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!

What's the Big Idea about Blogging?

Even this late in the game, I am seriously thinking about changing my topic for the paper in the Seminar in Writing class. Originally, my thoughts were to involve family literacy and early writing skills of children, but now I am thinking I should shift a little and move towards the idea of blogging within a family literacy program. (I'm still thinking and open for suggestions.)

I have had the unique opportunity to teach in a family literacy program, which has provided me with a chance to try out a variety of teaching methods. I have been trying to find ways to motivate my students to enjoy reading and writing (at least somewhat), not just to make them guinea pigs for my research. I just think (and research backs this up) that there is a definite need to break the cycle of illiteracy and not pass it on to families' future generations. I try to point out to students that reading and writing is everywhere and that all of us have to "deal with it" in some way EVERYDAY!! So, why not enjoy it, right? Well, not so much for students who have had negative experiences in school and come to class hoping to find a family literacy program different.

Recently, as you may know, I have tried blogging with my students, in order to change things up a bit-or at least that's how I saw it. We were reading a rather lengthy book and completing literature circle activities after every few chapters. Activities included things they said were more fun (and some even admitted a little more beneficial) especially compared to traditional book reports they have done in the past. My students completed various roles such as Artful Artist, Word Finder, Discussion Director, etc. that they selected themselves and completed the tasks as they saw fit. These were then shared the following class session and seemed to go quite well. In fact, to back up a bit, before we began to read this particular novel, I heard groans of "I HATE reading!!" turned to "This isn't so bad, I kind of like this. . ." (Hearing that they hated reading was hard for me to swallow since luckily I was born into a family that adored reading and it filled our house! However, many of my students now are not so fortunate and do not see it as a fun activity, but rather something they have to begrudgingly get through because someone (in authority) told them they must read this and be ready to discuss it or regurgitate (what the teacher is looking for) back on to a book report).

One week I decided to change things a bit after I watched the students texting in class and so eager to look up information on the Internet. I told the students that for this session of our literature circle we would be blogging about the book. I was shocked by the responses and the amount of resistance I received! I thought the students would be really enthusiastic to begin to combine what I thought was the best of both worlds-texting and using the computer. NOT SO MUCH!!! I am still trying to figure out what went wrong on that day, but I may have an idea.

I waited a couple of weeks again before I brought up the subject of blogging again. I asked colleagues and brainstormed possible reasons. When I tried it the next time, we were at the very end of our novel and went back to writing and/or drawing our responses on paper; we then transferred them to our blogs. I am not sure if they were thrilled, but the responses were a little more enthusiastic and there definitely wasn't any resistance. Mystery solved? I'm not sure! Perhaps, the first time was just a bad day?? Perhaps, the writing out ahead of time helped?? Did the students not want other people to see their writing?? Perhaps, they realized I wasn't there to tear apart their writing?? Maybe it wasn't so bad afterall, even though I was told it is so much different than Facebook because there the students are free to write whatever comes to mind. Here in the blogs, I was asking for the students to write on something about our book we were reading.

For me (and the students) this is still a work in progress!! But I do know this-the big idea for blogging (with my students) isn't the blogging itself, but to make writing fun for them and to just get students to write because the more you read and write, the better you'll read and write!!

Got Reader-response Theory?? It's Everywhere!!

As I have begun to develop my Critical Theory Today wiki page, I am finding that many (if not all of the categories) have overlapping issues. For example, my particular area was New Historical and Cultural Criticism and I have found Reader-response items within this area as well. I guess this makes perfect sense since I, as an actively engaged reader, am making meaning of the piece of literature I am reading. So, my understanding is that really each of the chapters in Critical Theory Today has to do with a portion of the Reader Response Theory. (The "Reader-response Criticism" chapter is the one that I focused on this week.) After all, the Reader-response theory ". . . maintains that what a text is cannot be separated from what it does" (Tyson, 2006, p. 170).

It seems that Rosenblatt's transactional reader-response theory pertains especially well to reading graduate school material. Often times, I find myself reading graduate school homework and I have to stop and go back because I am not sure what I just read. I may start out with one idea in mind and as I continue reading, I change my thinking as I realize I may have missed the author's main points. "This process of correcting our interpretation as we move through the text usually results in our going back to reread earlier sections in light of some new development in the text" (Tyson, 2006, p. 173). I find myself reading and rereading to fill in gaps or clear up confusion that occurs. Rosenblatt refers to this as figuring ". . . determinate and indeterminate meanings. . . " (Tyson, 2006, p. 174).

