Get Kids to Write, For Themselves

My lesson sequence was a combination of Penny Kittle’s words of wisdom mixed in with the basic structure of our class, and a little of my own experience sprinkled in to make it feel real. Teaching argumentative writing through letters to the editor and op-eds was inspired by one of Kittle’s quick writes on page 48 as well as the longer activity on page 133. The “Argue Writes” activity made a lot of sense to me, so I began each of my lessons by having students write quick writes in response to evocative op-eds, which also served as mentor texts. I went on to use mentor texts throughout each of the lessons to really help scaffold.

Chapter 8 helped me to mold the story of my lessons, and it’s what inspired me to have the students analyze the op-eds for criteria that make an argument successful. Kittle writes a lot about giving students the opportunity to write what they care about, so that idea was central to my lesson sequence: “We study the form first and begin considering ideas we care enough about to spend hours articulating our views” (Kittle 132). Giving them the choice of topic was important, and helps create more passionate writing. I also included a lot of workshop time (both peer review and student/teacher), because Kittle proved the importance of feedback through each chapter. Writers need to talk through their ideas, and I thought this would be especially relevant in argumentative writing.

For me, the most important task of a writing teacher is to get kids to write for themselves. They need to write to express, to push through, to understand, to question, and to feel the power of their voice. It is our job to be their guide in that process.

I think that my greatest challenge as a new teacher of writing will be finding the time to give each student the guidance and feedback that they need, and doing this is in an environment shifting more towards tests and rankings. One of my challenges right now as a tutor working in a company focused on scores more than real education is finding the balance between what administrators want and what I know the kids need. My plan is to keep doing what I know is right for each kid, and continue to find ways to back up what I’m doing with the research and writing of best practices. My favorite writing activity was the found poem. I was nervous about being in a writing class, and this activity really broke down the walls I had up and made me feel accomplished in my creativity. I would definitely begin the next class with this activity.