just presented in a different way than the traditional pen and paper format. We need to utilize these new technologies if we want our students to become well-equipped to enter today's globalized world.
Wednesday, February 9, 2011
Entry #3
After reading the chapter about journal writing I have found myself thinking about its importance more and more. I also found it really meaningful when I found my dialogic journal from second grade with comments from my teacher. It was neat to look back at this and realize my teacher did exactly what Tompkins suggests when reading my journal. She left comments once in a while and would give me ideas of things to write about when I wrote "I don't know what to raet." This reminded me of the box about "How to Address Struggling Writers' Problems" in Tompkins (2008). The problem says "I don't know what to write" and mentions a quick fix of creating a list of topics and a long term solution of teaching engaging minilessons on how to select topics (p. 104). I think that this would be an excellent place to integrate the RSS and social bookmarking that Hicks (2009) references. The teacher could model and then assist struggling writers to search for articles, pictures and video clips of things that interest them and then link them to the student's RSS. Once the teacher knows some of the student's interests she can search for other things that might help them to get started with writing and tag it to their RSS. This way the next time the student complained about not knowing what to write they would have a useful resource in which they could turn. Unfortunately, RSS was not an option in my day, but now that it is I think it could be helpful for the whole class or just with struggling writers depending on computer access.
Back to my second grade journal. I think the coolest thing to look back at is the memorable events that happened that year and to see how my writing grew longer and more detailed throughout the year. I only hope that I will have students who will save journals that they do with me so they can look back on them in the future. I hope that I can share my journal with my students someday and that it will motivate them to want to improve their writing throughout the course of our year together. This has really made me think of journal writing differently and see the its value in learning to write.
When I was reading this chapter, I was surprised to discover how many different types of journal writing there are. As I read about each type I realized I have done all of them at some point throughout my education, but I did not realize it at the time. I really like journal writing because it is personal, unique and just for that child. It is a safe space where a child can write and they should have the option for it to be public, private or shared. It is also not really being assessed for a grade like something that is written using the writing process.
At the end of the chapter, one of the questions that is posed is should I correct children's journals? (Tompkins, 2008, p. 125). I found myself wondering the same thing as I browsed through my own second grade journal. My thought was similar to what my teacher had done, she did not correct me when I spelled write as "rite" and "raet." Eventually, when it became a continuous error she wrote the correct spelling above. However, do you think I spelled it correctly then? Nope, I continued to spell it my way and eventually I figured it out! I think that is what is so interesting about inventive spelling. You can decipher what children are trying to write, but they are little off because maybe they do not know a chunking pattern yet or haven't been exposed to that word enough. It seems that being immersed in a print rich environment allows children to figure out spelling on their own. That is not to say we should not teach spelling, but for journal writing form should definitely follow function!
When I think about journal writing I think about reflection. My undergrad program forced us to constantly reflect and reflect and then reflect some more to the point where I was sick of it by the end! However, I still came to value reflection and see its importance in learning. It really does make things more meaningful because it gets you to think for an extended period of time about an experience or something that you read. I think that reading/learning logs are an excellent way to integrate writing into other content areas. Learning logs get students to record and reflect on what they did during a lesson and serve as notes for them to refer back to. In my opinion, journaling is similar to creating a portfolio. Although a journal may not be as professional looking as a portfolio it shows developmental growth and progress over a long period of time. These are some of the best types of assessments, which encourage students to respond to what they are learning in new ways.
I think that double-entry journals are really useful for having students apply a comprehension strategy and demonstrate to them that journal entries to not all have to appear in letter format. Lastly, stimulated journals are an excellent way to integrate history or get students to think in another person's point of view. I think some students might find this type of journal more difficult to write, but it might be easier for other students because it allows them to visualize a person, place and time to write about. I never realized how journal writing can sometimes just be personal and sometimes it can serve as intentional instruction to practice a strategy. Tompkins (2008) really allowed me to see the practicality of journal writing in a variety of ways and I could honestly see myself incorporating all of these types of journal writing into my future classroom.
Back to my second grade journal. I think the coolest thing to look back at is the memorable events that happened that year and to see how my writing grew longer and more detailed throughout the year. I only hope that I will have students who will save journals that they do with me so they can look back on them in the future. I hope that I can share my journal with my students someday and that it will motivate them to want to improve their writing throughout the course of our year together. This has really made me think of journal writing differently and see the its value in learning to write.
When I was reading this chapter, I was surprised to discover how many different types of journal writing there are. As I read about each type I realized I have done all of them at some point throughout my education, but I did not realize it at the time. I really like journal writing because it is personal, unique and just for that child. It is a safe space where a child can write and they should have the option for it to be public, private or shared. It is also not really being assessed for a grade like something that is written using the writing process.
At the end of the chapter, one of the questions that is posed is should I correct children's journals? (Tompkins, 2008, p. 125). I found myself wondering the same thing as I browsed through my own second grade journal. My thought was similar to what my teacher had done, she did not correct me when I spelled write as "rite" and "raet." Eventually, when it became a continuous error she wrote the correct spelling above. However, do you think I spelled it correctly then? Nope, I continued to spell it my way and eventually I figured it out! I think that is what is so interesting about inventive spelling. You can decipher what children are trying to write, but they are little off because maybe they do not know a chunking pattern yet or haven't been exposed to that word enough. It seems that being immersed in a print rich environment allows children to figure out spelling on their own. That is not to say we should not teach spelling, but for journal writing form should definitely follow function!
When I think about journal writing I think about reflection. My undergrad program forced us to constantly reflect and reflect and then reflect some more to the point where I was sick of it by the end! However, I still came to value reflection and see its importance in learning. It really does make things more meaningful because it gets you to think for an extended period of time about an experience or something that you read. I think that reading/learning logs are an excellent way to integrate writing into other content areas. Learning logs get students to record and reflect on what they did during a lesson and serve as notes for them to refer back to. In my opinion, journaling is similar to creating a portfolio. Although a journal may not be as professional looking as a portfolio it shows developmental growth and progress over a long period of time. These are some of the best types of assessments, which encourage students to respond to what they are learning in new ways.
I think that double-entry journals are really useful for having students apply a comprehension strategy and demonstrate to them that journal entries to not all have to appear in letter format. Lastly, stimulated journals are an excellent way to integrate history or get students to think in another person's point of view. I think some students might find this type of journal more difficult to write, but it might be easier for other students because it allows them to visualize a person, place and time to write about. I never realized how journal writing can sometimes just be personal and sometimes it can serve as intentional instruction to practice a strategy. Tompkins (2008) really allowed me to see the practicality of journal writing in a variety of ways and I could honestly see myself incorporating all of these types of journal writing into my future classroom.
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