Jessica Sumpter
English 484
February 4, 2008
Informal Response
Write in the Middle, workshop two is about finding meaning in writing. One of the teachers has the students write about current events and in their summaries they relate it somehow to their personal lives. I really like this idea, I think it’s a good way to get the students to talk about their lives, current events, and how current events affect their lives, especially since that is not always clear. It could also foster lifelong community involvement. Would it be too limiting to the students to confine them to local events/issues/stories?
The teachers in the video talk about getting the student connected to the world outside the classroom. I remember junior high and how focused everybody is on their own lives, which is mainly due to the changes that kids at that age are experiencing. It’s all about who is or isn’t going out with who, what their parents aren’t letting them do, and about what is cool that week. I think it’s a really good idea to get them thinking critically about the news and media, to get them thinking about what is happening in the rest of the world because it’s really hard to get into the habit of that later in life. Frankly, it might even help them feel more normal, or better about themselves because kids can feel isolated and/or different at that age, even when they’re not.
Using technology is another focus of the video, which is almost ironic as I’m using technology to view the video in the first place. However, I do agree with them. Technology needs to be integrated, somehow, into course work. More and more the internet is the way we’re communicating with each other, the way we do research and get news, so I think it’s really important that they become comfortable with it early.
Reading and discussion are another topic that kept coming up as leading to writing. In the interview I did Professor Emery said that reading good writing is essential to producing good writing. I agree with them, reading is important to writing.
There was one teacher on the video that incorporates song lyrics into his course, which I really like. When I pictured teaching high school I always wanted to use song lyrics, only I was going to use them for a grammar exercise. I really like what he did with them though.
Several teachers talk about the importance of giving the students choices about what they write about. I think it only makes sense because student interests are so varied, that if we’re going to get their writing to be meaningful, giving them choices is necessary.
Warm-up exercises. I go back and forth about warm-up exercises. I believe a daily journal is a good idea, but I wouldn’t necessarily require them to answer the prompt right away. I think a warm-up should always pertain to the topic of the day. Kind of like a way to start them thinking, or start discussion.
February 5, 2008
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