“Technology is increasingly being recognized for its potential to support K-12 writing instruction. Research has shown the positive effects of word processing, spell-check, speech recognition, and multimedia software on different stages of the writing process (224).”

In today’s world, technology is surrounding us and because of this, students need to learn how to be fluent in how to use technology. Students use technology to check spelling to completing pieces of art. Along with this, students need to write, so why not interweaving the two? There are a variety of ways for teachers to be able to apply writing in the form of technology in their classroom.

“Electronic text is also easily manipulated. Writers can change background colors, font styles, and the placement of graphics to determine the best format for their writing (224).”

This is beneficial for students with special needs because it is easier to highlight text and enlarge it if need be. All students want to be able to express themselves and this is easily done with electronic texts. Students can make their piece of work look how they want it to opposed to being just pen and paper.

One major way that technology is used is by typing up papers, but teachers can get more in depth by using resources such as blogs. As college students, we have been using a blog in our class. This is something that can easily be done within a variety of classrooms. This can be set up in different ways; either each student can have their own blog or there can be a class blog which all students could log into. Students will feel as if they are publishing their work to share with their family members and friends. There may be many people seeing their writing, and possibly responding to it. Because of this, students feel the need to put more effort into their work.

I really enjoyed collaborative internet projects. My favorite part is how students have control over their learning. Students use something they learned in class then expand t by doing research. The students then present the information using a variety of different genres. When students are given choices they are more likely to enjoy what they are learning and ultimately want to learn. Students will also be proud of their end project because it becomes their turn to be the teachers and teach their fellow classmates about what they learned.

Overall, technology makes learning, and writing, more fun and interactive for our students. Technology gives students ways to express themselves as well as show off their work. As teachers, it is our job to demonstrate to our students that they can, and should be, proud of all that they accomplished and learned.

Hola! Hello!

“How can we teach so that our multilingual students learn well? How can we help them read and write well? Can we, or should we, try to start reading and writing instruction right away? Can research help us know what to do (289)?”

I found it interesting that “initial instruction in native language writing tended to affect native language and new language writing more than new language only situations (291).” The first school I student taught at was primarily bilingual learners. In the earlier grades, students had half day instruction in Spanish and the other half of the day was instructed in English. This did not happen in all classrooms but did in most because of the high percentage of English language learners.

Having instruction in two different languages was something I had not seen before and was not exactly sure what to think of it. I first wondered why we would do this when there is so much focus on them learning English. I am glad I learned that it benefits students because they are not simply focusing on learning the language but they are learning how to write as well.

Now that I know about the benefits, I wonder if this type of instruction would be beneficial in the upper elementary grades. The fifth graders that I was with during my student teaching were on a second grade reading level. Many of them had recently come to America and were learning the language. For these students, would it benefit them to have some part of their day instructed in their native language or would it simple serve as a crutch when they need to know English in the grades to come?

I like the ideas of using dialogue journals not only for multilingual learners but for all learners as well. When teachers give written feedback and responses to their students, they are also providing students with a model. Because of this, teachers should be aware of the way they are writing to their students. Teachers should ensure that they are responding to students like they would want their students to respond to them. This is extremely beneficial to English language learners because they need as much exposure to written language as possible. While it is a model, students look as it as a different form of conversation between their teachers. This form of writing serves as a safe space to ask questions and make mistakes as well as share personal concerns with the teacher.

As always, every student learns differently and at their own pace. We need to find the best ways that benefit our class as a whole as well as individually. We also need to know, that at times, we have to go off schedule and step out of the box. Our student’s education is the most important thing, and as their teachers, we ensure that they benefit to their fullest potential.

Multicultural Writing

“Stories of death and loss are not uncommon in urban classrooms. Too often they elicit merely stock responses and expressions of sympathy (20).”

This quote brought me straight back to my student teaching experience. One of my fifth grade students was talking about how her uncle was killed. She went on to tell us how she found his body in a bag after she could not find him when they were out in the city together. She had lost him when she went with her brother into the fountain. I was in pure shock and did not know what I should say or do. All of the thoughts and emotions that I believe I would have felt and thought came flooding into my head. This student had a straight face while telling this particular story. The other students had similar expressions and some even went on to tell their own stories, much of which were similar to this young girls.

This experience was extremely eye opening for me because I did not believe that these fifth graders knew and had witnessed as much as they did. It made me think of how innocent I was when I was that age. I also thought about how privileged I was for being able to have my innocents intact. I think that as teachers, it is our job to try to keep our students innocents. While doing this, we need to realize all that these students have been exposed to and that this does not stop them from being children.

