Entry 8: This post is good

What makes writing good? This is a question that I keep asking myself. While I'm starting to formulate an answer, it keeps shifting and changing like a meandering river. For an example, I look at the last sentence. Was it a good sentence? I think it was because I was using the figurative language technique, a characteristic of the descriptive genre, to help the reader get a better understanding of what I meant (Tompkins, 2009). But then I start doubting myself. While I don't believe I've ever been told (actually that's not true I do remember one specific time in undergrad) not to be creative or humorous in writing a text, I believe it has been strongly implied throughout my high school and college career. Therefore, I'm extremely uncomfortably writing similes or adding anything remotely creative to my pieces for fear that it will be crossed out with a big red slash.

What makes this question even more difficult to answer is the implications it will have towards my students. If I don't know the EXACT answer to this question, then how am I to assess their writing, more importantly, how do I help them to become good writers? Since two heads are better than one, I turned to my peers and their blogs to gain some perspective.

One particular blog that got me thinking was Kristine's, more specifically, her sixth post titled "Assessing Student Writing".  Kristine stated in her blog "Writing, for the most part, should be a personal experience that can transcend the author into a creative mindset. In my opinion, journal writing and personal narrative pieces should only be graded if the writer gives permission to the teacher. Otherwise, these pieces should be viewed from a stand point that invokes creativity and originality." I would like to bless this statement. Writing should be an act of exploration and creativity. For our students to truly explore a topic, whether it be focused on something personal or informational, constrictions and rules often hinder this process rather than help it. Therefore I think it is EXTREMELY important to emphasize creativity and constructing a meaningful, purposeful message. I would actually take this idea, and go one step further...

Kristine also wrote: "On the other hand, educational pieces such as reports, informative writing, responses to literature, summaries, and persuasive essays should all be assessed using the basic fundamentals of Standard English. Did the student spell everything correctly? Were proper mechanics and grammar used? Did the student carry out all of the indicated objectives? This is the time to fully grade a student's writing piece-- when it matters to the audience who is reading it." This statement I would like to press. Before taking this class, I would have completely agreed with this statement, I may have even agreed with it two weeks ago, but now I'm not so sure. Shouldn't we maybe include this idea of creativity in the more "standard" writing assignments as well, not just in personal or narrative writing?

In reflecting on this second statement I think about "real life" reports, informative writing and essays which are included in magazines such as National Geographic. For the most part, I do not like (or usually continue to read) text that is written in perfect standard English and follows standard grammar. I like when text sounds authentic and carries with it a definite voice, furthermore I prefer that voice to be smart and witty. Therefore, if I wouldn't bother to read what I consider "boring" real world text, then why would I promote that type of writing in my own class?  Which leads me back to Kristine's statement... if I don't completely agree that class assignments should be assessed by following the basic fundamental of standard English (which by the way I don't completely disagree with either) then how will writing be assessed?!

I turned to an article that I've recently read entitled "What Makes Writing Good" (Nauman, Stirling & Borthwick, 2011). The authors of this paper conducted a study to try and answer this question. Their study group included teachers, students and professional (published) writers. What they found was that different people had different views on what constituted "good" writing. One group found creativity to be vital, while another choose organization as a top priority and a third group prised proper spelling and grammar (each of these groups contained a heterogeneous mixture of the population polled). The authors concluded that when writing is assessed it is subjected to the judge's assessor's opinion, thus in order for students to write a "good" piece they must understand who their audience is and what their expectations are. What I took away from this is that differing views on what makes writing "good" is not inherently bad but can be confusing when not properly discussed. Teachers must clearly explain that considering audience is an integral part of the writing process and will determine what style of writing, tone and word choice is appropriate for a student's piece. 

This last point leads me to my newest understanding of what makes writing good, how to teach it and finally how to assess it. Students must clearly understand their audience, whether they are choosing for themselves or it is given to them. Teachers must clearly understand to whom the student is writing to and put themselves in the mindset of the designated audience. Finally, to gain experience and become "good" writers, students must be given ample opportunity to explore not only different genres but also different audiences who may view certain aspects of writing more important than others.

Nauman, D.A., Stirling, T., Borthwick, A. (2011). What makes writing good? 
             An essential  question for teachers. The Reading Teacher, 64(5), 
             318-328.

Tompkins, G. E.  (2012).  Teaching writing:  Balancing process and product 

            (6^th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ:  Merrill.

 

Entry 7: A Fluke

 Over the past few weeks I have been as busy as a beaver, no that's not busy enough, make that as busy as a twenty something year old, third year teacher still working late at school in order to create the best lessons ever while simultaneously trying to keep laundry baskets and kitchen sinks empty, bathroom counters and kitchen floors sparkling, dinner tables full with healthy, delicious, home made goodness and doggies properly exercised, all while taking a grad class that (rightly so) requires lots of writing and thinking... and oh yeah... also trying to maintain a healthy relationship with a husband, parents, in-laws and friends. Now I know this is not the place to vent, but perhaps it will help explain why it's been some time since I've blogged. Like I've mentioned in my last post, I LOVE my blogging time, but I've been so tired over the past couple weeks, I didn't want to blog because it felt like work and not only did I not have the desire to do more work, I felt like I was going to have a melt down if I did. I was exhausted, and I was too tired to sit down and think... and then write... and then think... and then re-write.

