Blog 5: Williams

This chapter was interesting, in showing the variety of roles a teacher can play in the student's life as a writer. "Instruction in the process-oriented classroom is different. First, it is top-down, not bottom-up, which means that the focus is on producing entire papers, not on grammar or parts of papers. . . These behaviors, identified through observations, interviews, and analyses of good writers at work, are consolidated as the following various 'stages' of composing: Invention (prewriting), Planning, Drafting, Pausing, Reading, Revising, Editing, Publishing," (Williams, 101). While I love this process, I fear that as a secondary English teacher, I may not have time to work all these processes with my students. The curriculum in most districts is already demanding and spending extra time doing these steps, one by one, might interfere with other coursework. If possible, I would like to get them to complete the steps, especially the steps pausing, reading, and revising. If given the time, students can and will go back and reconsider what they have written. This enforces revision as a step in the process, not something implied before they must hand a paper in. Segmenting it out draws attention to this important step in the writing process.
The "Student-Centered Instruction" segement gave me insight as to ways it could benefit students for the teacher to not be at the center of it all. The three factors that I intend on implementing in my classroom are"(a) asking students to write often, in meaningful contexts, (b) providing frequent feedback on work in progress, and (c) requiring numerous revisions based on that feedback," (Williams, 101). I believe by asking students to write (going back to our freewriting exercises), that they will become increasingly comfortable with the writing process and when assignment are graded, will produce higher quality writings. Also, the concept of providing frequent feedback gives a student the opportunity to learn from shortcomings in their writing at a point in time when it is still fresh in their minds and relevant. Nothing is worse than being counselled on something out of date! Finally, requiring numerous revisions goes back to my previous paragraph. By allowing students the time to revisit their work, they can make better choices and produce a better final copy. If what we, as educators, want to achieve is having a class filled with students who are engaged and enjoying writing, then we must provide an environment consistent with that wish.