Entry #10: Something Worth 'Blessing, Addressing, or Pressing'

Thinking back to Hicks (2009) model for peer response, I have found another post that I found would be worth blessing, addressing and pressing. Peer feedback has always been difficult for me to provide to my classmates. This process can be extremely helpful and something I need to get used to because of my chosen teaching profession. As a teacher, you are always required to give feedback whether it be to myself, my coworkers or my students. This concept is always something I could work on improving as a way to become the best educator I can possibly be. In this post, I have chosen to give feedback on 'Entry #9: How can teachers promote biographical writing in the classroom setting?' written by my peer, Catherine Tighe (https://catherinetighe-lted618-spring2019.blogspot.com ). I think Catherine did a wonderful job discussing the power of teaching the genre of biographies to improve students' reading and writing skills. In this Written Expression course, each class member was required to teach a workshop on a specific genre. The genre I was required to teach about was biographies. Because I consider myself an 'expert' on this genre, it was so interesting to see how others viewed this particular genre. 

Bless 
I enjoyed that Catherine began her post by bringing in her own personal insights on the biographical genre. She discusses how young children are egocentric as they explore the world around them. She goes on to state how teachers can use this to their advantage to teach their students about creating their own autobiographies pieces. Also, I agree with Catherine on her stance that early writers should spend lots of time writing about themselves to create an authentic and developmentally appropriate experience. I liked the connection that Catherine made between Autobiographical Life Boxes and Show and Tell experiences. Both of these activities are a great way for students to become more comfortable with learning how to share their ideas and their writing pieces to others appropriately. I thought it was beneficial that Catherine took the time to pinpoint which elements of Author's Craft (ex. presentation and organization) could be developed or strengthen throughout Tompkins (2019) concept of creating Biography posters. Lastly, I loved how Catherine added a link within her post to an outline that could be used to create 'Me' quilts, another instructional activity students could use to support their understanding of autobiographies. Overall, I think Catherine's post was well-thought out and organized as she continued to integrate Tompkins ideas with her own opinions. 

https://www.scholastic.com/teachers/unit-plans/teaching-content/unit-plan-writing-autobiography/

Address
It would be interesting to find out the ways the Catherine might use these biographical instructional strategies/activities in her own classroom. In what ways might you implement these learning experiences? Are there any strategies that Tompkins offered that you believe would not be beneficial for helping your students farther their understanding of this specific genre? Catherine's post talks a lot about autobiographies. I wonder if Catherine would spend time teaching her students about the 3 other types of life stories including: biographies, memoirs or personal narratives or just autobiographies? Would it depend on the grade level and/or students interests and strengths? When considering author's craft, like Catherine did for the Tompkins biographical activities, could you make an argument that most of these instructional methods offered in the biographical writing chapter could touch upon developing all of the different elements found in an author's craft? 

Press 
I thought Catherine did a fantastic job being a critical thinker while she wrote about the importance of learning about the biographical genre. It was hard for me to brainstorm possible critical questions to help Catherine move toward a stronger version of her opinion because I feel like she already stated it very well. One thought I had for Catherine would be to compare and contrast the biographical genre to the other genres she has previously learned about. What strengths or weaknesses does this genre provide that others do/do not provide for diverse readers and writers? 

References 

Tompkins, G. E.  (2019).  Teaching writing:  Balancing process and product (7^th ed.).  Upper Saddle River, NJ:  Merrill. 

Entry 8: 'Address' That Feedback

Over the past couple of days, I have spent some time looking at my peers' blog posts. It has been a wonderful experience to see how my classmates react and respond to different educational research and readings. I have found a number of similarities and differences within the professional opinions shared my peers. This is what is so great about the field of teaching, I am always being exposed to opportunities where I am able to collaborate, receive feedback and acquire new skills/strategies that can be applied to my own classroom. On the other hand, it is also important to know how to appropriately provide feedback to others. Hicks (2009) provides his audience with the National Writing Project's model for giving peer feedback. Within this feedback, it important: to bless, to address, and to press a given text you would like to respond to. 

www.ssgt.nsw.edu.au/documents/2practices_feedback.pdf

To Bless: While these keeping these feedback points in mind, I would like to dedicate this post to respond and expand upon one of my classmates specific posts. Anna Jackson's 'Blog 4: Instructional Strategies' entry really stuck out to me (https://jacksonsp18writing.blogspot.com/ ). Anna offers a number of great ideas and insight on the importance of instructional strategies to help improve own learning experiences. Within this post, she discusses how she uses the headings, subtitles and explanations to inform and organize her thinking for a given text. She also turns the headings into questions to reflect on later in the reading. This is a reading strategy that I had never considered before but I am definitely going to try this to see if it helps me get more out of the texts I am reading. I agree that this strategy would help me to become a more active reader. I love how Anna discussed the importance of making connections while engaging in reading or writing activity. In my own personal experiences, I am also making different types of connections to clarify my understanding of a particular text. Lastly, I really enjoyed Anna's discussion on the importance of reflecting on her work (NCT, 2011). I am still learning how to appropriately critique my own work through the process of writing lesson reflections and evaluations. Especially in the world of teaching, it is critical to reflect in order to improve my daily lessons and instructional experiences for my students.    

