In Search of a Writing Life

I've never been much of a diary writer or a journal keeper.  I definitely have desk drawers full of failed efforts, where I've never made it much past the page full of New Year's resolutions.  I used to think that I just wasn't a creative writer, but after taking a Creative Writing class in college, I think it's more that it's hard work on my part and that it's never been highly valued by teachers during my school career.  In addition, I think that most aspects of creativity related to reading and writing are lacking once students get to high school.  While I don't think that "book reports" are always helpful for engaging with texts and assessing reading comprehension, I really enjoyed the creative aspect of book reports in elementary and middle school.  But once I got to high school, there seemed to be no place for that creativity.  Instead, I was taught a specific five paragraph form within which to rangle my ideas, and writing about and engaging with texts was all analytical.  (I do remember one project where I wrote some journal entries in the voice of Yossarian from Catch-22--loved it.)

I think that the focus on all "good" writing being academic analyses caused me to think that creative writing was somehow a lesser form of writing, and I didn't want to "waste" my time on it.  However, I think that a lot of the articles we read for this week actually show that being aware of how to utilize and write in different genres (creative writing!) is helpful for the real world as well as for discussions on the how and why of different genres (as noted in Whitney, Ridgeman, and Masquelier).  Also, one of the most important aspects of writing, at least that I think, is being aware of audience; creative writing, at least in the sense of multigenre projects, forces students to really think through who they're writing to and for what purpose.  As noted in the Whitney article, students should be able to "take ownership of their writing as a tool for social life" (2011, p. 533).  We don't want students to think that the only purpose of having a literate or writing life is to do well in school.  We need to show them that good writing skills are important for having a rich, communicative life.

So, I am glad that we are taking part in a multigenre composition.  It's good to know what we're asking our students to do and note any problems that we come up against: "[B]y becoming writers themselves, teachers would better understand the composing process and use these newfound insights to work more effectively with their students" (Cohen, 2004, p. 120). But also, I think it's good practice for teachers to have a writing life beyond putting comments on student papers.  If we encourage our students to write, they need to see that we practice what we teach.  I think it will definitely be a stretch for me, but becoming a better writer is something that I definitely want to work on.  Even writing this blog is a good practice for me because even though I keep things mostly academic, there's a different voice that I get to use and hone.  I mean, my grandpa wrote an epic poem about his father a few years ago; I really have to flex my Homeric skills if I want to show him up.

MC Grammar

So, I'll admit it.  I actually had a difficult time reading Bomer's chapter on language and grammar because, at heart, I am a grammar nazi.  As much as I attempt to resist the chains of commas and misplaced modifiers, I am a rules follower by nature, and I actually like the structure that "proper" grammar affords me.  Or maybe it's really because following grammar rules is more like a secret game that I play (I love to win, and I love playing games that guarantee my victory--I like to think that more times than not, I am winning the grammar games).  So, while a lot of what Bomer presented on talking about language as more of a linguistic structure makes sense, it will still be tough for me not to want to mark obvious grammatical mistakes.  I've seen teachers in a community college setting that do mark all over their students' papers, and I know what happens--the students feel overwhelmed with the bleeding ink everywhere (even if the ink is purple or something) and they don't even attempt to decipher what the teacher has probably spent hours marking.  And if it doesn't work in higher education, it will probably not work in a high school setting.

The problem with avoiding grammar to talk about language development and structure is that it's a whole area that is supposed to be covered, according to the TEKS.  They try to pretend like they're not addressing grammar by calling it "oral and written conventions," but it's there.  ("Writing legibly" is also under this TEKS subheading, just fyi.)  And in a way, I agree with them.  I hate sounding like an old school rule follower, but I've seen the difference that it makes when people know how to correctly use punctuation.  Their resumes look sharper, their college essays look smarter, and their professional e-mails look, well, professional.  I realize that a lot of grammatical conventions are silly.  Who even came up with some of these rules?  And they're always changing, which makes knowing the rules seem untenable.  However, when you clue your students into these little details, I think that you're showing your students the "hidden curriculum."  You're helping them to use the dominant culture's tools for exclusion to their advantage.  And how can that hurt your students, as long as they know where these so-called rules are coming from?