Immigrant Students and Literacy: Read, Writing, and Remembering, made me evaluate how I use multiculturalism as a teacher. In all of my classes we have talked about celebrating diversity as well as how important it is to teach a variety of cultures (especially those of students within your classroom). I do think this is important but this book showed me how much we can learn about cultures from our students.

As teachers, it is important that we have students share their cultures and their stories with fellow students, as well as ourselves. A great way to do this is through writing. We can introduce new genres and as we do this, have students do a piece of writing. The writing should be in the format of the genre but the topics should revolve around their live and their experiences. Students can share their pieces so that others can learn from them. This process ultimately shows students that their writing has a purpose. Even bigger than this, it shows students that their life has a purpose. I ultimately believe that students are going to learn more about culture from talking to their fellow students as well as feel empowered by being able to share their stories.

How Important is Spelling and Handwritting?

“Spelling and handwriting are among the least glamorous topics in today’s language arts. By contrast, in the 19th and a portion of the 20th century, schooling in literacy involved heavy emphasis on penmanship and spelling along with a great deal of drill and practice (179).”

I related to a great deal of what was being said in this chapter. When I was in elementary school there was time built into the day where we would practice cursive. While this started later in school, the time dedicated to cursive increased as I went up in grade. We were constantly told how important it was to learn cursive because we would need it in middle school. The only times that I ended up using cursive was on the SAT’s and my teacher certification tests. My middle school teachers, high school teachers, and college teachers required that papers were either in print or typed so that they could read them.

While I was in forth grade, handwriting was of great importance to my teachers. Because of this, I was constantly told to go back to my seat and rewrite my work so that it was neater. Needless to say, I hated forth grade although my handwriting did improve. The emphasis that teacher’s had on handwriting made sense to me because computers were not as widely used as they are today.

In one of my student teaching placements, the teacher spent time teaching her second graders cursive. I chalked this up to her being an older teacher. I on the other hand, thought it was a waste of time. I used it very little after learning it and now that computers are so prevalent in our everyday lives, I figured that cursive was a lost art. Along with this, when it I something that is subjective in relation to importance why would we, as teachers, take time away from any of the other subjects what we rarely have enough time for as it is?

I found it very interesting that research showed that the emphasis on spelling in United States schools was not producing effective speakers. This study was done in the 1970s but proved that something needed to be done. Students were then looked at to see how they learned and what was causing the problems with spellings. Since then, the accuracy of spelling may have improved among Americans but I wonder if the accuracy is and has been starting to decrease. We talk about how beneficial technology is within our everyday lives as well as education but is it effecting if children learn how to spell? I know that I am an awful speller but I am not concerned about it. I know that I do not have to worry because if I type it into word, it will tell me if I am right or wrong. I will also be given the correct spelling (I can do the same thing on my phone as well). The only thing that I need to know is the form of the work I want to use (their, there, or they’re). Are students going to need to know how to spell in their everyday lives if computers, or even phones, are so acceptable and willing to edit spelling for them? Students want to know the reasons for why they need to learn certain things and many students will learn that they have a variety of resources to use that can help them with their spelling as long as they have an idea of how to spell the word and how to use it.

Teaching Beyond the Test

“Test-driven curriculum dominates instruction and leaves little space for authenticity, creativity, or individuality of teachers and students (120).”

I do not remember a time that I did not learn to the test. Especially in high school, every piece of writing I did, whether it was in English classes or history classes, was all in preparation for the upcoming state test. This was fine for the time because I knew exactly what I had to do in order to do well on the test. I also did learn about structure, grammar, and other technical parts of writing like that. The one thing that I did not learn was how to be creative in my writing. There may have been times when I decided what I got to write about but the structure always had to be to New York standards.

Since I did not learn how to be creative when it came to writing, I still have problems with it now. We talk about writing poems or writing pieces that come from feelings and thoughts. That is difficult for me to do because all of my pieces of writing I had to complete required facts and I could never say “I” in a paper. Also, I did learn to hate writing which means, I have to teach myself that it can be fun so I can model this for my students.

I do recall times in elementary school and middle school where writing was fun. This all came back to writing books. The books in elementary school were mostly based on facts. I wrote one on Egypt, another on polar bears, and finally one on myself. These books were fun though because I got to draw the pictures and decide what went in the book. In middle school, the book I wrote was all up to me. While doing this, I still had to edit and think about the different aspects of grammar but that seemed so insignificant because for once, I got to write about whatever I wanted. Again, in this book, I incorporated pictures as well as a dedication page and an about the author page. Besides those pieces of writing, I do not recall writing unless it was for the test.

