Teaching Writing - Week 2 - Attitudes that Foster Writing

Introduction: Hello and welcome to Week 2 of the course Teaching Writing for the Bachelor's in English Teaching at ULACIT in term IIC 2023. In this class we will talk about the role of teachers in terms of the attitudes the bring to the writing classroom, the ways they influence students' attitudes, and the roles they have in order to help students develop their abilities.

Today's Goals:

• Answer any final questions or doubts regarding the syllabus content and course assessment tasks.
• Explore the teacher and student attitudes about writing that are important to cultivate.
• Classify types of classroom writing tasks to gain a broad perspective of the roles and responsibilities of a L2 writing teacher.

Guiding Questions:

• What teacher and student attitudes are conducive to writing? 
• How can I cultivate a healthy classroom environment for writing?
• What are the roles and responsibilities of the teacher in a writing class?

Task 1: Reading Exploration - Attitudes that Foster Writing

Let's discuss the following questions regarding the assigned reading for this week.

• Quote: Fletcher starts the chapter with this thought provoking quote. What do you think about it? Do you share his view? Why or why not?

• "Your students need to write every day. Writing should be one of the foundational beams [vigas] of your classroom. Not a decorative beam, but a weight-bearing wall."

• Helpful Attitudes - Yours: Fletcher outlines three healthy attitudes and five healthy expectations for writing teachers. Which attitudes and expectations do you think you have already developed? Why?

• Attitudes: Good writing teachers have...

• Sense of Humor
• Sense of Adventure
• Sense of Curiosity

• Expectations: Good writing teachers expect...

• Imperfection
• Flashes of Brilliance
• Energy Fluctuations
• Diversity, not Conformity
• On-the-Job-Training

• Writing with Students: Fletcher goes on to say the following quote. What do you think about it? Have you ever considere the impact this might have on students? 

• Quote: "What do you do while your kids are writing? The answer is simple: write along with them. By doing so you give them a rare gift: They can look up to see their teacher engaged in the same process (musing, noodling, drafting, crossing out, adding, starting again) that they're wrestling with."

• Benefits: Fletcher mentions several potential benefits of this. Which three benefits do you think are most interesting?

• It will settle the class and set a serious tone.
• It's powerful modeling.
• It will encourage independence. If you're writing, it's less likely that they'll interrupt. This signals to students that they cannot always expect you to solve their problems.
• It will allow you to have authentic writing (yours) to share with the class.
• It lets you sample the vibe of the workshop. Is there a supportive environment, or ar snarking comments commonplace? Writing and sharing your own writing is the best way to know for sure.
• Writing with your students builds sweat equity in the tone/ambience of the workshop. Instead of saying "I want you to be quiet," you earn the write to ask, "What kind of environment do we need so we can all do our best writing?"

• What forms of writing do you do most in your everyday life?
• How important is it for a person to be able to express themselves well through writing?
• What does good writing look like? What does bad writing look like? How do you know?

• Helpful Attitudes - Theirs: Fletcher goes on to mention this quote regard student attitudes. What do you think about it? In what ways can we influence students' attitudes? What attitudes did students in your classes have about writing?

• "You can't control students' attitudes on writing, but you can certainly influence them. And that's important, because how they feel about writing will go a long way toward etermining whether or not they are successful."

• An Environment that Encourages Risk: Fletcher ends the chapter by talking about the importance of risk taking in writing. Why do you think it is important for English language learners to take risks in the classroom? What does taking risks mean in this context? Why is risk taking particularly important in learning to write?

• Final Quotes: Read the two quotes below. What are your thoughts about them?

• Quote: "When we write, and share that writing, we really do make ourselves vulnerable. We put ourselves on the line. But we will continue doing that only if it feels like a safe place. It's up to you to make sure the classroom environment is supportive."

• Quote: Sports team win more games at home than away because of home court advantage. When you play at home, the crowd is really pulling for you and it makes a huge difference. That's the same advantage we want to create in the classroom. When we work together, we are each other's teammates - and each other's fans."

Task 2: Exploring Teacher Roles in Writing Instruction

Let's finish today's class by thinking more specifically about the kinds of roles a writing teacher has. To do this we will analyze different ways of classifying classroom writing tasks. Click the link below.

• Group Link: CLICK HERE

References: 

Fletcher, R. (2017). The Writing Teacher's Companion. Scholastic.

Minhai, F. & Purmensky, K. (2016). Course Design for TESOL: A Guide to Integrating Curriculum and Teaching. University of Michigan Press.

Scrivener, J. (2005). Learning Teaching. MacMillan.