The writing experiences during my early elementary years looked far different than what I often observe in today's classrooms and the writer’s workshops I read about while researching. Most of my memories of school place the teacher in the front of the classroom instructing the students who are seated in perfect rows working on one piece of writing until it was ‘perfect’. A picture that is almost perfectly opposite from the more student centered classrooms present in today’s schools. I know that the way I was taught to write wasn’t as effective as today’s methods. Research confirms this by saying, “In writing instruction we’ve found that a systematic approach, rather than a rigid, lock-step approach, increases students’ performance in writing (and by extension, reading)” (Fisher & Frey, 2007, p.9). I know that the writer I am today is because of the writing experiences I had at home, literacy experiences that were a part of my everyday life. As Calkins (1994) stated, “Writing does not begin with deskwork but with lifework” (p.3). One of my fondest childhood memories involves creating a neighborhood newsletter with my older brother so we could report our little league scores and the week’s weather report. This creativity was not what I experienced in school as a part of our writing program. I am again reminded as Fletcher and Portalupi (2001) stated, “real writing has its roots in everyday experiences”(p.36). In school, the focus of our writing instruction was on handwriting, mechanics and correct spelling. At home, my experiences with writing were much more creative and free.
In reading about the differences between the Acquisition View/process classroom and the Learning View/traditional classroom, it is obvious that my formal elementary school writing experience closely resembles the traditional classroom model. "Teachers in traditional classrooms emphasize the importance of producing writing that follows conventions in handwriting, spelling, punctuation, and organization" (Freeman & Freeman, 2004, p.30). In my classrooms, there was very little attention given to how creative a piece of writing was, correct mechanics were far more important. My experience was also similar to the Learning View/traditional classroom in that we were often given topics to write about. "Usually, students are given the topics for writing, and they are expected to complete the writing in a fairly short time" (Freeman & Freeman, 2004, p.30).
I feel fortunate to have grown up with parents that encouraged creativity in writing since my school writing experiences did so little to foster creative individuality.
References
Fisher, D., & Frey, N. (2007). Scaffolded Writing Instruction. New York, NY: Scholastic.
Fletcher, R., & Portalupi, J. (2001). Writing Workshop: The essential guide. Portsmouth, NH:
Heinemann.
Freeman, D. E., & Freeman, Y. S. (2004). Essential Linguistics: What You Need to Know to Teach.
Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.
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ReplyDeleteCarrie,
ReplyDeleteThe experiences you had in writing were very similar to the experiences I had growing up. There was one teacher that I remember that taught with a more students centered approach to writing. She allowed us to be creative, and it was truly the only year that I enjoyed writing. Your remarks, about the teacher being at the front of the class, with neat little rows, made me laugh! That is exactly what I experienced.
How wonderful that you had the creativity to write the newsletter with your brother at home. Did your parents encourage that? I do remember keeping a journal on trips that our family would take. It was much more meaningful than the writing that I was doing in school.
Our experiences in the past build who we are today. I am sure we are better writing teachers because we know how much the creative part of writing was missed in our own experiences.
Carrie,
ReplyDeleteThe experience you had in school was very similar to what I had experienced too! I remember hating writing because it was so structured and rigid. The red-ink pen terrified me! It's great to hear that even though you were exposed to such a rigid writing process, that you were still able to foster creative writing at home.
It was interesting to think about the writing experience that I remember having when I was in in school and contrast it to what my students have today. Their writing experiences are much more aligned with the acquisition approach to learning where mine was in lock-step with the learning approach. It's amazing to think how teaching approaches change over a time that really wasn't that long ago!