A Wild Imagination

Like any teacher, I love getting artwork from my students.  I'll be honest, I don't always keep it, but from the moment I receive it until the moment I store it away/lose it/donate it to the recycling bin, I really do appreciate the thought and effort a student has made to draw me something special.

On Monday, I received a picture I will never throw away.  One of my students drew me a picture of yours truly.  Of course, this kid took forever to begin drawing.  Why?  Because he insisted he needed to see my hair to make the picture complete.  I tried to explain how I can't take off my scarf and that he should go ahead and draw the picture anyway.  Why would I think an 8-year old could be easily persuaded when there's no candy or reward involved?  Silly me. He continued to nag and nag and nag.  Finally I told him to use his imagination and to draw my hair however he would like and that I would love the picture regardless.  That didn't work either.  This kid is relentless if you couldn't already tell.  He told me he wasn't capable of using his imagination.  Riiiiight.  If I wanted to draw someone's butt, I wouldn't go up to the person and say, "yo, can you moon me?  My imagination isn't working at the moment."
...perhaps that was a bad example.  Anyway, back to the kid.  His stubborn behavior continued.  By that point I had had enough and because I can only fake a smile for so long, I told the student to either draw or read a book, but to do something productive until dismissal time.  I then walked off.

A few moments later he comes up to me and hands me a drawing.  Upon giving it to me he says, "Here. I used my imagination and I think you're bald."

:-)

Wikis, The Modern Day Pencil

With wikis intertwined in many classroom curriculum, it has become apparent to me that the evolution of writing is ever expanding.  The generation we are teaching is long familiar with computers and are probably more tech savvy than the educators.  In fact, I can recall two instances when a third grader in my internship has been able to successfully "orient" my SMARTboard when I the teacher was clueless of its functions.
I do not understand why certain teachers have yet to incorporate such a tool in their classroom.  For such skillful students to be denied the option of blogging and creating posts on their own wikis is beyond me.  I believe students of all grade levels can be introduced to wikis, if not taught to run one in the classroom.  If students are long familiar with keyboards and can type a simple paragraph, I have no doubt that journal entries, poems, etc. can be typed and posted on a classroom wiki.  In fact, I am sure that many of the students in my internship would find it more motivating to complete their writing or adhere to it if they knew they would be able to post it on the web.  If I wasn't borrowing a class during my independent teaching, I would definitely incorporate the use of wikis into the curriculum.  Unfortunately, even if I had permission to do so, I doubt my CF would keep up with the requirements of a wiki, thus upsetting the students and ultimately eliminating their passion for the concept.  Rest assured, I am almost certain that I will use a class wiki when I have my own students. 

Move over pencils, there's a new writing utensil in town.  

Blogging and New Literacies

In the article Blogging And New Literacies, author Diane Penrod explains the new found trend of writing since it is now a concept intertwined with cyberspace-and whenever cyberspace is involved, it's a trend commonly followed.  In fact, Penrod labels those that cannot write online published pieces as being "information illiterate" because writing now encompasses the internet.  So long as one can convey the mechanics of writing, the possibilities on the internet are endless.

Unfortunately, the mechanics of writing are introduced in elementary school and more often than not, improper teaching methods lead many astray and often disliking the subject altogether.  To captivate with writing, to create more opportunities to free-write, to explore with writing and to take risks with what may not be seen as the norm, such are the concepts we ought to be enforcing in our classrooms, and yet we emphasize STRUCTURE, STRUCTURE, STRUCTURE.  I'm interning in a third grade classroom at the moment and it drives me crazy when students are assigned an entry which often don't even like, only to have them go back to their seat and day dream instead of write in their entry.  I don't blame them.  If I had to write about the most embarrassing thing that ever happened to me and then worry about my teacher reading it, I'd likely choose to stare at the wall too.  Teachers shouldn't be afraid of providing students with a choice, especially when it comes to writing.  Topics can definitely be suggested, but when they're enforced is where I draw the line.

Penrod mentions that blogging can be a more hands-on approach to writing.  I couldn't agree more.  The personalized touch to blogs makes it come to life.  Words and sentences convey more meaning when there is little restricting the writer.  While third graders may not be able to maintain a blog, the idea that there is more freedom to writing in blogs can begin with a simple journal.  A third grader who enjoys writing during writing time in his or her composition notebook may very well grow up to love and desire to write, simply because he or she had free reign to create personalized pieces of literature. 

Penrod is anti-stand in front of the room and lecture to students about a prompt you handed out.  She insists that the teacher must transfer skills to students, there is a methodology to which this can be done in an interactive and effective manner.  In fact, the book I am reading within my reading group lists many different strategies for educators to teach elementary aged students to write.  The book is called 6+1 Traits of Writing: The Complete Guide and some of its lessons and strategies are so creative that I plan to implement them during my independent teaching.  I especially enjoyed the chapter on teaching conventions because as I've seen in my third grade class, punctuation, capitalization, and spelling are hard concepts to grasp if taught improperly.  I can't say I'll be great at getting through to my students, but i doubt the lesson ideas in the book will fail me...and if they do I'll blog about it.

Blog+Haiku= Bloku...or not.

Interning is work.
Much to do, so little time.
Next year, come quickly.

***
Kids wonder my age.
They tell me I'm very old.
Then they guess 19. :)