This year as I taught writing, we did many brainstorming activities. We did idea mapping, list making, question answering, and some free writing. We did not do any of these activities, in my estimation, successfully. One aspect of Summer Institute I plan to use to inform my teaching is free written journal activities. I used journals intermittently in my class room this past school year, but never consistently enough to be effective. A week here. Two weeks there. Never with the “day-to-dayness” that Katie Wood Ray says is so important to fostering good writing. Journaling every day during sacred writing combined with Peggy’s excellent demo on the topic made me think about what an opportunity I was missing in my classroom. I don’t know why, but I looked at journaling as a means to an end. “We will journal to generate ideas for writing assignment A. When we begin drafting writing assignment A, we will suspend journaling. Who knows when we’ll pick it up again. It sure won’t be for writing assignment B. Have at it, kids.” This was not good practice. In the future, I plan to use daily journal entries as the mining ground for all other writing assignments.
Also, Summer Institute has opened my eyes to the possibilties of using Internet technology in the classroom. I talk about it extensively in my professional piece, but using this blog during the institute has been a wonderful experience. Students need to learn how to write, publish, communicate, and function on the web. This year’s first graders may very well have the option of attending college and starting a career all without leaving the comfort of their home office. I am excited at the prospect of Internet publishing in the classroom. Now when I hear the word “blog,” my eyes don’t immediately roll back into my head in contempt. I think it will be a powerful part of my classroom in the years to come.