Although Tyson gives the reader five different categories of reader-response, it seems there is a fine line between some of them. Affective stylistics became a little more clear when I read Stanley Fish's questions, ". . .'What does the sentence do to the reader?' and 'How does the reader of the sentence make meaning?'" (Tyson, 2006, p. 176).

Overall, I felt that the one of the most important points made in the "Reader-response Criticism" chapter, is for teachers to have an awareness ". . . by helping them [their students] decide if and when to try to replace those strategies with others; and helping them take responsibility for the strategies they choose to teach instead of hiding behind the belief that certain ways of reading are natural or inherently right because they represent what's in the text" (Tyson, 2006, p. 187). It seems that this social reader-response theory is extremely important for our students. It is definitely important to never assume that students know certain reading strategies that we, as teachers, may take for granted.

Using a Critical Lens to View New Historicism and Cultural Criticism

This week I have begun to closely examine Lois Tyson's chapter entitled, "New Historical and Cultural Criticism." I will begin by defining new historical and cultural criticism in order to keep these two closely related concepts somewhat apart. Although often it may be necessary to keep new historical and cultural criticism together. New historians do not understand history ". . . simply as a linear progression of events" as traditional historians seem to do (Tyson, 2006, p. 283). New historical criticism is a using a different lens to look at history, which is quite different than how traditional historians look at history. New historians may ask questions like ". . . 'How has the event been interpreted?' and 'What do the interpretations tell us about the interpreters?'. . . "(Tyson, 2006, p. 282) as opposed to more traditional historians that may simply ask ". . . 'What happened?' and 'What does the event tell us about history?'. . . " (Tyson, 2006, p. 282).

New historians believe that readers/listeners are only getting a piece of history-the piece the author has chosen or was told to write or tell about to a particular audience. The piece of history that a particular author(s) felt was worthy of being told. This often leaves out some very important people and events as voices become marginalized. It seems that new historians are left wondering what else really went on, at whose expense, perhaps, and what impacts did the events have on ALL? In other words, what was the whole story, not just the 'cherry picked' details? Indeed new historians believe history should involve what Clifford Geertz refers to as "thick description" to not leave anybody out.

Cultural criticism is a belief that all should have a voice and that there should not be a hierarchy among those voices. All voices are equally important. The dominant class should not dictate what is considered valued. There is ". . . no meaningful distinction between 'high' and 'low' forms of culture" (Tyson, 2006, p. 296). Cultural critics also believe, ". . . a culture is a collection of interactive cultures, each of which is growing and changing, each of which is constituted at any given moment in time by the intersection of gender, race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, socioeconomic class, occupation, and similar factors that contribute to the experience of its members" (Tyson, 2006, p. 296).

Keeping the ideas of new historical and cultural criticism in mind, imagine how differently you might read the next social studies or history textbook, especially within your own classroom. Think of how differently you may read the next piece of literature, especially ones that are portraying certain aspects of history, as in historical fiction or nonfiction that detail events. Are we really seeing the entire picture through our rosy colored glasses or are the lens slightly (or maybe totally) fogged up not allowing us to see how things really are?

Examining the Transformation of Literacy-It's a Never Ending Process

This week I have been reading Myers' Changing our Minds: Negotiating English and Literacy. I was really surprised by the vignette in chapter four of this book. Illiterate factory workers (early to mid 1800s) paid literate people $.25 to $.50 to a week to read aloud to them during working hours. I thought this was a fantastic idea and was immediately thinking of some places that even could use that today. (My own county's illiteracy rate is about 40%!) I was shocked when I read further and realized the factory owners put an end to this practice (for reasons unknown to me)! Why wouldn't you want your workers to be literate? Perhaps, there is something the owners didn't want the workers to know or understand?!? Could it have been a case of workers beginning to question authority?

I am amazed to read about the how the history of literacy has evolved over time. Families began to leave the home to work, first the father in search of a factory job, rather than just depending on a family farm. During what is referred to as the "signature and recording literature" period, ". . . schools taught student the alphabet and 'moral' behavior, but the basic introduction of young people to culture-to knowing about the world-was typically employed in or near the home and who taught their children discipline, the Bible, national culture, and some information about the world" (Myers, 1996, p. 63). Could this be considered an early form of family literacy?

Recitation literacy became prominent next. During this particular "literacy phase," children were required to memorize certain assigned pieces and often punished for errors. The teachers demanded respect from their students. According to Myers, the students were also expected to "toe-the-line" which meant that children literally stood on a line (correct posture and motionless) and read aloud. (This is where the commonly used phrase originates.) (p. 64). Sadly, ". . . one's intelligence was determined by how many written materials one could recite" (Myers, 1996, p. 66). Apparently you were in big trouble if you had difficulties memorizing things!!

