Teaching Adolescent Writers: Chapter Seven

(Page 148) “…if you want to see a student’s writing improve, you have to provide the student with meaningful feedback before the paper is finished.”

Once again, Gallagher uses a great sports analogy. I like how he compares writing to boxing, where the competitor continually goes to the corner for coaching between rounds. Reading and coaching students before their final drafts just makes so much more sense. What good does it do for the student to get tons of comments (in addition to low or failing grade) at the end? Do we think the student is actually going to go back and make any corrections and learn something more? If we have any suggestions to further the student’s thinking, is he going to do anything with those comments? Have you ever had a student get a low grade and rewrite his paper without the opportunity to earn a higher grade? If you’ve ever had that one happen, I’ve got to meet that kid!

The thing is reading a student’s writing prior to the final draft just makes sense. If our goal is for students to learn and improve, I don’t see any way around it. I suspect the argument against this is that it would take too much time to read papers multiple times. Yes, it is going to take some time, but I don’t think it is as bad as it appears. Unless a student completely scratches the original work and rewrites everything, then the second read won’t take as long. Plus, you won’t have to be spending as much time writing comments all over the place because you will have conferenced with the student in advance.

I think about all of those HSAP practice tests I score. If I just gave students their scores, it would take me no time to get them done. What takes forever is writing comments on them so they can see what they can do to score better on the actual HSAP. I often find myself writing the same thing over and over. I always wonder how much better the papers could be if I had the kids as my actual students and could conference with them about what they wrote and see the changes in another draft. Of course, the idea with HSAP is that there is no conferencing, but if we coach kids throughout the year, then they should do just fine.

Teaching Adolescent Writers: Chapter Six

(Page 130) “…even when students understand the purpose behind their writing, they often give little thought to who their audience might be.”

I think many students figure that the teacher is the one who is going to be reading and grading the assignment, so she/he is the only audience to whom the work should be written. If we only give the “fake” assignments that Gallagher writes about (i.e. the kinds of writing that is never seen in the real world), then why would students ever write to an audience other than the teacher? By exposing students to those real-world writings and examining why they were written, they can see the possibility of writing to someone else.

Gallagher gives many strategies to use to get students to write better so that they are writing for someone other than the head of the class. I think several of them can easily transfer to disciplines other than English. What if students bought in their lab reports for others to analyze (RAG Competitions, p. 133) or the teacher highlights the best parts of the lab reports to share with the class (Golden Lines, p. 131)? I know lab reports are lengthy—I don’t think the golden line thing has to be done in five minutes as Gallagher describes. It could be done as the teacher grades the reports; she could then use the lines as examples when students write the next report.

I also thought that “Another Set of Eyes” (p. 137) strategy would work well for those of you who work closely in subject areas, such as US History or Physical Science. When I used to score the practice HSAP tests while I was still in the classroom, I never scored my own students. I wanted someone else to score their writing for a couple of reasons. One, I felt like they needed feedback from someone other than me, so they could see what someone else thought of their writing. Two, it allowed me to look at how others viewed their writing—I could see if I was overlooking something and could look for commonalities (good or bad) in their work.

On a side note, is it a sign that I have overused my copy of this book when I have a chunk of pages fall out?!? Pages 83-88 sure did fall out when I opened my book tonight. I thinking that’s a good thing!

Teaching Adolescent Writers: Chapter Five

(Page 91) “…students write a whole lot better when they care about what they are writing…Choice generates a welcome chain reaction: it creates student buy-in which in turn generates writing motivation, which in turn causes students to write better.”

I feel as if I always start Gallagher responses with, “I love how Gallagher…” and why should this post be any different?!? I love how Gallagher gives tons of examples of providing writing choice in this chapter. I think sometimes, as teachers, we get caught up in the idea that we’re the ones in charge and we need to tell students what to do. If we give students choice then that might create more work for us. I don’t think that’s the case at all. Providing students with options will certainly make the work less painful to read! As Gallagher points out, students are better writers when they’re writing something they care about. So, if we let them have the option to write about something of interest, it will be better written and much more enjoyable to read. I’m not saying that history teachers need to let students write poems about their love lives instead of an analysis of the Civil War. Just let them have a few choices to choose in the process. I’ll tell ya, the one thing I liked better about the old exit exam (BSAP) versus HSAP is that BSAP provided two writing prompts, and students were permitted to choose which one they wanted to write about. I’ve had a hard time understanding why a choice wasn’t given on HSAP when we know it’s better for students.

