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Breaking beyond the walls of our school has been the biggest challenge. Technology has allowed for student writing to go beyond the walls of the school in limited capacities. I know the benefits of having this connection and strive to find new ways to get their voices heard besides using blogs as their only outlet.

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I find myself drawn to the question that Ritter and Matsuda pose in Exploring Composition Studies in which they say, "Should the teacher teach his or her students that writing is a vehicle for self-awareness? (6). Although I don't have an answer now, I believe that the writing I have my students complete is helping them approach topics from different perspectives and formulate their ideas about the world. This happens frequently in my ACP speech course.

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New to this terminology, I recognize the presence of the community-engagement pedagogies that "emphasize the use of critically reflective writing to help students contextualize and personalize their learning experiences" evolving in my classroom (Taggart et al. 9).  Students complete self-reflections on writing assignments describing what they've learned about the content, learned about themselves, and what they can improve on in the future.

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This technique, known mainly as chunking, allows me to see more of a student's writing during the process instead of just the rough draft or final draft.  Seeing student writing in these smaller segments allows me to provide clear feedback in a timely manner that is directed towards a specific purpose for that segment

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I've moved to providing more one-on-one feedback as I conference with students. Although this image references more time with peers, I have found my time spent, even two to three minutes, to be some of the most valuable feedback I've given.

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As I enter into my eleventh year of teaching this fall, I find solace in "the fact that there is no single correct way to teach writing, nor even one unified set of goals all writing teachers need to help students achieve" (Taggart et al 1).  This provides abounding freedom in writing instruction in the classroom.

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I spent my first five years teaching working with struggling writers.  Although most students struggle with some aspects of writing, these first five years had me working with students who lacked writing knowledge and who lacked writing confidence. They simply didn't see writing as a way to communicate their thoughts. I have to admit that I also struggled these first five years.  Writing was something that initially came easy to me as a student in school and college.  However, teaching writing on its own and not connected to literature was a new endeavor.  I knew I wanted to instill passion for writing, but I had to piece together what to do.  The image below represents what I eventually adopted to assist in writing instruction.

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I ask my students to write a one-act play during this my dramatic literature course. Incorporating the layers of writing needed for a moving play is challenging; however, by incorporating their interests and experiences, I've witnessed authentic writing that analyzes the essence of human nature.

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Approaching writing has been an evolving process in my classroom and seems to change each year based on the course I’m teaching and the students who are in front of me.