Writing is hard.
If your classroom is anything like mine, you've undoubtedly heard this sentiment expressed in one form or another at some point in time. Probably a few hours before a big essay is due, or right after the students click ahead to the end of your edulastic.com assessment and see that, oh no, there's an extended response question buried in there after all those multiple choice and fill in the blanks.
However, if you're like me and have willingly chosen a career teaching Language Arts, you probably love writing (and reading). And, chances are, you want your students to learn to love it too.
So, how do we go about that? Especially in the land of Special Education, where writing apprehension is as common as a cold?
Well, while I don't have a perfect answer to that question (anybody know who does?), here are a few tips and tricks that've worked for me.
1. Write Every Day: Let's start off simple. To get better at any skill, you need to practice and put in time. I am a firm believer that, regardless of which subject area you teach, a day should not pass where students have not read something in your class and have not written something in your class. You want to be a better writer? Read. You want to be a better reader? Write. The two are interconnected, and carving out time for students to actually do instead of passively accepting what was already done are minutes well spent.
2. Low Stakes Writing: Writing can be scary. You're putting your thoughts, your ideas, and beliefs onto the page, desperately trying to wrangle the information into something easily understood and clear, balancing tone and terminology with the core of what you're trying to get across. That can be pretty terrifying. But, as with most things, repetition has a way of turning the frightening into the manageable. This is where the idea of low stakes writing comes in. My school has always been a big proponent of low stakes reading, or reading purely for enjoyment. No comprehension tests, no lengthy analysis, just sitting down with a book and engaging with it the same way functioning adults read. Of course, we still hit those "expand on the text" beats throughout the rest of the class, but for 15-20 glorious minutes at the start of every class (we're very fortunate in having 80 minutes for ELA and Math), students are merely encouraged to read. Or, in the case of low stakes writing, write. Giving students a chance to pursue what they want to write about, to explore different styles and ideas without fear of judgment or a low grade, helps them to find the beauty and joy of the craft. Low stakes writing, when executed properly, is an excellent way for students to form an identity as writers, not just students who occasionally write. A great resource for daily, low stakes writing (and beyond) is the site: writeabout.com.
3. Focus more on Ideas and Expression (at least at first): All writing exists in layers. You've got your Ideas and Emotions, Themes and Figurative Language, and, of course, the technical precision of Grammar and Spelling. This last one (at least in my humble opinion) is where a lot of us in the realm of Special Education trip up. Understandably so: Spelling and Grammar are the components that influence the clarity of a written piece, and, perhaps more importantly, the way that writing looks on the page. Most of us tend to be very visual creatures. When we receive an essay chock full of misspelled words and sentence fragments, it usually takes us about 0.5 seconds to hyper-focus on the technical and abandon the quest for sussing out any novel ideas or nuance. Again, understandably so: Spelling and Grammar are critical parts of the writing process mainly because they impact the clarity of one's work. If you can't understand the point that's being put across, how can you possibly agree with it? But...that doesn't mean we should just discard the other levels of writing and live in the land of technical Spelling and Grammar exercises. For one thing, that is often the exact place that many students in a Special Education setting will struggle with the most. Now, that almost sounds like an endorsement: if they're struggling, that means we should focus on it even harder, right? Well, yes and no. You can't ever totally disregard Spelling and Grammar...but it helps if you know their place. For example, in my classroom, over the course of an extended writing assignment, I try to conference with each of my students at least 3 times (this is doable because I have 14 kids and 160 minutes (2 blocks) to get it done). The first time we meet, we never touch on Spelling and Grammar. This is the "Ideas" session. The student walks me through their work, taking me on a tour of their thoughts and what they're trying to accomplish through this piece of writing. I hear them out, offer up my own ideas and suggestions, and send them on their merry way. The next time we meet, it's for the "Execution" session. The focus this time is on the goals and purposes of the "Ideas" session; more specifically, how well are those goals being carried out through the actual writing? This session tends to be the longest, as it touches on everything: sentence structure, word choice, page layout, and, you guessed it, Spelling and Grammar. Last comes the "Polish" session, which focuses pretty exclusively on Spelling and Grammar conventions. By this point, I'm already well-acquainted with the ideas and meaning behind their work, and they've had a chance to sort through what works and what doesn't without getting back a draft that's swimming in red (or purple, or blue) ink because of Spelling and Grammar errors. For me, teaching Spelling and Grammar concepts has always worked better (and has had more meaning) when attached to a larger assignment and goal. I rarely teach Spelling and Grammar concepts in isolation. I used to, and I even remember learning that way as a kid, but the results were never strong enough to back up continued use of the practice. I was a pretty good student, but I can remember hating D.O.L. lessons with a passion, and I genuinely don't think I've retained a single concept taught to me in that way into my adult life. Additionally (unless I'm missing something) Spelling and Grammar in isolation (and in large quantities) can be quite dry, and many students get frustrated at the prospect of applying complicated and confusing rules in a vacuum. At the end of the day, I'm a practical teacher; I try to run interference between negative, curiosity-killing frustration and my students as much as possible. If something isn't working, I change it.
4. If you're bored, they are too: To make up for #3 being an absolute giant of a post, I'll keep this one brief. Simply put, you are a great in-house test subject for how students will respond to the content you throw at them. It won't always be a perfect 1-1 match (they're children and you're an adult, after all), but if you try to put yourself in their shoes for just a moment, channel your inner child, and imagine your reaction if you were given the assignment you're about to give them, you might just be able to empathize and understand your student population a little more clearly. I'm not saying that work, in general, should be discouraged, nor am I trying to advocate that every assignment and piece of work done in a classroom needs to be a carnival of excitement. From a purely selfish standpoint, I have more fun teaching things that are, well, fun (shocking, I know). And kids are smart; they pick up on your mood. If you seem bored out of your mind by your content, they're going to take your cue and go for a stroll down avoidance alley. Kids also sense and appreciate effort. A background element in my classroom (and possible future blog post) is a whole-class game that I designed over the summer. During the week, students spend about a grand total of 5 minutes playing, but I get more compliments and comments from the students to the effect of "this must have taken a lot of time and effort" about that game, even now, 6 months into the school year.
5. Talk Before Writing: Again, I reiterate my first point: Writing is hard. But, for your average middle schooler, talking is not. Most of the students I encounter have much more practice putting their thoughts into speech than they do going straight from thoughts to words on a page. It's only natural: most kids start talking by age 2, whereas any kind of structured writing doesn't come into play until at least age 5. Even in the advent of texting, the majority of our communications in the day-to-day (for most of us) go through verbal channels as opposed to written ones. Kids are just more experienced talking than they are writing. So use that. Oftentimes, before asking students to go off on their own and respond to a short question or write an individual piece, my classroom will either engage in a moderated open discussion (whole class) or a small group mini discussion (2-3 students). During these times, we talk out the question they're about to be asked to answer, hearing opposing and conflicting viewpoints, paraphrasing evidence from the text, and generally sharing out what first comes to mind when we hear the prompt on the board. And you know what happens? When it's time to go off and write, they've got material to work with. Their own thoughts and ideas come through more clearly now that they've had the chance to verbalize them, and there's the added bonus of being able to synthesize information brought up by other classmates into their own response (even if they're expanding on an idea proposed by someone else, it's still going in their words and fitting in their response parameters). To make a not very short post a little shorter: you've got to walk before you can run, and you've got to talk before you can write.
Remember, follow me on Twitter at @toadalteacher.
Comentarios