Ah, but you say, “Yeah, but what about when they get to college? They’re not going to have a choice what to write about then.” Here’s the thing: our students are not in college right now. They’re in high school. Do we need to prepare them for college? Yes. Absolutely. But I repeat: they’re in high school now! Preparing students for college and treating them as if they’re already in college are two different things. We have to take baby steps with them. Gallagher has a great analogy about writing and basketball at the bottom of page 92 though the top of page 93. I think this is an excellent way to think about how we teach our students to write. Nobody gets tossed into a basketball game without lots of coaching and practice, so we should not expect our students to spit out great writing without lots of coaching/teaching and practice!

Teaching Adolescent Writers: Chapter Four

(Page 84) “Let’s face it, our students will not be spending the rest of their lives reading Beowulf. But, hopefully, they will spend their adult lives reading books and magazines. By getting them to analyze real-world text, not only are we preparing them for their adult reading lives, but we are also providing them with interesting, relevant models.”

While I think it is important to tackle some tough stuff in class, I love that Gallagher explains the importance using of real-world texts. His point about Beowulf is on par. How many adults do you know who read that kind of stuff for pleasure? I bet most English teachers wouldn’t even read it if they weren’t teaching it. If we want our students to be readers once they get out of high school, we have to show them the types of things that are available. What better way to make them want to read—and improve their writing in the process—than to utilize real-world texts? After all, what are the chances that a student is ever going to write like Nathaniel Hawthorne (The Scarlet Letter)? And would we want them to write like that anyway? Heck, I’d have to reread their work a couple of times if they did!

I know many of us are readers, but many adults find themselves “too busy” to read long books but often read other short texts—newspapers, magazines, blogs (I’m partial to Reality Steve’s blog), etc.? By using these pieces in class we are able to expose students to texts that they may find appealing and continue to access outside of school. I hate that we are not able to get newspaper subscriptions at a discounted rate anymore. I used to have students read the newspaper religiously…granted, they were often hooked by the Sports section, but they were reading nonetheless. One of my students, Don (whose last name shall remain unwritten, but I suspect some of your know who he is) clearly developed the love of the newspaper while at school that carried on after he finished. He continued to read the paper well after he graduated—he called Pam one day about something he read two years after he finished at Airport. I’m certain that enjoyment of reading the newspaper would not have happened if he had not developed the habit at school. Using a variety of texts for pleasure reading, analysis, and writing models allows students to discover that there really is something out there for everyone to read.

I recently read Nicholas Sparks’s Dear John (2006). (I wanted to read it before seeing the movie…which I have still yet to do.) The main character, John, wasn’t the most stellar student in high school nor upstanding person once he graduated; he ended up joining the military to straighten himself out. Even though the book is fiction, something John said (wrote, technically) after being in the army resonated with me: “I read a lot too…I wasn’t into Chaucer or Proust or Dostoevsky or any of those other dead guys; I read mainly mysteries and thrillers…I took a particular liking to Carl Hiaasen because his words flowed easily and he always made me laugh. I couldn’t help but think that if schools had assigned these books in English class, we’d have a lot more readers in the world” (p. 20). I was that student who hated to read in high school—I didn’t like those dead guys either. Luckily, I eventually discovered on my own the type of stuff I like to read. I wonder how many students out there hate school reading, but may actually love to read if they had the experience working with a variety of texts. And by having instruction along with those texts, they may learn not to believe everything that is written—it is okay for one to develop his own opinion. Heck, he might even learn how to write a letter to the editor and share his opinion with the world.

Teaching Adolescent Writers: Chapter Three

(Page 48) “They don’t need a teacher who assigns writing; they need a teacher who demonstrates what good writers do.”
(Page 50) “Students do not understand that most first-draft writing, for everyone, is lousy.”

