Rewriting How We See Composition #3: The Teacher and the Student

The Teacher and the Student

Rewriting How We See Composition #3 of 3

    When I first began writing this post, I tried to distinguish between the teacher and the student, as an organizational approach. However, it became increasingly difficult to do so. Why, you might ask? Because the teacher and the student are inseparable entities. The identity of either role is defined by that of the other. 

    “Well, duh, that’s obvious.” Yes, I suppose it is... 

    However, it’s an idea that we don’t always acknowledge the significance of. And it's important to see that students' experiences are affected by the teacher's disposition, approach to learning, and instructional practices.

    Being a teacher of writing can be challenging. The skill and concept of writing contains complex concepts and nuanced strategies that can feel...nebulous to grasp. This can make it difficult to transfer ideas to students. Teachers are also sometimes unprepared. Perhaps they weren’t taught how to teach writing—certainly an issue. As students see that their teachers don't care about writing and/or don't know about writing, students often won't want to write. 

    And, students struggle too. Perhaps students think writing is boring or unapplicable to their needs and circumstances. Perhaps they have no idea where to begin articulating their thoughts in written language. Perhaps they find writing tedious, unfulfilling, irrelevant. 

    Whatever the reasons, it’s clear that both teachers and students struggle with writing. And it’s clear that recurring discouraging experiences come from perpetuated myths and negative perceptions. In the previous post, we talked about seven principles to begin changing the classroom environment. Here, we’re going to look at some specific revisions and practices to foster those principles and increase intrinsic motivation to write.

Confidence and Competence

    In the quest for intrinsic motivation, it’s important to recognize that teachers’ writing competency will affect the students, their learning, and their progress. If the teacher doesn’t know how to write, guess what? Neither will the student. As such, the students don’t receive as impactful of instruction and their learning experience deteriorates. The competence of a teacher is imperative to the growing competence of the student.

    Competence feeds into confidence. 

    How teachers and students feel about their capacity to write is just as essential as the capacity itself. When teachers don’t feel qualified or proficient in writing, their negative perspective of their own expertise impairs their teaching. If teachers don’t feel like they have the adequate skills and knowledge to teach writing, that insecurity will reflect itself in their instruction, the educational experiences of their students, and the students' attitudes as well.

     How do we solve a problem with competence and confidence? 

    One way: have teachers take more opportunities for professional development. If we don’t know writing, well, we need to learn it. And, preferably, to learn it well. We can engage in regular instruction in composition--something that will help us grow as writers ourselves and as teachers of writing. We can join book clubs with other teachers and professionals. We can go to writing workshops and conferences. Perhaps most importantly, we can take time for consistent, thoughtful reflection on our own feelings, competencies, and approaches. Ultimately, we can work to change our perspective for the sake of our students. 

    We also need development that teaches us effective writing and writing instruction. There’s often a major focus on “traditional writing instruction”—spelling, grammar, sentence structure, etc.—all important, but not most important. Rather, it is the content of writing and the journey of getting there that we need to emphasize—these are things that bring purpose and meaning to writing experiences. If the teacher can understand that and how to teach it, then they can help the student to understand as well.

    When the student can see that the teacher cares about writing and cares about the students, the teacher gains 1) credibility and 2) self-fulfillment. The teacher will feel more satisfied with their own work when they know what they’re teaching and how to teach it. Sometimes it can be difficult to see progress in the classroom or in students, but we need to remind ourselves that the fruits of our efforts are often delayed--the evidence of growth comes cumulatively, over time and perhaps not even until after they leave your classroom. However, our efforts are still worthwhile and valuable--students need every good experience with writing possible. We can lift where we stand and make the world of writing instruction better one classroom and one teacher at a time.

