Planning and Not Planning for a Year

When I taught freshman comp, there was not a whole lot to think about when it came to overarching planning.  I had to do units on specific material at a specific time in a specific order.  There was no deviating from the plans of the powers that be.  And really, that was okay with me.  It seemed difficult enough at times to make sure that I was filling all of the class time (and to be honest, I usually didn't--my students loved me).  But I think that I wasn't actually considering any larger goals for my classes.  My planning strategies made sure that students were following all the linear writing step processes (which I now know is not necessarily helpful) and got all the required papers done.  I'm not sure that I was actually encouraging higher level thinking beyond how to analyze an essay...I mean, WHY bother analyzing an essay in the first place?  They all had to complete a final exam, but it was kind of a blow-off assignment, and I'm pretty sure I communicated just that to my students.  Sigh.  Oh, misguided youth.

So, I really like a few of Smagorinsky's strategies for ending a year, especially the writing portfolio to reflect on growth in writing and the multimedia project to reflect on personal growth (and not the extended definition papers--geeze, he's really into those).  I think the choice of one over the other (portfolio versus project) would kind of depend on the your group of students for the year, and even the age group--I would probably assign the project for 9th and 10th graders, whereas I'd want older students to be more reflective about their writing pieces throughout the year.  We've had to utilize a process log when turning in texts for our Teaching Composition class, and I think it's been really helpful for me to look through my attempts, especially failures, to notice techniques and other strategies I used to help me through.  Mostly, I think it's necessary to do these end-of-year reflective pieces and projects.  If not, what has the whole year been for?  Just constantly producing without thought of the greater whole?

I also like Smagorinsky's suggestions for teachers to complete an end-of-year portfolio as well.  It makes sense for professional reasons, but it also seems helpful for planning out the next year, with what worked, what didn't, or patterns of problems or successes that you notice.  Perhaps even better is the fact that you're keeping all of your writing in a notebook and reflecting on that writing, so that you can model this behavior to your students.  Look!  This is a necessary thing in the real world!  My CT keeps all of her notebooks from various years, and she's really open with her students looking through them.  This past week, she showed them a notebook from a few years ago when she first visited Austin, a poem she found, and a poem she wrote modeled on that found piece.  She shared aspects of her life with them, what was important then, and compared it with her notebook from this year, which she said needed some more love.  The students all loved looking through her work (it's almost like getting to read through an adult's diary), and it inspired them to get re-engaged with their own notebooks.  And they made some really cool work that day, with found poetry and other creative work!

I guess I'm just learning more and more how important transparency is for students.  I'm not sure that I'd keep a notebook that's too personal, but I want to make sure that students see me writing for authentic  purposes and reflecting on what they're learning and how I'm teaching--I think this builds trust between us.  I also want them to know that they're coming to school and working to be involved in a reading and writing community not just to finish certain tasks or papers everyday.  They're building their knowledge constantly to reach a higher plane--knowledgeable, involved citizens in a democracy where they can make change.  And I want them to know that I care enough about them to think long and hard about the things I want them to do in class.