Before this semester began, I thought the only requirement for teaching Language Arts was being “good at it.” However, this was a naïve thought because there is so much more to Language Arts and Writing. There are no words to describe teaching language arts and writing besides: The Art of Teaching. This description is inspired by Lucy Calkinses’ The Art of Teaching Writing, which she describes techniques, theories, and examples of writing throughout an elementary school setting. Throughout this semester there are many things that I have learned, specifically the fact that both teaching and writing are forms of art. One of the ways that I learned writing is an art is through learning about personal narratives. However, this discovery is not one that I was expecting because writing about my personal life is not something that I am typically comfortable with, but once the class was given the opportunity to explore our personal thoughts and feelings, I soon became comfortable with the idea. As a writer, I had to learn to put myself in a vulnerable situation, and I had to allow my audience to look deep into my thoughts and feelings. As a teacher, in order for my students to express themselves in a vulnerable situation, I learned that I have to be comfortable with this. This is another great point that I learned from The Art of Teaching Writing. Personal Narratives have found their way into my favorite prose of writing, however, this prose of writing does present problems for assessment, grading, evaluation, and composition for my student’s writing. I always want my students to feel that my classroom is a safe, environment that is free from judgment, so it is going to be a challenge for me, as a teacher, to decide how I want to assess personal assessments (See attachment 1- Shame in the Writing). According to The Dynamics of Writing Instruction, scaffolding students and “generating task-specific evaluative criteria” are two ways in which I can assess my student’s writing. It is also important that I formulate a checklist alongside my students, so criteria for the personal narratives is established form the beginning. 

            My personal narratives Mini-Lesson was one of my favorite lessons that I have done thus far as an education major. I was inspired by the Dynamics of Teaching Writing descriptive activities to include a descriptive activity in my mini-lesson to explain the importance of descriptive words in a visual way. I had such positive feedback after my mini-lesson regarding my creative lesson and my presentation visuals. Therefore, as a writer and as an educator, creativity and passion towards the subjects in which I write is my greatest strength. As a writer, I am always trying to find ways in which my reader can visualize exactly what I am writing and experience exactly what I am thinking about. I am including a class exercise that I think really shows the type of writer that I am (See attachment 3).

            Although being creative and having ideas is a strength of mine, I think this is also a weakness. As a writer, I have always struggles with narrowing down my ideas and making them concise. For example, in research papers, mini-lessons, projects, etc., I am never able to come to a concrete decision about my ideas. During a writing assignment on September 10th 2018, I wrote a six-word memoir about this weakness (See attachment #2- Six Word Memoirs). Therefore, as a teacher, I have to continuously develop my creativity, but I continually learn to present my creativity in a logical sense. Furthermore, this is one of the topics I chose to present about during my mini-lesson #2. This lesson is for for both my students and myself because I, as a teacher, need to be constantly learning alongside my students. This is another valuable lesson that I learned this semester: teachers do not know everything. As a student, I always knew that this was an obvious truth, but while being in the role of a teacher, it makes you have a completely different outlook on being "wrong." However, I find that I learn best beside teachers who are learning with me and who are learning to accept their "wrongs."

           Furthermore,  In Teaching Writing as We Should, one of the quotes that I detailed in my daybook is:

 “We must emphasize within the ranks of teachers, then among all members of society, that education can always be improved, that It will always be in a state of flux-the struggle itself.” 

            As a future teacher of writing, I found this quote to be the most inspiring and truthful quote that I have ever read. I hold this quote extremely close to my heart when I think about education because it is the truth; education is continuously changing. Therefore, it is my role as a future teacher of writing to hold this truth and make it one of my strengths. I will continuously strive to understand new and improved methods of writing and teaching, so that I can present my students with the most innovative techniques and strategies for their individualized education. However, this is also a weakness of mine because I always want to understand "everything". While this does not sound like a weakness, it does present me with frustration and anger that I do not have all of the answers immediately. As a person, I like to have the “right” answers, so it is difficult for me, as a future teacher of writing, to have this weakness and view towards not having all of the answers immediately. However, I will try my hardest to constantly make all of my weaknesses my strengths. Therefore, accepting and learning from my "wrongs," is just one more way that I can work towards becoming a better teacher for both myself and my students.

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           As a future teacher of writing, there have been many teaching strategies that I have learned throughout this semester that will help me in my future profession. One of these educational strategies is: guided teacher examples. Guided teacher examples, or scaffolding, is discussed in The Art of Teaching Writing, Dynamics of Writing Instruction, and Write Like This, which are all excellent teacher resources. Write Like This discusses the impact of teacher examples within the classroom: 

“The teacher is the best writer in the room: therefore, it is critical that the best writer in the room models the confusion, the messiness, the stopping and starting, the hesitation that comes with trying to compose.” (for me this is the "wrong")

This is an amazing lesson that that will help me as a future teacher of writing and as a writer, myself. I have practiced this during my mini-lessons in ENG 3580 and in other classes because I found this lesson to be a great way to guide my students in their writing. As a writer, I always knew that there was a way to have the stress and frustration of writing disappear (slightly) , so this technique will help guide me in reducing this stress for my students. 

            Overall this writing course was extremely informative. The readings, mini-lessons, flip-grids, and class-periods have all contributed to the future success I will have as a teacher of writing. This course has taught me both ways to improve as a teacher of writing and as a writer, myself. It is my belief that I cannot teach writing, until I try and understand it for myself; that is what this course has done for me. I am now one step closer to understand writing for what it is: an art. 

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