You Gotta Be the Book Beginning

     I have to say so far I really enjoy this book. It is very easy to read and kept me engaged the entire time I was reading it. I did not find my thoughts drifting away from the book. I found so many interesting points in this piece that I did not get bored of it. I feel I have benefited from this already, by getting some great advice and things to think about in my future.
     One idea that I found interesting was the idea that the students didn't want to read. I am not surprised by this, because I did not know many peers in middle and high school that enjoyed reading. I also did not enjoy reading in school, and to be honest I still don't. I feel a lot of the issue may be the due dates, content of the book, and assignments associated with the book that personally turned me off from reading. I enjoyed most of the books I read in high school and middle school, however there were a few I struggled to get into and found extremely boring. I can understand students not wanting to read if they viewed their books the same way I viewed my books. Another issue is the fact that students can't just read leisurely with school books, they have to have a certain amount done by a certain time, and for some students that can be really stressful. Lastly if a student is not interested in a book, they are more likely to just skip through and find the information they need for the worksheets, essays, quizzes etc. especially when they are already running low on time.
     I feel these are the most obvious reasons that students are saying they are not enjoying reading. Some other ones I have thought of is the fact that students have to read so much in school, that it is considered a chore and not a relaxing or fun activity. I know during the school year I seldom read for leisure. I feel like I have to read so much for classes, that once I am done with all my class reading, I want to relax by just watching TV or a movie, something that does not require effort. When I spend two hours reading textbooks and required readings for class, it is very unlikely I am going to pick up a book for enjoyment.
    I really liked this point because I feel I can relate to it a lot from my own experience. I have never really put this much thought into this issue until now. Unfortunately not much can be done about a lot of these issues. Due dates have to exist in order to teach all the material that needs to be taught, and assignments have to exist to make sure students are reading the material. The amount of reading can not really be changed by the teacher either. I guess reading this and thinking about the topic have made me a little bit more aware to student's reluctance to read, and with this knowledge I can attempt to make reading more interesting and less like a chore for my students.

Grammar

     I thought the article that we read about grammar was very helpful. Personally, I learned better from the "mini lessons" in school, even though many people do not believe they were. I personally enjoyed doing the grammar activities because it helped me learn. I was interested in grammar and English and enjoyed it, so it is understandable that it is uncommon for people who do not like English to learn from those exercises.
     I understand that doing little exercises about grammar without actually applying it to the writing can be useless to some students. If a student isn't naturally good at English, spelling, grammar, etc. I can understand how this would confuse them. I always feel it was a very important idea, that you should not be too hard on your students for grammar. If students don't have any wiggle room for their grammar, they will not take risks. If students don't make mistakes, they will not learn in my opinion.
     According to the NCLRC page about teaching grammar, the grammar drills and mini lessons will help students succeed on tests, but will not benefit in the long run. "This results in bored, disaffected students who can produce correct forms on exercises and tests, but consistently make errors when they try to use the language in context" (NCLRC). This is understandable because the students are not being taught how to use the grammar in writin, but the rules when using drills. All in all I believe this handout had a lot of great points and useful information.

Source:

http://www.nclrc.org/essentials/grammar/grindex.htm

Clearing the Way Continued

     All of the writing kind of blurred together, because I had read before I left for spring break, however I will just discuss the ideas I found interesting that I have not yet posted about. I really liked how he made his students write journal entries. I feel this is a very great assignment for high school students because they can just write down their thoughts and feelings in a more informal setting. It brings writing to its most basic and raw state and I think that free writing is an important thing for all writers to do. This gives the students a chance to just write without worrying about MLA/APA format, grammar, spelling, or any other writing guidelines. I thought it was really cool that even though the one boy student had a number of spelling and grammar errors, he received full credit for simply writing down his honest thoughts. 

     In my opinion other styles of writing can be therapeutic for high school students. Being able to just put their feelings on paper can be a relief, rather than stressing about formal structure for an essay. I feel poems allow students to tap into their creative side. I loved that Romano spent so much time working with one of his students on her poem about her parents. He really helped her improve, without straight up telling her what to do. I feel this is an important aspect in a teacher. I feel as if I took a lot of helpful advice and ideas from this book and I am glad I read it.

     I provided a link to a webpage stating some benefits of journal writing

http://www.k5chalkbox.com/benefits-of-journal-writing.html

Clearing the Way

     I have enjoyed this book a lot so far. I am on page 129, and so far I think almost everything Tom Romano has said has seemed like great advice for high school teachers. It seems like he really knows what he is talking about when it comes to high school English teachers, and I feel I have learned quite a lot from him.
     One idea I really liked, was the idea of writing with your students. I think this is a great idea, because English is such a personal subject. Students are writing and exposing themselves to the teacher, and sometimes even the class. I think when a teacher shares their work with their students, they are also exposing themself in the same way the students are. I feel this will help create a closer relationship between the teacher and the students. Also, the students will be more likely to listen to what the teacher says if they know the teacher's writing ability.
     I really liked that he graded students on growth, and not only writing skill. I think is a more fair approach. Not all students are good at writing. A student can be very smart, and just not be good at word choice, grammar, spelling, etc. Writing comes naturally to some students, so I do not think it is fair to grade students with less writing talent the same as students with an abundance of writing talent. I think as long as a student is trying, and making progress, then they deserve a good grade. If a student is improving and listening to the advice given by the teacher, they deserve a good grade whether they are a good writer or not.