Writing has almost always come naturally for me. I think that I have been able to communicate my thoughts well through writing since I was little. I would consider myself to be a writer, especially since I considered English as my minor for a while. I've always had a knack and a liking for spelling words, and I think this has majorly helped with my writing abilities. Out of the many modes of self-expression, I usually prefer to express my feelings through writing or verbal communication with other people around me.
As a little girl, I think that my main form of recreational writing was encyclopedia reports. This tells you how much of a nerd I really am. I loved to read and learn about different subjects, particularly animals, found in the encyclopedia, and I would write my mom a report about the things I learned about different animals. I also liked to write notes to my friends and my family. I think that with the switch over to a technological age during my lifetime has greatly affected what types of writing I do recreationally as a college student. I think that my main form of recreational writing now is Facebook status updates, blog writing, and texting. I don't really do any of these very much though because I am usually busy doing school work for my classes.
Most of the writing assignments that I can remember enjoying in school are those that had a more narrative style. I think the main reason for this like is the fact that I read more fictional books or books that tell a story compared to strictly informational books. I love history books and encyclopedias and information books, too - I just don't read them as much. I think that most narrative writing is done to tell a story, and that's probably why I like this style the best.
The writing assignments which I usually disliked in school were those that required lots of research (i.e. research papers) and those with a more persuasive style. I disliked having to look up so much information to support my reasonings or arguments. Both of these styles require a lot of time and effort, and I usually felt completely exhausted by the time I had completed the given writing assignment. I have come to have a better appreciation for research writing in college, but I still do not do as well with persuasive writing as I would like. I think that I would rather use persuasion in verbal communication rather than written communication.
I don't think that many people see writing as being a prevalent part of mathematics education. Yet, I think that I will try to incorporate writing in my class as part of my students' pursuit of literacy in all disciplines. Because mathematics is a language in and of itself, I feel that it will be important for my students to write mathematics with symbols as well as in words. I think that doing this will help their understanding of the concepts and relationships found in mathematics.
My like for writing as a student will most likely transfer over to my teaching style. I may implement bell ringers as a form of writing in the classes that I teach. I also think that if I have my students produce a report on famous mathematicians or events in mathematics history that I will give them more than one option as to the writing style of their report. In this way, I can complement the different strengths that my students have as writers. These options would include, but not be limited to, narrative biography, informational biography, (fictional) interview, persuasive essay on why a particular mathematician's discoveries are used or should be used by mathematicians, poetry, etc.
Melissa,
ReplyDeleteI just wrote a really long and meaningful response to your blogpost, but firefox decided to not let me publish it and when I hit back, it was gone. Bummer. Anyways, I'll try to summarize what I had previously written. I was saying how I think it's really interesting to see your insights about writing because even though you are also a math education major, our experiences with writing have been quite different. I never really enjoyed it, although I knew how to do it relatively well. I loved reading non-fiction books but still found narratives to be the most fun to write. I can totally relate to being a nerd as a child too. I used to do long division problems after school in 3rd grade for hours and then give copies of my work to my teachers and family members to try and impress them, haha. I'm also excited to incorporate writing into my math classes, especially because I see how benefical it is and it is something I've never seen at the secondary level. Fortunately my cooperating teacher is already doing it and she'll be able to teach me the ropes. In all though I really appreciated your insights and wish you the best of luck next semester and with student teaching next fall!
-Anna Alex
I think your understanding of the different kinds of writing that are available to your students, as well as your insights into how and why we use these will help you to design writing instruction and assignments that are meaningful and purposeful to your students. If they understand the purpose for an assignment, it can be motivating and you can scaffold it through helping them to think and reflect in ways that tap into their natural strengths (narrative writing in your case). I think as you integrate writing into your math instruction you'll see the natural benefits of how this tool is a thinking tool and will continue to find ways to use it.
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