Dear participants,
Welcome to our class blog. We will use this tool to comment on each others' published posters in poster4teachers.
There are two way you can read everybody's posters:
1. You go to poster4teachers and type our class code 248805 in the "Search for posters and worsheets" window.
2. You can click on the links below:
Dilvy: 534819
Jaime: 534874
Diego: 534884
Gibran: 534864
Harry: 534883
Maria: 534841
Silvia: 534865
MariFer: 534882
Analaima: ?
Alicia: ?
I hope you enjoy this task.
Welcome to our class blog. We will use this tool to comment on each others' published posters in poster4teachers.
There are two way you can read everybody's posters:
1. You go to poster4teachers and type our class code 248805 in the "Search for posters and worsheets" window.
2. You can click on the links below:
Jaime: 534874
Diego: 534884
Gibran: 534864
Harry: 534883
Maria: 534841
Silvia: 534865
MariFer: 534882
Analaima: ?
Alicia: ?
I hope you enjoy this task.
Clave de Harry - 534883
ResponderEliminarClave de Fer - 534882
Clave de Gib - 534864
Just change the last numbers (after id=) in the url and youll be transported to our summaries
Dilvy - my favorite part of your story was how you found your "reason for writing," a method of reflection and catharsis, on your own. Though the classes may have given you some tools, you had to (and did) discover the communicative purpose of the language without the help of teachers who may have been focused on exams and benchmarks. Its beautiful to me. Congrats.
ResponderEliminarGibran - I really loved the part of your story where you talk about using interesting nouns to make the story fun then being told you couldn't. Every class has students like this who, because they are ahead of the group, look for ways to have fun, sometimes stretching the rules. It's important as teachers to encourage this as long as it isn't distracting! They generally have so many teachers tell them to stop and focus but we should be encouraging the independent growth of their learning.
ResponderEliminarJaime - your writing illustrates brilliantly the way that if we challenge our students, they more often than not rise to that challenge! Your teachers told you to write essays so you took the personal initiative to find information on structure, pragmatics, and audience to complete a lofty goal. Congrats on achieving it and I think we can learn a lot from this story! Reminds me of the amazing stories that came out of miss solares' class. Students want to have their limits stretched, and you show us in your autobiography what they are capable of when you let them!
ResponderEliminarMaria- you bring up a really important point. Though standardized exams always trail behind the times, we need to think about how language necessities have changed in the age of the internet. You're absolutely right! For many basic structures, you can find resources that help you fill in the information. These websites will write the whole complaint letter, email, etc for you and so there isn't much need for a structure-based teaching course. I agree now more than ever creativity, clarity, and logical flow of argument seem to be the things the internet can't do for us, so we need to focus on those topics in our classes.
ResponderEliminar
ResponderEliminarSilvia. I can relate to the boring task of having to write long texts just because the teacher didn´t want to work.
I would`ve liked to start writing in English when I was that young.
Maria: I think it`s nice that you felt motivated to write your own story when you were a little girl. I remember inventing my own story about a dog, but I only used drawings, I guess I`m a lazy writer.
yeah! that was one crazy class
EliminarSilvia - your autobiography reminds me of the comment Alicia made in class about struggling with the creative writing task she was given as a child. Sometimes as teachers we imagine something beautiful in our heads but because of lack of clear objective or set of instructions it loses all importance and impact for students. We need to think about all different learners, particularly those that might struggle with or not be as interested in our activities, and how to engage ALL of them.
ResponderEliminarYeah, that´s right. In the case of my former teacher I seriously doubt he had a clearer objective in mind. That was all we did in that class every class for two years. Incredible but true. But now that I look back on it, I think we as students could´ve done something to change that....
EliminarDilvy`s autobiography.- It`s great that you remember when you first wrote your name! Thanks to your story now I recall I also used to write a diary! haha I was like 7 years old probably, but I didn`t do it for long though. I also found interesting that you used to write about your thoughts and feelings in english, that`s nice. I think you have really taken an interest in writing and it did become a habit for you. It`s very good thay you actually took a course on writing where you could clarify issues regarding punctuation etc. I agree with you that there`s still a lot to learn about this skill.
