In The Middle

Atwell begins her text book with her own story. I like the way that she does this because it shows us how she grew and changed as a teacher throughout her career. She talks about learning to focus on the students' learning, rather than her teaching which I think is an extremely important thing for all of us to consider.

I don't know about the rest of you, but I have this dream image of this dream classroom with these dream students who love completing my dream assignments. In all reality, what I think the students will love and take to is probably a far stretch from what in reality they will like to do.

This shows that we all need to be receptive of our students, and not forget to make sure we aren't losing kids because there is a gap in our "systems." Probably my favorite thing that Atwell said the whole chapter was on the seventh page; "I assigned topics because I believed that most kids were so intimidated by expressing themselves on paper that they wouldn't write without a prompt, and because I believed that direction and structure from the teacher was necessary to write well." [emphasis mine] We study so many ways to teach and become passionate about them before we ever enter the classroom that we believe that they are tested, tried and true for every child in our future classrooms. While this is true for some students, other students like Atwell's example "Jeff" broke the mold for her, and made it clear that what she believed and reality were two very different things.

With this experience and others, Atwell shapes for us the building blocks of her career and shows very plainly (in the not difficult to read or understand sense of the word) her personal evolution as an English teacher teaching writing.

Erin

Jesus Land

Wow what a compelling story! I've only read the first 60 pages and I'm having a really hard time putting it down to go to class! I really like how the author uses the main storyline, and then throws in--more like, expertly places in-- background of the relationship between David and Julia.

I feel so much hurt for both characters in the story because I remember how tough high school is, and being a new kid or both a "brown" kid and a new kid would be so difficult. I feel like I am experiencing Julia's story with her, and this is how you know she has written a beautiful story of her experiences.

I can't wait to keep reading!

Erin

Thanks for the idea to post a picture of the text Joyce!

A Community of Writers by Zemelman and Daniels (the god of Lit Circles) is a textbook designed, in my opinion, to encourage the "inner-writers" in all students to flourish. As a teacher it is our responsibility to recognize that each each of our students "want to write, can write, and do write" on some level (3). So far, what I have gotten out of this text is the process that teachers can use to engage junior and senior high school students in writing projects. The authors also discuss the paradigm they use, called "process writing" and describe it as a more liberal approach to previous "old/traditional" views of writing in the ELA classroom.

Zemelman and Daniels also focus on this process, rather than the end result, as part of a learning and growing experience that should be shared and encouraged rather than something that should be taught and evaluated (18). I think this text has a lot of ideas about the writing process that could be useful to us as teachers, the more I read the more I like their ideas about the evolution of writing. Since 1988, however, I am sure that there are even more approaches to the writing process that can be applied to students in a modern 21st century classroom that are not included in this text. I look forward to reading on, and discussing how we can adapt some of Zemelman and Daniels' ideas to our work.

Time For Meaning, Randy Bomer

The textbook I'm reading is called Time for Meaning: Crafting Literate Lives in Middle and High School.

Bomer describes at first how the job of the ELA teacher is very fragmented; between SAT prep, letter writing, Grammar, Speech, popular culture, poetry, novels, word processing- how are we supposed to get to everything in a limited amount of time?

This is something I've been thinking about recently as I've been looking forward to lesson planning. How much time should I devote to, say, spelling? Should I make vocabulary building a time-waster, or should it be included in another larger topic? Is there any point in forcing students to read Shakespeare? (Other than that those texts are available.)

The short answer is: we can't get to everything. SO, what will we choose as our teaching strategies?

The Art of Teaching Writing by LM Calkins

The Calkins text that I am reviewing is targeted toward elementary age students and the habits they should develop early on in their writing lives. When I was first assigned this text, I will admit that I felt slightly disappointed by Calkins' focus on younger students rather than 7 - 12 ELA students. However, I must say that the book has grown on me!

Calkins focuses on the importance of journals in classrooms, which is certainly reminiscent of Nancy Atwell and something we have all heard before. What is new with her discussion, however, is the focus on specific journal content. Calkins suggests that we encourage students to write small "threads" in their notebooks, which can be simple daily observations, or small questions that run through their minds, such as, "I wonder if a tulip can fill itself up with water when it rains outside." These small bits do not need to be connected to other "paragraphs on the page", nor do students need to worry about filling an entire page with babble.

Calkins uses the example of one author who gets writing inspiration from signs on city buses, or by observing a child lifting up the dress of a doll to see its underwear. Small observations like these prove to be great threads for future stories, and so students should develop the habit of capturing these kinds of moments in a notebook. Rarely have I heard a teacher say to write down a small description of our own isolated moments of pondering, because it might turn into a great novel a few years from now. Mostly, I have heard teachers say, "Write something, anything, and no one will read it but you." I agree with Calkins (and others) that this kind of message signals to students that writing is unimportant, unworthy to be shared with others, and pointless.

Introducing writing in journals as a "collection of bits" lets students know that the work of a writer is constantly happening throughout the day. Writing can happen in the mind when we are inspired by small things we see and do. I think this is writerly life, learned early. -Sofia

My Text Book: Preparing to Teach Writing

I have been looking over the text book I was assigned to read and do my report on. The title is Preparing To Teach Writing: Research, Theory, and Practice by James D. Williams. Just by flipping through the book, I can see that this will be a great resource for us as teachers and aide us in helping our students become better writers. I starts out with kind of a history of writing, going through older styles/time periods. It then goes through models for teaching writing, writing workshops, grammar and writing, and some other chapters which will be very helpful in teaching composition. Once I divulge more into the text I will keep you updated!

Jesus Land by Julia Scheeres

I finished reading Julia Scheeres memoir over the weekend and I am still feeling the powerful effects of her journey.   Julia's life story is a chilling reminder of how racism and abuse are still rampant in our society.  Her personal approach to the horrors that she lived through shatter the traditional Christian "values" that her parents (attempted to) imposed upon her.   I also felt a strange affinity to the setting because it was set during the time I grew up.   From Duran Duran to The Police, the music took me back to what I saw as the carefree eighties.  However,  Scheeres' childhood was far from carefree.   The racism she experienced after David and Jerome were adopted into the family was sometimes even painful to read.  Furthermore, the descriptive abuse to the boys in the tool shed and the pole barn are gripping.  Not to mention the mental and sexually abuse she suffered at the hands of her brother (Jerome) and mostly her mother.  WOW!  Scheeres truly had a difficult upbringing to say the least.    As if life in Indiana was not tough enough, the stories of the grueling years at Escuela Carribe are wrought with poignancy.  Scheeres' descriptive accounts made me feel the Dominican landscape.  From her trips to the orphanage with David to the Thanksgiving "festivities" Scheeres transports the reader into her personal experiences.  I could not but this book down!  I can not wait to hear from her in person.  Thank you for recommending this book.  I will not spoil it for those of you who have not finished it, but be prepared to be shocked and moved by this memoir.