Now it wasn't that I was simply ignoring this class. I had spent many hours researching and working on my  expert genre presentation. And I've spent even more time doing research and planning for my genre piece project. But during the past week, I had started on a downward spiral. I was starting to become frustrated because I couldn't nail down exactly what I was going to create for my first piece with the information that I had collected, and because of this, I also didn't know if I had collected enough information... so then I kept trying to find more. I started to dread the assignment. Today, as I tap out my blog, I realize now what my problem was.

Deep down I still have that unfortunate tendency to think of writing assignments purely as a chore, with one way of doing it - the five (or 25) paragraph research paper. Even though you told me not to Dr. Jones, I had somewhat subconsciously constrained and restrained my thinking by designating my first piece to be a somewhat traditional research paper. Oh yes, it was going to take the shape of something different and digital (a Prezi) but it was still going to have the same formula. And this was just not exciting... it was again more work. So then... I started putting off my genre piece too.

Crap! Now I was TWO writing assignments in the hole. But then something happened.... a fluke actually.

This past Saturday afternoon I sat down for some popcorn time (the time devoted to me... Alyse... where I sit and read and enjoy a good book while munching on hot, buttery homemade popcorn) and picked up my current read, Christopher Moore's Fluke. Christopher Moore is my new favorite author. While his fictional tales are somewhat crude, they are often entertaining and have literally made me laugh so hard that I was actually crying. As I was reading, I became acutely aware of his use of descriptive writing.

I rewrote one particular section that I found to be an excellent example of the descriptive genre (Tompkins, 2009). I color coded the words to emphasize which technique of descriptive writing Moore used.

Technique One: Specific Information
Technique Two: Word Choice
Technique Three: Sensory Images
Technique Four: Figurative Language

Excerpt from Fluke: "Leather bar girls worked the charter booths at the harbor, smoking Basic 100's and talking in voices that sounded like 151 rum poured into hot grease - a jigger of friendly to the liter of harsh. They were thirty-five or sixty-five, the color of mahogany, skinny and strong from living on boats, liquor, fish and disappointment. They'd come here from a dozen coastal towns, some sailing from the mainland in small craft but forgetting to save enough courage for the trip home. Marooned. Man to man, boat to boat, year to year - salt and sun and drinking had left them dry enough to cough dust. If they lasted a hundred years - and some would - then one moonless night a great hooded wraith would swoop into the harbor and take them off to their own craggy island- uncharted and unseen more than once by any living man- and there they would keep the enchantment of the sea alive; lure lost sailors to the shore, suck out all of their fluids, and leave their dessicated husks crumbling on the rocks for the crabs and black gulls. Thus were the sea hags born... but that's another story. Today they were just razzing Clay for leading two girls down the dock."(Moore, 2004, p. 61)

And one additional quote to show Moore's use of technique five-dialog:
"Rum." said Kona."Too much hostility in dat buzz. Rum come from da cane, and cane come from slavin' the people, and dat oppression all distilled in de bottle and come out a man mean as cat sh*t on a day." (Moore, 2004, p. 99) The character Kona is not originally from the islands but is rather a twenty-something native of New Jersey who mimics "rastafarian".

I couldn't help being inspired as I read Moore's book. How fun must it be to create such vivid images and colorful and creative characters - it made me want to write my own zany narrative. Alas, I couldn't handle one more thing on my plate... so writing a novel was not in my immediate future. Coincidentally, I just showed a video in my Earth Science class called "Born of Fire". This video was an educational video focusing on plate tectonics however it was narrated using descriptive techniques. My kids were enthralled with it. I asked them at the end why they liked it so much, their comments: "She said weird things. It was said in an interesting way. Like when she said 'the earth passed gas... really bad gas'!".

Where is this all going? WELL! I killed two birds with one stone. I figured out my first genre piece, AND I caught up on my blogging (almost). In writing this blog, I was able to nail down what it was that I wanted to create with the fracking information that I have. I'm going to write a descriptive expository piece on the formation of fossil fuels and the process of fracking. I'm using Christopher Moore as inspiration and "Born of Fire" as a mentor text (even though it's a video). I am now SUPER excited about my genre project... I've included my very first draft (just the first paragraph) below. 

The initial paragraph of my very first draft for my descriptive expository genre piece: 

Ten million years ago, on a warm sunny day in the tropics, a phytoplankton floated lazily on the ocean surface. The phytoplankton had chosen this particular section of the ocean because of it's vicinity to the sun. As a warm, gentle breeze strolled along the surface, it carried with it photons, subatomic whirling balls of energy, produced in the core of the sun. The photons slammed into the phytoplankton, bombarding the chlorophyll within it's cell. The phytoplankton didn't mind however, this assault was welcome for it spurned the process of photosynthesis, a reaction that not only provided the energy to build all of the organic matter within the plant like microorganism, but also to carry on all of it's living processes. 

