Week 3 Challenges

Prompt 2: A thank you letter to my mom.

Miss this friendship, you have changed.

6 Word Memoirs  

My dogs are my greatest joys.

Challenge 2: The role that I envision my writing playing in the classroom

            As a future teacher I imagine that the role of my writing in the classroom will be much like the way’s that Reif and Kittle’s approach is to writing in their classroom’s. I aspire to be involved in every aspect of the writing process alongside my students. As Reif describes, “All teachers must be writers and readers, because we must share and demonstrate our passion to understand the challenges, frustrations, and achievements they face” (Reif 11). I want to be a model for my students, and this cannot be achieved without writing alongside my students. I plan to participate in quick writes with my students, and to write alongside my students during all prompts. As a teacher that writes it would be much easier to motivate students based on their interests and to create a safe space for vulnerable topics.

            As a teacher that writes I think that written feedback for students is also important in improving writing skills. If a student does not understand what they are being assessed on they cannot improve their skills. Ideally written feedback would help students understand what they need to improve on, and it could also help as a teacher to track progress in each students individual writing skills. Based on the evaluation of these papers and the feedback needed a mini lesson could be formed in order to go over areas that students are struggling with at the time.

            As Kittle describes in her book another way to be a teacher that writes is to participate in the themes that your students are working on. Kittle explains, “I also teach through the thinking by providing vision for how to get the work done and teaching students how to respond to each other” (Kittle 76). Providing demonstrations of how to draft certain genre’s is a way of modeling for your students. I hope to include demonstrations like this in my classroom as well as other models of writing.

            As a future teacher I will write in my classroom in order to connect and grow with my students. At this time in my career I believe that a teacher that writes is an educator that understands that students need options, and that every person is unique in their writing process. As a teacher that writes it is also easier to understand what motivates a student or frustrates another, and as a writer you can help them through tough obstacles.

Works Cited

Kittle, Penny. “The Opportunities in a Writer’s Workshop.” Write beside Them: Risk, Voice, and Clarity in High School Writing, Heinemann, 2008, pp. 62–95.

Reif, Linda. “Read Write Teach.” Heinemann Publishing, Heinemann Publishing, 2014, pp. 8-12