My first thought: What does it mean to write to learn? You always hear about reading to learn, but when do you ever really hear about writing to learn? It is a fascinatingly untouched topic. Anyway, as I continued reading through the article I came across different strategies the authors listed. The first ones it discussed were things like structured note taking and learning logs. May I just take a moment to say, "BORING!" I hated doing lessons like that when I was in elementary school. It did not make me want to participate or learn, it made me want to go to sleep. So I am not a huge fan of these. That being said, I know that these can be helpful tools in the college classroom and so I believe the students should know how to do them so they could use them if it ever struck their fancy. The next few strategies listed? A blast! I loved loved loved the biopoem, word maps and ABC list. These are interactive, fun things that I enjoyed doing in elementary and still enjoy doing today. I think it is important to teach students how to write effectively; but I also think in order to teach the students anything it has to be interesting to them. I do not want to show my students how to write, I want to motivate my students to want to write. If I stick to learning logs and structured notes, it will be much harder for my students to find enjoyment in the process. However, if I mix things up a bit and throw in biopoems along with other creative ways of taking notes and remembering information about the lesson I believe they will get more out of the lesson because they are more likely to stay interested while doing it. These days it is hard to keep a grasp on motivational and interactive lessons. It is hard for teachers to be creative when they have so many rules and tests and other outside forces tying their hands. It is so important to find ways to keep the creative learning alive and I believe many of the strategies Knipper and Duggan listed are excellent ways to do it! I think I would just leave the structured notes and learning logs as optional ways to write down information.
Questions for thought:
- Does considering learning logs and structured notes and the sort boring mean I will be a less effective teacher than those who love them?
- What are some other strategies I could use instead of structured notes that would have the same effect and level of learning but be more engaging?
Makita, my advisee, what a fantastic, honest opening to your post, "My first thought: What does it mean to write to learn? You always hear about reading to learn, but when do you ever really hear about writing to learn? It is a fascinatingly untouched topic. Anyway, as I continued reading through the article I came across different strategies the authors listed. The first ones it discussed were things like structured note taking and learning logs. May I just take a moment to say, "BORING!" I hated doing lessons like that when I was in elementary school. It did not make me want to participate or learn, it made me want to go to sleep. So I am not a huge fan of these." You went from an initial intrigue to what I think was a very natural response to learning logs--"BORING!" I can relate, but I will say this, I thank my lucky stars for the history teacher in high school that taught me to take notes in using a tweaked-out version of the Cornell style. She showed me to figure out what I thought was important to note, not what I thought the teacher wanted me to think, or what I thought I'd be tested on. Might go without saying, but most of our assessments were written essays, which scared the bajeezez out of me, but in the long run helped me get comfortable with being a little uncomfortable and thinking for myself. That said, I love love love biopoems.
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