Tuesday, February 12, 2013

Literacy Matters; Writing in Content Areas

Reader Response Number One
Content Area Reading/Writing: Chapter One

In Chapter one of Content Area Writing (CAW), authors Harvey Daniels, Steven Zemelman and Nancy Steineke bring to light the known idea that students are writing more than ever before in this Millennia. Students are creating websites such as their personal pages on Facebook and Myspace, creative writing blogs and text messages; all of which they use to express themselves in ways that they cannot do in any other way. However, the book speaks of a "writing crisis", in which students are not focusing enough on academic writing that will help them achieve professional goals in the future.

When reading this alongside chapter one in Content Area Reading (CAR), I was amazed at how relatable both chapters were to each other. Chapter one of Content Area Reading focused on the need for teachers to create active and engaging lessons that incorporate both reading and writing in ways that students can explore and enjoy. When comparing this to the other chapter in Content Area Writing, I found that the way to get to students to bring in their outside enjoyment of writing is to engage them in unique concepts that will allow them to express themselves in that same way academically.

In the end, students just want to be able to relate to the work that they are doing. They also WANT to learn. They crave knowledge in a way that interest them. As a teacher, it is our job to find intriguing ways to do just that. Content Area Writing speaks about writing being "part of a better life", and makes the claim that being able to "bring words to life on paper" makes someone simply feel better and acts as a release. By providing different ways to create this outlet within the classroom, not only will the students overall writing improve, but they will enjoy academic writing much more.

Of course, simply stating all of these facts is much easier typed and said than done. There are different things that come into affect within the classroom that may affect what we as teachers can go over or include in our curriculum. More and more it seems that we are teaching towards a standardized test that allows little to no room for engaging activities. CAW speaks of the different standardized tests that call for more writing instruction in order to improve the writing scores on these tests. However, there simply isn't enough time in a day! Teachers have a curriculum full of different things they must do in order to meet the required standards for their students. When do they find the time to teach towards these tests? Also, these tests do not truly tell us if a student can write or not. When they present prejudice and imperfect tests (as stated in the book), they receive imperfect answers. This is a true problem when thinking about improvement in ones classroom.


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