I think it is extremely important for students to learn that writing can be fun. As a teacher, I worry how I am going to do this when there are so many pressures from the state and from the school districts. From what I have learned throughout this course, I believe that writing workshops might be the way I do this. I think that writing workshops do incorporate the structure that students need to learn how to take tests but also allow freedom so students can learn to enjoy writing.

Dear President

“The primary mission of the public schools is to make citizens.  What kind of citizens can we make if we regularly tell some students that they are less worthy, less deserving, and less likely to become full-fledged citizens who will know what it means to participate in a democratic, multicultural society?”

A Letter to Our Next President by Gloria Ladson-Billings, caught my attention because not only did I want to know what was said, but it also made me wonder if there were many other letters written to the president about education.  

One thing that caught my attention was comparing the achievement gap to educational debt and then later economic debt.  I am not in business and this metaphor made sense to me so I believe that it is something that could help people, not in education, understand this problem.  These metaphors helped me come to terms with the extent of the problem we have.  I could be the best teacher at having me students obtain good grades on the state tests but what does that really mean for education?  It may put a band aid on the problem but it does not diminish the achievement gap.  It also does not mean that these students learned anything to close this gap; it simply means that these students learned how to answer test questions.  

I liked that the Ladson-Billings brought American history.  We learn from our past and there is a lot of history within education which helped get us to where we are today.  She brings up how after the emancipation, African Americans did receive education but they used “cast-off” books and materials from White schools.  Also, in the south, African Americans went to school only four months out of the year because they were needed for farming.  Ladson-Billings believed contributed to the achievement gap.  This even still seems to be something that occurs in education today.  Primarily White schools have Smartboards and all the supplies that they could want or need while primarily African American schools have old books and much fewer supplies.  This just shows that we did not learn from our own history and changes need to be made.  

This article made it very clear to me, and should anyone else, that steps by our government need to be made to provide assistance to less fortunate schools.  It is not the test scores that matter is it the need for materials and the understanding of the government to be able to close the achievement gap and hopefully diminish some of the educational dept that America’s educational system has built up.  This will ultimately lead to the develop American citizens.   

Finding a Passion for Reading

This week I choice to read: What Motivates Students to Read?  For Literacy Personalities by Jill E. Cole.  The title of this immediately caught my attention because I was a student that was never really interested in reading or writing; I did what I had to do.  After I started reading the article I realized I was much like Mark.  I could tell that my teachers tried to get my interested in reading but it just was not working and still to this day, I have little motivation to read a book for leisure.  This may be because I am so busy and do not feel like I have time or because reading was difficult for me growing up.  If I do find a book that looks like it might be interesting to read, I read the first few pages and if that does not grasp my attention, I am done.  Because of this, I thought it would be great to find a way to help students like myself and this article seemed like one that would be beneficial.  

When it comes to reading, like anything else in education, students need to be looked at as individuals rather than as a class.  I believe this is something that is easier said than done for many teachers.  Teachers sometimes forget that students have different reasons for doing things.  Like this article pointed out, it is essential to find out what motivates each student to read and learn.  While I attended school, I noticed that some of my classmates strived to just make it while others wanted to go above and beyond.  What causes these different aspirations within different students?

Throughout the year teachers learn more and more about their students.  In doing this, they take this into consideration to help their student learn to their fullest potential.  I liked Cole’s suggestions because she realizes it is important to take into consideration each student’s interests while teaching the class as a whole.  

My favorite suggestion was taking in the opinions of the students.  This is an easy suggestion but something I believe does not happen often because is it is already difficult to fulfill all the requirements that teachers have.  I also have no recollection of it ever happening in my education and it is also something I did not originally think of doing.  While it something that can be difficult, I do believe there are ways to have students have more control over their education.  

Having students have control of their education would be most beneficial to students who already have little motivation to learn.  These students will feel ownership over their own learning which is the biggest motivator of all.  Often, learning feels like a chore because they either have no interest or they are being told what to do.  For students like Mark, I believe this would ultimately help them in their education.

It is essential for elementary teachers to show students that they can have fun reading and writing.  Students learn to either hate or love learning early on and the more students learn to love learning early on, the better off they will be when it comes to graduating, attending college, and enjoying things such as reading outside of the classroom.