thesisthoughts

In the intro to this book, Thomas Newkirk proposes that a major factor in empowering teachers is convincing teachers that they have something to say, that the knowledge they gain in their classroom is worthwhile for others. (p. 13).

Jost (1990, as cited in Dahl, 1992, p. 14) claims that it is unrealistic to expect busy teachers to engage in writing and that they are not interested in writing.

Chapter 2 – Tom Romano “Evolving Voice” -

Romano tells his own writing story – from the poetry writing he did as an adolescent to the writing he does today.

Ch. 3  – “A Teacher’s story of renewal” -

Nancy Gorell uses the words “personal renewal” and “self-discovery” to describe her experiences as she began to write about her teaching. From the time she decided to write her article for a journal, Gorell enjoyed a period of reflection and mental planning. She began to find “her inner voice” (p. 21).

Gorell also describes her feelings of excitement and fear before the exposing publication of her writing. “My writing had put me in touch with my community. I had a voice, and I was reaching an audience” (p. 25).

Gorell began to write about her teaching and to compose thoughts while teaching. She realised that teaching and writing could go together.

Chapter 4 – “Writing groups, a personal source of support” – Betty Van Ryder -

Includes guidelines for running a writing support group.

Chapter 5 – “Teacher Research – Catalyst for writing” – Cora Lee Five

Five describes her personal writing process  -p. 45-46 and her need for response: p. 49-50. Five compares her own revelations on the writing process to the writing behaviour of her students.

“It seems that I’m not really sure what I’ve learned in my  classroom until I write about it” (p. 50).  

Five realized that Giacobbe’s 3 basics – time, ownership and response are essential in her own writing and in that of her pupils (p. 51).

Chapter 6 – “Children teach me what to write” – Jay Simmons -

Simmons quotes Corey and Corey (1987) – “Human growth is facilitated and retained…when members set specific personal goals for themselves and keep records of their own progress for later assessment” (p. 54).

Chapter 7 – “Reflections of a teacher-writer” – Vera E Milz -

“It wasn’t as easy for me to write. I grew up in an era where writing was not a valued part of the classroom. I wrote to please my teachers, on topics that they assigned” (p. 61).

Problems -

• time
• getting bogged down alone

Part 2 – “Thinking like a writer”

Chapter 8 – “Getting it down and sending it out” – Rick Monroe

“I write because I need to understand myself and others…” (p. 69).

“What I do is try to make sense of my profession, hoping that what I discover will inform my classroom practice. Writing helps me make that sense. Writing also helps me get a grip on my own confusion , helps me think clearer about myself and my work” (p. 72).

+ practical suggestions for writing for publication.

Chapter 9 – “Why write for publication?” – Chris Crowe

 Reasons for teachers not writing for publication:

• time
• teacher duties
• feel that they don’t have anything worth telling
• intimidated by colleagues reading their work
• other teachers don’t write

Why write?

• we understand writing when we write
• when we write we understand the difficulty in writing
• teacher writers have materials to bring to class
• writers can show students that real people write (Borstein, 1989)
• teacher writers can show that writing is a “messy” process (Johnson, 1987)
• writing for publication develops teacher credibility (p. 76)
• chance for reflection and extended thought
• teachers who write for publication read professional journals and books
• professional obligation to improve teaching
• helps the professional journals

List of quotes from teachers on why they write – p. 78-79.

Chapter 10  -”Professional Writing: Redefining Teaching as Learning” – Ros Winters

Teachers emphasize that every student in the classroom has a story and that writing is not restricted to a talented group of born authors. Teachers, like their students have felt uneasy about moving into the role of writers. Winters asks whether something in the classroom experience of transforming students into writers can be used to help teachers undergo the same transition.

“How do we redefine professional writing to include ourselves?” she asks (p. 81).

Redefinition 1 – Writing for whom

• “write for ourselves, become our own audience” (p. 82) – it’s scary to try to impress others
• “self talk on paper” (p. 82)
• self talk leads to insight

Redefinition 2 – Writing for what?

• Teachers who write give themselves time for thought and reflection. In their writing about their practice they develop their own theories on education which never remain static, they are constantly developing.

Redefinition 3 – Personal or professional writing?

• Professional writing from teachers is reflective and personal, despite the fact that “professional” seems to indicate the opposite.
• Teachers should not try to write in an objective manner and to eliminate their own voice.

Redefinition 4: Who am I as a teacher?

• “writing becomes a matter of identity. The act of claiming space on the page makes a statement about who we are” (p. 84).
• “When I write my inner voice is given a life of its own. A voice to think, to question, to reflect  on that constant stream of information that flows before me. A voice to pose tentative solutions and to make sense of the world” (p. 84).

One major reason many teachers don’t write:

• “forgotten we can have a voice” (p. 84)

Chapter 11 – “To read like an author” – Alan Frager

Frager recounts some of the theories of Frank Smith (1983) on teaching writing (p. 86):

1. The importance of reading for writers

2. Concentrating on student’s abilities and not his or her disabilities.

3. Writing skills are too complex to be taught by direct instruction alone

4. Smith rejects the notion that children learn to write by writing. He believes that children engage in writing far too little at school and therefore believes that they learn to write through reading.

Frager proposes that a shift from writing for university professors to writing for other educators may help teachers enter the role of writer. “A teacher’s general intent for writing can shift from trying to cover a topic to trying to uncover the topic – write something about it in a new or original way” (p. 87).

