First, I think interest/relevance is incredibly important in writing. That comes in two parts: explaining to students (and demonstrating!) how what we work on in class helps them in the rest of their lives, and also giving them things to read and write about that are interesting to them. My TAMU students really shone when they chose paper topics that they were familiar with, and I really enjoyed reading them.
Second, I think practice is important. I get stuck sometimes on how to "teach" writing because for me it was something that was absorbed through years and years of reading and writing constantly on my own. You can't exactly go back in time and hand younger versions of your students books, but I do think that forcing them to read and write by doing in-class writing every class time and making sure they read by forcing them to engage with the assigned texts in class is important.
Third, I have to say I am a formalist as far as grammar goes, and I believe that teaching the conventions is incredibly important. I remember the first time someone actually explained to me the rule regarding when to use "who" and when to use "whom" and I think sometimes students actually need you to be dry and boring for five minutes to explain something that they may get wrong over and over again without really knowing why - I sure didn't get taught any grammar rules during my K-12 education! Obviously who/whom is a less useful example, but one I did use was the difference between affect and effect, which I still have to stop and think about myself.
So, to sum up: make it interesting, practice practice practice, and do it right.
I have to admit that I'm a little frightened as to how I'm going to eventually get my teaching philosophy made out of this. I did not get a good mark on the philosophy I constructed for my pedagogy class at TAMU, and I'm a little worried because there were all these little things we were told like to stay away from words like "skills," and I ended up feeling the way freshmen in our writing classes feel when we tell them something like "don't split infinitives" and they have no idea why or what it means.
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2 comments:
I can be a bit a*** retentive about grammar at times but I should also mention that if I see that a lot of effort was put into content, then I am more leniant. I was an avid reader as a child also and much of what I learnt was independent of school. I do appreciate readings assigned in classes though because my reading "education" was maybe not the most appropriate. That aside I must say that practice is very important and many forget that. I've got to say that although I like to blog, technology has had a negative effect on the communication skills of students in general. The yin and yang of life I suppose.
Beatriz hit the nail on the head (to be colloquial) with her observations. I have the very same apprehensions with regard to teaching and I identify with your notion of "practice, practice, practice." No worries - I still have to consult my MLA handbook when I start every paper to try and remember if the period goes outside or inside the quotation marks...
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