NEATE SPRING WORKSHOP AND MY EXPERIENCE

This is actually my first time having a conversation with teachers from different schools and areas of study. It was really a wonderful experience for me. I was able to share my ideas and also hear from teachers what it is like to be in the classroom and what is expected of us as a teacher to promote a conducive environment for the teacher and the students. It is also surprising to see how every teacher talks about the standards and how generalized it is, and its effect on the students.

Hearing the three students in the Panel talk about their learning experience in High School and how it shaped their learning experience in College, was interesting. Sanchez JanCarlos who is presently a student at Johnson and Wales University, talked about his struggle with writing, mostly with starting the introductory paragraph. This problem was common among the speakers, which made me wonder if we teachers need to change our teaching strategies to better engage and develop our students writing skills. I won’t deny that as a first time teacher, I am more concerned about meeting my students’ learning objective, which is based on the standards. But listening to these students and having read Christensen’s book, I am beginning to change my students’ learning objective. Obviously, the standards is the format that every teacher has to align their curriculum on, but I come to realize that it can be modified to enable students’ voice and choice. After all, they are the reason why we are in the classroom.

Kimberly, presently a student at CCRI, expressed her concern on the generalized format and rules in writing that they as students in High School have to follow.  Instead of building their skills to become better and creative writers, it limits their creativity and makes them docile. Kimberly felt that if she had been given that freedom to go in-depth and write not just by following the generalized format, but writing how they feel on the topic, she would have been more prepared for writing in college.

Joey Carr who is presently a student at New England Tech,  reminded me of the student in Christensen’s book, who had a lot of ideas to write down, but couldn’t because of the five paragraph format which made her see herself as an incompetent writer. Joey expressed the fact that he had always loved writing and always had a lot to write, but he was faced with organizing his thoughts and putting down all his ideas when he was in High School. As a teacher, I always thought that students should only answer what they asked and not go beyond that, but these students made me know otherwise.

The points that I got from these students that I am going to take to my classroom is that:

·         In teaching, tie essays/narratives to topics that students care about makes them to want to write, which affirms Christensen’s words.

·         Giving students reflective essays; that is writing essays on topics that connect to their past experiences.

·         Providing students with resources they need to improve their knowledge and ability to write, and also how to get them.

·         Less focus on structure, and more focus on personalized writing.