Blog 7

I found the article by Peggy A. Swoger to be really inspiring. I had this reaction because I am currently observing 8th grade English students who are either learning-disabled or in the lower percentage of their class. Over the past two weeks, I have been continually frustrated seeing the students’ low performance levels in reading and writing in all of the classes I am observing. It has made me start to consider reasons why these students’ writing skills are so poor. Is there a way to help them make positive progress or are such efforts simply a lost cause?

In examining my students’ in-class writing assignments, I note that all have been in the form of answers to simple writing prompts assigned to assess how well they are comprehending their reading. After reading Scott’s Gift, I can see that perhaps the answer lies in allowing students to choose their own writing topics. As Swoger states, everyone has an urge to communicate. I have a feeling that all of my students have stories to tell. I would love to have the opportunity to see how they would develop as writers when given more freedom. However, since I am mostly observing, I don’t think I will have the chance to implement my ideas until my Student Teaching semester.

Similarly, Vicki Spandel focused in Chapter 2 on the benefits of allowing students to choose their own writing topics. I can certainly understand her point that “finding personally important topics is not as simple as it may sound.” Because it was so rare in school to be given freedom as a writer, I always found it difficult to choose a topic to write about. Even this year, when assigned our first paper to “introduce yourself” it took me days of deliberation to decide what on earth I was going to say about myself. However, once I got started on my paper, the words seemed to flow onto the page, and I felt as though I really had something important to say. I hope as a future teacher to allow my students more freedom in their writing because we all have something important to say about our lives or the world around us.

An approach that I hope to use to help accomplish this is the idea of an I-Search paper as described by Ken Macrorie. Looking back, I can recall only one time in high school where I wrote a research paper that made me feel really invested in what I was doing. It was for the regional History Day competition, and I chose to center my research and subsequent paper on Stanislavski and his influence on acting and theater. Wouldn’t you know, I won first place at the regional level and went on to place third at the state competition. Perhaps this result occurred partially because the readers could tell I was deeply interested in the topic I was addressing.

I really enjoyed reading the sample paper regarding firefighting. It was much more interesting to read than the typical research paper, and I felt like I was traveling alongside Kathy as she discovered the reason behind the strict firefighting vision guidelines. Not only does an I-Search approach make the writing process more stimulating for students, but the resulting papers are much more absorbing to read. I also think this is a great approach for a teacher to employ to learn more about his or her students’ interests.