First, I have to say that I loved these three
chapters. Both authors are extremely inspirational and really demonstrate
how their classrooms function. In other classes, I have been told about
the importance of meaningful writing and assignments, but have rarely seen what
those look like in a real classroom. I can definitely see myself
referencing these texts over and over again when I become a teacher.
What I liked about the Gallagher chapter most was
his "tenet" that teachers are not superman. While reading his
work, I loved all of the strategies he mentioned and truly admired him as a
teacher, as well as his classroom. However, I could not help but be
overwhelmed by it all, especially when thinking about all of those strategies
happening in the same classroom at the same time. I liked that he said it
was okay to fail at some things, and one of the golden lines I took from this
chapter was "learning how to teach writing is a process itself"(p.
153).
I also really enjoyed his emphasis on mid-process grading.
It seems like a very obvious thing to do, but in my own experience in
school, I almost never saw it in practice. I also appreciated the
"Golden Line" and "I Like..." activities, because they
really ask the students to think positively about others' work as well as their
own. I think that Gallagher and Christensen both agree that
"asset-based" language when looking at student writing is what keeps
students engaged and excited about improving.
Gallagher does a great job of using analogies that
students would understand to help them recognize their own errors. The
football commentator analogy and color-coding were really interesting, and I
think they would both be extremely effective, relatable, and manageable for
students. My biggest takeaways from this chapter were the grammar guides
and independent correction sheets. I can absolutely see myself using both
of those in my classroom someday. I think the grammar guides give
students a way to take responsibility of their own learning, and they tailor
the learning to meet individual needs. I think as teachers we strive to
tailor learning to individuals, but it can be overwhelming when their are
hundreds of students to attend to. The grammar guides and independent
corrections sheets ask students to do the bulk of the work instead of forcing
the teacher to come up with long grammar lessons that take time away from the
writing process.
The Christensen chapters had some of the same
principles as Gallagher's. I especially was interested in the "patterns
of error" that she talked about and I liked how she has the students
discover and generate grammar rules for themselves. Any opportunity to
avoid handing out a worksheet or asking students to memorize a list of rules is
going to be more genuine and meaningful for them as learners.
As someone who finds Emergent Bilingual Education
to be fascinating, I loved the section where she talked about conventions of
the home language. I had honestly never heard of the AAVE, but it was so
eye-opening to realize that teachers (including myself) can be so quick to
label student language/writing as wrong. After reading this chapter, I
agree that it is vital for teachers to understand their students' home language
conventions, even on a basic level, to recognize how their writing is
developing, and WHY they write in a certain way (when it deviates from Standard
English). I loved how she called these "logical errors,"
because even though they are errors, as they are incorrect in the context
of Standard English, they are also logical, because they reflect
translation from/understanding of a student's native language. I noticed
even in my personal life, that my boyfriend's father, who can only speak some
English, will make grammatical errors in his speech often. However these
"errors" are very logical, because with my basic knowledge of
Spanish, I can clearly see why he is making the error. He follows the
conventions of his language and translates them to English.
Finally, I liked Christensen's description of grading as
"wages" in the classroom, because that is exactly what they are.
I thought about how at work, most people do the requirements set by their
specific boss to earn a wage and then forget about it once they go home.
When we do this in schools, students will simply find out what their
specific teacher wants, do that for their "wage," and not think about
their writing again. We as teachers need to make the classroom a place
for growth and improvement, and putting all of the emphasis on grading limits that
growth.
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