SOL #24
Pay attention to your fantasies, daydreams, and self-talk. What are they reinforcing? What purpose do they serve? Do you believe that some feelings are more “you” than others are? (The Wisdom of the Enneagram, 189)
Self-talk. Is that my enemy? I do this all the time.
We finished phase one of testing, and I read this post from one of my students.
The writing part is hard for me because I never learned how to start it or conclude it the way my class did.
I teach gifted pull-out, so she didn’t get the formula for writing.
Am I wrong not to teach the formula?
In the fall of 2014, not six months ago, I received the prestigious Donald Graves Award for the teaching of writing, and yet, I still question my methods. That is the curse of my personality type, self-talk. But I have to question, what is the real issue here?
I realize that the formulas offer comfort and confidence. While my student knew the answer to the prompt, she froze when faced with a blank page. How do you begin?
Even though I know that the best writing for my students is writing they choose, I realize that I need to provide the safety net. The additional practice in formulaic writing.
Today when I came home from school, a new magazine was waiting. The Spring edition of Cultural Vistas, a publication for the Louisiana Endowment of the Arts. My long time mentor Ann Dobie was featured in an interview by my friend and writing group colleague, Dianne Dempsey-Legnon. When I went through the Summer Institute for the National Writing Project of Acadiana in 1995, Ann was the director. This is what she said about her time as director.
It was a magical time… I have seen changes from teacher-centered to student-centered classrooms. Another monumental change is from feeding information to students to allowing them to discover it on their own which is far more dynamic and lasting. –Ann Brewster Dobie, Ph.D.
I will not give up the belief that students need to discover through writing rather than spitting back information within a set format. But I will look for ways to make my beliefs and the new reign of testing co-exist. I owe this to my students who count on me.
Reflections on the Teche 
Self-talk will always make you think, but it is hard when it makes you doubt what you know. It is consoling to me that a teacher like you has these self doubts too. It is hard to trust what you know in this age of test, test, test.
Self-doubt is such a nagging B-word, but I have to step back and reflect to see how she might be pointing at something I need to see.
Bravo Margaret! This is my great fear, that teachers like you will doubt what you do. So good we are fueled by the NWP but the pressure of THE TEST is real.
I wasn’t sure what “self-talk” meant at first, but in the post, it seemed like self-doubt, which has long been a demon of mine. I’m working on this through affirmations and journaling for myself, but professionally, this would be a good area of growth for me too–thanks for the inspiration!
Sometimes it helps to give the student examples and to talk through it. In my conferences, several parents asked when we would be doing the ‘5 paragraph essay’. This is what many believe is the important part of writing learning, what they remember from their own experiences. For those students going on to high school, I give them a brief reminder because they’ve already had to do it before, but unfortunately will again in their future classes. As they write and write, I really do believe they figure it out, see what other authors do. That self-talk, the questioning if something is helping rarely goes away for me. I suspect it is a good thing unless it renders you unable to make a decision.
Reflecting does help. Today I noticed that we had a wonderful conversation about theme and how when you make a claim about a theme, you must back it up with evidence. They do understand and I’m sure the essay was well done. I am thinking about ways I can change my reader response requirements to include more of what the test will require. Do you know of any great resources out there?
I don’t even know what the test will require Margaret. We don’t do any testing, sorry. I referred to the future ‘5 paragraph essay’ because the high school English classes emphasize it so much (I’m told by former students.) If you tell me what is asked, perhaps I do know of some resources?
Thanks Margaret for your thoughtful comments. Thanks also for mentioning the Cultural vistas article. Ann dob
In this case self talk is helpful – it helps problem solve those bumps in the road for you or for students. I agree students need to discover writing but we also need to be realistic about this current testing culture and help them be prepared. It is only fair to them.
I was struck by the student’s not knowing how to begin or end – that they felt they had missed something. I remember feeling that way when I was out sick for a few days. Upon returning to school, I found that the rest of the class had learned how to do long division. My teacher realized this and gave me one-to-one lesson to catch me up. However, I for a long time still felt I’d missed something. It would be interesting to have a day or two (in case someone is absent) where students told you where they thought they were lacking or what they thought they had missed…and have a make up week for everything!!! Mini-lessons all through the school!
A make-up week for everything sounds like a great idea. I envision a class to class movement as students go where they feel they need the most help.
I like to think of self-talk as a form of reflection. For me, I have to do that in order to make sense of what I do. I am also torn between what I know is best and what they “need” for the test. We had a conversation similar to this about the 5 paragraph essay just last week. For some reason, many can’t handle “write what you need to get your ideas across.” Many need that safety net. Whether it is right or wrong, I don’t know. Thanks for having this discussion.
I worry that the safety net may harness in creativity. Where is the room for their own voice to come through? I will most likely resort to doing both kinds of writing. Maybe I could launch a research project to see if the transfer happens from one to the other. I can almost hear the groans already.
I like the reference to the Enneagram. 🙂 I always enjoy getting my daily email. I identify so much with your dilemma. We know what’s best for kids, and yet, we still need to prepare them for the tests. I go back and forth constantly.
It’s so good to know I am not alone in this struggle over writing authentically and writing for tests. I actually continue my reflection tomorrow about reader response. SOLC time is good for getting those reflective juices flowing.
I think this is an important discussion. I’ve heard some of my literacy gurus say we should throw out writing “formulas,” but I don’t think that’s a great idea. Formulas or patterns are a great way to start. They can give kids confidence and a place to begin. After they get good at those formulas, then they can branch out and be more creative. For instance, I taught the plot pyramid not too long ago, and we had a great discussion about how authors stray from plot pyramids – sometimes they start with the climax, a flashback. or a prologue. However, ALL authors know what the plot pyramid is, and I’m sure all or at least many of them wrote stories at some point in time that followed a plot pyramid. After they know what that formula is, they can play around with it. And I think self-talk is the sign of a good teacher. If we’re not constantly questioning our teaching, how will we ever continue to get better?!
“…and yet, I still question my methods.” If nothing else, it is comforting to know that others who are way more accomplished than myself, question themselves also. I suppose if you never questioned yourself, you wouldn’t think you had room for improvement.
Margaret! Congratulations on the Donald Graves [a hero] award! That is so awesome, and this reflection shows one of the reasons for the award: your careful and thoughtful diligence to student needs. Even as we need to teach for the testing madness within our better teaching with our writers, we also need to be activists against the new frenzy. I’ve never met a ‘test’ that helped my writers; it’s always the feedback from peers and their teacher that improves writing. Thanks for another engaging post. And, what should we do for National Poetry Month?
Thanks. The award was such a complete shock and thrill. Let’s keep thinking. Digital Poetry?