Midway, We are with Multiple Ways: Reviewing Writing Resources for 21st Century Classrooms

This semester I have a small, but mighty crew of graduate students at Fairfield University. They represent classrooms from 1st to 12th grade: pre-service, in-service, ELA, history, and ELL. Following the National Writing Project model, they have been encouraged to be writers, to think about writing processes, and to design instruction that best serves the heterogenous classrooms of today's schools.

The first half of the semester explored some of the genres they will likely teach in their careers and an introduced to the power of choice, the importance of personal experience and agency, and the necessity of designing instruction to supports all writers through a variety of models, mini-lessons, discussions, in-class exercises, and peer conferencing. In addition, we have been building a community of writers. Ubuntu matters, because community matters.

Last night, all nine  presented book reviews they composed independently and that, they felt, would benefit the larger projects they are undertaking in the course. Students could choose one book to read in addition to assigned books that would support their design of lessons. In lieu of the "review" as a written genre or a "traditional" academic paper, I assigned them to work with brochures. A good one we discovered through perusing samples: analyzes, reviews, reflects, informs, explains, entertains, and suggests. Ours, however, were designed with teachers in mind.

• How does a book add to what we already know?
• What features does the book offer fellow teachers?
• What take-aways are offered in the text?
• What memorable quotes lead us to further thinking?
• What does it say about the ways students learn?
• Who is the best audience for such a book, etc.

Students reviewed everything from Ralph Fletcher to Anne Lamott, Jessica Singer to Stephanie Harvey, and Maisha Fisher to Robert Probst to Gerald Campano. The choices made represented the diversity of our interests held by graduate students while they think ahead to designing lesson plans and units in support of 21st century writers.

At the end of the Writing in Rhythm review of Fisher's text, one student shared the above spoken word piece, "To This Day." Although the video was meant to highlight spoken word poetry, it allowed me the opportunity to pull all the books together with a discussion of mulitliteracies and the ever-changing modalities a classroom teacher can use to promote communication. The You-Tube genre uses visual, sonic, oral, and textual literacies in ways that the tradition textbook does not.

I love these midway midterms because they lay the foundation for us to discuss the choices teachers make when designing their own lessons. Luckily, Kelly Gallagher's text, Write Like This, pairs nicely with the purposes for writing we plan to promote. There's much more work to be done, but  I was extremely impressed last evening. Every student arrived with a familiarity with one book, but left with a wide range of resources to consider in the future. I can be me because of who we are together.

Wusah!