To reflect on the writing instruction that I received as a student is not an easy task. I don’t remember sitting down to write in a “writers workshop” setting. I certainly don’t remember any part of writing instruction being fun. When I think about learning how to read and write in school, I think of worrying a lot. I remember a constant feeling that everything I was doing was going to be wrong.
I do have a strong memory of learning grammar and punctuation. This took place with the teacher at the front of the classroom at the chalkboard, the students in rows of desks watching the teacher write sentences on the board. I was never really sure what she (my teachers were always women) was doing up their. I was never focused enough to be engaged in this setting. This was not effective for me as a student.
It is easy for me to take how I was taught as a student and turn it around to be a positive teaching tool. I do not feel that my elementary school education was a very good one. It was a “wonderful” public school in NY in a great area. However, my needs were seldom met. As a teacher I know I am able to focus on each students development and take into account each learning style. I never had the chance as a student (until college) to feel as if my writing was something to be celebrated.
What a sad commentary that so many students feel the way you do about writing at the end of their public education and sometimes further. Kids write all the time, blogs, twitter, email, text messaging, and all the other ways too. Education should make them better at communicating with text; they certainly use it often enough to have repeated exposures.
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