Week One - Post 2

My own Writing Experience

 

               I will be honest. I don't remember that much about learning how to write as a child. I do remember in third grade we kept a journal, and that was what most of our writing consisted of. The teacher would respond back to us, and we could write about anything we wanted. I loved it.  In 6th grade I remember creative writing class and publishing a poetry book with my class. I loved this as well. Through out school I always managed to get decent grades in writing, because the content was strong, and I was okay with the hits that I took for grammar and mechanics, because they weren't large dings on my grade. Also, the marks were a vague. I didn't know what I did that was incorrect and I wasn't taught how to fix it. It wasn't until college that someone finally explained to me that there is more to a run on sentence than it just being really long. This would most likely align with process writing (Freeman and Freeman, 2004, p. 29). The thinking was there, but there was not explicit instruction on the conventions. Although I wish I had been taught more about the conventions to avoid the shock in college, I loved writing, because I wasn't boxed in by the rules.

             In my own teaching I try for a happy medium. I do focus more on the structure of writing to build a foundation, but I balance that with workshop/process time. Our students aren't always exposed to language through books and writing at home, so they aren't going to just naturally move into correct conventions. However, they can tell some great stories, and they love to research non-fiction.

        I have heard that common core will be heavy in grammar and mechanics. That will throw us back to a traditional writing again very quickly. We are all ready looking at ways to help our ELL kids do better on the state tests in this area. Anyone else hear the same? Differently?