ResponderEliminarSilvia: I can’t believe you were already writing in English in 5th grade! What hit me about your autobiography is that you never tried to write a story or a poem or whatever when you were younger :O But I guess it had to do with writing being so linked to school.
ResponderEliminarDilvy: haha I also remember writing my own name. And what you said about the ink… how does that work? I can relate to choosing English as a way to prevent others from reading my diary as well! I also had the same experience… I learned to write academic papers just when I was about to finish the mayor. I find it kind of funny that as I read your autobiography I could actually listen to your voice haha. But same. Writing for yourself is an amazing and a nice way to keep learning new words.
Maria: I agree with you. Having an outsider meddle with your creativity takes the fun away! Personally, I never had anyone teaching me how to write until I got to uni, so that you had such a “technical” experience with writing is so weird to me. But it explains why you think that way about creative writing.
Yeah! in fact writing for me was so linked to school. Iguess I didn´t have much inspiration to write outside of school activities, except for a diary I kept when I was about 7-8 y.o. that I forgot to mention in the autobiography. But it was a short time though.
EliminarSilvia - You made me remeber the cursive handrwriting in elementary school. I think I had blocked that from my memories becasuse I didn't like it very much. I totally agree with you that the periods in which we receive more writing instruction in any language is when we are getting prepared to do some test. And thus, that is what we most remember when we have a controlled or academic writing task.
ResponderEliminarExactly, the tests!. And yes, controlled writing tasks are the ones I remember the most.
EliminarDear Delvy:
ResponderEliminarI’m surprised you do not hate writing at present. Your nearest memory is writing as the physical and mental torture of copying texts without note ven understanding what they were about. My Brazilian husband always complains about the same thing. Like you he was always asked to copy and copy texts. He has beautiful handwriting I must say.
It is interesting that when you first start caring about writing, you do it in English, to keep it private. From what you say about your high school experience with delvered papers, you did not use writing to elaborate your ideas more. As you said, you were always brief and teachers wanted you to develop ideas further. Do you think this skill has improved in the last few years?
From your biography, I see you actually taught yourself how to write in College when you had to write the composition book to learn about punctuation and other skills to write your thesis. I think you still have a long way to go with writing and I wish you the best!
Maria Elena
Dear Jaime:
Thank you for sharing your story with us, it is interesting to see you recall your first years in pre-escolar school where you learned to read, to add punctuation, and to use basic vocabulary. But then you suddenly skipped to College. What happened before? Didn’t anyone or anything unfluence your writing in that period?
Maybe because of your Literature background you think that it is up to this level that you think you actually learned. What I was sad to hear about is to know that even in a “Language and literature major”, you were not taught how to write in L1 and/or L2. You had to develop your writing skills autonomously, with no guidance and with your own resoruces, as no one teaches anyone how to write. Eventually you were successful!
Maria Elena
Dear Gibran,
Welcome to the untaugh group. You were not taught how to write either. I guess your spelling teacher in primary school did a good job, she was teaching children to writte single words accurately. Unfortuately when you had the opportunity and motivations to create a story of your own in another class, your teacher did not value your creativity. She much have been more worried about form. I hope this does not happen to you when you teach writing.
Your anecdote about writing letters is interesting too. Letter writing used to be one of the most frequent writing activities before e-mail. That those letters still exist must be amazing!
Finally, as everyone else in this class you say that it was not until college that you had a formal writing class “Reading and Writing” and for one semester only. What were you taught there?
I loved your conclusión: writing is the way to expresss yourself that can last more than other way, and learning to do it is a way to make transcendence.
Maria Elena
Dear Silvia,
You were lucky to have writing insturction since primary school, spelling and compostion and books, combine story telling and compostion skills, and with your parents support. It’s also interesting to see by learning a second language you learn about the fuctions of text, about different types of letter writing and then at College you got engageg with the sceintifc genre. You were definitely a lucky girl.
Maria Elena
Dear Harriet,
Very nice narrative of your learning to write experience. It’s wonderful to see how the most difficult part of writing (being corrected) came so smoothly to you. But it is even better to hear about the way you transmit this experience to your students! I’m eager to see you teaching writing and learn from you. I also agree with the way you define writing: “the culmination of product and process” and reminds me the quote “eay reading is damn hard writing!”.
