Writing Across the Curriculum

The article provided for this prompt was really a great help to me.  I have a tremendous fear of writing and teaching writing.  The article provided ways of implementing writing without doing the traditional "beating a dead horse" way of teaching.  I found this article to be incredibly helpful since the jump to Common Core is coming soon.  With the Common Core comes cross content area writing; writing in math, writing in social studies, writing everywhere! This idea has given me great anxiety, but with these tools I think that I can tackle just about anything.

My favorite part about the article was the useful strategies to implement writing in the classroom and across all areas of education.  I have always loved taking notes in class (weird, right?) and was so surprised to see exercises to enhances students writing and note taking/study skills.  I had a terrific teacher in high school who was actually a baseball coach.  He taught me the most valuable skill I could ever have in life; structured note taking.  I loved seeing something in this article that I had learned in school.  I hope that I can help my students learn these skills and allow them to use writing as a way of studying and self checking. 

The framed paragraph strategy was another tool that could serve such an amazing purpose in a classroom.  Using frame paragraphs seems to be a great way to introduce students into structured writing and allow them to feel comfortable with writing.  The article elaborated on how this method would be most useful for students with anxiety about writing.  This strategy could also be used for a modification for certain students in the classroom that struggle with open ended writing. 

Free writing is something that I have a love/hate relationship with.  I really enjoy it when it's something that I have the opportunity to use when I'm reflecting on feelings or emotions.  It usually scares me when I'm free writing on random topics that I haven't had much time to really think about since there is a time constraint.  I'm also Dyslexic and I have such a hard time processing information and then transferring it onto paper.  I love the idea though and I think that it serves such a great purpose in classrooms of students.  I think that free writing helps the student understand where they are in the state of the learning process and lets the teacher know where the need to gage their teaching to. 

Learning logs are just fantastic.  I wish we would've been able to have those when I was in school.  This is another strategy that I plan to use in my own classroom, especially in social studies.  Being able to relate the topic to other things that the students may have already encountered always helps prior knowledge and sharing among students.  This strategy also charts a students growth in their process of changing as a learner.  Students, as well as teachers and parents, can look at these journals and see the leaps and bounds made by simple writing, recording, and reflecting.

My favorite strategies were obviously saved for last - bio poems, ABC lists, and word maps.  These strategies just make me smile from reading about them.  These are such creative and innovative ways to encourage writing and learning at the same time.  By using these strategies students are engaged and motivated to write and see their finished product.  Pairing these activities with an element of technology or art would be a terrific form of creative learning.  I remember making bio poems in 5th grade about ourselves and them presenting them to the class.  It was such a fun way to get to know each other, but it really made you think about tiny details since you had to fill in 26 letters of the alphabet.  My mind is just buzzing with ideas and topics to pair these strategies with.

As I've read my other classmates blogs I realize that I have so much in common with all of them!  This is a unique experience for me be case this was not my original block when I first started the education program.  I do know Whitney Sasser - and like Whitney, I also love my sorority, Delta Gamma.  I also read Melinda's blog and noticed that she could play 5 instruments! I can only play two, but I was also in marching band just like she was.

This week's listening experience was such a unique and fun activity.  I sometimes do those things on my own without even noticing it.  It makes you think quite a lot about all of the sounds and noises that go unnoticed.  My favorite thing to do when I visit Auburn with my fiance is to sit on Samford lawn with his dog Deuce and listen to all of the beautiful sounds of nature (or a lawn mower...).

 

Questions:
1.)  What are other innovative ways to introduce writing to learn in young children? (K-1st grade)
2.) What are some learning tools that students with learning disabilities (dyslexia) can use to help them edit their own writing since they sometimes cannot see their own mistakes?