This article opened up with a huge mental bang in my mind. Being an educator for only a few short years, I’ve never second guessed the way in which I teach writing as a process. Why do I teach writing in steps? How should students write and think about their writing? I’ve assumed, and wrongly so, that writing has always been viewed as an organic activity in which the writer undergoes a process of self-discovery and cognitive expansion. The National Writing Project, teacher-research, and professional developments has aided in the paradigm shift that I’ve assumed as truthful and questionable. Additionally, this article opens up new perspective that we can say that we are teaching the writing process, but in fact there are many models and forms of implementation—some effective and others not. What model of writing am I teaching and is my pedagogical schema of writing process as accurate as I think? These questions I ask myself as a challenge to explore deeper.
Another interesting point this article makes is for teaching and professional development to be inquiry based. How often do teachers challenge their assumptions of what they’re doing? Why do I ask my students to prewrite using a graphic organizer or a quick-write about a topic? What does this do for the learning and writing process? Assumptions need to be challenged for deeper growth. Blau states, “making problematic their own knowledge and practice” which indicates that we must challenge our positions, take them off, examine their validity, and make course corrections based on our understanding of the flaws found.
The case studies presented show that Ms. Gonzales and Ms. Buerra, both taught the processes of writing, but in different ways. Ms. Gonzales was characterized as rigid in her approach, while Ms. Buerra fluid. Buel argues that Gonzales build a community of writers by providing room for collaboration across the writing process—not just for editing. Additionally, Buerra positioned students as authors and their peers, not the teacher, as the primary audience. Students were empowered to give affirmation to students when they shared their word.
Buerra’s approach to writing being a process also allowed for students to be at various places in their writing projects. I was encouraged with this point because often times I see myself as being the rigid task master where students must be done with each step. The idea that writing is recusive and students engage in writing at various degrees of speech is important keep in mind.
Options and choices is also a predominant theme in Buerra’s teaching of writing. Students are given tools for becoming independent writers as apposed to students being required to use a specific set of strategies. I think that teaching students explicitly to use strategies is important, but when students are given an assignment, using a strategy that is appropriate to the student and his or her peers in a collaborative group will produce more thinking.
One last point that I found exceptional in this piece was the idea of keeping portfolios. Students in Buerra’s class used writing portfolios as an aid instead of a museum. Gonzales implied that students and parents were irresponsible to keep the word they’ve produced and in a sense she suspended ownership of their authorship. Buerra helped students to realize that their ideas are worth sharing. Buerra’s idea of portfolio took on a dual purpose: 1) to be used for future creation and 2) as a way to present growth during parent-teacher conferences. Overall, Buerra’s model of portfolio use adds a deeper dimension to the purpose of having them.
This article was very insightful. How am I teaching writing? Am I telling students what to write or how to write? I have some room for growth—especially when it relates to collaboration and seeing writing as a process that students will navigate, with my help, at varying speeds. I see some Gonzales and Buerra in my teaching. Gonzales doesn’t assume certain skills her students have or don’t have, but she also stifles learning by keeping too much control in her own hand. Buerra holds a different model of teaching where she gives more autonomy in writing and teaches her students that they too are teachers, audience members, authors, and collaborators.
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