Thanks teacher!. I had the chance to write because of the homeworks and all, but never really took a deep plunge into perfecting the writing skill, so I think I have many things to learn yet.
EliminarDear Mary Fer,
ResponderEliminarYou’re story is so touching! I can see a writer wanting to write! Go ahead, write! write! It’s incredible how keeping a dairy in your third grade of primary school influenced you to keep on writing. You’ve got something to say, say it. I can understand your disappointment when you knew someone had read your diary. But who cares? Whether for yourself or for an audience wriitng is valuable for the writer hilmself, remember “I do not what I think until I read what I write”. A blog?! That would be awesome! It’s a way to meet so many people and it becomes a leisure activity rather than work. Good you kept your past writing in a safe place.
Este comentario ha sido eliminado por el autor.
EliminarI kept it because I thought it would be nice to see how far I had gotten or not hahah I might be scared to write again? Like it's not going to go as smoothly as it did before?
EliminarJaime
ResponderEliminarI guess you really have a love for writing! that´s very good. I agree with the fact that it is a slow process and I think it´s great that you learned how to narrow down things, that´s a very useful and necessary skill.
Gibrán
ResponderEliminarIt´s great that you used to write letters to friends because it was a way to encourage yourself to be creative, you should meet with your friends to remember what the local jokes were about!. Yeah, I think what happens here in our country is that we are asked to do writing tasks since elementary, but there is not a formal class were they teach you how to write properly until you get to university or look for one yourself.
Harry
ResponderEliminarIt´s great that you have been able to pass your experience on to your students and that this has also been helpful to you to keep creating your definition of writing and your own style. I think this has so much to do with the fact that when you teach is when you learn the most. That is what is so nice about teaching. What you say about the organization and creativity as the most important features of writing is very true. It´s good that you mention the point of The willingness to try the necessary times to get to the goal, That is something we have to foster in our students in a way that is motivating and engaging to all of them, as you mentioned in another post.
María
ResponderEliminarI can so much relate with what you say about writing being just homework, something that you had to do, because that happened to me as well. Most of my writing was linked to school and most was controlled writing. I think one of the most important missions we have as teachers is to get to all learners, find ways to motivate them, and with writing being a difficult skill to develop it´s indeed a great task. Also the importance of fostering creative writing that you mention is very true, especially, I´d say, in the education system in this country. But this has to be accompanied by guidance that helps the student to organize ideas and give a structure to his/her text.
Mafer
ResponderEliminarVery nice anecdotes you are telling us! although I think it must not have been so nice when you found out your mom read your diary since you actually stopped writing. I guess writing is something you really enjoy and use as a way to express yourself better. I suppose you will eventually continue your blogging habit and you can even pass that encouraging feeling on to your students!.
That my mom read my diary is something that still haunts me to this day haha Sometimes we are chatting and she says something that reminds me of something that I wrote back then and I wonder if she remembered as well.
EliminarJaime:
ResponderEliminarI can see that the neglecting of writing as a skill at school is a problem some of us had. I remember looking for the information in the “Enciclopedia Planeta” too and copying only. I wonder if the teachers really believed that doing that was helping us learn anything.
I’m surprised (but not too much) that no one taught you how to write an essay during your major, especially considering the major you chose, but I admire how you started to learn yourself. I guess that when you like something then you can look for more information about how to do it and try to improve all the time.
Diego:
Good luck with that. Let me know if you need any help.
Gibran:
I can relate with the part where you didn’t continue writing as a recreational activity because of the work overload at school and at work. I wish we could make time for ourselves and do some things for fun once in a while.
I’m sad you had to face the typical square teacher who is there to destroy the children’s creativity and make them standard and boring. No wonder when I work with kids they are so afraid to come up with their own creative ideas, they prefer now to be told what to do. It’s very sad. But I’m glad it didn’t stop you and that you kept writing funny stuff for your friends, that reminded me of some silly notes a friend and I used to exchange in “Prepa” they started to get soo long that we started to use a “rotafolio” haha good times.
