I have never been a fan of keeping a journal. For some reason, I just could not keep up with it. However, I know the importance of writing for students. I like in Notebook Know How how the author gives us ideas to jump start students writing in their journal. I found her comment on getting them to start their own writing instead of doing it for them especially thought-provoking. Something I also think is important is the modeling. If students have not been through this process, or any process, before then they do not know how to accomplish the task without first being shown how. Letting them watch you struggle is key though because that’s how writing works; it doesn’t just flow from the brain to the hand to the paper; writing is work. One thing I was not aware of was the similarities between reading fluency and writing fluency. It never occurred to me that students should be fluent in writing which includes getting their thoughts on page in a timely manner. I also adore the concept of word graveyards. I know I struggled with finding new words to use and the thesaurus quickly became my friend.
As for HOT Blogging, I found this article to be worthwhile because I am also not much of a blogger. One comment that really stood out to me was the one about students bringing to class what their classmates posted. I think it is important to hear what others have to say and not just yourself. You already know what you think about it but how can there be a discussion if you don’t know what others think about the topic. Another aspect that jumped out at me while reading is how enthusiastic Stephanie’s students were about blogging and it occurred to me that while technology is a huge part of today’s young generation, at their age it is still a novel concept. Given many venues to display work, ask questions, and respond to text excites students because they are able to make something their own that can be shared with many people instead of just the teacher. I think this allows for students to develop their higher order thinking skills because they are able to think about their response without the stress of doing so in front of the class and type it out instead of speaking in front of everywhere. Also, because their response has already been created, they won’t stumble over what they’re going to say in class and can speak confidently when the discussion moves to the classroom.
