Entry 12: And the Curtain Falls...

Drip. Drip. Drip. Splat! That's the sound of my tears falling on the keyboard as I tap out my last blog. No, I'm just kidding. I'm not crying, but I am saddened. Blogging has been a great, big part of my life the last few months. I've (surprisingly) truly enjoyed learning through this mode. When first told that we would be keeping a blog, my first reaction was honestly a mixture of confusion and annoyance. I've always hated keeping journals for classes... and I thought that this blog thing was going to be just a digital extension of one. I didn't understand the point of blogs either... weren't these just things weirdos dreamt up because they thought their thoughts were super important and that others would want to read them?  But then we actually started blogging and I fell in love with it. I realized that this space was meant for reflection... good honest reflection that could be done all at one time or in pieces. The format allowed me to peer deeper into my understanding because I could quickly and efficiently tap out my thoughts. Wooops.. I didn't like something - no problem-O! I wanted to rearrange an earlier thought to a later one... click, click, done! I had organized, thought out reflections, neatly typed, written in my own voice and published in the style I desired.

The flexibility of the blog allowed me to fully engage in the topics we studied throughout the semester. There were a few objectives in particular, that by keeping a blog, I was able to fully realize. I now truly understand "the role of metacognition in writing proficiency and reading comprehension". Blogging helped me to practice the different writing strategies good writers do (Heck! I was forced to in order to keep up with the amount of writing that is required!). We've learned in this class and others, that during the drafting process,  getting down a meaningful message is most important. While I understand this idea, it is not natural for me. I often construct text sentence by sentence, making sure it "sounds right" and everything is spelled correctly before I move on. In writing this past semester I've forced myself to follow this advice, to just write, let the ideas flow out of me and then come back and edit. While before I felt disappointed if I deleted much of my first draft (or felt that I had just wasted a bunch of time) now I know this is actually good and encouraged! I'm OK with making my original first paragraph my last or my third! I'm slightly OK with even deleting it (truthfully, this still makes me twinge a bit, but I'm getting over it!). This retraining if you will, has allowed me to have fun creating more robust pieces that I'm extraordinarily proud of.

In regards to the other learning outcomes, such as understanding the variety of genres readers use, the role of purpose and audience in writing and reading, and writing assessment and evaluation this blog has given me a place to reflect, test out and flesh out my issues. At the beginning of this class I was terrified of grading my students' writing. I know that I'm a "good writer" and the teacher... but how did I explain to them why their writing was "good" or not. I've explored this question a couple times now in this blog, and by doing so, I was able to come to an answer and now feel confident in doing this task. Tied with what I found out about assessment, was my realization of the importance of audience. While I've always heard "consider your audience" I had never made the connection that your audiences' needs and expectations will govern how and what you write (think voice and structure). I believe, personally knowing my audience and reading their feedback, that my style of writing in this arena is not only OK, but welcomed. Therefore I've safely been able to explore writing styles and techniques I was too scared to before.
 
The obvious outcome that was substantically taugt by the use of this blog (and help from Hicks ) was gaining knowledge and proficiency in new digital literacies -at least in blogging. As stated earlier, I have a completely new outlook on the purpose and function of blogs. I've been using them now for only a month or so in my own classes with juniors and seniors, and I am continually impressed by what my students compose. Blogging will definitely be a tool I utilize in my own classroom to help students learn both environmental content but also to gain digital proficiency of their own.
 
I found that using blogs was not only a learning tool for the individual, but for the class to learn and explore with each other. I often turned to others blogs as a resource in times of confusion or need for inspiration. It allowed me to see into other people's minds which is often useful when learning something new. Drip. Drip. Drip. Splat! Oh gosh, here comes the last few sentences... In short, blogging was the main reason why I learned so much in this class and had such an awesomely fantastic time taking it. It helped me learn the objectives of this course because I was engaged in thoughtful reflection that was personal but not private. Knowing that I had an audience, helped me to be more specific in my thoughts and creative in my writing. So, thank you Dr. Jones for forcing us to blog because I would have never done it without the push. I never thought I would say this but... I'm a bonafide blogger, and proud of it!

Entry 11: To new friends...