Critics began to complain about the ". . . meaninglessness of recitations. . . " which began a change over towards learning to read "unfamiliar, unannounced materials using a new 'scientific' approach to reading" (Myers, 1996, p. 76). It was believed that ". . . defin[ing] English for 'all' students as sequential reading skills, grammar skills, and some the 'basic' cultural information usually found in literature" (Myers, 1996, p.84).

As the need for measurable student assessment became greater, eventually multiple-choice items, machine scoring and standardized tests came into the educational picture. Although there was (and still is) much debate over this type of assessment, it really doesn't seem like much has changed since this was implemented at the recommendation of Ellwood P. Cubberly. Cubberly saw the schools operating best as a "school-factory system," despite how others argued against his ideas (Myers, 1996, p. 95).

Included is a link to how critics and scholars, like John Taylor Gatto, have dealt with assessment in a more student-oriented way and steered clear of the "school-factory system". This is an excellent example of how teachers who go above and beyond can indeed, ". . . aim for a new standard of literacy for all students and that this new standard, like the others from the past, results from a convergence of new insights into texts, new models of learning, and new national needs. . . " (Myers, 1996, p. 117). http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=26DvPQ7EIQ4&feature=player_embedded#

Literacy is more than something ". . . solely located in people's heads as cognition" (Barton & Hamilton, 1998, p. 20)

As I began to delve into Barton & Hamilton's Local Literacies, I find myself thinking about a much deeper meaning of "literacy." "Literacy is primarily something people do; it is an activity, located in the space between thought and text" (Barton & Hamilton, 1998, p. 3). It is so interesting to see the different ways that ordinary people rely on and use literacy in everyday lives. So much of these literacy activities, we literate adults, take for granted.

This book has caused me to stop and analyze how much I use literacy in my own life, besides what I think of as more formalized reading and writing. Ironically, I never really thought of breaking down the different types of literacy we use in this world. Clearly different situations render different types of literacies. I don't talk the same at home as I do at work or when I am teaching. My use of "home literacy" is more relaxed, but often times I find myself modeling "proper literacy" examples to my own children. I definitely have a more formalized way of speaking, reading and writing while I am teaching or in class myself. ". . . literacies are coherent configurations of literacy practices; often these sets of practices are identifiable and named, as in academic literacy or work-place literacy, and they are associated with particular aspects of cultural life" (Barton & Hamilton, 1998, p. 9).

It amazes me how the definitions of what it means to be a good writer has changed since the beginning of the early nineteenth century. It seems that the focus was more on the proper writing utensil positions as opposed to the quality, creativity and content of the actual writing. I cannot imagine being hit for not properly holding my pen! (Boy if that doesn't stifle creativity and motivation, I don't know what would!!)

It is hard for me to imagine what life would be like without the ability to read or write. Yet I have students who have just that problem. These adult students are what I refer to as "excellent pretenders" who are able to fool the world into thinking they are perfectly literate adults functioning in a high tech. world. I am baffled as to how they write grocery lists, read recipes, fill out applications, read prescriptions, follow written medical instructions, help with children's homework, etc. usually without letting the rest of the world know their secrets. (Sometimes their own families have been fooled!)

Local Literacies is definitely providing a unique lens into viewing reading and writing in our everyday lives!

Writing NOT as Important as Reading???--I DON'T Think So!

I find it ironic that reading and writing are so intermingled, yet they are often still looked at as separate subjects in our American schools. It seems to me that one does not exist without the other. Monaghan & Saul's article, "The Reader, The Scribe, The Thinker: A Critical Look at the History of American Reading and Writing Instruction" discusses the way reading and writing have evolved over the course of our educational history. It is amazing how writing for girls was not as important as sewing in the early days (1640s) of the Massachusetts Bay Colony. I guess home is where the girls stayed and education was only for the males, unless you were of a high social status.

Defining writing is not an easy task. It seems that reading is much easier to define with its many various subcategories and therefore ". . . reading has been and continues to be clearly defined and therefore better able to define itself and its assumptions tot he pedagogical community at large" (Monaghon & Saul, 1987, p., 91).

When I read, " in most contemporary classrooms, composition is still deferred until reading instruction is well under way" (Monaghan & Saul, 1987, p. 87), it made me think of how very young children (even under age 2) will grab a crayon or whatever they can get their little fingers on to "write" something somewhere even walls (and believe me they can tell you exactly what they wrote about). They young children do not grab a book and start reading; although they make some really good attempts at it. (They will pick up a book and start babbling about its pictures and tell the story that way, but they really want to write.) So why do we wait to introduce writing?

