SI Reflection...

On our initial meeting on May 7th, we were given several quotes to choose from and were to respond in writing.  I chose the following:

"All my life I have been frightened at the moment I sit down to write" - Gabriel Garcia Marquez

Pretty much sums it up for me...Academic writing was a genre that I could tackle, but personal writing was something I avoided...until I came to SI.  In my reflection on this quote, I wrote, "It still scares me when I sit down to write, but then I recognize I've been writing all along - with every breath I take, a life narrative grows.  It's the getting down on paper that's both tedious and freeing...I guess writing is commitment - to self, to others- a joining in and celebrating, if you will."

Well, low and behold, this is exactly what I experienced at our SI - a joining together and celebrating, with a strong commitment to write.

Teacher as Writer:
SI taught me to recognize my "writer-ness"  and to use those curiosities in the classroom to become a better teacher and inquirer.  I've always had an affinity to empathize - it helps me to wear others' shoes.  It enables me to identify with the 'other' in people.   I always knew I could empathize, but my writing experience has elevated my social awareness of words.  Empathy connects; it is social, spiritual, communal, comforting, forgiving, ripe with life.  Now I have a much stronger understanding of the necessity to write - because I can empathize, which leads to sharing and greater understanding.  It is becoming my lifeblood - this writing into the day - this reflecting...

Teacher as Inquirer:
Lil's presentation on responding to student writing got me thinking about context.  65% of teacher response focuses on function, 25% focuses on structure, 10% focuses on personal growth, and ONLY 5% is dialogic.  Here is the kicker: Lil suggested that we, as facilitators, "strive for the reverse".  This resonated with me; I like to play with language and interject words where they might not 'normally' occur.  I guess Dr. Seuss really impacted me as a child - I loved the sense of playfulness with nonsense he found with words!  So I should strive to have 65% of my response as dialogic with my students? OK.
Then I remembered a seminar I attended at RCCC, which I blogged about:

Seventh Day...

I am thinking about context, grammar and Lil's pronouncement to strive for fluency with language first; then follow up with clarity and correctness.  Fluency creates confidence in one's ability to express Self.
Makes sense...

I attended a seminar in June at RCCC and had the opportunity to attend a session facilitated by Dr. Linda Best from Kean University in Union, NJ.  The title of the presentation was: "What Writers Know and Do: The Nature of Writing and Implications for Teaching and Learning".   She bases much of her research off research conducted by Flower and Hayes, 1981.  What is interesting to note is her focused attention to differences in dialogue between proficient writers and weak writers.  She notes, "Whereas proficient writers envision their writing, developmental and weak writers adopt a 'what's next' approach, often adding new and unrelated material to their writing, which results in breaks among ideas and an overall lack of coherence"(24).  i.e. lack of fluency!

Even more fascinating are the numbers that come from her data highlights from a 20-year research program on first year college students.  "On the average, student writers producing essays in the 250-word range generated 2500-3000 words during the process of composing these essays"(17).  Kean specified that these students dialogue their thoughts - much like the stream of consciousness exercise that Lil had us do today.  Kean also documented that students repeat words on average five times in order to generate new words. (17)

Wow, today solidified the importance of dialogue in relationship to writing!  I can't wait to practice these exercises with my students!

this reflecting...it is dependent on dialogue - something else that Lil, Sally and Lacy modeled for me.  It is amazing how things connect when we put pen to our thoughts.  Like Jessie said in her blog - once you write about something, you become hyperaware.  This has me thinking about the neuroscience behind writing...hmmm?

Teacher as Professional:

Sally's enthusiasm for E-Anthology - well, I must confess that today is the first day that I have posted a personal piece on this site, but I am excited to see where it takes me.  I guess this is a piece of myself, as a professional, that I have avoided...the willingness to be critiqued, assessed, modified, uplifted, recognized...But is it important to step out of our comfort zone, as professionals, and assume leadership roles, risks, new opportunities.  This is something I need to work on...

Tomorrow I will give my presentation.  I think it encompasses all three of these personas I have been focusing on: teacher as writer, inquirer and professional.  I hope that you each can sense a part of yourself in this final presentation - for I did not compose it on my own.  Bahktin believed that the Self is plural.  In Zebroski's book Thinking Through Theory, Bakhtin is quoted, "One's own discourse is gradually and slowly wrought out of others' words that have been acknowledged and assimilated, and the boundaries between the two are at first scarcely perceptible"(189).  I view this demo as a collective effort- I have been diligent in listening and hope that you can find yourself within this work.

I love the first lines in this music and think they best sing of our experience in SI...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LxRyRc3EOas

As I close, my eyes go back to my first page in my daybook,  I see the following:  This daybook is a gift from the UNC Charlotte Writing Project.  As Ralph Fletcher says, 'this notebook is your private place to write badly.'  

True, but write on, baby, write on!!!  Thank all of you for this collaborative gift...

Carrie W.