Katherine Chandler Callicutt
Opening my daybook to write this essay revealed something to me immediately; I didn’t realize how much I appreciated the structured responses to reading. By that I am talking about the double entry journals, sticky note annotations, top ten list, and many more. Throughout this semester in my other classes, I was assigned a lot of reading, but most of the time this reading was either followed with no response at all or simply a “tell me what you thought of the reading” response. Although this type of response can be helpful, I realized just how much these structured responses have improved my ability to summarize and really draw meaning from reading. For instance, one of my double entry quotes was “Thad values language and knows his insistence on correct usage and grammar will pay off with strong scores on the students’ College Board exams”. I talked about how I did not agree that test scores should be the “final destination” for which teachers teach. Had I just read this and written a response to the reading as a whole, I highly doubt that I would have pulled this much meaning from the reading. I think that this also says something about who I am as a reader and a writer. I often look at the big picture. Although this is important in both reading and writing, it is also important to pick out certain quotes to analyze throughout the text. This helps the bigger picture become clearer, and I think that is something I need to keep in mind as I teach. So, these assignments taught me a lot about who I am as a reader and writer, and I really worked throughout the semester to keep that in mind and be sure that I was not overanalyzing text.
Another major thing that stuck out to me in my daybook was my letter to my future self. In my letter, I talked about teaching students to love writing, showing them why writing is important, and never discouraging them. I forgot about this letter, and it was a nice surprise. It helped me really appreciate this course. The final point that I talked about, never discouraging writers, was something that I came up with on my own. However, I don’t think I had a good idea of how to keep from discouraging young writers. Now, I do. In our final weeks of class, we talked about assessment. We talked about how to point out points of weakness in a student’s paper without completely breaking them down and making them lose faith in themselves. I think that this is incredibly important because all too often teachers destroy a student’s love for writing without even realizing it. I have had multiple teachers throughout my schooling tear me down through feedback on assignments. However, I was lucky enough to also have teachers who built me back up and never let me lose my love for writing. I appreciate knowing how to correct students in a manner that will not tear them down but instead help them learn from their mistakes. This assignment also taught me something about myself as a writer. In this particular piece of writing, I was very descriptive. However, I am usually not descriptive at all, and I believe my writing suffers from that. This piece of writing would not have served “future Chandler” had it not been descriptive, so it really showed me that I need to strive for that in every piece of writing that I do.
Perhaps my favorite entry in my daybook is the “100 Things I Love” list. I have referenced this list more times than I can count throughout the semester. It serves as an excellent resource for drawing inspiration for topics in writing. One of the top things that I struggle with when writing is coming up with a topic. This list not only gave me a variety of ideas for writing, but also gave me an idea of how to organize ideas when I do have them. I didn’t realize how much it would come in handy, but it really has. I really enjoyed making this list, too. Sometimes it is a really nice reminder to list all of the good things in the world when you are stressing out about school. So, I think this list serves multiple purposes, and I really appreciate it for a variety of reasons. This list taught me a lot about teaching writing. It is incredibly important to give students tools that will serve them long-term rather than just in the classroom. Students are going to go beyond the classroom, so equipping them with tools that will help them be better writers beyond their current grade level is incredibly important.
The mini-lessons in this course took up numerous pages of my daybook. At first, these mini-lessons scared me so much. I hate talking in front of my peers, I am not a fan of group projects, and I had no idea how I would come up with a mini-lesson, as I had never even written a lesson plan before. Although they were incredibly frightening at first, I really appreciate how much they taught me. First, I realized how to collaborate with someone and not let them overshadow my ideas. I always have trouble with that. In fear of being annoying or overbearing, I often let the ideas of others overshadow my own. However, working with Katie taught me how to let my own ideas be heard and how to assert my own voice rather than just falling into the background. We came up with the idea for the lesson together, and I think we did a good job of both teaching the lesson equally rather than having one “main” teacher and one “background” teacher. In addition, these presentations helped me overcome my fear of being in front of groups. This came from a supportive classroom community and immediate peer feedback. First of all, the peer feedback was incredibly constructive. People did not break me down, but instead made suggestions of how I could improve. I also enjoyed getting this feedback because it gave me something to work on in the second lesson. So, I really feel like my presentation skills improved through those projects.
Overall, this class has taught me an immense amount about my strengths and weaknesses as a writer and as a teacher of writing. As a writer, I really need to be more descriptive in my writing. I also need to take into account smaller sections of writing rather than only looking at the overall big picture. This will help me become more analytical and draw more meaning from writing. As a teacher, I really hope to implement a lot of practices from this class. In terms of assessment, I will be sure to be constructive without being rude or mean. In terms of instruction, I will let students express themselves in a variety of ways rather than just through summary.