About improving your English skills, let me tell you that once you start teaching, those skills will improve a lot. The more you teach, the more you learn.
Harry:
It’s very interesting to find out how you learned to give constructive feedback, that’s a very important skill to develop, especially for a teacher and you have it covered.
Talking about writing, I believe you were very lucky to have the support and guidance of your family, and it’s awesome how you used those skills to help the students with their essays, that’s a lot of work and I’m sure they weren’t the only ones learning from it, you must have learnt a lot from them too.
Your story makes me realize that writing is a process and that I can’t expect to deliver a good product just by trying a couple of times. I’ve never considered the importance of drafting until now. Thanks for that.
Mafer:
I love how your first memory of writing is trying to sign your art creations.
It’s great you don’t have painful memories of learning how to write, I envy you.
Those boys didn’t have a chance against you, that proved girls (or at least you) are better 😉
I’m sorry you had to stop writing your diary but I understand that you just can’t continue after you find out nothing is private anymore.
I agree that the internet can be a good tool to approach other type of writers, not only the classics you can find at home, because reading the work of people closer to your age definitely tells you that you can also write. Now I remember I tried to write a couple of “fanfics” (don’t you laugh at my dark past) which were pretty bad, but I enjoyed the exercise, so yeah, I’m glad people can get inspiration from stranger’s stories on the internet.
I hope I can read something written by you in the future.
Silvia. I can relate to the boring task of having to write long texts just because the teacher didn´t want to work.
I would`ve liked to start writing in English when I was that young.
Maria: I think it`s nice that you felt motivated to write your own story when you were a little girl. I remember inventing my own story about a dog, but I only used drawings, I guess I`m a lazy writer.
Dilvy, what do you think those "fan-made" stories are? hahahaha I started writing because of that, but soon felt that having sort of "pre-made" characters restricted what I could do with my stories, because you had to be faithful to reality. That was my problem with fanfiction. So little by little I started creating my own characters and left my favorite bands alone lol I still read fanfiction sometimes, (especially those by my favorite author, because I like to see how they just keep getting better and better), and I have noticed that the "genre" has changed. There are SO many AUs and so little time haha It kinda makes me want to write something....
EliminarMaybe not faithful to reality, but to the universe my characters belonged to.
Eliminar(I was going to delete my previous comment, but since Silvia already replied to it, I decided to just copy it here so that you know I wrote it.)
ResponderEliminarSilvia: I can’t believe you were already writing in English in 5th grade! What hit me about your autobiography is that you never tried to write a story or a poem or whatever when you were younger :O But I guess it had to do with writing being so linked to school.
Dilvy: haha I also remember writing my own name. And what you said about the ink… how does that work? I can relate to choosing English as a way to prevent others from reading my diary as well! I also had the same experience… I learned to write academic papers just when I was about to finish the mayor. I find it kind of funny that as I read your autobiography I could actually listen to your voice haha. But same. Writing for yourself is an amazing and a nice way to keep learning new words.
Maria: I agree with you. Having an outsider meddle with your creativity takes the fun away! Personally, I never had anyone teaching me how to write until I got to uni, so that you had such a “technical” experience with writing is so weird to me. But it explains why you think that way about creative writing.
---
Jaime: /El Libro Mágico/ kinda rings a bell, so maybe I used it as well? Haha. I like that you learned to write an essay the right way out of your own volition. Sometimes it’s tempting not to do it and just hand it whatever when you’re in a rush or unsure about what you are to “deliver”. I agree with you, writing needs to be done/learnt at your pace, especially if it is creative writing.
Gibran: It amazes me that you knew how to read and write by age 4! By age four… I was vandalizing the walls at home with crayons lol my brother was (is) the same way: he chose the strangest options haha and ended up with really weird stories! I’m really glad you mentioned letters. I totally forgot about those. I used to write all kinds of letters as well… and I also reread them, and yes, the embarrassment is real. I like what you said about wanting to keep improving! We all should keep getting better and better!
