Connecting theory to practice (right now please!)

Some of you may be wondering about the connection to what we do in class and your actual practice in future classrooms. (In fact one of you was brave enough to ask). Let me give you a little window into my thoughts about the issue and how I've planned the course. Feel free to comment, asking questions, making suggestions, etc.

First we started with some theory and history of writing pedagogy. This wasn't just to give you theory in some vague "it's good for you" kind of sense, but rather for a very practical purpose. As I mentioned in class, schools are time machines - but they are not detached from cutting edge research, they are connected in very logical ways. I think it's helpful for new teachers to not only recognize what they see in their school sites, but to see how it is connected to the pedagogy they learn in their certification programs at the university.

Second, I think it's important that we think about what writing is, and what is the role of the writing teacher. I think this is particularly important because so often writing is not taught but just graded. This approach is frustrating for students and teachers, and does little to narrow learning gaps. This has very practical significance in terms of deciding how you will use class time, what kinds of questions you will ask your self when planning lessons, developing assignments, and creating assessments.

I included Atwell because she provides some very concrete ideas of at least one way of running a classroom focused on writing as a process. It is interesting that so many of you were frustrated by her tone, her apparent one-size-fits-all prescription for a "good" classroom. You were frustrated by her oblivion to the needs of diverse students, to culturally relevant pedegogy, to modern technology. These frustrations are an excellent illustration for why we spend less time on the nitty gritty day to day "techniques" for teaching. When we say that teaching is situated, different for every teacher, school, student, classroom - we aren't just being annoying - we're addressing the practical realities of things. We could, theoretically, have spent the whole 7 weeks teaching you "how to" do things. Some of you would have walked into settings where this worked beautifully, and others would be completely disarmed by facing a pre-existing curriculum that didn't match, or by students who needed different kinds of teaching.

I think sometimes what new teachers are looking for is really curriculum - lesson plans. You will find that a lot of this will be pre-existing in your sites. You will have textbooks, your cooperating or previous teacher's files, etc. There is an infinite web of resources on the web, and books are available in bookstores.What we are teaching you in these classes is methodology - what to DO with curriculum. How to decide what is needed and how to meet those needs.

All that being said, the rest of the term will be focused more on the nitty gritty. This week we will be discussing creating assignments - not just assessments, but how to creating learning experiences that help students develop their writing skills. We will also begin discussing response and evaluation of student work - opportunities for teaching or torturing students! I will also start asking you to connect what we're discussing in class to the real life situation you will be encountering in your own classrooms. Hopefully it will start to be more clear as time goes on.

The trick is you will never feel "prepared" to teach. There is always more to know and problems that arise. It is really experience that will fine tune your practice. Remember you know a LOT about writing already. You have ideas about how to teach it - you know more than you think. I want to send you out into the world with the tools to ask the right questions of yourselves and the resources available to you.

Make sense? Talk back :) Lemme know!