Final Thoughts

I learned that I am a much better writer, than I thought I was, when I am not writing academically. I think I am a decent writer when it comes to school work, but to open my mind and give a little piece of myself in my writing is therapeutic in a way. I hope to be able to carry on writing with a blog in my future. My experience with digital writing started a few years back, through different course we had assignments to post online, a few classes I had to create webpages for. This was my first time creating a blog and I found that it is not difficult at all. 

I know I still have somethings to learn about the blogging world but I think that I will be able to incorporate it into my classroom. As long as I can stay organized and be able to show students the basics of creating a blog, it should go smoothly. I plan to take full advantage of google drive and possibly google plus in my classroom, it would be easy to access google blogger as well for my students.

The challenges I had with this blog had nothing to do with the blog per se. It was me finding the time to complete the task and read other’s post to comment on them.  I am admittedly not good when it comes to managing my time when the due dates are at the end of the term. I tend to wait to a week before everything is due and do all my work then instead of doing a little throughout the course.  But all in all, I really enjoyed learning how to incorporate digital writing into the classroom. 

Argument Writing

Effective Teaching-“The kind of teaching in which students learn to do, with support, what they cannot do or do not already do by themselves, the kind of teaching in which students learn happily, willingly, even enthusiastically” (Hillocks 1).

                I have learned a great deal from reading and studying the textbook Teaching Argument Writing by George Hillocks. I was captured by Hillock’s first page. The definition above is in the first paragraph of the Introduction. This is my purpose in life to become an effective teacher. I want to be that one teacher who made a difference in a student’s life.  Hillock has a great ability to effectively show teachers how to teach argumentative writing. He breaks down each step and gives real life examples.

                My “AH-HA” moment was when I read the first chapter “Whodunit?” by teaching arguments of fact and evidence to student through the fun of solving mysteries. I think this is genius. Students will not even realize they are learning. But they are finding evidence to support their claims when solving these simple mysteries. I think I will start off with the simple mysteries and gradually progress to more difficult ones. Also, the different levels of difficulty could be used with ESOL students and struggling readers/learners.

                In chapter 5, "Answering Difficult Question" is one of my favorite chapters. I love how Hillock turn locating criteria into something of purpose and has the students read example which is essentially mentor text. By being able to dissect award submissions and murder cases, the students are learning how to write better and support their claims, evidence and warrants.  

                My teaching strategies will be to scaffold the learning process as Hillock has explained in the text.  By having different mini lesson to zero in on specific aspects of writing a powerful argumentative essay, the students will get a better understand of each step and be able to master each one.  Making the lessons student centered will help the students learn on a more productive level.  Using small group discussion, class discussion, and collaboration will increase the chances of the newly taught information becoming knowledge that the students will retain for their lifetime, not just for a test.