Chapter 11

While reading Chapter 11, I begin to think about my writing throughout the years. On page 314, Conley discusses ways that teachers should teach students to plan their writing. I agree with this completely. I was blessed to have a teacher in high school that always taught us to plan our writing. We wrote in her class everyday, because she found writing to be very important in English. We would first prewrite. This consisted of a bulleted list of things we knew about the topic, or a graphic organizer of the topic. We also were required to turn this in to her with our final draft. This really helped me become a better writer. To this day, I still prewrite before I begin a final draft. This helps me organize my thoughts to begin writing. This is definately something I plan to teach my students as well. I want to help them become a better writer the way my English teacher helped me.

Another section that stuck out to me in Chapter 11 was titled Writing to Learn. Conley stated, "Many students who have graduated from high school report that they were not well prepared for the kninds of writing that are expected in college and in the workplace." I remember my first semester at college we had many papers to write. Because of the teacher I had in high school, I had no problem with my papers. We learned MLA style in high school and we wrote a twenty page research paper. I knew how to do this, but my friend did not. She was very confused because she had never been introduced to that type of writing. I believe this text is one that we should look at as future teachers and take notes from. We want to make sure that our students leave our classrooms with the knowledge needed to excel in the schooling that will be ahead of them.

Technology

When I was in high school, I had one teacher who had a Smart Board in the classroom. I watched her use it, but I never had the opportunity to use it. Students were not allowed to present on the Smart Board. Last semester, in Dr. Foxworth's class, we learned about Promethean boards. We actually did a tutorial on the computer in which we received a certificate of completion. A woman came to class and taught us the proper way to use Promethean Boards and some of the things we could do on it. I have never used one of these boards, so I would not know where to start. I'm excited that someone is coming to show us a demonstration on how to use the smart board. I hope to have these types of technology available when I begin teaching. I think it will be a great way to involve students in the lesson, by letting them also use the boards. The teacher I observe uses the smart board in her room for grammar lessons. Each student in the classroom is allowed to use the smart board this way.