Reflection on Memorandum

All in all I think the memo was a good assignment. I like being put into a situation that is realistic and that will actually help me professionally someday. I found it easy to find problems and solutions for the writing program at "my school". I liked being creative and making up the problems that students were facing and how I, as a teacher, would fix them. The biggest problem I had was writing in a "professional voice". I felt like I might have put some un-needed information in my memo. I really liked the 4 points that I made about the teaching of writing because I felt that they were real problems that students face. My explanations might have been a little short but then again, I didn't want to put in un-necassary (sp?) information just to make it longer. I feel like I did a pretty good job of explaining my reasonings and using the articles to back me up. If I were a principle I would definitely take the recommendations made in my memo into serious consideration when designing a new writing program. The memo definitely challenged me as a future teacher because it is something that we are actually going to have to do. I feel like I can talk my way into or out of almost anything but when it comes to writing I tend to be a little scatter-brain. I would have liked to have someone edit it before I turned it in to you but I couldn't so take it as it is!!

Correctness

I have always been good at grammar. I'ts my strength. I don't know why, or how, but I've always understood grammar and really liked it. My freshman year in high school I had to make a grammar book and then senior year I had to make one for just commas. I don't know if that helped but I have never had problems with writing correctly. My biggest problem is the fluency of my writing. I find it really hard to stay on track when I'm writing, even though my grammar is probably perfect. My sentences get all scrambled and the content of my writing gets confusing. When I read the article about Fluency and Flair, it immediately made me think of myself. I am good writer. I will spell everything correctly and make sure the right comma is used in the right place. I guess it depends on what is viewed as a good writer though. There are people out there who can write a really engaging story that you can't put down but are terrible at the technicalities (sp?) of writing. It seems like it is one or the other.

What I know and have learned...

So far I have learned one major concept when it comes to the teaching of writing: Kids are scared of it. We, as teachers, say write about this and that and poof, we expect them to just create this beautiful wrtitten thing. The sad thing is that we can't just expect them to write without helping them or engaging them. Looking back on some of the writing assignments I've had to do, they were boring and I only did them because I had to. Most of these articles focus of the creative aspect of writing and letting children's imaginations run wild. I really like the idea of co-authoring because it takes a little bit of the pressure off of the students and lets them be a little more creative. This also works really well with younger students because they can speak fluently and tell wonderful stories but writing them down is the hard part. I also really like the idea of individual prompts. Starting a story for a child and letting them expand and go crazy works much better than having them all write the same story. I also really like the idea of fluency and flair. With younger grades, although grammar and spelling are important, what's more important is the fluency and pizzazz in their writing. If a child can be engaged and tell a story out loud without worrying about the grammar issues, it proves that they are in fact, good writers. I think grammar is very important but, in my mind, good writing and good grammar are different. I have learned a lot from these articles so far, like fun creative ways to teach writing.