My Writing and Language Program in Both My Seventh and Eighth Grade English Class Is Constantly

Sinaida Uliantzeff

SED 695C – Dr. Rowlands

Spring 2006

Under Construction

My writing and language program in both my seventh and eighth grade English class is constantly changing and evolving; particularly in my eighth grade class. So that I can better track changes in my methods and changes in student results, I have been focusing on my first period eighth graders. They seem to be responding well to the new materials and strategies I am bringing into the classroom. This class has nineteen boys and twelve girls. Out of these students, six of them are SDAIE students (specially designed academic instruction in English). As a whole, the class is strong and has been making noticeable progress throughout the year.

Like most new teachers, I knew going into my second year of teaching that I would do so many things differently in both the areas of language and writing. The cohort reinforced this thinking; even better, it has provided me with a wealth of strategies for implementing these changes.

In consideration of my objectives, those too, are a work in progress. During my first year of teaching my objectives were based on what the standards wanted me to teach. Meeting the standards is still core to my objectives; however, I have put more of myself into my teaching. Success would mean teaching my students methods which will enable them to connect with their reading so that it does not always have to be such an arduous task. I hope to teach them that even though they may be a struggling student, they can learn strategies that can help them to develop into an excellent student. Although talent is helpful, I want to prove to them that they can still be great writers without it. Over the course of a year, I would like to see students take more risks so that they can grow to be more independent. My objective is to get them to see that everything they are learning in my classroom is designed to help them succeed in the future. Finally, I hope to always teach material that is purposeful and will develop their meta-cognitive skills.

Last year, my first year of teaching, I played it on the safe side. I wanted to do things by the book so that I could make teaching less stressful on me. Moreover, I wanted to ensure that I was teaching what administrators expected of me. The textbook series used by my eighth grade English class, The Language of Literature by McDougal Littell, is virtually dummy proof. The text is broken down into units that cover different genres, as well as other elements of literature. It suggests which stories to read for each unit and as well offers activities to use with each story. It even goes so far as to assign specific activities out of the corresponding grammar and spelling/vocabulary workbooks. It is great for a novice teacher; one will never run out of material. Further, daily lessons are already planned for you. In addition, corresponding objectives and standards are supplied with each lesson. I started out using these suggestions because the district accepts them. The prepared plans also allowed me more time to deal with the many other issues that come up for a first year teacher. Even though many of the activities and strategies are excellent, I did not feel contented using only these materials. I felt as though I was cheating my students. I would find myself working through one of the assignments with my students and my mind would start wandering. I would find myself thinking, “This is ridiculous!” “What is the point?” I felt embarrassed that I was wasting their time with some of these assignments. I feet that many of the assignments are simply “busywork.” Although there is a learning objective behind the assignment, I felt that it could be met in a more creative and purposeful way. My initial problem was that I was unsure as to what that creative and purposeful way might be. For example, one of these activities asks students to review four scenes from the short story “The War of the Wall.” Students are supposed to explain how the scenes would be interpreted differently were they told from a different point of view. I can see the rationale behind this activity, but I also can see how the assignment could be more purposeful. I believe if students were asked to pick one of the four scenes and rewrite it in another point of view it would promote the opportunity for choice. It would also incorporate more advanced writing and thinking skills. Further, it would get students more involved with the text, it would get them writing and it would provide for excellent discussion. I feel that although this textbook series strongly teaches towards the California state standards, it is at the same time so rigorous and often unimaginative. Working with this textbook series is partially responsible for initiating my reflective teaching habits, as well as the evolution of my teaching strategies.

My evolution began slowly and cautiously. Towards the end of last year I started to take some of these textbook activities and I modified them into something that I thought was more meaningful. If the worksheet asked the students to fill in the elements of plot, I would take the assignment off of the worksheet and have the students create their own plot diagram that they felt fit better with the story. I wanted students to put more of themselves into an assignment. It was important that I encouraged their independence and creativity. I felt that some of the textbook activities stifled their independent thinking. My assignments did not always turn out perfect and often they did not produce the outcome I had imagined, but they began to feel more authentic and purposeful.

Currently in my second year of teaching, the cohort is challenging me to take even more risks. This year I used reading logs for the first time. Using Chris Tovani’s strategies I took my students through the reading log process. Initially, they struggled. It is obvious that many students are accustomed to and are often attached to the more prescribed worksheets. They want something that is more clear-cut and formulaic. They often do not want to think because they are so afraid of getting it wrong. Or even worse, they simply want a clear cut path to the “A.” One of my goals is to get my students more comfortable with independent thinking. I hope that once they reach a certain level of ease with their own thinking, they will be willing to take more risks.

Grammar is another portion of my teaching program that is under construction. Initially, I taught grammar by the book. Who could explain the concepts better than the expert that wrote the book? Yet, often it was not well explained. I would find myself constantly cross-referencing two or three other grammar books to obtain a more clear and simple explanation. Further, the examples in the eighth grade grammar book are often boring and archaic. I could not connect with the examples; clearly, the students would be able to connect even less. Again, I found myself uncomfortable trying to work with the standard material. My first attempt at changing my approach to grammar was by breaking concepts down into mini lessons and trying to come up with more interesting examples. Although the teaching of standard grammar has been proven to not improve writing skills, it is mandatory to teach as it comes up on the district’s final exams. This year I continue to use my approach of teaching grammar through the mini lesson. In addition, I have been experimenting with teaching grammar in context.

