Writing Heals the Soul

I am amazed by the information packed into the Singer and Singer chapter, "Writing as Physical and Emotional Healing: Findings from Clinical Research." I am quite shocked about how writing has shown evidence of quicker patient recovery in patients receiving surgery; improved attitudes of those individuals dealing with the stress of cancer; improving situations for those with issues with physical pain on a regular basis; lowering high blood pressure levels; etc. Singer & Singer (2008) state that "it appears that writing can bring feeling to the surface for those who typically inhibit emotion for external (social isolation) or internal reasons (anger-in)" (p. 487). If this is the case, as the researchers have clearly stated, then why don't more medical doctors recommend this to their patients? Wouldn't it be great to improve an illness without the use of drugs? Perhaps, it wouldn't be great to those employed by the drug manufacturing companies, though!!

I think this could be very useful "therapy" in schools; however, what worries me is that my role as a teacher is to have to report problems that may appear in writing. So in one hand, if I tell the students to work through their emotions on paper, the other part of me thinks that if a student does write something that puts up red flags that could either endanger himself or others, it is my duty to report this to a counselor. (How does that effect the trustworthy relationship of my students?)

I was also very surprised to read in this article that writing researchers have not "hopped on this bandwagon" to promote expressive writing as healing. Why haven't writing researchers joined this community?

Adolescent and Adult Low-Literacy Readers & Writers

Cheville & Finders article "Defining Adolescent and Adult Writing Development: A Contest of Empirical and Federal Wills" discusses the development of adolescent and low-literacy adult students and implications agencies have had on these groups. As far as adolescents are concerned, researchers have attempted to make connections to the trials and tribulations of being a teenager and how their writing develops. There are differing opinions as to whether or not adolescents are engaged in literacy activities. For example, should "multiple literacies and multimodal texts" be considered literacy activities for teens? If I was to answer that question, I would say definitely, "YES!" Clearly, this is an activity that involves writing and reading AND if it interests the students, they will be engaged (on their own will). Think of all the writing that goes into texting, blogging, writing on Facebook, some video games, etc. (like Dr. Kist presented to us) that adolescents engage in today.

So it seems adolescents are doing writing, but perhaps, we as adults, do not want to recognize it as such because we did writing differently in our teenage years??!! As Cheville and Finders stated, " Literacy is often reduced to mean only reading, and reading in school" (p. 423). Why are some teachers fighting or rather ignoring this particular type of reading/writing so much? We need to keep our eyes on our goals-isn't our goal to get the students to read and write so they can function as responsible citizens in their adult lives?

In my experiences working with adult literacy students, often students begrudgingly drag through assignments because they seem to think they have to "play the game" to get their GED, so they can move on with their lives. It seems they often don't see the relevance to their lives beyond getting that coveted GED. They often don't see the class information as useful to other aspects of their lives. I struggle with this because I see reading and writing as something adults must do in nearly everything they do every day. We need literacy in our workplaces; for understanding prescription and/or doctor's advice; filling out applications of all sorts-jobs, medical records, monetary assistance, etc.; for simple things like filling out grocery and to-do lists; to help with our children's homework, etc., etc. The list could go on and on.

As a former first and third grade teacher who jumped to teaching Adult Basic and Literacy Education (ABLE) students, I found it quite interesting how Cheville and Finders quoted Kazemek as stating that "low-literacy writers share the same developmental needs and problems as struggling elementary students" (p. 426). I couldn't agree more. I have mentioned the similarities of struggling readers at the elementary level versus the adult low-literacy levels to my colleagues. They simply have different needs to use literacy and different interests, but very similar reading and writing problems.

According to Cheville & Finders, another issue in the Adult Literacy Education world was the changes that were brought about by the enactment of the welfare reform in the mid-1990s. Up to this point, adult students were free to enter the enter the program as they pleased. After this reform, many adult students were required to both work and attend classes to improve basic schools. I wonder if the lawmakers thought of how difficult this may be for some students, especially considered the difficulties so many of them had just attending school in the first place??!! Besides, how motivated are you to do something when you are forced to do it? Not so much, I would think!

Roll out the "Read Carpet"!!!