All writing is not created equal! Because of that, we have to show students what to do with the kinds of writing we want them to do. Just because I’m pretty decent at writing a blog thread does not mean I would remotely know how to go about writing some sort of law brief. (I don’t even know if the term “law brief” even exists…it just sounds like something I’ve heard on t.v. before!) So, as Gallagher points out, if we want students to produce good written work, we must show them how to do it. Though I took three years of science in high school (one more year than was required for graduation at the time, I might add!), I truly have no idea how to write a lab report. However, I suspect if Stephanie showed me how to write one—as opposed to just telling me to write it—I bet I could do a decent job. I’m sure my first one wouldn’t be the best, but each time I could be shown something to improve upon and eventually do a darn good job at writing lab reports.

I chose the second quote because students do have a tendency to think that teachers—and even professional writers—just write well naturally. Granted, the first draft of writing for teachers and authors may be better than what many students initially could produce; however, polishing is still necessary. For those of you who are Twi-hards (lovers of the Twilight saga) and have gone to author Stephenie Meyers’s Web site, you know she has posted a draft of Midnight Sun, a novel she was working on which is basically Twilight from Edward’s point of view. She did not want the manuscript “out there” and only posted it because it had already been leaked on the Internet. Meyers was not happy, to say the least, that the leak occurred, and she prefers that her fans not read the unfinished draft. She says, “the writing is messy and flawed and full of mistakes.” I love that she writes that…we’re talking about a woman who has sold MILLIONS books, and she says that her first draft writing is not so great. What I would really love is to be able to compare a final draft of Midnight Sun—if Meyers ever decides to finish it—to the first draft. I think being able to show that to students would be an awesome lesson in the revision process!

Teaching Adolescent Writers: Chapter Two

(Page 29) “What good is a curriculum that is a mile wide and an inch deep? What good is it if a student can point out the symbolism found in Lord of the Flies if this same student leaves my class unable to write well enough for college admission or to secure worthwhile employment?...don’t we have a responsibility that reaches far beyond simply covering our courses’ content? Shouldn’t we concern ourselves a little less with getting students to recite facts and figures and concern ourselves more with helping them develop these cornerstone skills they will need to lead literate lives?”

My apologies for pulling a long quote here, but it’s a key one from this chapter for me. Courses have so many standards to cover these days, it’s about impossible to teach them all well. Or should I just leave out the word “about” there? Is it more important to go over (and sometimes that all time allows) every single point to be able to say we went over it in class, or would it be more beneficial for students if we spent more time going in depth on fewer topics? I know, I know what everyone’s thinking: But we have the end of course tests! I saw Ellin Keene speak a few years ago (she wrote Mosaic of Thought), and she made the point that students who think well test well. I don’t know why that was such an epiphany for me—it seems like common sense. Who typically does well on standardized tests? Honors kids. And who do we always tend to worry about when EOC and HSAP roll around? Our special ed and lower level students. Perhaps we would better serve our students if we taught them how to think rather than just to spit information back to us. Which will be of more service to students ten years down the road?

Teaching Adolescent Writers: Chapter One

(Page 9) “It’s one thing to assign writing to students; it’s another to teach them how to write.”

I think this is a huge problem with students. My theory is that often when teachers give students a writing assignment, the teacher has in his or her head what that assignment should like but never parlays it to the student. Sure, the assignment seems simple, but so does anything that you have straight in your mind. All writing is not created equal. The things you do for a persuasive essay are different from those you to for a lab report or reasearch paper on the Holocaust. When giving a writing assignment, we must explain to the students how to do it…we can’t expect them to learn all types of writing in the English classroom because the English teacher isn’t an expert in all types of writing! By scaffolding writing assignments, we can make students better writers. I think those of you who teach resource or and/or on a freshman team are at an advantage because you get to see your students all year long, so you can “grow” them over a longer period of time. That’s not to say progress can’t be made in a semester, but it is a little more challenging. But, hey, what’s teaching if it’s not a challenge?

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