Moore, C., 2004. Fluke. New York, NY: HarperCollins.  

Tompkins, G. E.  (2012).  Teaching writing:  Balancing process and product (6^th ed.). Upper Saddle 

             

             River, NJ:  Merrill.

Entry 6: Sending out an SOS...

Did I get your attention? Great! I need help. I've decided to take up the challenge of using blogs (and eventually the digital writers workshop) in my Environmental class, and I'm not quite sure how I need/should do it. This week I chose to use this space/time to pose a question to my fellow classmates. How would you suggest I go about using blogs in my 11th/12th grade Environmental class?

First, let me give you some background. This is what I've been doing to answer this question....

I've spent this weekend going back through our readings and checking out other science classroom blogs. I reflected on what I now know about the similarities between the reading and writing process and considered how leaders in the field suggest the use of blogs to encourage writers choice and development of digital literacy, but also as a tool to learn through writing... better yet, composing. I wanted to really think about how my understanding and use of blogs has evolved since I started this class. Having a deeper understanding on how writing to learn and blogging has positively influenced me, would hopefully guide my decisions in how to set up a blog in my environmental class.

Hicks suggests the use of blogs for numerous reasons, however one of the most significant is the blog's ability to provide a writer with an actual audience. This is by far one of the most compelling reasons that I blog. Just knowing that someone else is going to read my stuff greatly increases my intrinsic motivation, it makes me want to write something good (and make it look good with fun text, interesting hyperlinks and groovy blog themes).

A second reason provided by Will Richardson (an edublogger that Hick's quotes and also the author of my new favorite/inspirational blogs that I follow ) is that composing a post can utilize verious modes of thinking which range from low level thinking (ie. students are responding to simple questions) to higher level thinking which would require to use analysis and synthesis of various texts and posts (Hicks, 2009, p.41). Obviously, high-order thinking is what really helps students learn, hence why we're encouraged to do it.  This is apparent in my own blogs, as they have evolved to include more complex thinking in more resent posts.

The final reason, also given by Will Richards, is that blogging "opens up conversations between writers through commenting on the posts of others and then incorporating those posts into one's own writing" (Hicks, 2009, p. 41). This mode of discourse, while similar to face-to-face conversations, demands that students "read, respond and write in in ways that encourage more specific response and utilize the features of a digital writing space" (Hicks, 2009, p. 41). Thus, those who use blogs would get more practice and experience in utilizing features like pod casts, videos and hyperlinks. As I've continued to practice using this space, I've become more comfortable with adding features to my posts other than text (check out my awesome hyperlinks!). Having the ability to add hyperlinks causes me to consider the following questions: How is this link useful? It is just for entertainment/interest? Will it answer my readers potential questions?  What other texts may I have to include in addition to this link to compose a clear message? While I've only included hyperlinks to other websites and blogs (so far) in my recent posts, I plan to utilize more digital tools in my Environmental blog for sure.
 

So in laymen terms... this is why I like to blog...

#1 It is a creative process.
#2 It is a real process. It is meant for an audience to read. I mean lets face it, with the close to 7.0 billion people out there, someone has to be interested in what I have to say. Plus for right now... I have people that are highly encouraged to read my blog (wink wink)!
#3 It has given me an appreciation of reading other peoples blogs. If I'm honest it what I originally thought about blogs, I didn't really get the point of them, understand them or understand why anyone would bother writing one. I thought bloggers were a little strange. Now I truly appreciate blogs, I give them more (way more) merit, and have realized that I much prefer them to other types of online texts. Obviously one still needs to view blogs through a critical lens, but they can definitely be a legitimate resource for information. 

In writing this post, I've come to realize that the one, biggest, most important reason why I want my students to blog, is because I think it will be one of the most beneficial tools to help them learn. It could be a creative way to help them explore issues that they are interested in. And my ultimate goal, would be for my students to blog on their own, whether it be for my class or on other issues important to them.

So as far as my Environmental Blog goes, this is what I've got so far. I need to explore edublog more, but at this point in time I think that I would post a question based on information we are learning in class on the classroom blog, and ask students to reflect individually in their own blogs (this way they could see what their original thoughts were later in the semester). Then, I would want them to find a news story/video/podcast/blog that would relate to the topic at hand and post this on the classroom blog. I would encourage students to respond to these classroom posts and also eventually to other individual blogs using the "bless, address, or press" strategy (Hicks, 2009, p. 83).  I was hoping those of you following this blog might also follow my classroom blog and offer suggestions to me as I experiment with this. AND... here's the really interesting part, maybe you could also comment on my student's pages so that they have an additional audience. Totally up to you all... but I thought it might be interesting! 

On a side note, but not completely separate, many people believe that the current educational system needs a major rehaul. I found these video on TED that I thoughtto be intriguing, where Will Richardson and Sugata Mitra explain how and why they would like to see education change. As I was watching them I thought to myself, that if education does swing this way, how beneficial and useful blogging would be!

Hicks, T. (2009).  The digital writing workshop.  Portsmouth, NH:  Heinemann.