Anna Papst
Dr. Sean Agriss
08.13.2013
Murray CH. 6
Inviting
Writing
“We must as teachers continually
invite writing, keep the game of writing going in front of our students, make
is so interesting that they will want to join in” (107). If one looks at
writing as a game, something to excel and ultimately win, then the scary factor
of writing goes away. Writing can be a mature aspect of a student’s career in
school. Teachers need to set the tone for the classroom and then run with the
concept. Students will follow your lead, when you set the bar and then nurture
and coach them along.
A teacher’s notes should go away
when faced with a student’s question. Any question can go into a rich time for
teaching. You never know when a student will have an issue or raise a point
that needs further explanation on your part. It is important to stay keyed into
your students. Be alert and watching for the opportunity to strike with
knowledge.
Watch your class for an overall
struggling point. Say you are working on a paper topic, the brain storming
process is beginning, and you see that the introductions are weak. Take this
opportunity to stop and work on leads, as the book calls it. Activities around
intros can be short, but you want them to understand why you are putting them
through certain exercises. You are helping them work on their introductions and
therefore, their papers and their writing will benefit from it.
Failure is O.K. I love this point.
How is anybody going to learn, if they don’t fail? This is a key point to tell
your students as well. Even teachers fail. How is a teacher going to get better
if they don’t learn from their mistakes, then you have something to go back and
reflect upon how to do it better next time. Reflection for teachers and for
students brings nothing but fruit to the learning process. You need to tell your
students that the best place to fail is the classroom. This is the training
ground before you go out into the real world. This is a safe place to try new
things, to learn from trial and error, and to become the best learners that
they can be.
The point of Empathy came up. “The
football player, for example, might describe a play from the point of view of
someone who hates violence, and the student who hates violence might describe a
football game from a fan’s point of view” (111). There are so many tips that
can be taken from a picture or from different characters that are well known to
the students. Have the students do an exercise where they are writing from
multiple perspectives and see how their writing expands into something so
creative and beautiful. Voice is key to the writing aspect. There are so many
activities that can be done around this single concept.
The trail was also an interesting
concept. You can transform the papers into a map. They start out with words at
the top of the page for beginning ideas, put words at the bottom for potential
endings, and then fill the rest of the page with questions that will be covered
in the paper. There are many ideas that you simply need to try out. Give it a
try and don’t be afraid of failure.
