Writing Instruction I have Received

• Entry #2: Reflect on the writing instruction you have received. Which view of writing described in this chapter corresponds most closely to your experiences?

The writing instruction I received most closely align with Traditional Writing classroom (Freeman).  I graduated from high school in 1978 and thus was in elementary school in the mid-60's and early-70's. We learned to write through modeling and grammar.  We learned to write sentences and from there to paragraphs and from there to essays. However, we also learned to write by writing.  Rubrics hadn't been "invented" yet, at least in the educational setting and techniques such as "word choice" and "voice" weren't spoken of. We didn't have word processors and we learned to hyphenate, something that isn't even taught anymore, as far as I can tell. We memorized and diagrammed.

When I learned to write, school was very much a formal setting. Teachers taught and students learned.  We sat in rows, my gifted classes we did cooperative learning groups, but in my standard general education classes it was very "Leave it to Beaver" style of classroom learning. Speak when spoken to. Sit still and follow instructions.

We wrote on formal topics, wrote stories, book reports and topic reports.  Everything was handwritten and subjects were researched with paper books and encyclopedia.  I very much enjoyed learning that way. It was very structured.  However, I also enjoy teaching written in a more modern way. The writing curriculum I use is very structured but also modern in content.

References

Freeman, D. E., & Freeman, Y. S. (2004). Essential linguistics: What you need to know to teach reading, ESL, spelling, phonics, and grammar. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.