Posts

Entry #13 * Blogging is my kinda fun!

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Wow, we are at the end LTED 618 friends! Blogging each week has honestly kept me engaged the most throughout this course. I am not someone who sits down and free-writes for long, I have just never gotten into the habit of it. As blogging was a requirement this semester, I was asked to explore my own writing style through the readings each week. I have found it comforting to sit down and just type away. I admit I can be an unorganized writer at times, however, these blogs have allowed me to develop a deeper understanding of the what I read, write, and explore. At the beginning of the semester, I was so excited to blog, I even created a tik tok when starting out with my first post. I intended to make a tik tok for each blog... but the semester got kinda crazy! I am hoping to create a teacher blog as a first year teacher to share with others!  The genre presentations from my colleagues this semester were phenomenal. The first student learning outcome (the variety of modes, genres, a...
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Entry #12 * Genre, Genre, which one stands out?

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Throughout this semesters, we were asked to engage and explore many different genres and their characteristics through Tompkins (2012) and peer led presentations. I have to say how valuable of an experience it was to receive direct instruction paired with engaging activities for each of the genres.  This alone allowed me the opportunity to feel more comfortable teaching the reading and writing process. As I think back to a genre that took me away, it would have to be the journal genre and letter genre (personal writing).  I knew about the personal writing genre before we came to LTED 618, I knew and had experienced journaling and writing letters before the course as well. What I had never took the time to consider was the way I use it everyday in my life, or how the powerful of a learning experience the personal writing genre can be to teach students.  For example, the Journal Genre presentation that Dr. Jones familiarized us with was fascinating to me because of how many...
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Entry #11 * A Genre I Underestimated - Biography

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 Last week I had the opportunity to participate in the biography genre presentation. First, a huge KUDOS to this group. Holly, Maddie, and Marissa, your presentation was engaging, well put together, and extremely insightful. Right from the start of your presentation I was hooked into learning more about this genre. THANK YOU!  I have to admit when I read through Tompkins (2012) chapter of biography I was confused because there was just so much to know about this genre. I appreciated the graphic organizer of the different types of biographies in the puzzle form in the class handout.  This helped my brain to organize the types into their own. Having us bring in a "ME" quilt with one of our mentor texts was such a great way to engage us before even entering the presentation because it allowed us to dive deeper into our mentor texts rather than just skimming through the pages before we bring them to class.  I can't explain how grateful I am for this handout and the many ...
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Entry #10 * McKenzie Gives Makayla Opportunity to Reflect

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 The reflective process is a huge component of teaching and is something that I want to practice during my own teaching career. - McKenzie Hart, Blog Entry #4 I was scrolling through my colleagues blogs, enjoying different perspectives on what we have learned so far this semester. On my friend McKenzie's blog #4  ( go read it!!), I kept saying out loud "Yes! Me too, me TOO!" while reading. I remember reflecting on the journal genre, however, I never thought to deeply connect the genre to my prior experiences or my future teaching experiences like McKenzie hopes to. Just as you did in your student teaching placement, I also journaled after everyday of student teaching (it was a requirement). Tonight I went back and skimmed some of my journals from this experience. I have to admit, I remember some days it felt like a daunting task to take the time to journal because I was just so busy. Reading these now, I am forever grateful I took the time to reflect (even just for a fe...
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Entry 9 * Digging Deeper into Persuasive Writing

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 This last week I had the opportunity to present the persuasive genre with two of my close friends, Sam and Taylor W.  "Persuasion is part of everyday life"   (Tompkins, 2012, p. 252)  Maybe it is said too much, although it is quite clear to me now. Whether I am relaxing on the couch, driving to school, or grabbing groceries, I constantly being persuaded. I am grateful this was our genre to explore because I learned so much about the three appeals (ethos, logos, pathos) and how persuasive writing can be used in many different grade levels. I would like to dedicate this entry to the article I found that we incorporated into our presentation. Read, Landon-Hays, and, Martin-Rivas (2014) conducted a study to determine the effectiveness of a model used when writing persuasive. The model, called the IMSCI takes students through the gradual release of responsibility and more to dive deeper into the characteristics of the persuasive genre. Two forth grade teachers ...
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Entry #8 * My Dear Friend, Kerrigan - Thank you!

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  This week's blog entry is specific to "bless, address, and press" on a colleagues blog. As I was exploring and reading through all the excellent blog entries by my peers, I found myself quite engaged with my close friend Kerrigan's blog and specifically her entry #2 and  entry #7 .      In your entry #2, I appreciate your honestly in your struggles as a writer when you were in primary school. It is interesting to me that you had a specific writing time, however, independent writing was not valued as much in your classroom than strategies and skills were. Tompkins (2012) reiterates time and time again how "it's crucial to introduce students to the writing process and to help them learn the activities involved in each stage" (p. 21). I wonder, then, do you remember learning the stages of the writing process at this age? Do you think if you learned the specific writing stages, you would still have the struggles in writing that you did? A...
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Entry #7 * Revision and Feedback - Truly Important

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After reflecting on our session this past week, I find myself still pondering Philippakos (2017) article on revision and feedback. I've always found revision so hard because you have to change what you originally wanted to say. When I revise, I tend to either skip the entire process or just make minor errors or adjustments. It is clear to me now that revising really means "examining for mismatches between intended meaning and actual meaning" (p. 2017). It's so much more than making those small final adjustments. I am learning that taking the time to deeply read over my work during the revision process is extremely important in the final piece and saves me a lot of extra work later on.  Understanding the revision process as a teacher helps me to see how useful this will be for when I teach students this process. It will be important that I explicitly teach students how to use the revision process so they know what the difference is between revision and simply editi...
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