A Work In Progress

Finished reading the chapters. Wish I had thought to look at some of those a bit earlier this semester. The information was something I had read before, and that I use on a near-daily basis in the Writing Center, but it was nice to read it again from the stance of a seasoned professional.  Anyway... on to the reflection.

When I originally heard about this Facebook project for class, I was pumped. I had just come off of a research project over the summer in which I had studied the importance of information literacy in the modern classroom, and this opportunity to directly connect my research to my own teaching practice was exciting. I was a little apprehensive though, because I know that relating to someone only in a technological plain is difficult. There are different rules on the internet and different expectations. But, I figured it was worth a go. And why not, taking the time to experiment now would only pay off in the future (fewer hit and misses).

The first writing prompt was probably the hardest to write. I didn't know my students, had no idea how to relate to their lives, and had never written a prompt to give for a grade. So--lots of pressure. It didn't help that the first one was due even before class began. But, I plowed through it and managed to turn out a prompt I was pretty satisfied with. The response I got however, left me wondering. In preparing the prompt, I thought about the scaffolding necessary, tried to relate the subject to the unit of the class... basically, I attempted to give my students everything they could ask for to turn in some major writing. I got one response. It was choppy. It was Eng-fishy. I was sad.

The grades for the first response were a little harsh. I asked for more of him in his writing: more voice, more life, more...more! It was my first time responding to writing of a student I would be consistently working with and I was nervous. I felt like I was too critical, even though I used questions. I don't think I ended up giving him the feedback he really needed. (but, more on that later)

So anyway, after that little flub, I took another go at it. The next time I created a prompt with more brainstorming in a less structured way. And, since my student is a senior, I decided that maybe I should aim to get him talking about who he is based on who he wants to be. Because really, what are seniors thinking about if not the rest of their lives? I also made sure to suggest my student write this response as though he were his audience. Hoping this would help to get the fishiness out of his writing. And, I was so excited to see that whatever the case, things were improving! I got his writing back and there were parts that shone. Parts that made me so giggly that I couldn't stop smiling and immediately changed my status on facebook to the last two lines of his writing. I LOVED it. And that positive feedback in the form of a stronger piece of writing motivated me in my response. I was able to see where Jesse had used his own voice, and where he had taken the time to throw himself into his writing. There was humor, there was passion, and there was life. I could see it. I could hear it. It was amazing!

And, my response came more easily. I was able to give him feedback that was more positive, more excited. I told him what I liked and where I wanted to know more. I was able to give him credit for the time and effort he had put into his writing. And, although I was ecstatic about this piece of writing, I still made suggestions for where he could improve his writing even more and kill some of the fishiness that remained.

This leads us up to the final writing prompt. This last one was a bit of a slacker move on my part, if I am to be honest. That and a move to try to make some of Jesse's writing more meaningful. I simply asked him to work on one of his submitted pieces, make significant changes and resubmit. I wasn't really too surprised to find that he selected his second response. And, even though this piece was already better than the first response, he surprised me into giggliness with more voice, more introspection and some really amazing imagery. And again, Jesse made it to my FB status.

Overall, this experience working with student writing was exciting and insightful. I was able to move from looking at a piece of writing as a peer to examining it with a "listening eye" to see the good writerly qualities that every teacher hopes for in a student’s writing. Like I mentioned in my previous post, I am pretty sure that Jesse has spoiled me this past month. But, that motivation and passion that he was able to ignite in me as a teacher in training is something that I will always be able to come back to and build off of. This experience has opened my eyes up to the importance of response in the classroom with both new and flourishing writers. I hope that my continued work with the West De Pere kids will help me to become more confident and comfortable in my process of responding to writing. I also hope that by having the ability to immediately apply the knowledge that I learn and read about in the text for both this class and Block, I will be able to gain and maintain a deeper understanding of myself and my content area in connection with my future students.