Frager suggests 5 ways of “reading like an author:

1. “Read to learn what others have written”

2. “Read to discover the uses for writing in education” – read beyond the content to discover the writers motives for writing and the purpose of the text.

 3. “Read to learn about various professional journals” – audience awareness

4. “Read to discover and model different stylistic devices”

5. “Read to discover the subjectivity of the written word” “To see that knowledge in education is produced by individuals with conflicting purposes and influences is to begin to appreciate the subjectivity of the written word” (p. 91).

  Part 3 – “From the editor’s perspective”

Chapter 12 – “Writing, editing and miracles” – Ken Donelson

The chapter is very informative and discusses the assumptions editors make about writers submitting manuscripts.

Reasons for rejection and acceptance are also listed.

Chapter 13 – “Inside Language Arts: An editor’s story of one journal” – William H. Teale

Chapter 14 – ” Authentic voices for an isolated profession” – Ben F. Nelms

“…classroom teachers – at all levels – are perfectly capable of providing in-service education for one another” (p. 118).

What EJ looks for in a manuscript.

Chapter 15 – ” An affiliate editor’s perspective” – Alice K. Swinger

Part 4 – Essential Information for Teacher Writers

Chapter 16 – “Nuts and Bolts of writing a manuscript” – Gail E. Tompkins

Tompkins presents the misconceptions of novice writers that writing is supposed to be an effortless process. She cites Brannon, Knight and Neverow-Turk (1982) who list these misconceptions.

The author includes a writing profile questionnaire on page 138. She provides a step by step guide to the writing process and has written checklist questions for each stage.

Chapter 17 – “Searching for journals: A brief guide and 100 sample species” – Anson and Maylath

Chapter 18 – “Beating the odds: Getting a manuscript published” – Margaret A. Deitrich

Chapter 19 – Confessions of a computer convert – Thelma Kibler

Part 5 – The craft of writing for publication

Chapter 20 – Finding voices in the silence – Casbergue and Austin

Ideas for writing come from classroom practice and also from the reflection on those events. The authors interviewed 15 teacher writers about the source of their ideas. Most interviewees described a period of “frustration, followed by successful innovation” (p. 204).

Chapter 21 – “Beginnings: Effective starting points for professional writing” - E. Tway

1. anecdotes

2. quotations

3. challenges

Chapter 22  – “Decisions authors make while writing” – Doris L. Prater

1. What will the article be about? (brainstorming, clustering, lists, journals, freewriting, reading)

2. How will the writing be organized? (Interviews, Q & A, letters…)

3. Who is the audience?

4. Who is speaking? (experienced practitioner? observer?)

Chapter 25 – “Distancing from and revising text” – McGee & Tompkins 

The authors define revision. Another definition of revision describes the process of comparing a written text with the author’s intentions. Another definition involves the examination of three texts: “intended text, actual text, and possible texts” (p. 226).

The chapter concludes with a discussion on common myths about revision eg. “Writers cannot revise by themselves” (p. 231).

Chapter 24 – “Revision: the heart of writing”  – Karen M. Feathers

Chapter 25 – “Rejection: Who needs it?”- Alice K. Swinger

Part 6  – Teacher Writer Communities

Chapter 26 – “Writing communities: One historical perspective” – Mary K. Healy

The author brings examples of writing communities and the way they positively affect writing instruction in the classroom.

Chapter 27 – “A Writer’s community: How teachers can form writing groups” – Russel K. Durst

Durst is sure that his participation in writing groups has improved his reading, his writing and his teaching.

The chapter presents the why and how of teacher writing groups.

Chapter 28 – “Collaborative writing as an option” – Jill Dillard & Karin Dahl

Chapter 29 – “Creating communities for teacher research” – Cochran-Smith & Lytle

Wow!!! What a brilliant book.

As I read I was struck by two big realisations:

1. In Israel there is no sign of this kind of teacher-writer culture.

2. In Israel there is no journal in Hebrew encouraging teachers to write for publication. The only journal dealing with literacy and literacy teaching is published by Script, the Israel Association for Literacy.

The association website describes Script, the journal like this:

Academic journal. Script Journal, an academic vehicle concerned with all aspects of literacy, was launched in 1999. It publishes articles which have undergone peer review and enables the dissemination of current, updated knowledge in the domain of literacy to an audience of researchers, students, educators, curriculum developers and other interested readers.

All articles have an academic direction.

In Hebrew the description is a bit wider, maybe there is room here for more teacher input?

כתב העת מפרסם:

מאמרים המדווחים על מחקר שנערך בכל אחת מהשיטות המדעיות המקובלות, הן בשיטות כמותיות והן בשיטות איכותניות.

כתב העת מקדם בברכה גם דיווחים ביקורתיים קצרים על הנעשה בשדה, על יישומים בתחומי החינוך, הטכנולוגיה וכו’;

סקירות ביקורת על ספרים ותגובות קוראים על מאמרים שהתפרסמו בכתב העת.

המאמרים שיישלחו למערכת יועברו לקריאה ולשיפוט, כמקובל בכתב עת מדעי.

Dahl, K. L. (1992) Teacher as writer: Entering the professional conversation. USA: NCTE. Retrieved from http://eric.ed.gov/ERICDocs/data/ericdocs2sql/content_storage_01/0000019b/80/24/06/c8.pdf