What does Bill Kist, Her Majesty Queen Rania Al Abdullah of Jordan, Al Gore, Jerry Spinelli, Bruce Lansky, Richard Allington, Stephanie Harvey, Anne Goudvis, and countless others have in common with me? (Come on, use your inference skills. . . .)
Well, not only do we all value reading and writing, but we were all at the International Reading Association Conference to talk about it!

I had the unique opportunity to meet and/or hear many of these individuals speak of the importance of literacy. I found myself walking through hotel halls, often with my mouth hanging open, poking colleagues and whispering "Hey, did you see who that was?" I was in awe!!! I imagine it was like being on the red carpet in Hollywood, only it was the "read carpet" in the literacy world. (Pun intended!!)

Presenters from all over parts of the world were at the IRA Conference to show how literacy research could be put into practice; show findings on current research studies and to portray how literacy is being fostering in their part of the world. Clearly all participants and presenters had similar goals in mind-to help students find a love of reading that will carry them throughout their adult lives, as nearly everything we, adults, do involves literacy in some way.

Overall this was an experience of a lifetime. I arrived home Wednesday with countless ideas, samples, autographed books and memories. It has been wonderful working with Dr. Bintz, Liz, Petra, Rochelle and Lisa (even though she could not go with us to Chicago). This experience has truly shown the power of collaboration.

I am also attaching a link to an IRA webinar up and coming (May 8) about expository writing instruction-it sounds interesting. http://https//sas.elluminate.com/site/external/jwsdetect/playback.jnlp?psid=2009-11-15.0647.M.B39916033873709470BB66497EB58F.vcr

Literacy for the Family: A Family that Reads and Writes Together, Learns Together!

This week I just finished reading Monaghan's really interesting article, Family Literacy in Early 18th-Century Boston: Cotton Mather and His Children. This particular study focused on how the Mather family valued literacy and writing, which was rather rare at the time. In fact, even the slaves in the household were encouraged to develop their reading and writing abilities. Historically, it seems that the teaching of reading and writing were left up to the schools when the children were old enough to attend, especially because some scholars thought that there was a particular age when reading should be introduced. However, interestingly enough, a person was considered literate if he or she could sign a document. Monaghan (1991) also points out that there really is "no standard history of American writing instruction" (p. 344-345).

Mather, "a major figure in the development of American theology," was very adamant about teaching his children reading comprehension and how reading and writing were related (Monaghan, 1991, p. 347). He also owned the largest library in America at the time which consisted of 3,000 volumes. It was reported that when major events (both good and bad) fell upon Mather, he would turn to writing. Mather left behind a vast amount of diaries that tell his families' literary history. Mather's entries included the joyous occasions of the birth of each of his SIXTEEN! children and also wrote to get through the difficult times of the untimely deaths of his first two wives (and several of his children) who fell to smallpox and measles.

I was moved by the previously mentioned fact that Mather could use his diary almost in a therapeutic and consoling way. I wish I was so talented! I think I begin to shut down and obtain writer's block when stress piles on-hence end of the semester!!! Cotton Mather's diaries are an exemplary way to show the "cohesiveness between reading and writing, and the relationship between literacy and life" (Monaghan, 1991, p. 367).

The Art of Presenting

I think it would only be fair this week to begin this week's blog by writing about how well the first presentations went. Congratulations to a job well done by both Petra and Rachel. Both presentations were very informative. Petra's unique take on our inference group's (Dr. Bintz, Lisa, Liz, Petra, Rochelle and myself) study we have been working on for a class that was in the Spring of 2009 was awesome!! (It's afforded some really great opportunities already with more to come in the following weeks, namely IRA in April!!) Petra's presentation, "Inference and Implication" that integrated inference and writing allowed me to see our inference study through a different lens that I had not thought of before. Sometimes we are so involved in our own projects and studies that we need to just step back (at the recommendation of Clifford Geertz) to become an outsider for a moment (or longer) to see what we may be missing!! This is where we can begin to create thick descriptions for our studies.

Rachel's presentation on adult literacy, "Using New Literacies to Teach Old Literacies and Writing" was really interesting. I love hearing stories about teaching experiences in England and how they compare to our adult literacy classes here in the United States. It seems that there actually are more similarities than I originally imagined. Both adult education programs seem to have the same basic goals in mind-to have the adult students achieve basic literacy and math skills in order to improve as functioning adults in today's society.

