My philosophy of teaching writing is that it is an art form. It is not something that can be mastered overnight, and there is nothing wrong with that unless you choose to believe there is. It takes an incredible amount of dedication and patience, from both teachers and students, for students to become amazing writers. Teachers have to want to help students, guide them, and encourage them. However, honesty is also an incredibly important factor, and while teachers should be encouraging, they should not sugarcoat criticism either. A huge part of sharing your writing with the world is facing criticism, so teachers should help students rework their pieces to make them even better. Additionally, students need to help each other grow as well and contribute to an overall environment in which everyone feels comfortable and supported. According to Dean’s “What Works,” it states, “Students can also get feedback from peers: they can go to peers with questions ("How is this working?" or "I’m stuck. What do you think I need here?") and see that their community can be part of their support system” (Dean). Overall, having a support system from teachers/peers who believe in them builds the foundation for great writing. Nevertheless, students must still decide if they want to achieve greatness for themselves, as that is still always a factor. Another important belief I hold is that I never want students to worry that anything they do is “wrong.” We could tell students in a writing conference that they did many things wrong, but it may just lead them to think that their entire piece is flawed and make them feel insecure. Additionally, they may not retain all of the critiques if there are too many to focus on. NCTE’s article titled, “Writing Conferences: A Minimalist Approach,” states, “One of the problems with corrective feedback is that it has us focusing on everything we can possibly say to fix the student’s piece. Let’s go minimalist and instead choose one single lens to focus our feedback” (McGee). I will put my writing philosophy into action within my future classroom by making it a safe space for students in which I encourage them to do their best, without being too lenient or too demanding. At the end of the day, students are actively learning in school and it is a process. According to Growing Writers Chapter 8, it states, “No matter what the writer’s degree of skill, effective writing develops from the practice of making thoughtful choices. Practice happens over time. Like growth, it is a process" (Whitney). We need to be understanding as teachers because if students had it all figured out, they wouldn’t be here. This is the time to make mistakes and learn from them. My hope is that these mistakes will only make them better writers in the future and that they will be able to make these “thoughtful choices,” especially down-the-line, if not immediately.

Interview Answer

My philosophy of teaching writing is that it requires dedication and patience from both teachers and students. It is our responsibility as educators to encourage students, and provide honest, yet gentle criticism so their writing can become stronger. We must foster an environment in our classrooms where students feel comfortable sharing their work and receiving feedback, not only from teachers but also from peers. This network of community support is crucial for student development. I believe in providing focused, constructive feedback to avoid overwhelming students. In my classroom, I will always strive to establish an emotionally safe environment where students can grow from their errors and recognize that writing is a process. My ultimate objective is to support students in making thoughtful choices within their writing and gradually improve their skills.

Sharing with families

My philosophy of teaching writing is that students should not feel like they have to be perfect right off the bat. They should be okay with making mistakes and not being afraid of that. I want my classroom to be a safe space for students to know that they are encouraged to do their best, but that they aren’t any less of a person if they can’t reach their full potential right away. Writing can be difficult, and as an educator, I want to give my students all the necessary tools they need to be great writers, both now and for their future. However, I recognize that this is a journey and that teachers and students are a team in the process of that journey.

Sharing with students

Writing is an art that takes time and patience to master, and that's completely okay. My job as your teacher is to guide and support you, helping you become amazing writers. I'll always strive to provide honest feedback to help you improve, but I'll also make sure it's constructive and not overwhelming. We all must help each other grow, creating a supportive community where everyone feels comfortable sharing their work. In our classroom, you'll be encouraged to learn from your mistakes because writing is a process that develops over time. My goal is to help you make thoughtful choices in your writing and build your confidence, so you can achieve greatness in your own unique way.

