Education Commons^™

Unlocking Passion And Setting Students Free: The Impact Of Culturally Relevant Writing Instruction In A Middle School English I Classroom, Adam Whitaker, Trina J. Davis, Mónica V. Neshyba

Journal of Multicultural Affairs

Culturally relevant writing instruction has the potential to validate the voices of students often not heard. Documented disparities in student writing proficiency in grades K-12 indicate a pressing need to employ more effective approaches in facilitating writing instruction. This paper presents the findings of a mixed methods research study that explored eighth grade English I students’ middle school reading and writing preferences, writing experiences, and the impact of culturally relevant writing instruction. Data were gathered from 63 students via reflective journals, writing interest forms, learning logs, and writing artifacts collected throughout a 3-week writing unit. Our findings reveal that writing …

The Power Of Conflict Or Rhetoric And Poetry, Suzanne Riskin

be Still

I am grateful for the opportunity to write this piece, share my thoughts and give a moment of gratitude for the grace that medical students show to others, their attending physicians, patients and most importantly themselves Effective writing, speaking, and expression is easily born from a struggle with others. Our own internal battles emote themselves as prolific poetry.

This piece was inspired by the quote by Yeats.

Using Natural Language Processing To Increase Modularity And Interpretability Of Automated Essay Evaluation And Student Feedback, Chris Roche, Nathan Deinlein, Darryl Dawkins, Faizan Javed

SMU Data Science Review

For English teachers and students who are dissatisfied with the one-size-fits-all approach of current Automated Essay Scoring (AES) systems, this research uses Natural Language Processing (NLP) techniques that provide a focus on configurability and interpretability. Unlike traditional AES models which are designed to provide an overall score based on pre-trained criteria, this tool allows teachers to tailor feedback based upon specific focus areas. The tool implements a user-interface that serves as a customizable rubric. Students’ essays are inputted into the tool either by the student or by the teacher via the application’s user-interface. Based on the rubric settings, the tool …

Resilience Through Reading And Writing In Lambeaux By Charles Juliet, Sophie Nicolaïdès-Salloum

BAU Journal - Society, Culture and Human Behavior

Lambeaux writen by Charles Juliet is the result of a trauma in his early infancy. A month after his birth, he is separated from his mother interned in a psychiatric hospital after a suicide tentative. His biological father entrusts him to a family who will love him and raise him like their own. When he becomes an adult he decides to write his biological mother’s biography with his imagination because he had not enough information about her life and his autobiography bind to his adoptive mother. Writing becomes his resilience. Two people help him to achieve his goal: his adoptive …

The Path To Self-Authorship: The Pre-Service Teacher-Writer, Shari L. Daniels Dr., Pamela Beck

Literacy Practice and Research

This literature review examined the relationship between the development of a teacher who writes (teacher-writer) and the phases of self-authorship, “the internal capacity to define one's beliefs, identity and social relations” (Baxter Magolda, 2001, p. 269). The narratives of three teacher-writer-authors show a correlation to Magolda’s self-authorship phases. The purpose of this examination was to explore the question: How might a writing support teachers in personally and professionally? Research suggests new teachers are unprepared for today’s classrooms. Could this unpreparedness may be related to a lack of self-authorship? Might a consistent writing practice propel teachers through the phases of self-authorship …

Review Of Writing Like A Pr Pro: Why Writing Is Still Crucial In A Digital And Visual World, Christopher Ortega

Communication and Theater Association of Minnesota Journal

Review of Writing like a PR pro: Why writing is still crucial in a digital and visual world (2017) by Mary Sterenberg found at https://ohiostate.pressbooks.pub/writelikeapro/

Writing Strategies And Older Students With Learning Disabilities, Lisa J. D. Thomas

LC Journal of Special Education

This review focuses on literature dealing with strategies for writing for older students with learning disabilities. Specifically, the literature in this review deals with strategies that have developed from both cognitive/motivational conceptualizations, which looks at aspects of writing such as student ability and mental processes, and social/contextual conceptualizations, which looks at collaboration and the writing environment (Graham & Harris, 2011) . In the following three sections, I will provide a brief summary and critical analysis of five articles regarding writing strategies for high school students with learning disabilities, a discussion of the overall findings from these five articles, and implications …

A Spark Of Light In The Darkness: A Framework Of Habits And Routines That Grow Literacy Identities, Andy Schoenborn

Michigan Reading Journal

Using familiar and flexible classroom routines, authentic literacy habits, and encouragement, his students moved from "I hate reading and writing" to self-identifying as readers and writers in a matter of eighteen weeks.

From Writer To Teacher: The Gradual Release Of Responsibility In An Early Childhood Education Writing Course For Pre-Service Teachers, Denise N. Morgan, Danielle G. Gruhler, Kristen I. Evans

Teaching/Writing: The Journal of Writing Teacher Education

Teaching students to become confident, capable writers is imperative in today’s world. Growing attention has been paid to the amount and kinds of writing students are experiencing in schools with an urgent plea for more time and attention given to writing instruction (Nagin, 2003; National Commission on Writing, 2003). Yet, few teachers feel well prepared to teach writing.

In this special issue on writing methods courses, we discuss the evolution of our writing methods course for early childhood preservice teachers (PK-5). Specifically, we examine the current pedagogical practices within the course to support preservice teachers’ experiential learning. This piece examines …

Learning About Teaching Writing: The Use Of Roles To Support Preservice Teachers Pedagogical Knowledge And Practices, Kristine Pytash, Denise N. Morgan, Elizabeth Testa

Teaching/Writing: The Journal of Writing Teacher Education

If teacher educators are fortunate to be able to teach a writing methods class, they encounter challenges in designing field experiences that support what preservice teachers are learning in their course. In this article, we described how we developed a unique field placement where the preservice teachers worked in teams and rotated roles each week. We found that these taking on these roles provided preservice teachers with unique lenses to learning about writing, students, and general teaching pedagogies.

