Chapter 14 Statements

Tori's Statements:

• "Students completed writing tasks in three areas: narrative writing, informative writing, and persuasive writing."
• These are the three categories of writing that students grade 4 through 12 need to work on. Narrative writing is focusing on telling a story. Informative writing is to engage and give information. Lastly, persuasive writing is just that, persuasive.
• "In the last 30 years, there have been several significant changes in writing instruction in schools."
• This "change" includes the testing of student's writing, what types of writing are being taught and given much attention, and also how writing is being taught. Four areas received a lot of attention: process of writing, the effects of writing on learning, the reading-writing connection, and the use of software and word processors to write.
• "Digital media and writing are a match made in heaven..."
• I think that this quote stuck out to me because of the opportunities technology has offered the classroom when it comes to writing. Word processor, blogs, websites, etc. All of these things can be used as creative outlets in the classroom. I want to make sure to use these technologies at hand to the fullest when I become a teacher.

Tyler's Statements:
"Instead of trying to shy away from digital media, we need to learn about it, use it, and help our students use it well."
Technology is here to stay, so let's embrace it! We need to teach the students to make the most out of what they are given. The world of digital media opens a whole new world of ways students can make and share content.

"In the editing stage, strategies must scaffold skills toward independent editing. Teachers sometimes fall into the mistake of doing all the editing for students, who then simply recopy or retype the work without thinking about the changes that are required."
One way that I would combat this in my classroom is to read over the students rough draft and only correct one of each kind of mistakes that I see. Once I do this I will instruct the students that they need to re-read their work and look for those types of errors.

"The advent of such assistive technologies as the Neo2 and the iPad 2 has made technological adaptations affordable and accessible to many students who may have lacked access to writing in the past."
Coming from someone who has an iPad, it is a great tool for learning. It makes writing and editing papers a breeze. With special apps there is an even better opportunity for students to advance their writing abilities.

Jenna's Statements:

• "Your role is to advocate for equitable use of technology in all schools and remain fluent in using emerging digital technologies. This means continuing your training once you are a teacher, and remembering that the best teachers are always learning."
• Desiring to work in a low income school I realize that majority of these schools will not have the same assess to the amount of technology as other schools. However, advocating for better and making the best use of what is provided is something I need to aim to do.
• "Writer's workshop-a component of balanced literacy-is a model that emphasizes using class time for a brief minilesson on a topic of use to the majority of the class, independent writing time, and independent writing time, and individual writing conferences with the teacher every few days to check progress on a writing project.
• I really like this idea for a writer's workshop. As the chapter points out that it aligns very well with differentiated instruction which is huge! I also like that the students meet with the teacher one-on-one through out the workshop.
• "Instead, we should teach students that there is a time and a place for all language usage, what those times and places are, and how to switch back and forth."
• I think this is an important one to remember! Language will be huge when working with higher grades because students will have all developed their own different lingos to fit in. Therefore, remembering to teach what language to use in what settings before punishing students for the use of incorrect language is critical in my opinion.

Courtney's Statements

• "The mistake schools have often made is to tell students that the only right way to talk and write is conventional English.."
• I need to keep in mind that it is my responsibility to teach my students the circumstances in which it is appropriate to use different forms of language. Standard English is not the only language to communicate in. I need to remember that one's background influences the language one speaks.
• "... just as with reading, it is important that all students are seen as literate and capable of expressing themselves through writing."
• Students need to be fluent in writing because  there will always be circumstances in which they need to write. They will all need to be literate in writing in order to communicate with others.
• "Remember that not all students will have access to a computer outside of school, and not all students will be fluent users of technology without direct instruction."
• It is easy to take for granted that all students know how to use technology in our technology rich age. There will always be some children who are not as influenced by technology and as a teacher I need to keep up to date with all the new technologies so that I can pass that information on to my students.

Alex's Statements:

“Many students struggle with revision and redrafting.”

This statement stood out to me because it is a fact that teachers have to deal with. Students do not enjoy revising their paper; they barely enjoy writing it in the first place. They also have a hard time correcting it if proper feedback was not given. It is hard to re-do something when you do not understand what is wrong with it in the first place.

“Being able to produce writing through typing instead of hand writing can defuse barriers to writing that emerge for students who do not have good fine-motor control for writing in pen or pencil.”

Technology has become such a significant part of teaching. A lot of students have a hard time expressing their thoughts and writing them down. Sometimes typing can be easier for them and helps them produce better work. However, I think it can make it more difficult as well. Some students cannot type as quickly as they can write so if they are timed then they are put at a great disadvantage.

“The model of writing instruction you use in your classroom may be determined by the school district.”

I never realized how much of an impact the school district had when it came to instruction of writing. I learned about different writing curricula which was interesting to me. Depending on where you teach, determines how you teach students to write. This produces diverse writing styles in students across the states.