When I held writing conferences with students in my Field Placement, they wanted assistance with their college essays. A common theme amongst these students was that they didn’t know what prompt to pick and what to write about. Furthermore, they had additional worries stemming from this, in which they weren’t sure if they would write enough to reach the required word count, or that their writing would seem choppy and not have a nice flow to it. According to my Student Writing Activities Field Work Assignment, I wrote, “I had another student who wanted to use Prompt #4, ‘Reflect on something that someone has done for you that has made you happy or thankful in a surprising way. How has this gratitude affected or motivated you?’ This student explained to me that he was raised in a household full of women, and that although he appreciates and loves them a lot, he obviously did not have a male figure in his household. He explained to me that his uncle was the one person who really taught him how to be a man and he holds a special place in his heart for that. He also told me that, unfortunately, his uncle passed away recently. He wanted to use this prompt to discuss his relationship with his uncle and how appreciative he was for the guidance he gave him in life. This student was worried about making his writing flow and writing enough about him. I explained to him that he can expand upon what he wants to convey, and maybe even go in chronological order, as if he was telling a story. For example, instead of him just saying ‘My uncle taught me how to be a man in a household full of women,’ and not elaborating much further, he could draw more out of it. He could talk about his uncle as a person, describing his physical and intellectual characteristics, to really introduce us to him as a person. He can talk about their relationship, from his first memories with him in his childhood to his teenage life. Lastly, he can end the essay discussing his death and how it impacted him, yet despite losing his uncle, he still carries everything he taught him to this day and holds it in his heart. I thought this would be a great way for the paper to flow and tell a captivating story.” This experience helped me realize that it is also incredibly important for us as educators to serve as a vessel for student brainstorming. We can’t always give them the answers, but we can lead them there. We can see that this student confided in me and gave me the important details himself. The role I played was to lead him to a system in which he could spread out his thoughts. As teachers, we are supposed to be helpful, and students should be able to utilize our expertise, but use it to reach their own conclusions. The hope is that they will eventually have all the tools and skills they need, but for now, what they need is us.

Something that I learned about in ENGL 396 this year that is now incredibly important to me is the significance of creating a variety of different assignments. There are so many different genres of writing, and so many different ways you can assign work to students. Keeping things versatile in your curriculum keeps students engaged in the class and helps students potentially foster a legitimate appreciation for writing, as opposed to it just being a required skill they must have. Taking part in different genre assignments can help students figure out their strengths and weaknesses in writing, and decide what they like to write and what they don’t. Additionally, having different forms of writing assignments can help every student in the classroom have their moment to shine. Perhaps you have a student who is really great at writing in the traditional sense. However, some students may be better at reformulating their writing to fit some kind of different creative medium. For example, my reformulation for our Poetry: Writing, Workshopping, Reformulation, and Reflection Assignment was a plot diagram mountain. I wouldn’t be in this major if I didn’t enjoy writing or if I wasn’t good at it, but something else I absolutely love is graphic design. I was able to use another one of my strengths in this assignment which was a great feeling. Putting myself in the shoes of a student who isn’t as confident in their writing abilities, I can see how liberating something like this could be for them. Additionally, within my Field Placement Assignment where I did an interview with my Clinical Educator, Mrs. Martin, she addressed how the curriculum at Newark High School lacks a lot of writing. She states, “Unfortunately, since switching to our new curriculum - American Reading Company (ARC) - which is very reading-based, we have lacked quality writing instruction.  (This curriculum really lacks it). The focus has been on reading skills and assessments. As an English Department at my school, we speak frequently about incorporating more antiracist conversations and writing assignments in our classes.  With reading units such as Latina Literature, Memoir, Asia (Informational), and Civil War, we find ways to weave in antiracist writing assignments.  Our school administration welcomes our work.” There is a lot to unpack here. Something great about this is that the units and texts are reflected with an anti-racist and multi-cultural approach, so students receive a lot of enrichment and knowledge in this regard, which is wonderful! As far as the lack of writing in this curriculum goes, this can be somewhat limiting for students because it is holding them back in regards to developing strong writing skills. However, one thing that is incredibly prominent within her class and others at Newark High School is their use of creative projects, such as their memoir project slideshow, and their Asian country travel website project. Students are still writing, just not in the traditional sense. They are transporting their writing into creative slideshows and other forms of digital media. A positive side of this is that students are learning to write beyond paper or a Google Doc. They are able to translate their writing into different forms, and again, this helps every student get their chance to shine, especially if they do not feel that their writing is strong on paper.

Dean, D. (2010). What Works in Writing Instruction: Research and Practice. National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE).

McGee, P. (2023, September 15). Writing Conferences: A Minimalist Approach. National Council of Teachers of English. https://ncte.org/blog/2023/09/writing-conferences/

Whitney, A. E. (2021). Growing Writers: Principles for High School Writers and their Teachers. National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE).

Works Referenced

Field Assignment #2: Clinical-Educator Interview

Field Assignment #4: Student Writing Activities

Poetry: Writing, Workshopping, Reformulation, and Reflection Assignment