“We Can Position Ourselves As Experts”: Teachers Learning To Write And Publish On National Blogs, Henry "Cody" Miller, Gage Jeter

Excelsior: Leadership in Teaching and Learning

This article focuses on a collective case study of two teachers attending a professional development workshop focused on writing for publication via educational blogs. Through a qualitative study, we sought to understand how attending the workshop and publishing on a national organization's blog shaped the two teachers' own identities as teachers and shifted their thinking about blogs as a genre. We argue the two teachers had a shift in conceptualizing what counted as scholarship as well as problematizing who counted as a scholar. In an era of increased attacks on teachers' intellectualism and autonomy, we believe publishing on national blogs …

Using The “Card” Response Technique To Assist Middle School Students In The Revision Process, Katherine E. Batchelor

Journal of Response to Writing

Although revision is essential to the writing process, it is often neglected in schools. However, when revision is taught successfully, through reflection, conferencing, positive teacher feedback, specific instruction linked to reading strategies, and time between drafts in order for students to think about their writing (including the expectation of multiple drafts), students not only revise more, but at a deeper level. This study investigates how middle school students’ writing drafts as well as attitudes and beliefs toward revision changed based on introducing a specific revision strategy called the CARD response technique, which is both a self-response and peer-response strategy. CARD …

Improving First- And Second-Year Student Writing Using A Metacognitive And Integrated Assessment Approach, Leanne Havis

Journal of Response to Writing

Metacognition emphasizes an awareness and understanding of one’s thought and cognitive processes, along with management of cognition through multiple strategies including organizing, monitoring, and adapting. Before students can truly become effective writers, they must develop an appreciation for the amount of planning, organization, and revision that comprises a writing assignment. In order to improve student writing, the exam autopsy approach, an integrated post-exam assessment model that draws upon self-assessment, peer review, and instructor feedback, was modified to include metacognitive components for use with essay exams and writing assignments. The current study employed a mixed-methods design with a quasi-experimental, non-equivalent group …

Teaching With The Genius In Mind: Enacting Literacy As A Civil Right, Katie Glupker, Pam Gower, Angela Knight

Language Arts Journal of Michigan

Because literacy is a civil right, educators are responsible for designing and implementing literacy education that is designed with the excellence of all students in mind. In order to learn about ways to ensure that literary practices are equitable for all students, the authors joined an educators’ book club to read Cultivating Genius: An Equity Framework for Culturally and Historically Responsive Literacy by Gholdy Muhammad. Muhammad describes the Black literary societies of the past and challenges educators of today to enhance classrooms by upholding equity and excellence through a five-layered framework: Identity, Skills, Intellect, Criticality, and Joy.

We studied Muhammad’s …

Book Review Letting Go Of Literary Whiteness: Antiracist Literature Instruction For White Students, Jeremy Hyler

Michigan Reading Journal

Race, racism, and literary whiteness are at the forefront of many conversations in education today. In Letting Go of Literary Whiteness: Antiracist Literature Instruction for White Students, authors Carlin Borsheim-Black and Sophia Tatiana Sarigianides highlight what should be addressed in our classroom today to address race and racism.

Writing As A Vessel For Thinking: Incorporating Self-Regulation, Metacognition, And Formative Assessment In The Middle School Ela Classroom, Alyssha N. Ginzel

Michigan Reading Journal

This article examines three approaches to teaching writing: self-regulated instruction (Graham, 2018; Graham, 2020; Graham & Perin, 2007), metacognitive strategies (Hacker, 2018; Madison et al., 2019), and formative assessment (Black & Wiliam, 1998; Fleischer, 2013; Madison et al., 2019). Implementing these approaches, secondary ELA teachers can strike a balance between order and chaos while empowering adolescents to recognize, develop, and take ownership of their thinking and writing. Writing can and should be about grappling with big ideas that ultimately help us come to deeper, fuller understandings of ourselves and the world. This article explores how secondary ELA teachers can help …

“A Structure That Other People Are Directing”: Doctoral Students’ Writing Of Qualitative Theses In Education, Tom Dobson

The Qualitative Report

Research suggests the teaching of the writing of doctoral thesis is decontextualised and that a traditional form, antithetical to a student’s paradigm or theory, has become canonized. Written to disrupt the traditional journal article form, this article explores the traditional form of theses through interviews with eight doctoral students in a School of Education. 5A’s creativity theory, where actors, audiences, actions, artifacts, and affordances combine to produce creative outputs, illuminates how students’ decisions are shaped by their apprehension of an academic audience as well as their own low positional identities as actors. A focus on contextualised teaching of writing of …

Amplifying Rural Voices: Defining, Reading, And Writing Rural Stories, Chea L. Parton

The Montana English Journal

This pedagogical piece introduces teachers to Literacy In Place - a resource that supports the readingand teaching of rural young adult literature. It also outlines an example unit to highlight how secondary ELA teachers could use Literacy in Place to support students' reading of Nora Shalaway Carpenter's (2020) Rural Voices anthology.

Listening To Images: Creating Disruptions & Building Community, Allison Wynhoff Olsen

The Montana English Journal

As humans we empathize through stories, and images foster human connectivity and represent understandings of and experiences in place. Teachers can empower students by listening with our eyes and our ears. This talk examines images and foregrounds the use of creative and revision processes that add nuance and build community.