Thoughts From the West

My college course is winding down.  The students are excited (and admittedly a bit apprehensive) as they approach their residency semester.  We've been concentrating on talking about teaching writing and yesterday we discussed the link between reading and writing.  In small groups the students presented on what we commonly think about as a reading skill and designed activities to then address the same skill in writing in a complementary manner.  We used oral language to discuss our favorite birthday memories and shared stories that sparked other ideas for detailing and sequencing.  We sketched a setting and then created a story to go along- real or exaggerated.  This resulted in me recalling my first dorm room on the very same campus and led to some later writing about some special memories.  One group talked about making inferences and how we tend to feel that this comes naturally in reading but we often forget that students have to be taught how to b...

I've been away attending the National Writing Project annual meeting and the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) Conference.  What a week it's been.  I met one of my teaching heroes.  I met an author.  I met an astronaut.  I met strangers who became friends.  I met teachers who care deeply about their classrooms.  I met pre-service teacher educators who share my passion for supporting our next generation of classroom teachers. There are many thoughts I leave with to take back and mull over.  Some are writing related and some are life related and aren't those interwoven anyway?  I traveled with my writing family.  I love this family we've built.  I don't think you could put four more different people together yet it works.  We complement each other and we forgive each other and we laugh at each other.  We share inside jokes and deep secrets and we feel safe doing so.  We are open to each other's shortcomin...

I had an interesting conversation with my students today.  We are finally talking about writing.  It's my favorite time of the semester.  Today I provided a quote about the importance of being able to write in order to be a productive citizen of the world.  They were to respond in their notebook their agreement or disagreement and then share. Such amazing discussion erupted.  What about the value of storytelling handed down over generations?  What do we value in a global society in terms of communication?  Does technology preclude us from writing and teaching handwriting?  I love these classes and I adore these students. The conversation about handwriting and being able to write "well" was the interesting part.  Yes, technology is advancing.  Students can be supported by talk to text programs that have greatly improved.  Students can have a scribe write for them and still communicate.  Students text at younger ages.  Stu...