The Teacher and the Student

    Are you feeling discouraged with disengaged or apathetic students? Well, they’re likely feeling discouraged too. However, students want to learn—and they even want to learn well. They want variety in the writing they do, rather than monotonous, repetitive assignments or swaths of questions. They want to do writing that has purpose and relevance—and that makes its relevance clear. They want reasonable amounts of homework, coordinated in a way so as to not overwhelm and swamp their lives. They’re asking for a shift in writing instruction and assignments that focuses more on meaning and that's aware of their circumstances and feelings. For students to have different experiences with writing, they need to get to feel differently about the writing they do. 

    One of the most significant issues with all education: students often don’t know how to manage life, time, work, and energy successfully. We, as their teachers, have the opportunity to teach them how to learn—something that can significantly contribute to increased motivation. 

    As they gain the tools to do the work we ask of them, they will naturally grow in willingness to perform the said work. As they’re trying to cope with the responsibilities of life, we can help students by teaching them how they can break writing into sections at a time to make it more manageable. We can acknowledge and be honest about the stressful and overwhelming parts of writing but remind students that the trying times are temporary. We can work with other teachers to plan when significant assignments will be due. We can model setting goals for our writing and learning. We can model how to write assignments in planners, make due dates for our writing, and check our planners when we get home. 

    We can’t force students to write, we can’t change their circumstances outside of school, and we can’t magically make them like writing, but we can help them learn how to cope with life’s challenges and stresses.

    Have you ever heard the idea how the teacher treats the students will linger in the students' minds much longer than any of the content taught? Well, it’s true. This is sometimes a frustrating concept to educators: “What, they’re not going to remember the content as well as how I act?...Why am I even teaching the content then? Why not just party?” Well, we know that student learning is cumulative—it builds upon itself over time, so students might not remember everything but growth and change (learning) still occurs. Although we also could use some more celebrating in the writing classroom (…maybe not with too many actual “parties” though).

    How can we celebrate students and their writing? Praise and encouragement speaks volumes to the student psyche. We know negative comments emblazon themselves on children’s hearts and minds, tearing down confidence. When students only hear what they need to fix, their attitudes and capabilities are going to suffer. Positive comments slowly build and fortify a child’s concept of self and their perception of personal capabilities with writing. We can certainly give constructive criticism and feedback—we want students to grow—, but we can do it in a way that encourages and supports students in their learning. 

    We need to focus on the good things in students' writing; giving them that positive affirmation shows them 1) what they should keep doing and 2) that they are capable and succeeding! We want them to see and get to celebrate their successes. When we need to give constructive feedback that suggests how to grow, we can, first of all, assess class-wide needs and then teach accordingly, allowing us to address issues without individually nitpicking students. Further, we can keep track of individual student growth, so that we can help them see where they've progressed and where their writing could use some more specific attention. 

    A big piece of focusing on the good in students' writing and helping students feel more motivated is being thoughtful in the classroom language that we use. We need to evaluate how to make our language less critical and more supportive. When we show students that we care about them and what they write, they trust us more as an educator and mentor. If they can see, hear, and feel that we believe in them, perhaps they’ll start to believe too. So much of this relies on our verbal and physical language as we speak with students. It’s essential as teachers to craft a safe, positive atmosphere that encourages creativity, invites experimentation, welcomes failure, and supports meaningful, safe learning.

    So…how do we know where to start or what will help our specific, unique students? We listen. Students know what they need and want—they know how to make writing and learning more effective and engaging. As we listen, we’ll see what they need. And when they see that we’re listening and acknowledging their fears, ideas, questions, and anxieties as legitimate feelings and thoughts, they’ll share more about what they need. As we show students that they matter more than the content and that they mean more to us than a subject to teach, they'll feel safer. They'll feel that they belong there. They'll feel more confident, capable, and known. So let’s listen…and learn.

    Motivation won’t only get students to write, but students learn better when they’re motivated.  They’ll begin to approach writing with energy, passion, and excitement. As writing (and education) becomes more relevant to students’ lives—as students see and feel the purpose in writing—as students begin to care about what they’re writing—students begin to live learning, to live and love writing. And that’s when writing…and life…gets really exciting.

    Thank you.