3 minute read
PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT
The True Value of Words
by Joanne Copeland, Spring, 2020
Advertisement
“ Teachers who write are better teachers of writing.” This quote from the National Writing Project inspired me to participate in the 2019 Summer Institute for Teachers with the Western Pennsylvania Writing Project. A guiding principle of the National Writing Project is that writing is transformative. “Teachers and their students should use writing for learning, healing, taking action, and making art.” So, with that in mind, I spent my days writing.
UNDER THE DIRECTION of Dr. Laura Roop, the University of Pittsburgh offers a professional development program that is networked with the National Writing Project. The class focuses on research-based practices for improving the teaching of writing across all grade and subject levels, including peer-to-peer professional learning, classroom resources, and formative assessment tools. As teachers, we were immersed in writing. One day, my class and I participated in a “Writer’s Marathon.” The thought of this activity was daunting. However, in reality, it turned out to be quite inspiring. For four hours, we traveled to Pittsburgh landmarks. At each site we wrote for a 30-minute period and then shared our pieces. For inspiration, we rode the incline to Mt. Washington, walked the riverfront at the Point, and meandered through the Carnegie Museum.
The course also offered the opportunity to listen to and interview guest speakers, including a journalist from the Pittsburgh Tribune, a local poet, and several other authors. They shared their journeys as writers and encouraged us to believe in ourselves as writers. At the end of class, our group of teachers published a book, Unearthing Our Stories: Cultivating the Voices Within. My pieces included reflections on my childhood, research on the importance of writing in the content areas, and two poems. I felt proud of becoming a writer, and I was excited to share a new passion for writing with my students at Valley School.
On the first day of school, there was lively chatter as 4th-graders came into the classroom sharing their summer adventures. I know this is a perfect age to focus on developing strong written and oral communication skills. As my students started to write, they began to find their stories. Their journals gave them space to voice their adventures, memories, hopes, and dreams. We worked through the processes of developing writing for an audience by drafting, editing and revising, and then presenting our final pieces. Poetry blossomed beyond the constricts of nursery rhymes in a Poetry Quilt. Creative writing was sparked by art, music, and nature. Through writing, they responded to texts they read. They reflected on novels’ characters and their actions. In social studies, students responded to current and past events, discussed aspects of different cultures, and described the nature and geography of a region by embedding facts in an adventure story. Writing in math class led students to realize that mathematics is more than getting the right answer. There are real life stories related to math, which is about making sense of problems and understanding concepts.
In collaboration with Mrs. Wehner, 3rd- and 4th-graders partnered for a weekly Writer’s Workshop. Our writing included interviews, word play activities, developing sensory images, and creative writing. This class gave students an opportunity to share their work with a wider audience.
Building a community of writers gives students the opportunity to bond with each other as they share their thoughts and ideas. Reflective writing offers students a platform to voice their opinions using supporting evidence, and to develop empathy by writing from different perspectives. Through research, they learn how to present the facts of their newfound knowledge in their own words. In connecting our Core Values with strong communication skills, our Valley School students have the ability to express themselves with clarity and confidence.
