In this issue of Trends in the Teaching of Language Arts, I was forced to take a step back and look at my current language arts program. It was painful at times. Sometimes it was even heartbreaking to see that I was lacking so many intricate details that I felt could make or break a young, struggling writer. It is time to make a change and that is what this issue is all about.High stakes testing. Michigan Merit Curriculum. Writing to a prompt. These are the issues that today's middle grade teachers and students are faced with in today's public school systems. With everything so cut and dry, how do we keep writing real and make it meaningful so students will write with voice and passion? Three words: student-centered program.
Teaching Author's Craft
Good teachers don't just tell, they show. Giving students as many examples as possible of a writer using a certain technique helps the students be able to model the craft easier. Even more inspiring for students is seeing the teacher model techniques in her own writing, as well as providing examples of grade level student work. For so long, I have struggled with getting my students to imitate an author's style, and I am now realizing that it would have been so easy if they would have had examples to learn from!
Writer's Workshop
Writer's workshop entails many strategies and can be very effective when thoughtfully implemented in a classroom. The wonderful thing about writer's workshop is that I have seen it used a different way in every single classroom where it has been implemented. Some teachers go all out while others just take bits and pieces of the workshop idea and work them into their own writing program. The basic outline of the Writer's Workshop is outlined in a table by Steve Peha below:
A very important component of Writer's Workshop is conferencing with the student on his writing. This should be a time of writing-based dialog between student and teacher that is student centered and gives the student constructive critique on his work. The teacher briefly analyzes the work in order to lead the student toward accomplishing something that he close to but not quite there yet.
Writer's workshop is a great area for teachers to teach genre, bring in other content areas, and still leave choices up to the students. Examples of projects that could be used to teach genre in writer's workshop are expert books, magazines, poetry, autobiographies, memoirs and so much more!
Student Self-Evaluation
Once the students have seen good writing, modeled it, and put writer's crafts to the test in their own writing, it's time to assess. There is no better way for students to see growth in their writing than by having them self-assess. A good way to tie this into the 6+1 Traits system is to have the students score their own writing using a rubric provided by the teacher. This allows them to analyze their own writing AND back up their reasoning using examples from their text. When assessing for student growth, it is helpful to have the students assemble portfolios of their best work. An initial piece at the beginning of the year is added to produce a baseline. Students then choose pieces that show improvement in a goal area for them; the use of portfolios allows students who may struggle be proud of their work and say, "Wow! Look what I can do now!"
"Ok, I know the steps, but I'm scared to walk"
The best way to begin making a language arts program more student-centered is to take small steps. If I were to try to change my the look of my whole year right away, the results might be disastrous. My suggestion to fellow teachers is to choose two things to implement right away, and add more as the year progresses and things become easier. My two first steps are to start Writer's Workshop and a class portfolio system. In my own personal life, I have begun writing whenever I can. If I want my students to be passionate about their writing, I need to have that same passion. Several years ago, I felt a spark of passion. I was a young, pre-service teacher eager to soak up knowledge, so I bought every book that was suggested to me about teaching children. Somewhere in my memory, Wonderous Words by Katie Wood Ray sat on a coffee table collecting dust. It is time now to unpack the book from its cardboard box of memories, blow off the dust, and start walking with the experts towards a better language arts program. Who knows, maybe I'll even start to run with it!
Resources
Graphics:
http://www.sagetosummit.com/images/sage_runner.jpg
http://www.ttms.org/PDFs/05%20Writers%20Workshop%20v001%20(Full).pdf
Information:
Michigan Reading Association, Writing Intention: Prompting Professional Learning Through Student Work. Grand Rapids: Words Plus Design, 2007.
