My ventures into fiction writing began at an early age, possibly as soon as first or second grade. As I progressed, I had several teachers who challenged me to incorporate art into my stories. One of these teachers was my art teacher, Mrs. L. We spent one entire semester writing and illustrating a children's book. Because she is also an active artist in the community, she was able to show us some of the book illustrations which she had herself created for a children's book. I decided that I wanted to write my book about a female musician, and incorporated my views on life as a middleschooler into it. Although when I look back today I'm not as impressed with the actual story, back then when I wrote it, it was a pretty big deal for me to have written and illustrated a story that I could keep and show to other people. If I ever explore this genre again, I would not use watercolor paint to illustrate it, since as you can see through the pictures, it runs very easily. I remember being frustrated with that at the time I was making it as well. Creating this book is still one of my favorite memories from that art class, and I know that I enjoyed writing the story for the pictures, particularly because my teacher wasn't grading me on my writing when I made it.
Looking back at what I valued in my teachers in middle school, I am able to recognize some of the things that middle schoolers would value about me when I am their English teacher. I will promote creativity in my classroom--to me, this means that my students will be free to choose what they are going to write about, and how they will go about doing it. Although I might teach them how to make an outline for writing a story, I would not make them use an outline in order to actually write their story. Outlines are a personal pet peeve for me because I never utilized them in my writing throughout my classes, and only wrote them when my grade was based on turning one in. I don't believe that writers need to work from a written outline in order to be organized. Sometimes, especially with visual learners, this can be a helpful tool, but I don't think it is a necessity. As Nancy Atwell says in her book, In the Middle,
" The National Institute of Education research [tells us that]…children…learn to write by exercising the options available to real-world authors, including daily time for writing, conferences with teachers and peers during drafting, pacing set by the writer, and opportunities to publish what they had written Most significantly, students decided what they would write. They wrote on a range of topics and in a variety of modes wider than their teachers had dreamed of assigning. They cared about content and correctness. And their teachers had come out from behind their big desks to write with, listen to, and learn from young writers."
I hope in the future to implement assignments such as my story illustration in my future classroom, because I see it as a great opportunity to learn about another genre of writing that most students would enjoy because of its creative outlet.
Looking back at what I valued in my teachers in middle school, I am able to recognize some of the things that middle schoolers would value about me when I am their English teacher. I will promote creativity in my classroom--to me, this means that my students will be free to choose what they are going to write about, and how they will go about doing it. Although I might teach them how to make an outline for writing a story, I would not make them use an outline in order to actually write their story. Outlines are a personal pet peeve for me because I never utilized them in my writing throughout my classes, and only wrote them when my grade was based on turning one in. I don't believe that writers need to work from a written outline in order to be organized. Sometimes, especially with visual learners, this can be a helpful tool, but I don't think it is a necessity. As Nancy Atwell says in her book, In the Middle,
" The National Institute of Education research [tells us that]…children…learn to write by exercising the options available to real-world authors, including daily time for writing, conferences with teachers and peers during drafting, pacing set by the writer, and opportunities to publish what they had written Most significantly, students decided what they would write. They wrote on a range of topics and in a variety of modes wider than their teachers had dreamed of assigning. They cared about content and correctness. And their teachers had come out from behind their big desks to write with, listen to, and learn from young writers."
I hope in the future to implement assignments such as my story illustration in my future classroom, because I see it as a great opportunity to learn about another genre of writing that most students would enjoy because of its creative outlet.