To Address: As I was reading this blog entry, I also had some questions I would like to ask Anna. When you were discussing your habits of mind, you said you wanted to become more sensitive to the texts you are reading. Can you define what you mean by that? In what ways, do you plan on becoming more sensitive while engaging in reading and writing tasks? You also stated that you wanted to 'take risks by exploring questions that are unfamiliar to you'. What would be an example of a risk taking question? 

To Press: Overall, I really enjoyed reading Anna's post blog! She offered a lot of wonderful ways that has learned to improve her reading and writing skills. There is just one critical question I would offer Anna as a way to 'move toward a stronger version or a clearer explanation of her opinion' (Hicks, 2013, p. 83). This question would be: How do all of these instructional strategies you offered in your blog post #4 inform your classroom instruction? In what ways can you make these strategies accessible for all of your students? 

https://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/peer-feedback-tips

References

Hicks, T. (2013).  Crafting digital writing.  Portsmouth, NH:  Heinemann.

Council of Writing Program Administrators, National Council of Teachers of English, & National Writing Project. (2011). Framework for success in postsecondary writing.  Retrieved from http://wpacouncil.org/framework/

Reading/Writing Blog Entry #6

Dear Dr. Jones,

I am thoroughly enjoying this written expression class! This course is very different from any class I have ever taken throughout my college career. I appreciate that this course allows me as a student to have the freedom to write openly about how I feel about specific topics relating to the world of education but also about my own experiences as I become a more developed writer. I love the concept of having writing conference groups. I find it very beneficial to have peers that I trust critiquing my work and giving me useful feedback on ways to improve my writing. These blogs provide me with the time to reflect on what I am reading and take note of any particular takeaways I want to remember to enhance my own writing development. The blogs also provide me with diverse ways to help my students become empowered writers.

I have never had the opportunity to really dissect all of the different genres. This class digs deeper on what it entails to write successfully in a number of genres. My favorite part of this class so far is the genre pieces project. It is amazing that I am given the opportunity to write about a topic that is actually important to me. I can’t recall a time where I have been able to write about something I am extremely passionate about since high school. Being able to take on different perspectives for this assignment truly has allowed me to see my chosen topic from multiple viewpoints. Lastly, I like that this class is providing me with tools specifically related to digital writing. Especially in today’s society, technology plays such a crucial role in a student’s learning process. It is beneficial to see the appropriate ways to integrate these online tools to enhance a student’s school experiences.

Throughout this course, I am learning more about my writing habits of mind. My metacognitive abilities have developed and strengthen throughout this course. Because of these blogs, I am able to reflect on my own thinking, more specifically how I have changed as a writer. I have also developed new rhetorical knowledge during this course. Now, I have more of an awareness on the purpose of my writing. While I am prewriting, I take the time to think about who my audience is and plan the context accordingly. I am also experiencing what it is like to compose in a number of different environments (Council of Writing Program Administrators, National Council of Teachers of English, & National Writing Project, 2011). Through the works of Hicks (2013) I am becoming more knowledgeable about what it takes to successfully create digital texts whether that be through web-based texts or online presentations. I have cultivated a number of skills and strategies that will allow myself to better explain to my students what makes an online text reliable or not. For example, the power of integrating hyperlinks within online texts that are not distracting but can provide readers with appropriate background information (p. 52). Another helpful example would be the tips provided on all the ways to make an online presentation ‘sticky’ or exciting for all viewers (p. 62).

All of the instructional strategies Tompkins (2019) offers throughout her chapters are noteworthy. Specifically, I found the revising and editing centers in chapter 1 to be engaging and innovative activities. These centers can hold students accountable for improving their writing within their own terms. I plan to add many of these given strategies or techniques to my strategy toolbox to use for future reading or writing lessons.

Sincerely,

Denise Holmes

References

Council of Writing Program Administrators, National Council of Teachers of English, & National Writing Project. (2011). Framework for success in postsecondary writing.Retrieved from http://wpacouncil.org/framework/

Hicks, T. (2013).  Crafting digital writing. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.

Tompkins, G. E.  (2019).  Teaching writing:  Balancing process and product (7^th ed.).Upper Saddle River, NJ:  Merrill.