As I think back over the past couple months... I've come to the realization that I knew the genres, but I didn't really know the genres. I had a lot of the superficial details about them in my mind, but I didn't have a deep understanding or appreciation for them. They weren't real to me. The genres were something taught in high school, that I was expected to know, but never expected to really use.

Coming into this class, I felt comfortable with the narrative, personal, persuasive and expository genres. These guys were my friends, I interact with them often both in my personal and professional life. I came to learn them better though throughout this class, building a deeper appreciation for their different and specific characteristics. I found it similar to meeting my husbands family for the first time, where in I was able to have a greater appreciation for his idiosyncrasies now that I knew this whole new layer of information! I found different uses for the journal genre (simulated journals to be used in my science classes) and was reminded of how confusing the expository genre can be. While I'm perfectly comfortable with the expository genre's text structure (ie. compare/contrast, sequence, etc.) and text features (bold vocabulary words, headings and subheadings) I had somewhat forgotten how difficult this text can be for students who do not have a good understanding of this genre. I was happy to have this gentle reminder and will be sure to keep this in the forefront when teaching my students how to transact with expository text.

Upon walking through the doors, I had two enemies lurking about: Poetry and Biographical Writing. When Dr. Jones asked which of the genres we didn't want to learn about because we already had a good understanding, I was silently praying that the class would choose one if not both of the dreaded genres to cast aside. I had already learned how horrible they were once (or maybe a few dozen times throughout my school career) I did not want to learn about them again.Alas, they were not shunned and abandoned like I'd hoped...so I was forced to revisit them. That's a good thing too... or boy would I have been missing out! My blog entries nine and ten vividly show how my perspective on these particular genres has changed.

The genre that I didn't know much about was descriptive writing. Given this genre for my expert presentation was one of the biggest blessings. I not only learned about the descriptive genre, I embraced it. My blog entries after my expert genre presentation are starkly different from the entries prior. (Check it out... entry seven: A Fluke was published on March 25, only a few days after Nicole and I presented on the wonderful world of Descriptive Writing). This change was due to my new found love for the descriptive genre. My writing now has a strong, sometimes quirky, voice. It sounds like me. It is thoughtful, descriptive and interesting. It's fun - fun to read, but maybe more importantly (for me anyways) its fun to write.

So which of these genres am I still unsure of? Well it would have to be poetry and biographical writing. Even though I no longer despise them, I'm just not familiar with them. I believe I just need some time to develop a true friendship... and I'm going to actively try and do this. The one autobiography that kept catching my eye over the past year or so was Tina Fey's Bossy Pants. I think one, because I get a good vibe from Tina Fey, in whatever movie or show that she is in. And two, I like that she uses man arms on her front cover. How fun... especially in an age when many famous women are trying desperately to make themselves look like the "ideal image", here comes Tina Fey, miss bossypants.... with giant hairy man arms. I would like to get a beer with Tina and pick her mind. Since I can't, the next best thing seems to be able to read her book...  with a beer:) Which by the way... I just ordered via kindle and will start reading as soon as I have some free time!

About five years after high school, I got reacquainted with some classmates that I had never really talked to in high school. One gal because she was rude and one guy because he was kind of strange. I became friends with these people later in life because either my view on them had changed, they had changed... or maybe I had at one time misread them and my new perception was more accurate (they were actually pretty decent people). Either way, had I maintained my original idea of who they were, I would have missed out on some great friendships and good times. I find that I've had a similar experience with this class. I am extraordinarily pleased that I was able to get reacquainted with the genres. I feel like I've caught up with old misunderstood friends who I don't plan on losing touch with anytime soon!

Entry 10: I Had to Know What Elyse was Thinking...

Biographies - Blah! or I Had to Know What Elyse was Thinking.

These were the two options for the title of my post this week. Both we're fitting. Alas, I could only use one, so I wanted to make sure everyone knew about the other title I considered. And that this second title would have set the stage right a way as to what my original thoughts were on the biographical genre. Biographies are disdainful. Which is silly now that I reflect on it. I should owe a whole heap of thanks to the biographical genre because this genre values my thoughts, what I think and what I feel... which I clearly love to share in this blog! 

