Reflecting on Readings About Literacy

Thinking about the various articles I have been reading about literacy and teaching writing in the classroom has brought up some ideas. I have read three different journal articles so far and two of them have been written by actual teachers themselves. I really enjoyed these two articles the most. I think giving examples from experience in the classroom makes the information presented much more significant to me as a future teacher. The articles I have read mainly talk about the idea of giving students topics to write about that are relevant to them, that pertain to their lives so they want to write and do not view it as something that is horrible. The idea of discussing topic ideas in groups prior to writing has also been a topic of interest in the articles. I definitely agree with this notion that having discourse about what is important to the students or something they feel they can elaborate on is a great step towards developing creative and intellectual writers. Discussing with students that not all writing is boring topics that must be done for a test, but that writing can be a way to vent feelings or ideas on may have is an idea I will definitely use in my future classroom. The authors new ways of teaching literacy helped make their students want to write outside of the classroom, which is something I hope to create in my students. I think reading and writing instruction in classrooms today needs to be looked at differently, and I think these ideas presented in the articles are great ideas for how the change can occur. The various ideas the authors suggest to create better writers are definitely useful and will be tools I remember and use when I teach literacy in the classroom.