Monaghan & Saul talk about reading as a receptive skill and writing is more of a productive skill. Although I agree that writing seems to be more productive on the surface, I think of reading as having the potential of engaging an active reader. To me, receptive skill sounds more like you are a passive reader. Even if you are listening to a story, there are plenty of opportunities to take an active part in the story.

I was somewhat offended by the information about how basal reader publishers are expanding the teachers' manuals in an effort to combat what they feel is a problem that teachers know less and less even though they have had more and more training. I can remember my own new whole language teaching manual having actual sentences that were to be recited by the teacher. Wow-what nerve!!

To end on a better note, I liked the idea of the school in Chicago that allowed children to create their own stories for instruction. I wonder how long this idea lasted. It seems like the students would really benefit from it, especially since it was so student oriented. I wonder what the negative sides to this would be, assuming there must have been some or it would used more frequently today.

A Colloquium Visit & Writing as a Way to Preserve Knowledge

I attended my first colloquium on Feb. 1. It actually seemed pretty "friendly" despite all the pressures. The thought of it seemed very scary, but the audience was very supportive during the process. The questions asked did not seem to harsh. The presenter was an assistant professor of early childhood education in a southern state. Her work in early childhood education includes using the visual arts in the classroom on a regular basis. Her study that she reported on included the use of an actual artist within the classroom and the impacts that it had on both the students and teachers involved. She reported using small groups; extended work time; non-traditional art media such as India ink; art viewing and targeted aims that related to artistic skills and dispositions. She says that a teacher should know their students at a deep level. Another point she made is that she feels you should not tell people what to think; rather, tell people how to think. Overall, she was a very enthusiastic, dynamic educator with an impressive presentation.

Bazerman and Rogers' "Writing and Secular Knowledge Outside Modern European Institutions" was an interesting look at the history of the invention of writing. It is amazing to me how the world has found writing as a means to record knowledge referred to as ". . . concepts and information shared with other people. . . " (Bazerman & Rogers, p. 143). Early writing uses include recording secular knowledge and knowledge about particular laws of a region. Reading about how only the elite, wealthy, educated (especially male) people had access to print makes me think how luckily we are to have the freedom to read what we wish (for the most part!). If only illiterate individuals would begin to realize the power of literacy and its potential to unlock doors. What a privilege to be able to read what others (themselves included) have written!

I found it rather fascinating that "in Vedas, education was defined as the transmission of life from life to life: 'Every literary man of ancient Indian was himself a living library, so to speak each man a book' (Mookerji, 1969, p. 78)" (Bazerman & Rogers, 2008, p. 148). What a great way to look at the knowledge of man. . . perhaps we should interview and record more elderly people's stories in our world today before it is too late to hear their stories. There's probably a lot of interesting, historical information to be written!

This also makes me wonder how certain publications came to be so popular and survive for long periods of time, compared to others that did not seem to withstand the hands of time. Some are reportedly still being used today such as the Bible, farmer's calendars and even Needham's Science and Civilization. Certainly writing has evolved over time and still continues to serve as a way to share information across the world.

The Creative Writing Circus

The pleasure of reading often diminishes (at least for me, and probably my students as well) when I know I have to regurgitate facts from the selected reading material. It was great to just read The Great Gatsby for the fun of it.

Louis Menand's article "A Critic at Large: Show or Tell: Should Creative Writing Be Taught?" reminded me of my own undergraduate experience of taking a creative writing class. I remember anxiously awaiting the first class with high expectations. I thought that I may learn some techniques to improve my writing skills, as I hope someday to write a children's book. Unfortunately, this was not the case at all. The Graduate Assistant who taught the course apparently did not want to teach this particular creative writing course. Her way of "teaching" was to assign a bizarre topic and set us free until next class time. Then the "fun" began. When we brought in our finished piece we were to bring in enough copies for all to critique and read for next time. This ended up like a three-ring circus with the student on stage being more like a freak show!! Many more negative comments seem to be spoken than the positive ones. As a writer, I shut down and seemed to produce worse and worse pieces. Indeed, I was an ant working on the ant farm, attempting to perform as the instructor wanted.

According to Menand, the definition of "craft of fiction" varies from writer to writer. He also states that "what is usually said is that you can't teach inspiration, but you can teach craft" (Menand, p. 111). In my case, the inspiration was not taught, but it certainly was squelched!

I want to end on a more positive note about creative writing, I just love what Menand said about creative writing teachers . . . "teachers are the books that students read most closely, and this is especially true in the case of teachers who are living models for exactly what the student aspires to be-a published writer" (Menand, p.112). (Of course, I guess this could have a (negative) flip side if the teacher did not like writing).