Reader Response 1/30 by

Teaching to the Test

akshield — 2018-01-30 19:12:15 UTC

Teachers teach to the test because there are consequences for low test scores, and they believe that the students should be taught test material. This does not teach students writing skills that can be transferred situationally, and used later in life (Tompkins 2012).

Instead of teaching to the test, writing should be ongoing. Students who have received good writing instruction score better on the state tests.
(Higgins, Miller, Wegmann 2007) p. 310.

Reading and Writing

akshield — 2018-01-30 19:29:07 UTC

Both should be taught at the same time.
Young children can learn to write as they are learning to read (Tompkins 2012).

In my middle school, we had writers notebooks that we got to personalize. They became badges of pride once we got to 5th and 6th grade. If we had started that process earlier on in kindergarten, I think my peers and I would have developed good writing skills sooner.

Prewriting

akshield — 2018-01-30 19:40:03 UTC

Discovery of how much you know about the target topic.
Students should choose their own topic, but teacher chosen topics are good practice for standardized tests.

Conferences

akshield — 2018-01-30 19:45:49 UTC

Students should spend time talking to each other about writing, and bouncing ideas off of each other.
Student-teacher conferences about writing are important as well, but students should take charge of their own writing.

Mini lessons

akshield — 2018-01-30 19:49:23 UTC

Ideas for mini lessons

Creating a sharing space

akshield — 2018-01-30 19:52:03 UTC

I noticed in the Tompkins (2012) chapter that the students were very comfortable sharing with each other and the teacher. That is something I never had in school, so I think it really speaks to the learning environment the teacher built in that classroom. The students all expressed that they were writers, and that they aren't afraid of criticism from each other because it is constructive.

A continual process

akshield — 2018-01-30 19:58:19 UTC

Students may go through all the stages- prewriting, drafting, revising, editing, and publishing, but still want to add on, or revise their work.
"Writing is a recursive process in which writers continually plan and revise- not in separate, discrete stages, but as they compose" (Higgins, Miller, Wegmann 2007) p. 313.
It is important for teachers to intervene during the writing process to direct students on what to do as they write. In lieu of giving back a graded final copy with a bunch of suggested edits in red ink. I thought this was an important point.

akshield — 2018-01-30 20:37:37 UTC

"Students schooled in authentic writing experiences consider themselves writers who can meet the demands of writing tasks" (Higgins, Miller, Wegman 2006) p. 314.

Writing workshop

akshield — 2018-01-30 21:04:17 UTC

This is a huge writing workshop resource with management, assessment and lesson plan strategies.

References

akshield — 2018-01-30 21:10:41 UTC

Higgins, B., Miller, M., & Wegmann, S. (2006). Teaching to the test…not! Balancing best practice and testing requirements in writing. The Reading Teacher, 60(4), 310-319. doi:10.1598/rt.60.4.1
Tompkins, G. E. (2012). Teaching writing: balancing process and product. S.l.: PEARSON.