There is a problem with time constraints, though.  There is so much material to cover in a class period that there doesn't seem to be any extra time for teaching "finer" points of grammar, even when those "conventions" are required to be covered by the TEKS.  Also, for students who are still working to use and understand the English language, grammar rules seem to be a little beside the point.  This is all to say: Randy Bomer, bless your heart, but I still think grammar has a place.

For anyone who's interested, I think that the grammatical problem that I explain the most often in a tutoring session is the dreaded comma splice.  Most people think that the phrase means that there's a comma in a place where it's not supposed to go, and I have to get into a discussion of the frailty of a comma all on it's own, stuck between two complete, heavy sentences.  So please, don't leave that comma hangin'.

P.S. I went to another football game this past Friday night.  REAGAN WON!  I think it's their second win this season, which is probably more games won than the last four years combined.  As weird as it sounds, I think it really boosts school morale.  I never thought that sports were that important, but now that I'm in Texas high school football land, I am experiencing the seriousness afforded to the almighty pigskin.  I shouted, jeered, and cheered on the bleachers with the rest of 'em, though.  When in East Austin...GO RAIDERS!

Clear Eyes, Full Hearts, Can't Lose

I went to my first high school football game in Texas this past Friday.  I had pretty big expectations, mostly due to the show Friday Night Lights, and I wasn't let down.  One of the students in the class I'm observing informed me that he had just been moved up to the Varsity team, and he wanted me to watch him play.  Even though I was planning on being there to watch him, I thought that he probably wouldn't get much on-field time, simply because he'd be one of the younger players.  I was wrong--he was part of every offensive play.  And he definitely played his heart out.  Though they lost, they played hard; I was really proud of him and my adopted school.  I even saw three of my students there!  (I was greeted with "Hey, Miss!" a few times.)  For more background information on Reagan's football history, check out this 10 minute clip from Sports Illustrated's series on Underdogs.  Apparently, Reagan used to be the top high school in Texas football in the '60s and '70s; in recent years, the team has struggled to win any games, due in large part to the change in the area's shift in population and economic status.  This new push to reinvigorate Reagan's football team brings me to one of the most important concepts that Beers talks about in When Kids Can't Read: confidence.

Beers notes that we can help students become more skilled readers, but more than anything else, we have to find a way to re-instill (or just instill) a sense of confidence in our students of their abilities.  My CT has definitely emphasized the need for affirming students, but I like that Beers goes further and looks at the role of the classroom as a whole.  We can't view our students apart from the classroom environment, or even the school environment.  We have to improve the climate of the classroom environment so that it nurtures each individual on his or her journey towards reading improvement.  In addition, I think that the entire school needs to be a safe place for students, or at least promote itself as such.

First, Beers states that teachers should not "dumb down" the level of materials that they teach.  Instead, they should provide lots of scaffolding so that students can work their way through more complex texts.  I think this is true, as long as we keep in mind that more complex texts can still be interesting.  Also, if we are teaching these more complex texts, we should realize that it may take longer to get through some books than anticipated.  (Perhaps this should be true of higher-level classes as well--as we know at this point, being a faster reader doesn't mean being a better reader.)

Next, Beers emphasizes the importance of a classroom that encourages risk.  She provides one seemingly simple solution: that students should know each other's names.  However, I've noticed in a couple of classrooms that I've observed that students don't, in fact, know their classmates.  When putting students in pairs, my CT has called out names to be together, and a couple of students quickly said, "Who?"  How can we expect students to want to participate with one another when they haven't even figured out everyone's names?

