How can I continue to grow as a teacher of writing?
How can I continue to grow as a writer?
Where can I implement some strategies that we have learned these past few weeks to enrich my student’s learning but also to deepen their feelings as writers themselves?
How can I continue to make space in my classroom for writing when the regents test is so heavily focused on and taught to?
How can I help students to find and grow their voices as writers when they feel hesitant or uninterested in doing so?
How can I make, and continue to make throughout the school year, writing meaningful for my students?
How do I help students figure out what is meaningful to them?
How can I prepare myself for emotional student responses when asked to write?
ECLInstitute - HVWP 2019-2020 
How can I continue to grow as a teacher of writing? — HVWP
How can I continue to grow as a writer? — HVWP
How can I continue to make space in my classroom for writing when the regents test is so heavily focused on and taught to? Maybe creative “Do Now” writing prompts? My only homework I ever gave to my middle school students was to write a one page weekly reflection each week. Basically if they wrote anything they got credit, as long as it was loosely tied to what we had done that week… It helped with the fluidity of their writing, but I don’t think my reflective papers ever got them to love writing or find joy in it. I think it was simply helping them get better at writing rambling sentences to fill a page… not ideal, but at the same time, I think it helped ELLs and struggling writers to simply write words on paper relatively fast, which in a sense is helpful.
How can I make, and continue to make throughout the school year, writing meaningful for my students? Ask them questions: What do they like writing about? What are their interests? Is there anything they WANT to write or get better at writing? Maybe you will find an insight there…
How do I help students figure out what is meaningful to them? Thats hard. Maybe writing as praxis will help.
How can I prepare myself for emotional student responses when asked to write? Tissues!
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“How can I help students to find and grow their voices as writers when they feel hesitant or uninterested in doing so?”
I’m so encouraged that you named this question – because it seems to be one I wrestle with weekly, monthly (let’s be honest daily at times!) in my own practice. I’m so grateful to work with smart, motivated, caring, dedicated teachers in the HVWP whom I can rely on/ go to whenever I feel like I’m failing in this fight.
I really like the idea of developing “voice” especially – something SO impossible to “teach” explicitly. I’m excited to see how you react to Julia’s RAFT writing tomorrow, as that is her inquiry question which led her to this workshop. Let’s think about it tomorrow, and definitely look to the fall as a place to continue discussion on this question.
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I notice how passionate you are about not only helping your students find meaning in writing but also helping your students discover what they find meaningful. It feels like you want to foster an inquiry based environment that allows for exploration of the self in conjunction with standards. I feel that this environment will help you address your concerns regarding encouraging your students to “deepen their feelings as writers” and “find and grow their voices”.
I also wonder how I can best implement these practices and writing as praxis when tests dominate the playing field. I look forward to working on this problem with you!
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