Blog Entry #2

As I sit here and think back on my primary and secondary schooling, I start to think about the essential elements I was taught during writing instruction. I keep thinking about the same thing over and over again that I was taught throughout almost my whole time in 

K-12. 

BRAINSTORMING. Brainstorming was one of the most important aspects of writing..... at least my teachers made it seem that way. We would spend a whole 1-2 classes just brainstorming ideas and outlining our papers before even starting a rough draft. I am always someone who wants to just jump right in so this always taught me a lot of patience and how to plan my writing out more. 

Do I still brainstorm as much as I did throughout my K-12 days? Uh no, I don't. Whoops, I am definitely guilty of jumping right into my papers again. On the bright side, grad school has made me plan my papers out again so I guess you can say I am getting back on track to being a "good writer."

As a teacher during the Horizons program over the summer, I would always make sure my students were doing some independent writing every morning when they came in. I gave them a writing prompt EVERY morning. 

Boyyyyyyy were they not happy about it, especially because I was making them THINK and WRITE during their summer break. Although, they did not enjoy the writing I was able to see their progress throughout the weeks from their spelling to how much they wrote. In the beginning, I would get one or two sentences. By the end of the program, I was getting 5-6 sentences. They were also having little to no spelling errors by the end as well. 

Although I know they will not forgive me quite yet for making them write every morning bright and early. I hope one day they will appreciate it. If six weeks of writing can make them stronger writers, imagine what they would've been able to do if we had a full school year together! Seeing their progress was amazing but another thing I really enjoyed about it was getting to see their thoughts and getting to know them a little bit more each and every day by their personalized writing.