Also, she states that teachers shouldn't tolerate put-downs.  This seems like the toughest part of creating a safe classroom environment.  I would say that a large part of the communication that I've witnessed among students has been comprised of sarcasm and put-downs.  It would be difficult to eradicate such a large aspect of students' communication style.  Maybe if the students decided on rules of conversation at the beginning of the year, it would be easier to enforce; otherwise, if I rang a bell every time someone said something negative, I would be ringing all day long...and these students are pretty good at tuning out what they don't want to hear.  I think providing this safe environment for students is a process that both the teacher and the students have to actively work on.

For right now, I'm glad to be at Reagan High School.  I get to witness this time of rebuilding confidence, and maybe even be a part of it.  They're rebuilding confidence in athletics and slowly rebuilding confidence in academics.  Though I'm not sure that some of the students in the school, and even in my class, believe that they can move past the label of "struggling readers and writers" or even "failing school, " Kylene Beers so aptly notes: "You must believe for them" (280).

Books and Beers

Though the first three chapters of Kylene Beers’ book When Kids Can’t Read seem pretty basic, they set up some situations in the classroom that I hadn’t even considered before.  Even in the class I’m observing, which includes a lot of students who don’t speak English as their first language, I haven’t noticed any students who are having major difficulties with reading or refuse to read.  This may be due to the fact that I haven’t witnessed any major reading assessments yet.  We’ve mostly been focused on writing abilities, so I’m interested to see if any of the more basic reading problems come up (such as issues with reading for comprehension). The one reading “problem” that seems to have already been addressed in the classroom is the issue of not wanting to read.  My CT has implemented independent reading time, during which students can pick out any book they want to read.  This may not solve all problems—they are still easily distracted from their books, and I can’t assume that every student has magically discovered the exact genre of book that they like to read and that they will continue to read.  However, Thursday’s reading time was pretty amazing.  Every student in class was engrossed in what they were reading, and all you could hear was the rustle of turning pages for at least 25 minutes.  This was the first independent reading session all semester that all students actually utilized fully.

One particularly timely point that Beers discusses in chapter 3 is how classroom teachers (or, more likely, schools) can’t fix reading problems by buying into a particular program.  During our last class in Adolescent Literacy, people who were observing at Akins High School talked about the new lexile program that was supposed to be utilized in the classroom; there seemed to be numerous difficulties with how the program decided “higher” readers from “lower” readers, as well as the intersection of the lexile program with reading for enjoyment.  I thought to myself at the time, well, good thing that I’m at a high school that doesn’t employ these measures.  I could see it really getting in the way of that sacred independent, purely choice-driven reading time.  And then I arrived at school on Tuesday.

It seems that lexile programs are now being implemented throughout AISD.  My CT was distraught over the numerous requirements that had been introduced during a faculty meeting the previous day.  She was worried about what the program would mean for her students’ independent reading time, and there was also talk of an incentive program to get students to read (by incentives, I don’t just mean a pizza party; I mean discussions about a four-wheeler).  While I’m not sure about the efficacy of the lexile program just yet, I’m sure it is well intentioned.  A teacher does want to make sure that her students are not overwhelming themselves with difficult reading material, and she also wants to ensure that they are challenging themselves with texts that are at the higher end of their current reading abilities.  However, as Beers points out, there is no guarantee that this program will succeed in all classroom situations.  Why?  Because “teachers—not programs—are the critical element in a student’s success” (Beers 38).

I’m actually glad to have the opportunity to see the initial stages of a district-wide reading program because the enforcement of programs like this one seems to be a common occurrence in public schools.  I want to see how my CT deals with using the program in a manner that will work in her classroom setting, or even how my CT deals with the program when it doesn’t work.  I’m sure I’ll have a lot to say about the program in the near future, so I’ll get back to you on that one. One student in the class I’m observing finished two books in a week, when he had previously never read a whole book on his own.  I can’t say whether or not the books were in his lexile range, but I can attest for the reaction from the rest of the class—they seemed to be encouraged in their reading efforts as well.  Maybe we should expand Beers’ statement about student success to show that when teachers instill a sense of self-efficacy into students’ reading lives, both teachers and students are the critical elements in students’ successes.