I am embarrassed to admit that my students produced very little writing during my first year of teaching; only about three to four pieces. There are a few reasons why I avoided writing. First, it seemed almost impossible to make the time for it. Second, I struggled with finding good writing topics and assignments. Finally, beyond teaching the writing process, I simply did not know how to give my students strategies for improving their writing. Aside from writing a strong introduction and a strong conclusion, I had few suggestions to offer. Thankfully, the cohort has opened my eyes to the limitations I have been putting on my students. I suppose I knew, but did not quite grasp that the only way student writing would improve was by having them do more of it (Burke 2). Over the past few months I have been reading and reflecting on Jim Burke, Nancie Atwell and Harry Noden. They are providing me with great suggestions on how to teach writing. Both Atwell and Burke suggest creating a community of writers. One way to do this is to write with your students and to share your writing. I tried this technique and was overwhelmed with the positive response I received. I am learning how to go beyond teaching the writing process and am learning how to actually teach strategies that will produce great writing. Trying to familiarize myself with many of these strategies and to also work them into a current piece of student writing is proving to be an effort. In order to promote a community of writers I am being forced to produce more of my own writing and this has been tremendously difficult because I am so out of practice. I find that I cannot think as fluidly as I used to. I am also nervous over sharing my writing with my students. Yet, I realize that if I expect my students to take risks, I too must have the courage to take risks.

My experimentation with teaching grammar in context is working in conjunction with my evolving writing program. It is Harry Nodin’s suggestions in Image Grammar that have convinced me to take the approach of teaching grammar in context. I am doing this by way of his brush stroke method. Nodin demonstrates the show; don’t tell strategy by adding images to sentences through manipulating structure. He teaches this with five “brush strokes”(4-12). As with a piece of art, each brushstroke adds more detail to the piece of work. The five basic brush strokes are: the participle, the appositive, the absolute, adjectives shifted out of order and action verbs (active versus passive voice). The transformation of an ordinary sentence when using a brush stroke is a result that students can immediately witness. So far, I have introduced the first three brush strokes into my eighth-grade-writing program. It has been a rocky process. The students struggle and I also struggle. It does not seem to come natural to any of us and will clearly require a lot of examples and practice. I feel that many of the students are having a hard time buying the idea that these grammatical concepts will actually improve their writing. In Image Grammar, Nodin includes passages written by professional writers and he highlights their use of the brush strokes (18). I used this idea to help sell my students on the brush stroke strategies. I skimmed through a number of popular novels and typed sections where I could point out the use of the brush strokes. As part of the teaching process I have students read the paragraph and highlight or underline any of the brush strokes they recognize. I then tell them what book the passage came from. The responses are usually positive. I hear responses such as, “I love that book!” “That’s one of my favorite authors.” I have also taken another of Burke’s suggestions and put up posters of the participle, appositive and absolute as writing reminders which will help to reinforce these terms and strategies (46). Even though implementing this new strategy into my teaching has been uncomfortable, I am seeing results. As I went around to my students and checked their drafts, I saw a lot of attempts at incorporating our first three brush strokes: the participle, the appositive and the absolute. I felt a sense of accomplishment when I saw my students taking this risk. In addition to gaining a multitude of writing strategies, I have also been fortunate to learn strategies that will make the grading of writing less time consuming.

In an effort to make grading easier on myself I have incorporated two strategies. Utilizing a simplified version of Burke’s Six Traits of Effective Writing is allowing me to make grading more effective and efficient (177). This resource is helping make my expectations more comprehensible to my students. Further, it allows me to implement more writing in a semester because it is such a resourceful way to cut down on time spent grading. Further, Burk suggests taking the directions given for a writing assignment and generating them into a checklist (72). This is another way for a teacher to ensure that students are meeting his/her expectations. I was thrilled to read this because it was an idea that came naturally to me last semester. Last year I began to notice that even though I gave clear directions with a writing assignment, students often turned in papers that were missing some of the criteria. This gave me the idea of having students look at a checklist before they turned in a final draft. Both the rubric and the checklist are forcing students to think more carefully about the criteria of a writing assignment.

I do not expect to see fantastic results this year; especially because I am starting these changes so late, but I am excited for next year when I can begin to use these strategies earlier. I look forward to making writing more of a routine versus an event. I am also excited at the prospect of seeing writing improve over the course of a whole year by watching the students work with the many tools that I will be able to give them. I want to have a wealth of writing assignments and topics to pull from so that I can focus more on conferencing with students about their writing. It will also allow me more time to produce my own writing and will in turn, promote that community of writers. With time, I anticipate integrating a well-developed writing program that will work from September to June. It will provide a solid period of time for students to move across, as Burke writes, a “continuum of performance” so that they will see themselves grow from novice to master ( 27).

Although there are many times when I question my decision to have joined the cohort, I feel I made a good decision. No doubt, it is a serious challenge; however, I am seeing so much growth within myself in such a short amount of time. Last year a slow, progressive evolution took place. This year I have hit a growth spurt. I am truly excited at the wealth of information that I am being handed. There is so much material to work with I am often overwhelmed when trying to decide what strategy to work with and how to go about it. I also see myself moving across that “continuum of performance.” I can imagine myself, in a few more years, a master teacher who is effortlessly working with her loaded toolbox to create an authentic learning environment which promotes independent thinking and produces meaningful work.

Works Cited

Atwell, Nancie. Lessons that Change Writers. Portsmouth, NH: Firsthand, 2002.

Bambara, Toni Cade. “The War of the Wall.” The Language of Literature. Evanston, Il:

Houghton Mifflin Company, 2002.

Burke, Jim. Writing Reminders. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann, 2003.

McDougal Littell. The Language of Literature. Evanston, Il: Houghton Mifflin Company,

2002.

Noden, Harry. Image Grammar. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann, 1999.

Tovani, Cris. I Read it, but I don’t get it. Portland, Maine: Stenhouse Publishers, 2000.

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