What Is Working In Elni Essay

In group discussions with the students I teach, I have found that they prefer this method of teaching as they can visualise the lesson, which enables them to understand it better. Recently we have been looking at cells, tissues and organs. I used Power point to begin the lessons with, asking questions and encouraging students to ask questions back. I also make sure there are plenty of hand-outs which they can use to complete the work set. I try and make all the work set and hand-outs as visual as possible to capture and hold their imagination. Using technologies in the classroom can be a great asset to all teaching methods as the internet can open up whole new worlds for students. They can help students who struggle with conventional teaching to adapt and move forward with their learning. The Power points and hand-outs can only be used to a certain extent and find that not having interactive whiteboards can sometimes stifle the learning. We only have a small computer suite and this has to be booked in advance so all these can hinder the students. As some of the students we work live in children’s homes or with foster carers we have to restrict what they can access on the internet for child protection. This then can cause problems with the likes of youtube, facebook and twitter as access is denied.

In chapter 9, Writing Across the Curriculum, the process of reading and writing was investigated and explained in comparison to one another. The reading-writing connection focuses on drawing from students’ prior knowledge and cognitive processes in order to build learning. The authors mentioned that the writing process is a strong tool for exploring and clarifying meaning and the two major instructional components used are writing to learn (WTL) and writing in disciplines (WID). The chapter also focused on the subareas of academic journals and writing disciplines.

Logan Pearsall Smith once said, “Fine writers should split hairs together, and sit side by side, like friendly apes, to pick the fleas from each other’s fur.” All be it an overwhelmingly disgusting image, Smith’s words are true when it comes the art and science of putting pencil to paper. In the classroom, students should be able to be vulnerable, honest, accountable and “real” in their writing so that they may grow to become better writers. It is the responsibility of the teacher to insure a quality learning environment that is conducive to these three factors. Observing the writing process and identifying the experiences within, be them personal, direct or indirect, contribute to how the educator teaches students using best practices.

In his essay, "Teach Writing as a Process not a Product," Donald Murray outlines the major difference between the traditional pedagogy that directed the teaching of writing in the past and his newly hailed model. Traditionally, Murray explains, English teachers were taught to teach and evaluate students' writing as if it was a finished product of literature when, as he has discovered, students learn better if they're taught that writing is a process. For Murray, once teachers regard writing as a process, a student-centered, or writer-centered, curriculum falls into place. Rules for writing fall by the way side as writers work at their own pace to see what works best for

Christine Love Thompson discusses strategies that she believes are the foundation to “good” writing in the article, “A Dose of Writing Reality: Helping Students Become Better Writers.” Thompson discovers that it is not correct spelling and grammar that makes a “good” writer; it is the voice of the student. She uses sources to support her claim that methods such as using graphic organizers and her constantly making corrections are not as effective as they seem. Thompson organizes the article to ensure better understanding of the process she went through to help her students become better writers.

Reading and writing are two very important skills. These skills allow students to be successful, life long learners. Along with many other skills, one place students learn how to read and write is school. As an educator it is my job to ensure that students learn these essential skills, so that they can be successful, life long learners. It is important to know that writing-to-learn is different from learning-to- write. Writing-to-learn is different as the final product is not a piece that has undergone several edits (Knipper & Duggan, 2006). Writing-to-learn is the short informal pieces of writing that can be used in a lesson for students to reflect on subject matter and explore their own learning (Colorado State University, 2015). Where

“Writing for Teachers,” an article written by Peter Elbow, opens a world of thought not seen by many students and teachers alike. They, including myself, have fallen into a trap of formats and teacher pleasing. Elbow excellently describes the circumstances of the symbiotic relationship between the teachers and students. He describes the scenario where teachers grade papers upon what they find is most similar to what they have written, and the students aspire to please their teachers. A student’s writing, though it could be good for the intended audience, is graded poorly for being too dissimilar from how the teacher likes writing. These students learn to start “writing for teachers” so they get a better grade. These students develop a very bad habit of writing to please the teachers so much so that they never can write for an audience. Students that

Writing can be a very hard topic to teach. It can also be a very hard subject for a student to grasp on too. The amount of instruction on writing and the amount of writing students have done in middle school is very low. Unfortunately, the time dedicated for writing in middle school has been very minimal lately in classrooms. However, Common Core State Standards says writing needs to be done. Research has shown that the seventh graders at Solon Middle school have completed a unit on writing and they had a higher amount of engagement. This students were practicing the CCSS structure and the loved it.

Within my time in school, the multimedia resources available to the education community has multiplied greatly. When I first arrived at my current school in middle school, most of the teachers did not even have a television in their classroom. Now, the majority of the classrooms are outfitted with projectors and interactive SMART Boards. It is amazing to see how much this has influenced the way teachers teach and the assignments they hand out.

One goal for conferencing with my students is to teach them one strategy that they could use to improve their writing and not look at editing. Lucy Calkins stated “We are teaching the writer and not the writing. Our decisions much be guided by ‘what might help this writer’ rather than ‘what might help this writing.” (Calkins, 1994) With this being said I will need to keep this in mind when working with my students

Imagine reading the same book over and over and over again. After about the fifth time it would start to get boring. College professors have to read multiple papers and it tends to get boring when they all sound the same. When writing, students do not venture out and get creative. Writing in English is all about perception and varies from person to person. Every piece of writing should be different and based on each individual 's perspective. Sometimes students do not venture out and get creative with their writing, they stick to the bland and boring basic ways that everyone else uses. In the article Freirean Voices, Student Choices, a college professor at Mid Michigan Community College explains the problems students and teachers face with writing and how he has worked to fix this problem. Barry Alford, the author of the article, uses all personal experience to persuade the reader that students should be writing in more complex and rich ways. Another tactic he used to persuade the audience is by expressing other people’s ideas including Kenneth Burke, David Bartholomae and Ira Shor’s ideas. Alford’s main purpose was to express upon readers the idea that students should be writing in more complex and rich ways with more creativity.

The first step is to prepare. The teacher wants to make sure there is a large enough space for every student to write and for several individuals to be able to write at once. This can be on butcher

Everyday, teachers are faced with the challenge of teaching students new information that is valuable to their future. Teachers are responsible to determine what and how information is taught. How this information is taught to students is pertinent to their success; therefore, teachers must be able to use effective teaching methods in the classroom. Students have diverse learning styles; therefore, teachers need to determine how students learn best and pattern their teaching to accommodate these differences. During elementary school, children learn to read and write, acquire a basic understanding of content areas, and develop dispositions toward

The authors end the chapter with a reminder to teachers; “But in the end, it is far, far more important that teaching tools be helpful to kids, not attractive”.

In fact, I realized, as I continued to read, my teachers did a lot of modeling and demonstrations on completing a task. In addition, they had the ability to adjust learning to their students learning need and style, even though learning styles were not part of the system yet (Hamond et al., n.d.). Therefore, much of my teaching mimics how I learned from those teachers. I believe in guiding my students toward discovery on their own; therefore, my lessons were thought out, so they encompassed each student’s learning style. I taught 6th-grade social studies, not an exhilarating course to garner excitement.