I found the reading of Chapters 1 and 8 to really easy reads for me. The information was very easy to understand and very interesting. I felt as though Chapter 1 was a summarization of Dr. Boyce's class last semester. Honestly, I don't remember the name of the class but I do know we learned ALOT about strategies. Chapter 1 went into more depth on some strategies that I really enjoy. I am a huge fan of think-pair-shair. We did this alot in my high school social studies classroom, very similiar to the situations described in the book. I felt like it really encouraged the whole idea of a classroom community of learning. I also found it very interesting that the book somewhat broke down the content areas o give the reader a better understanding of the text that students were exposed to in those classrooms. That was very helpful.
Chapter 8 was also a great read and more of a newer concept to me. I know that student's obviously write when they are in the classroom. However, many students are constently writing and have absolutely no idea what they are writing. Whether it be copying notes from the board or looking up vocabulary words to write many students' writings stop there and there is no learnin connected to it. I enjoyed reading through the different strategies of incorporating writing into the classroom in unique ways. These strategies seemed promising in extending the students thinking past the "surface" of a question or writing prompt. In our high school we did the "what if" writing prompts and the style of them changed throughout each content area. For example, in our history class each day we had "what if" writing prompts. If we were studying WWII, Monday's prompt may have been "what if Japan would have attacked the continental US?" There were no wrong answers it was just open to interpretation. Another example being English/Literature class, "What if Juliet would have not taken the poison?" It just got our brains going about what the days lesson may be about.
I would like to pose to questions to my reading on strategies and writing in the classroom. Is there a such thing as too much writing? I know I can sometimes become complete bored with the writing process and if the student's do become unammused with the amount of writing in the classroom what are some ways to motivate these students to want to write to learn?
I agree with you, Jordan. I think that chapter 1 was a lot like Dr. Boyce's class. I too like the think-pair-share. It really helps to brainstorm and get a different view of topics. I enjoyed getting a better view of different writing strategies. Last semester was one of the first times I was even aware that such strategies exist. I look forward to trying a few out in my classroom. I also agree that a large number of students are not making proper connections to what they are writing. It is important to make those connections to each content area as described in chapter 8. I think that you can have too much writing. Sometimes people get too overwhelmed by all the writing and become disconnected. I think that writing should have a purpose and be meaningful. I also think that maybe you could draw their interest by allowing them to free write about what they love. They could even incorporate other means of writing by using drawings or computer programs that will spark their writing interests. The main focus should be just getting students to write regardless of what they are studying. Teachers need to show students that writing can be fun and educational.
ReplyDeleteJZ,
ReplyDeleteI would also like the answer to the question is there ever too much writing? I feel like I go off on tangents sometimes, but when I also feel like I have met a stopping point once my writing is complete. On the other hand of that I also have had times where I feel like I have no idea what I am writing about and will even sometimes put in parenthesis a question mark, because I will confuse myself. I agree that both chapters were really great reads and that ch. 1 was awesome because it was more in-depth about things we already know, but had new ways to apply them.