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Amanda Bunker 9 May 2010 As a student of education and a prospective teacher of English Language Arts it is important to hold personal objectives for my students. When I do get a teaching job, I fear that I might be easily overwhelmed. Having clear, personal, and well-thought out objectives along with a variety of methods to help students accomplish those objectives will help alleviate my fear of handling students in a classroom setting. Students often dont understand the importance of voice within a piece of writing. Letting them experiment with different voices would be a good introductory heuristic. Students easily get distracted by writing to fulfill a purpose. The only thought on their mind as they write, is getting a good grade. During that process, students often lose their voice. As a writing teacher, I hope that students are able to feel confident that they have successfully fulfilled the assigned purpose for writing, as well as develop their own voice. Giving students the opportunity to freewrite is the first step towards having students find their voice. By freewriting, they are given the freedom to write about whatever they choose. During this time, most students will write from personal experience. As Vicki Spandel pointed out in her article, knowing a topic well is the foundation of voice (24). When students incorporate personal experience into their writing, their voice is more prominent because the event is more relatable to them. Midway through students writing, student-teacher conferences will help detect if students are on the right track with their writing. Having someone, other than the writer, read the students work might be able to sense whether or not he/she understands the importance of voice. If I decide that the student doesnt quite grasp the concept, I can guide the student in the right direction. That way they can improve their writing. In general, conferences are a good teaching

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method to use in the classroom. In her article, Marisa Harford states that conferences help [her] get to know students and communicate to them that [she] value[s] their input and want[s] to address their concerns and aims (63). Conferences act as a good communication period where students and teachers can pinpoint any unaddressed writing concerns such as presence of voice, organization, clear thesis, or well-developed supporting ideas. One of my own problems I have with writing is the organization of ideas. I have so many ideas that I want to get on the paper that my ideas either merge together or get scattered. At the high school level, students have not had a lot of experience with essay writing and proper organization. This lack of organization contributes to one of the most common problems found within writingineffective conveyance of meaning. My second objective is that students correctly learn to convey meaning to their readers. First, I must teach my students how to become an astute and demanding audience (Bruffee 640). I could use examples of student essays from previous years to show how the conveyance of meaning varies from an original draft and a revised draft. My students learn what it is like to be the readerconfused because of lack of organization. Recognizing and learning how to properly format papers to effectively communicate meaning are the first steps toward becoming clear, effective writer[s] (Bruffee 640). A method that I could employ to avoid and/or correct ineffective conveyance of meaning would be by requiring students to write multiple revisions. Soven is correct in saying that we fall in love with our words (45). There have been many times when I avoid the delete key. The writing process of students is the same way. They often fill the pages with words to meet a page requirement. When they finally do meet a requirement, they assume their words are good enough. However, the first choice of words is not always the best choice. Personally, I would

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require that my students have a rough draft, a final draft, and then a revised draft. In addition, Soven suggests positive feedback, assigning fewer papers with more revisions, and sharing drafts with peers. These are just a few of the techniques I could use to encourage revising (47). Ultimately, it is my hope that my students become better writers. Therefore, my last objective is to get students to the point where they can recognize and address writing mistakes. I hope that students retain the information learned in class, during student-teacher conferences, and by doing revisions that they can catch themselves as they are about the make a writing mistake. I want my students to be able to proofread an essay and see mistakes before they turn it in and I have to point it out for them. Students can practice finding writing mistakes by peer editing. They will not only benefit from peer editing by learning to critically read papers to offer suggestions and modifications, but also gives students a chance to enhance their social skills. By editing someone elses paper, students will realize that everybody makes mistakes. Some are just more difficult to notice. Kenneth Bruffee says that peer editing, involves pupils directly and that if youths can teach each other bad habits, they can also teach each other good habits (635). Students will learn better when they are feeding off of each others knowledge and working collaboratively. Up until my senior year in high school, I had no idea what I wanted to study in college. I had always had a passion for reading and writing. At that time, I thought it was just a hobby. My senior year, I took a creative writing course. That year was the most fun I had ever had in an English class. We wrote plays, short stories, poems, and we got to choose what we wanted to write! It cant get much better than that. It was then that I realized I wanted to give other young people the chance to have that much fun in an English class and explore their passions. For some people, writing can be intimidating. I hope to make a difference in the growth and lives of my

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students by first getting them to appreciate the English Language Arts as a subject, and then showing them that writing can be approached in a fun way. I have no doubt in my mind that I will encounter challenges when I become a teacher. These objectives will help smooth out the process for both my students and myself. As Linda Flower and John Hayes stated in their article, whether ones goals are abstract or detailed, simple or sophisticated, they provide the logic that moves the composing process forward (Flower & Hayes 266). Every person works a little differently. My writing process may be different from my students writing processes. As a teacher of writing, I hope that I can help my students find a writing process that works best for them so that they dont have to be intimidated by writing.

Works Cited

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Bruffee, Kenneth. A. Collaborative Learning: Some Practical Models in College English (1973) Vol. 34 No. 5 634-643. Print. Flower, Linda and John R. Hayes. A Cognitive Process Theory of Writing in College Composition and Communication 32.4 (December, 1981): 36. 251-275. Print. Harford, Marisa. Beginning with the Students: Ownership through Reflection and Goal Setting in English Journal 98.1. 2008. 61-65. Print. Spandel, Vicki. The Right to Choose a Personally Important Topic in The 9 Rights of Every Writer A Guide for Teachers. Heinemann: Portsmouth, NH 2005. 14-27. Print. Soven, Margot Iris. Teaching Writing in Middle and Secondary Schools: Theory Research and Practice. Needham Heights, MA: Allyn and Bacon, 1999. 45, 47. Print.