All three of these readings were not just very informative but also highly entertaining. I learned so much about writing during the time I spent with these pieces this afternoon.
One of the themes that really stuck out in my mind was a theme we talked about in our first class. The theme of ownership. All three authors allude to the point that the student must become immersed in the writing and feel that what they are writing is important to them. In the first article Romano says, “I want writing to become second nature to students…I want writing to be as natural for them as slipping on sandals.” We must help our students become connected to their writing to a point where they sense ownership of it.
Right in the beginning of the Rief reading she tells a fantastic story about spending some time working with students in Estonia. She was having trouble breaking down some invisble walls until she finally convinced them to fully express themselves. Rief proceeds to say, “They talked and wrote. And wrote. I heard their lives. Their dissapointments. Their tragedies. Their wishes. Their beliefs. Their dreams. Their questions.” A key word in that passage is “their.” The students in that classroom were finally given a chance to express themselves and the classroom almost instantly became an extremely successful one. The key to this class transforming was the teacher letting them write and talk about their life experiences.
The theme of ownership appears in Murray writing when he talks about the strategy of writing down ideas on an index card. “Write what you keep thinking about, the same way your tongue finds the place where the tooth used to be. Write what you need to know; write what others need to know.” The goal of this exercise is to help jumpstart the student by letting her/him just write about anything that comes to mind. The student fully owns what is being written. They are not stuck answering some handout with questions or writing a compare and contrast essay. They are getting the chance to be creative and are letting their creative juices flow.
Ownership, flexibility, and choice are three main things that stick out in my mind when I think of conducting a student-centered classrooom. I immediatly felt ownership when we were assigned to write our own belief poems. I sat down that night, brainstormed some things I believed in, and chose the one that meant the most to ME. I was not writing to satifsy Dr. Stearns (no offense!!) because I was writing with the mindset of having more than one person for an audience. I wanted to write about something that inspired me, but also something that would engage others to comment about. One of the best things we can do as future educators, is show our students how writing is theraputic – just as you mentioned in class yesterday.
Comment by Kristin — January 30, 2008 @ 2:44 pm