Thinking about ELL and Writing

I really enjoyed reading the two chapters of Writing Between Languages. In my own education experience I never really acknowledged or considered the challenges peers who may have been learning English as a second language might be facing. Even thinking as a teacher I still have to make a conscious effort when thinking about activities or writing lessons to consider the fact their maybe students in the room who bring the additional challenge of the language barrier into the assignment. 

Last semester during our lessons at Central Falls I was able to witness some of the challenges ELL students face even on basic reading and writing assignments. The lesson we had planned included having the students read a short story, fill out a group organizer, and respond to a short writing prompt. We were aware that several of the students were currently receiving ELL services but did not truly know to what extent. The students were all able to get through the story and participate in the group work well. It was in the short writing response we noticed students had trouble communicating their ideas and even following grammatical senate structures. Reflecting on this lesson opened my eyes to the challenges students learning the English language face to communicate their ideas into writing. 

Reading the Fu chapters I felt the approach to the challenge really put the students strengths first. Fu focuses on where the students are at in their first language reading and writing skills initially and then targets growth into the English language. Working off the students foundation in their first language I feel would better individualize the learning of writing in english while continuing to respect and value the students home language. 

I found the models of students writing Fu included to really illuminate the process students go through growing and advancing as writers of English. Watching the student work transform from one language to another throughout the examples should the process going on in the students mind. Allowing students to communicate their ideas forts and then evolve the language not only helps language growth but also still allows the student to focus on the content. 

I am excited to continue reading Fu and learning about better ways to teach and promote writing for students of all levels and areas of English proficiency. 

Beyond the Five Paragraph Box

While reading “The Politics of the Paragraph”, one of Michelle Kenney’s sentences from her anecdote at the bringing of the article real stood out to me. After having a conversation with a student frustrated by the traditionally taught five paragraphs essay format Kenney self questions:

“Seriously? How could one of the brightest and most talented kids I had ever met question her right to have more than three ideas about immigration?”

This statement really struck me because it made me question how many student ideas are being cut short or left out simply because it doesn't fit into a three main point body paragraph format. Certainly this could not have been the only student in the room who eliminated, combined or stopped their though process to follow a format.

Although I do thinking teaching students how to write a five paragraph essay is important for certain situations and reasons, it should never be binding. Five paragraph essays have their place and purpose. They are an effective way to efficiently write an essay and guide thinking. Many time when I have been in a time crunch or even on timed exams knowing how to follow the five paragraph format can make writing easier and faster.

At the same time a five paragraph essay is not the be all end all of student writing, nor should it be valued as highly as it is in classrooms today. being a teacher of writing you should encourage students to create ideas and writing they take ownership in. If a student has two or four main points who is to say that they must make it three to fit into a format. Student ideas and voice should come before paragraph numbers and writing formats.

Thinking of my classroom in the future I want to encourage students to use writing formats as a helpful guide but to think creatively about their writing. Student writing should be defined by its content and stye not its format and paragraph numbers. As teacher I do see the place for formatted writing in the classroom I aim to teach it in a way that has students using it critically to produce and create strong ideas and writing.

Through Kenney’s self question, I turned to question myself and the impact I can have on students. Hopefully if I am ever in a situation like Kenney I can inspire my students to think outside the five paragraph box and express themselves as writers. 

Teaching Poetry

Poetry is something that I have always had mixed emotions about. Although I do enjoy listening to poetry, reading it individually and especially writing it has always been a challenge. I always found the structures and patterns when writing poetry to be very difficult. As a student I was always intimidated by reading and writing poetry. I feel that my experience may be attributed to they way it was presented and taught in school. Poetry was always taught as this very abstracted, figurative concept. It also never seemed to fit into anything we were learning. Occasionally a teacher would teach a poetry unit or pay special attention to it during poetry month. 

After reading Christensen I feel that she works hard to make a space for poetry in her classroom. Christensen uses poetry writing from the first day in the classroom to the last. I think spreading it out and connecting it into other units and lessons also helps students grow as poetry consumers and producers over a more extended period of time. 

As for writing poetry, I like how Christensen uses poetry as a way to create a community in the classroom. She has students write about things that are relevant and important o them making the process more authentic and accessible. By having students share their poems with the class it is a way for students, especially in the beginning of the year to make connections with other students in the classroom. Poetry sharing also gives the teacher a chance to make connections with students or notice any reoccurring trends in the classroom. It also offers students a chance to reflect and express emotions, issues and challenges in a creative and constructive way. 

I like how Christensen uses popular and famous poetry as a model and guide for student writing. Christensen and her students breakdown the popular poem and look at its elements and how they work, that the serves as the starting board for student writing. Not only does having a model greatly help students but it always the students to gain exposure to famous poetry and poetic elements. 

Overall reading the poetry chapter helped me to see poetry in a new way. I never spent much thought about using poetry in my own classroom. I think Christensen’s ideas of using poetry as a means of creative expression and community building could be very beneficial for the individual students and the class as a whole. 

Making space for cyberspace

As a starting response to these two chapters I had a very hard time working through the information presented. I think I struggled with some of the terminology used in the article, although eventually I was able to work through an capture the authors main ideas.

Part of the chapters that really resonated with me was the use of cyberactivism and how to show students the proper way to use the internet as a space to share their voice and even promote change. For students today they cyberworld plays a huge role in everyday life. May young adults these days are constantly tuned into social media and other internet sources. I feel that bringing this into the classroom and creating a space for students to connect and learn using social media is ver beneficial if done correctly. 

Reading this chapter made me think of a video I came across on Facebook where students in a high school used social media to spark a protest against an unfair and prejudiced uniform policy which prohibited the wearing of traditional african head wraps. The students using the hash tag #blackgirlswrapwednesday staged a protest where the majority of the student body came to class on Wednesday all wearing the head raps. I thought this was a great example of students using social media as a form of cyber activism. (Link to the video is below the post if anyone is interested in watching it… very inspiring and would be a great tool to show students down the road). 

Part of the chapter that I found extremely important was that the teacher should model the appropriate ways to be a cyberactivist with students. As an educator you should be versed in the media your students are interacting with. Setting up a lesson where you model for students how to use social media to create a community, connect with material or as a road of activism is extremely important. I feel if more teachers did this kind of modeling instead of disregarding the usage of social media in the classroom it would even combat the cyberbullying problem a lot of schools are facing in this new digital era. 

Cyberspace and social media are not going anywhere. Students will continue to enter the classroom more and more “plugged in”. As educators it is our job to make sure they are using this space in a critical, positive and safe way to both promote learning inside and outside the classroom. 

https://www.facebook.com/MicMedia/videos/1228077197215068/