I was somewhat surprised about how excited adult learners seem to be in England. As an adult education teacher, I have taught enthusiastic learners who are very goal oriented and determined to earn their General Educational Development diploma. On the other hand, I have taught a good number of students here in the United States who are required to come to adult education classes in order to fulfill community service, or for court ordered reasons, etc. These students are generally not nearly as enthusiastic to be in class as other students-I wonder why???

We here in the United States also have a problem with retention of students. The students come and go. Sometimes we see the same students for a few months and then we don't see them again. Others may leave and return in a few months or a couple of years when they say things have "settled down a bit" in their lives. (When do things ever "settle down"-I guess if that was me I'd be waiting a VERY long time??!!)

I hope that my own presentation will be as interesting as both of these two presenters have been, as the "bar has been set very high"!!! As these presentations continue I think we will discover the benefits of how writing can and definitely NEEDS to be incorporated across all areas of the curriculum. Writing needs to be addressed in all content areas not just the language arts classes.

Reflections on Effective Writing with Adult Literacy Students

As I began to delve a little deeper into the focus of my writing paper, I took another step backward to see if I could figure out why my adult students may have been so reluctant to use a form of new literacy to discuss a book. Perhaps, it was not the blogging itself after all. (I am still not sure of that.) What I do know is that while I was doing research about family literacy and teaching adults who are working to improve their basic math and literacy skills (many of which are in hopes of earning a General Educational Development diploma), I found some interesting things about the writing process itself. I was reading part one of five of an article published by University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Education, entitled The Five Features of Effective Writing: 1 Teaching the Features of Effective Writing. (This particular article was written by Cali and Bowen.) These researchers have determined that the five features of effective writing are “focus, organization, support and elaboration, style and conventions” (Cali & Bowen, p. 1).

Focus here refers to the topic chosen by the writer in response to a writing assignment/task. Organization is the “progression, relatedness, and completeness of ideas” (Cali & Bowen, p. 1). Support and elaboration refer to how the topic is developed through the writing. The writer’s style depends on the audience, purpose and is portrayed through their word choice. Lastly, are the writing conventions, which involve “correctness in sentence formation, usage and mechanics” (Cali & Bowen, p. 1).

Perhaps, it was the last two (style and conventions) of these features that “scared” my students the most. Although I gave them a general topic to write about-anything related to what we were just reading about in our book, maybe they worried about the grammatical issues that their unknown audience may be reading. Because it was a blog they were using, anyone could view it if they knew the particular blog’s web address. I wonder if they were worried about how their ideas would be conveyed. I thought the students would like a little freedom in their writing, but maybe the topic I gave should have had some more guidelines.

In addition to these five features about writing, I am seeing many articles about writing that proclaim how important it is to have students and teachers reflect on their writing. Reflecting about the process of writing is beneficial to both the reader and writer. I am not sure I will ever find out the exact reason why, but I am going to continue reflecting on my teaching until I reach what seems like a reasonable explanation.

Teachers of Writing and Writings of Teachers

I find it amazing how some teachers will do nearly anything to try to avoid writing, both inside and outside of the classroom-how ironic! Research shows that writing teachers (and the students they teach) experience more success in the classroom if they are writers themselves and have little writing anxiety. It seems that for those who have participated in the National Writing Project, they are very enthusiastic about writing and see how important it is to do everyday.

Grossman et al.'s article, "Transitions to Teaching: Learning to Teach Writing in Teacher Education and Beyond" discusses how teachers develop their understanding of teaching writing through their first years of teaching and how their understanding affects the way they teach writing. It was also found that perhaps too much time was spent on learning the theory of writing and not enough on the actual practice of writing.

Another important piece about teachers who teach writing is reflecting in their own teaching practices. Sometimes teacher reflection brings a new light to the students' writing struggles and/or abilities. Writing teachers must remember to model writing. It is extremely important to let students see the teacher writing and to see the many stages of writing. It seems that students sometimes think that adults may have the "magical" ability to initially write something and it is perfect the first time. Students need to see the process that teachers and other adults go through to improve their writing. They also should understand that different writings may require different types of revision and that it does not necessary need to be done at that particular moment. It is okay to put the writing piece down for awhile and come back to it at a later time!