As I perused the posts of my fellow bloggers in the quest to "bless, address or press" I kept coming back to Elyse's 9th post. Her entry "The Power of Biographical Writing" struck something inside of me. My first blessing is to Elyse's easy-going but definite voice in her blog...  I could hear her message loud and clear: "People... do not overlook biographies and autobiographies!" Although I tried to ignore her (while I like the more abstract autobiography pieces like Life Boxes and Bio Bags, I wanted nothing to do with biographical books) Elyse's strong voice combined with her personal narrative and use of pictures kept drawing me back. Not only did I find her blog pleasing and interesting to look at, it was informative. See, I had one burning question that I had to have answered: Why would anyone want to willingly learn  more about the biographical genre. I had to know what Elyse was thinking.

Biographical writing has never held much interest to me. I'm not really sure why - part of it might be that I was only given "boring" biographies as a small child. I do know however that, like most children, my thoughts and experiences were marginalized as I got older, leaving me with the distinct impression that no one (besides my mom who does by the way read this blog on a weekly bases) would be interested in reading about what I think, therefore writing any type of personal narrative was out of the question. "Get rid of the 'I think's Alyse, no one cares what you think" -an actual quote from numerous teachers! Don't get me wrong, I know that you can't have a paper filled with "I think this", but what an interesting message to send to a developing writer...

Thus, my experiences over time with the genre allowed me to to develop my own personal definition for "biography" which is: A biography is a small book with no book cover, just dull book flaps which are usually a brownish-red color. The front cover is home to the "interesting person's name", in a not so interesting font with no pictures. It smells musty. The pages are stained dingy (the color of a four year old use-to-be-white-but-not-quite-so-now Hanes T-shirt). It is located in the back of the library, with the rest of the boring books. The biography fits in here nicely, because its a dull book, written about a person that might/should be important, but who's life is described in a matter-of-fact way. The voice of the text could only be described as voiceless. One does not get excited, laugh, cry or is in anyway entertained when reading a biography.  Biography = dull. 

Now you know why I read Elyse's blog over and over again. How could she have such revere for this type of genre. I had to find out why! It was Elyse's second paragraph that answered my question. As she described how most folks think "boring" when they hear the word "Biography", I thought to myself: Hey! She's talking about me (except for in my mind I actually sing BOOOOORRR-rrrinnnng).  Elyse goes on to say: "Biographies and autobiographies are intriguing, compelling, and sometimes ridiculously funny... I even laugh to myself-- sort of  in a way that would potentially call my sanity into question-- when I think of something funny each of these authors have written. What a shame that people might be missing out!". 

I appreciated that Elyse took the time to explain why she chose the biographical genre and what biographical texts she held near and dear. Which ironically may be exactly why I might actually enjoy the genre. While I love reading stories, that's all they are, stories. Yes, they might be based in fact and they might have a moral to them, but they aren't about real people. I like to know about people, sometimes it's purely because I'm nosy, but it's mostly because I like to learn and  I believe you learn a lot from knowing another perspective and simply listening to (or reading about) what others have to say.         

The second part of Elyse's blog I wanted to bless was her point that personal narratives can be used to scaffold instruction of more difficult and abstract texts. Tompkins (2009) states "Students' greatest source of information for writing is their own experiences" (pg. 233). As literacy specialists, we know that when students are learning a new reading or writing strategy, most of their cognitive resources need to be devoted to meeting this new challenge. Having students focus on a topic that they are familiar with (themselves) gives them the flexibility to practice the new skill while having ample background knowledge to easily draw from. There is a second very important reason for using biographical writing when exploring new topics... it can help to motivate the writer. Radcliff (the author Elyse quoted in her blog) used personal narratives to not only scaffold, but also to help build intrinsic motivation. I clearly see the benefit of this in my own  posts. I get the intrinsic motivation to write and learn about something I originally despised, because I see how it relates to moi! I like to reflect on my initial beliefs and where those beliefs came from. Not only because it helps to clarify the message I'm trying to construct, but also, for pedagogical reasons... I want to know what happened to me so that I don't do the same thing to my own students.

While I know in my heart-of-hearts I've not yet fully ready to pick up a biography/autobiography, I'm going to start giving them a try...this summer.  In the mean time I promise not to tell any impressionable youngsters my slightly biased definition of biography!

ps. I do have one issue to press with Elyse. Would you have a suggestion for an autobiography (I'm thinking funny!) that this Alyse would enjoy?  

