Comments on: Welcome to the MY Access!® Home Edition Blog! http://reach.vantagelearning.com/2008/02/13/welcome-to-the-my-access%c2%ae-home-edition-blog/ Because Writing Matters Wed, 20 Aug 2008 14:31:55 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.0.11 by: bohara http://reach.vantagelearning.com/2008/02/13/welcome-to-the-my-access%c2%ae-home-edition-blog/#comment-11 Mon, 18 Feb 2008 09:33:09 +0000 http://reach.vantagelearning.com/2008/02/13/welcome-to-the-my-access%c2%ae-home-edition-blog/#comment-11 Matt - I really agree with your thoughts. I think that many of us who were never "taught" writing, did not enjoy it for many reasons. How did one write a report such as yours on Texas? By copying facts from encyclopedias mostly. No one told us any differently. The report was meant to spit back facts such as population, climate, industries. No one cared what we thought about Texas - such as if we felt it might be an interesting place to visit or live. The task of writing was to produce something that the teacher had pretty much conceived of already. I so vividly remember that my family did not look like those in the Dick and Jane reading books I was forced to endure. As a result, I disliked reading. The "voice" in those stories, and others of that time, was not mine. I longed to hear something resembling mine! I, also, remember when what I refer to as the revolution in children's books took place-around the early 80's. Suddenly there was literature filled with faces and thoughts from all cultures. I often shared my Dick and Jane experience with my students in hopes they would appreciate all the beautifully written and illustrated stories that were daily becoming available to them. However, I took this a step further when discussing the field of writing. Most often these students came with no background in writing beyond creating a story from teacher chosen topics. And, unfortunately, many of the stories looked and sounded similar due to group vocabulary development and starter sentences. So to have my students understand how important their voice was in their writing, I would ask them to imagine how they would feel about the simple task of talking if the only voice they ever heard coming from their own lips was that of someone else; if the only things they could say were someone else's thoughts and words. To me, it was just like someone telling me to read about families that were always someone else's, or to write a report on Texas. As the students struggled with this new skill called voice, at least most were able to understand the concept I was trying to get across by sharing my Dick and Jane experiences. Another concept that was usually foreign to my students was the idea that I was not going to force them to change their words in their writing. Nor were their peers. That was not the purpose of our conferencing. Their words, their thoughts, their experiences were their voice. No one else had the right to change that. As you say, "through thinking, speaking, and writing, (and I'll add reading) we become who we are." I also shared the following quote with my students . It was credited to Neil Postman. "Meaning does not end on paper. The only things you will ever find on paper are black marks. Meaning is in people. People assign meanings which they clearly have in their experiences." For me, and I hope them, this summed it up nicely. Beverly Matt - I really agree with your thoughts. I think that many of us who were never “taught” writing, did not enjoy it for many reasons. How did one write a report such as yours on Texas? By copying facts from encyclopedias mostly. No one told us any differently. The report was meant to spit back facts such as population, climate, industries. No one cared what we thought about Texas - such as if we felt it might be an interesting place to visit or live. The task of writing was to produce something that the teacher had pretty much conceived of already.

I so vividly remember that my family did not look like those in the Dick and Jane reading books I was forced to endure. As a result, I disliked reading. The “voice” in those stories, and others of that time, was not mine. I longed to hear something resembling mine! I, also, remember when what I refer to as the revolution in children’s books took place-around the early 80’s. Suddenly there was literature filled with faces and thoughts from all cultures. I often shared my Dick and Jane experience with my students in hopes they would appreciate all the beautifully written and illustrated stories that were daily becoming available to them. However, I took this a step further when discussing the field of writing. Most often these students came with no background in writing beyond creating a story from teacher chosen topics. And, unfortunately, many of the stories looked and sounded similar due to group vocabulary development and starter sentences. So to have my students understand how important their voice was in their writing, I would ask them to imagine how they would feel about the simple task of talking if the only voice they ever heard coming from their own lips was that of someone else; if the only things they could say were someone else’s thoughts and words. To me, it was just like someone telling me to read about families that were always someone else’s, or to write a report on Texas. As the students struggled with this new skill called voice, at least most were able to understand the concept I was trying to get across by sharing my Dick and Jane experiences.

Another concept that was usually foreign to my students was the idea that I was not going to force them to change their words in their writing. Nor were their peers. That was not the purpose of our conferencing. Their words, their thoughts, their experiences were their voice. No one else had the right to change that. As you say, “through thinking, speaking, and writing, (and I’ll add reading) we become who we are.”

I also shared the following quote with my students . It was credited to Neil Postman. “Meaning does not end on paper. The only things you will ever find on paper are black marks. Meaning is in people. People assign meanings which they clearly have in their experiences.” For me, and I hope them, this summed it up nicely.

Beverly

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