Harry: When you first told us that you gave your father advice on his writing, the first thing that came to mind was… “Won’t he take it to heart?” (with you being family and all) But I feel this experience shows. You are really good at giving feedback, always making sure to say the good and the bad about whatever. I really like that about your contributions to the class. I also feel that your being surrounded by writers made you able to integrate creativity to the hardest parts of writing. And being honest, I don’t think I know how to write an email in Spanish either.
Analaima: The stories you wrote about sound interesting and out of the regular plots young people write about. As I read… I kind felt the same way I feel when reading Henry James. I guess it was the darkness and the feeling of being observed.
ResponderEliminarI feel like I will never write decent academic papers. I want them to flow… I want them to be as if I were telling a story… but the “conventions” make it hard for me, that there has to be an introduction… makes me mad. What if I want to disclose what matters little by little? I want me some suspension of disbelief. I think you should follow your gut and not write if it doesn’t make you feel as good as it used to do.
Dilvy.
ResponderEliminarYour experience with writing is similar to mine. I think it is common in all parts of the world that children don’t enjoy writing in primary and secondary school. You were lucky to have better experience with writing in high school and university, and I think it’s a very good practice to write a diary or a journal: first, you can organize your thoughts, and second, you practice writing skills.
Jaime.
I think it is amazing that you could pass through all these stages from neglecting writing to practicing it as a hobby. You did a great job learning to write by yourself. And, although your teachers at the university didn’t help you, I think they somehow motivated you, and motivation is crucial in writing. I like your metaphors, and I agree that writing is as learning to play the piano; it requires a lot of motivation and patience.
Maria Fernanda.
This is an interesting story of a writer. I think that it is common that we don’t like what we wrote when we were teenagers. It doesn’t mean your writing was bad; it is because you were different and your thoughts and interests were different. It is good that you keep your writing, may be later you will find it interesting to read your old stories.
Maria:
ResponderEliminarIt was strangely interesting to discover that the approach to teaching writing has this kind of static, almost strained quality to it regardless of the country where it is set. What a shame that the educational system all over the world views writing as a mainly utilitarian activity rather than what it really is: pure magic.
Your parents’ attitude towards your first attempts to write creatively is another example of the same issue. I’m sure they were not trying to discourage you in any way, but rather trying to help you improve by doing something they thought would be best. Little do parents know that sometimes it is better to let kids make mistakes and have fun. What was your fairy tale about?
I agree on the fact that the topics that are chosen for us to write in school are most of the times quite boring; and the same goes for reading -which I consider the first step for anyone who is genuinely committed to experience with creative writing-. I have wondered many times how do teachers become so unengaged from their students that they fail to offer interesting subjects for the tasks. It is important to acquire formal writing skills, but I do not see why can’t that be done without boring the students to death.
I also agree on your final reflection about creative writing. Nowadays it is becoming increasingly pointless to teach certain aspects of writing since almost everything can be done with a template. But creation is a whole other thing. I don’t think that being creative is something that can be taught, I firmly believe that we all are creative, we just need to find that little spark of inspiration which at times arrives unannounced and needs to be fed large amounts attention for it to become the fire we all need to create.
Analaima
Dilvy:
ResponderEliminarI really enjoyed your story even thou your early frustration with the subject is almost palpable. However, I’m glad that despite your bad experiences with writing you picked it up as a way to achieve catharsis. I think it is wise to set limits between the way we approach certain things in school and the way we can play with them on our own, don’t you think?
Growing up I also had a journal and was not eager to let anyone read it. It is funny to think about it now because the vulnerability that I felt when I was younger seems so ludicrous now. The kind of things that I thought and wrote about seems hysterical. And don’t even get me started on the need to conceal those thoughts. I bet that if my mother had ever read my diary she would’ve laugh about all the dumb things that I adamantly considered important, she would be left with nothing but a vague sense of tenderness. It’s nice to look back, thou, to those simple times. And writing was always ubiquitous, don’t you think? We trusted on it.
Lastly, you made me reflect upon how adult life often becomes an obstacle between a human being and his inner expressions. I would say that now we have much more interesting thoughts tangled inside our head and yet find no time to let them flow through words. Pity, huh?
Analaima