Summary of NCTE's Beliefs about the Teaching of Writing

The National Council of Teachers of English has provided us English Instructors with some groundbreaking ideas about how we should teach writing to our students. Generally I found this information insightful and enlightening as it got me to reflect on the process of writing and how it should be approached with our students. Here are some of the ideas that I found most intriguing:

1.) Unlike some human experiences writing must be taught and for this reason everyone can be taught how to improve their writing ability. Everyone can learn to write.

2.) Writing is a process which begins long before words are placed on the page. Students thoughts and ideas must be stimulated before we ever begin to demand the written product.

3.) Students daily activities and interests can be used to teach writing to students. For example, activities like texting and the use of social web-sites are students' major modes of communication and using it as a writing tool for English makes the experience more authentic for students.

4.)In order to improve one's writing ability one must practice writing. Therefore teachers must provide lots of opportunity for students to practice their writing.

5.) The act of writing itself also helps our thinking process. Ideas come to us as we write.

6.) We write for numerous purposes, such as report writing, essay writing, creative writing and responding to examination questions. Therefore students should be taught that writing differs depending on the audience and purpose for the writing.

7.) Those who are proficient readers generally make better writers as reading can inform the way we write. Likewise, being a good writer can help one become a better reader.

These ideas should inform the way we approach teaching writing.

Introducing Teachers to NCTE's Ideas for Teaching Writing

As previously mentioned, incorporating students' daily activities like the use of text messages and electronic mail to help teach writing, are some of the ideas forwarded by the National Council of Teachers of English. I believe that these can be helpful if not powerful learning tools. On the other hand I anticipate that many teachers would be unfamiliar with these strategies and doubtful about their benefits. This may make them hesitant to implement these ideas into the classroom- especially as it would require more planning and use of teachers' personal time and resources (particularly in the beginning phases).
For this reason , I believe that introducing these new ideas for teaching writing in the English classroom should be a nationwide endeavour so that most if not all schools gain exposure to these new efforts.
One teacher can make a change in the education system through how he teaches; however at this point we need more than just a handful of pioneer teachers on board trying to go against the grain. What we need is a nationwide effort to come together the appropriate aid, support and guidance from administration and Ministery officials and teachers. Otherwise, the efforts of the few who may initially want to make certain changes to how writing is taught may in the end become futile.
Too often we dismiss good ideas and discourage those who seek to make changes as we may become inconvenienced by the higher level of attention and care that is required from us for success. Perhaps if all come on board as a unit, then we will find the task less stressful and more approachable.
The first practical step that may be needed in my mind would be workshops for teachers and administrators alike to expose them to the strategies and their benefits. But it should not stop here. Our government as a whole, Ministry officials and the Ministry of Education need to be prepared to financially support whatever resources and materials may be needed for this venture to be a success.

Ideas for Writing in the Classroom

As our approaches to teaching have evolved over the years, experts now see the validity of incorporating students' daily activities and personal interests into the classroom. I notice in my reading from the National Council of Teachers of English, that it should be no different for the English student.
It is true that we do not have the resources available to allow students to use certain types of media and technology in the classroom itself, but since writing should not be just an in-class experience, I think that incorporating forums like the blog, social networking sites, text messages and e-mails into the teaching - learning experience would not only allow us to captivate students' interests but would also allow us to demonstrate the value and authenticity of "writing" to the human experience.
It is important to show students that we write not simply to attain good grades or answer questions on a test, but also to communicate daily; and that the experience we have in the classroom with writing goes in tandem with what we write/experience on a daily basis.
Of course with new teachers and even experienced ones there is always a level of trial and error when incorporating new ideas into our teaching, and finding a way to make these newer approaches work may take some time and a lot of careful planning but I believe that those ideas should be explored and may very well make an impact on how our students respond to writing in the long run.

My Former Beliefs on the Art of Writing

When posed with the question on what my beliefs were about writing, I had to concede that I really did not have any. Prior to this course, I had not given much thought to the writing process and how it should be developed and nurtured in our students.
In the classrooms the major skills necessary for success are reading and writing and writing appeared to be a very basic part of the learning process: you read to comprehend the information being presented to you and generally you make responses to questions via writing.
Even in the English A classroom, it never occurred to me that writing truly was a cognitive process that should: a. ) begin with some type of experience to stimulate ideas; b.) be followed by the emergence of the ideas themselves; c.) lastly would then be expressed in writing on a piece of paper in one's note book.
However, in spite of the short period of time thus far spent doing this course I have come to understand that writing is a lot more than putting words on a page for an audience (usually in our students' case that audience is the teacher). Instead, I realised the importance of the pre-writing phase- that is brainstorming- to the entire "writing" process. During the period of brainstorming, our ideas emerge. But even prior to that, there must be a deliberate attempt on the part of the teacher to allow students to connect with the topic on a cognitive level so that the ideas can be generated.
I think this is where we fail in the classroom. We give topics and urge students to write on this topic, without giving them the opportunity to strategically develop their ideas. I anticipate that from now on there will be a change in the way that we approach "writing" with our students.

Learning via Blogspot

I would like to welcome my classmates to my very first blog. We have learned in past courses that technology can be a very useful tool in the classroom and I am happy that we have been given the opportunity to use media and technology to facilitate our own learning. Additionally using the blog provides an example of how technology can incorporated during the teaching process.
The truth is that the practical aspect of our lives here at the Division of Teacher Education and Educational Administration is soon approaching and we need to make use of every available opportunity to learn how to make our English classrooms an environment for learning and discussion- after all our grades depend on it. Moreover, the students whose lives shall be impacted by our teaching ability need us to hone our own teaching skills so that they will not be short-changed in the classroom.
Therefore, I plan to use this blog to learn: discuss ideas and gain insight from my peers and lecturer. So without further ado, let us please get the ball rolling!