My Thoughts.
Creating this website was an assignment handed out during my senior year in college. It was part of a course to teach teachers how to teach writing to middle and high school students. This class has already taught me a lot about writing, the classroom and the students in it. There are a couple of quotes that have really stuck out to me. One I read in an article called “Teaching Writing from the Inside” By Tom Romano. He states that language can be used in reverse. He said reverse this, “Now you see it, now you don’t” to “now you don’t see it, now you do.”
As I was writing my auto-ethnography, I could see this concept happening. This was exciting! In fact I could see it in other assignments we have had in the class as well. While writing the section titled “10th grade English” I focused on my poetry, which served as my diary throughout my high school years. The focus on my poetry in this particular section of my website brought me to the realization that I had been essentially counseling myself through the writing, sharing and discussions of my poems.
While writing the section called “11th Grade Journalism”, I realized that I didn’t have confidence as a student writer and that by taking classes like Journalism and creative writing I would be able to gain the confidence in my writing that I had been lacking. Being a teenager, it wasn’t as easy to see the lack of confidence I had even though I thought I had been confident in my writing at the time.
The other quote that has stuck out to me is to “treat your students like writers” Nancy Atwell said a lot of this in her book "In The Middle". This will help me as their teacher to give them worthy comments on their papers, comments that will help them to become better writers. Also, the students will see this attitude I am showing them and will respond positively towards writing. If they know they are being taken seriously then they will be able to write better because they will have motivation and purpose.
This assignment has helped me to see the writer that I used to be; lacking in confidence, but also loving to write and turning my own writing into a type of therapy. Knowing this about my writing as a teenager I will be able to better relate to my students as writers and that they may have very similar struggles. This will also make it possible for me to incorporate activities that will help them with their struggles.
One last thing that has been very beneficial for me in this assignment is that I had to use a internet technology platform to present my auto-enothnogrphy. This forced me to learn about more technology that I can incorporate into my classroom. Weebly worked great for creating a presentation of the information I have to share. I will be using these types of technology in my classroom.
As I was writing my auto-ethnography, I could see this concept happening. This was exciting! In fact I could see it in other assignments we have had in the class as well. While writing the section titled “10th grade English” I focused on my poetry, which served as my diary throughout my high school years. The focus on my poetry in this particular section of my website brought me to the realization that I had been essentially counseling myself through the writing, sharing and discussions of my poems.
While writing the section called “11th Grade Journalism”, I realized that I didn’t have confidence as a student writer and that by taking classes like Journalism and creative writing I would be able to gain the confidence in my writing that I had been lacking. Being a teenager, it wasn’t as easy to see the lack of confidence I had even though I thought I had been confident in my writing at the time.
The other quote that has stuck out to me is to “treat your students like writers” Nancy Atwell said a lot of this in her book "In The Middle". This will help me as their teacher to give them worthy comments on their papers, comments that will help them to become better writers. Also, the students will see this attitude I am showing them and will respond positively towards writing. If they know they are being taken seriously then they will be able to write better because they will have motivation and purpose.
This assignment has helped me to see the writer that I used to be; lacking in confidence, but also loving to write and turning my own writing into a type of therapy. Knowing this about my writing as a teenager I will be able to better relate to my students as writers and that they may have very similar struggles. This will also make it possible for me to incorporate activities that will help them with their struggles.
One last thing that has been very beneficial for me in this assignment is that I had to use a internet technology platform to present my auto-enothnogrphy. This forced me to learn about more technology that I can incorporate into my classroom. Weebly worked great for creating a presentation of the information I have to share. I will be using these types of technology in my classroom.
