I don't consider myself a "writer." I have never really been able to enjoy writing because it takes me so long to organize my thoughts and to decide what and how to write. Although I don't enjoy writing, I do express myself through other facets such as scrap-booking.
When I was in elementary school, I though I could be an author. I even started to write several short stories or novels. However, I never had the dedication to get further than the first couple of pages. When I was cleaning out my old school stuff, I found the first couple of pages of a story I was writing in elementary school. I got a really good laugh out of it!
I still do a little bit of recreational writing; I try to keep a journal of the most important events in my life. I really enjoy doing this because I am free to write whatever I want because no one else reads it. I also do the same types of writing that all typical college students do such as facebook statuses and posts, text messaging, and emailing. I also have friends and family who are currently serving missions that I enjoy writing letters to.
In school, I always cringed at the mention of writing assignments. I felt they were so subjective and technical that I never actually found joy in writing them. I especially hated writing essays for my English classes. They always seemed like a big, dark cloud looming over my head until I completed them at midnight the night before they were due. I also really hated writing my opinion about things I didn't really care about and therefore, didn't have an opinion on!
Although I didn't enjoy most of the writing assignments given in high school, there were some with which I connected and really enjoyed. When we read Call of the Wild by Jack London, we had to create a scrapbook with artifacts and letters from Buck's sled dog trainer to a relative giving an overview of the main events of the story. This really helped me to connect with the book by using my creative side. Another writing project I enjoyed was making a "Book of my Life" in English. We had several specific topics such as my pets, my family, the best day of my life, the first day of high school, etc. that we had to write a page about and then we had to present the book in a creative format along with pictures. Again, I was able to connect with my creative side and it was something that was actually relevant to me.
When I am a math teacher, I don't really see myself giving a ton of writing assignments. However, I do think it is important for students to connect math with as many different areas of their life as possible, so I do see myself giving them a few. I definitely want to make any sort of written assignment to be something that is relevant to their lives. I don't want them to come to hate both math and writing by making them write about something they think is incredibly boring! On occasion, I would like to have the students write reflections at the end of lessons telling me what they understood well and what they were still unclear about. They would also write what parts of the lesson they enjoyed and what they did not like. This would help the students express their own feelings through writing and also give me feedback for how I can be a better teacher. I also think that I would like to have students write their own story problems when it is relevant to the lesson. Then, they will get practice writing and using their math skills, but it will also help them relate math to the activities and subjects that interest them. I basically just don't want to give my students big writing assignments that they will stress over and come to hate. I also want to make sure that I assign writings that are applicable to the students lives; things that they will be able to have an opinion about and have fun writing.
Here is the sample of my writing from elementary school that I found....enjoy! Personally, my favorite part is the cliche about the birds of sorrow! ha!
Although I didn't enjoy most of the writing assignments given in high school, there were some with which I connected and really enjoyed. When we read Call of the Wild by Jack London, we had to create a scrapbook with artifacts and letters from Buck's sled dog trainer to a relative giving an overview of the main events of the story. This really helped me to connect with the book by using my creative side. Another writing project I enjoyed was making a "Book of my Life" in English. We had several specific topics such as my pets, my family, the best day of my life, the first day of high school, etc. that we had to write a page about and then we had to present the book in a creative format along with pictures. Again, I was able to connect with my creative side and it was something that was actually relevant to me.
When I am a math teacher, I don't really see myself giving a ton of writing assignments. However, I do think it is important for students to connect math with as many different areas of their life as possible, so I do see myself giving them a few. I definitely want to make any sort of written assignment to be something that is relevant to their lives. I don't want them to come to hate both math and writing by making them write about something they think is incredibly boring! On occasion, I would like to have the students write reflections at the end of lessons telling me what they understood well and what they were still unclear about. They would also write what parts of the lesson they enjoyed and what they did not like. This would help the students express their own feelings through writing and also give me feedback for how I can be a better teacher. I also think that I would like to have students write their own story problems when it is relevant to the lesson. Then, they will get practice writing and using their math skills, but it will also help them relate math to the activities and subjects that interest them. I basically just don't want to give my students big writing assignments that they will stress over and come to hate. I also want to make sure that I assign writings that are applicable to the students lives; things that they will be able to have an opinion about and have fun writing.
Here is the sample of my writing from elementary school that I found....enjoy! Personally, my favorite part is the cliche about the birds of sorrow! ha!
I commend your bravery at sharing those pages! And using the word faucet in that context makes a HECK of a lot more sense than facet. I think I will steal that one.
ReplyDeleteI've never thought about writing about what I don't understand in math.... I think that idea will help students figure things out on their own. If so that would be wonderful.
I love that you still have writing assignments from elementary... makes me wonder if I do somewhere at my parents house.
ReplyDeleteI have a hard time organizing my thoughts as well. I try to keep a journal of important events too and love that no one will read it, well at least not until I'm dead and my kids go through my things haha.
I like you idea for writing in math to help students work on the things they don't understand.
I see your point that mathematics is a discipline where people tend to express themselves numerically, visually, and graphically--and not so much through writing. However, NCTM has outlined "representation" and "communication" standards that require students to be able to represent the same concept in many different ways and to communicate their thinking to others. A great way to communicate our thinking is through writing. In mathematics, this writing will often be combined with numbers and other forms of representation (graphs, tables, factor trees, shapes), but writing can serve as the "glue" that shows how these representations relate to each other and explain students' thinking when they solve problems.
ReplyDeleteMany students are able to numerically solve problems, but if you asked them to verbally explain what they did, they are not be able to do it. If your required students to make their thinking "visible" through writing, this would help to clarify and deepen their thinking.
My prediction is that end-of-year math tests in the future will require some type of written explanation in conjunction with a numerical/visual explanation--just like the tests in Massachusetts are now. That's another reason to think more seriously about how to teach mathematical writing. I agree with you though--it's probably not something you would do every day but some of the time.
Loved the story, BTW. Thanks for sharing. :)