Entry #5

                                                                                                                             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