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!
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You're correct that National Writing Project (NWP)teachers are enthusiastic about writing. The NWP teaches teachers to write and share their writing with others, including students.
ReplyDeleteI was fortunate to attend an undergraduate program where many of the professors were tied to NWP. Even my cooperating teacher, Linda Tatman, was a NWP graduate (when she retired she became co-director of the Ohio Writing Project at Miami University).
There are two classroom events which have really stuck with me. The first was a professor "demystifying writing." I walked into Don Daiker's Composition Theory and Research class one day, and he 10 topics written on the board ranging from basketball to his travels abroad. He said he would write about one of those topics for us. After a democratic vote, Don sat down at an overhead projector and wrote about his college memories while we watched in awe that even professors are disorganized and make mistakes in first drafts.
The other event was when Tom Romano came to an English methods class and put a few pages of his copy edited book in progress on the overhead. He showed how the editor had marked up his book with red pen and required a response to every single comment made.
Being around teachers like Linda, Don, and Tom taught me to write with my students from the very first day I stepped in the classroom. Thanks for reminding me how fortunate I was to have great role models and how important it is for me to share my writing in the classroom.