Works Cited

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

Entry 9: I don't Want to Write a Poem and You Can't Make Me! stomp stomp stomp

         A month or so ago, I was talking with Dr. Jones about my genre project and she suggested that I think about writing a poem.
        "Hmmm... naaaaaooooo. I don't think so. I don't really like poems" was my response. Dr. Jones knew that I was trying to write something "fun" and with voice, so she persisted, telling me that I didn't have to write a poem that rhymed and that poems could be very creative.
         "You should consider it" she said.
         "I'll think about" I replied

         I did NOT want to write a poem. That's what I thought about... very loudly in my head. If my thoughts had feet, they would have been stomping. Acutely aware of my internal hissy fit, the adult in me perked up. See, as I've gotten older, I've started to force myself into exploring things that I'm initially adverse to. As much as I hate to admit this, usually I shy away from things that I think will be too hard or too much work. This case was different however, I just plain don't like poetry! I didn't want to write a poem. Now I know I haven't always felt this way. I believe my disdain for poetry came (here's a shocker) from multiple bad experiences in high school. The straw that broke the camels back however was this one: I was trying to write a haiku in history and there were all these stupid rules I had to follow, so of course I didn't (wasn't able) to write the poem "correctly". Not only did I fail at writing the poem, I had just a phenomenally boring time doing it. I don't remember what I was supposed to learn that day, but here is what I did: Poetry was difficult, stupid and pointless. I learned to shun the genre. 


"If you don't try it out you won't know if you like it and you might miss out on something really great" I told the little girl throwing a tantrum inside of me. So, I stopped silently yelling "No, I won't do it!", put on my big girl pants, and started considering how to go about writing a poem. I did this with great effort and dread, and eagerly awaited the expert presentation on the genre, silently hoping (praying and wishing) that I would be inspired. This is where I owe Lexi and Jackie a BIG THANK YOU, because I left that presentation with exactly what I needed. A new outlook on poetry and a desire to give it another chance. Thank you ladies for banishing my high school grievances!

          This is what I learned about poetry: I don't have to write a poem that rhymes and poems can be very creative. Hmm... look at that, Dr. Jones was right! Poetry is a celebration of the unconventional. It allows people the freedom to construct a  message in a unique way, placing more emphasis on the meaning of the text instead of following traditional form. Poems can be structured or free-verse, with a focus on detail or figurative speech. Or (and here's the best part) you can smash up and reconfigure the "rules", types of writing and structure of the text to create something unique. Writing like this forces the author to consider an idea, topic or feeling more deeply and/or from a different point of view; it requires higher-order thinking and can be a difficult but rewarding task.
 
       So where did my high school teachers go wrong? First and foremost, they imposed too many rules which smothered the creative process. The message that should have been stressed was this: "Poets choose words carefully and structure lines and stanzas in creative ways" (Tompkins, 2009, p. 156). Thinking back to the haiku disaster it is important to include this note; the objective of the lesson that day was not to learn how to write a haiku, it was to more fully engage in a historical topic discussed in class (which of course I don't remember what that was now).  Our teacher should have given us options. Tompkins would have suggested the use of formula poems for this would have provided us with enough direction and structure to start, but also enough wiggle room to think out-side-the-box (Tompkins, 2009). Having a variety of poetic devices to pick from would  have allowed the author to choose what type of poem best fit the message trying to be expressed, instead of trying to force meaning into 17 measly syllables. Said in a different way, form should have come later in the drafting process and it should have been flexible. Hm... I've heard this before... maybe Dr. Jone's does know what she's talking about :)

       While I'm going to create a poem for my genre project, I thought that I would try out the process here (since this is the first "real" poem I've written in ten years). I took Tompkins' advice and used the formula poem "I used to be... Now I am..." because according to her, this poem would help me to explore how something (myself) has changed over time (Tompkins, 2009). I thought it was quite appropriate concerning my new found appreciation for the poetry genre.

I use to Hate Poetry, especially Haiku

I use to be a person that hated poems.

Now I am a person that is ready to give them another chance.

I used to be a person that was scared to break the rules

                                                                          of writing.

Now I am a person that is still timid

                                          but willing to try.

I used to be a person that would never willingly write poetry.

Now I am a person that is excited by the possibilities.

I used to be a person that hated haiku.

Now I am a person that sill does! 

              (but I think that's just fine!)

Works Cited

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