The Sloppy Copy

This week was interesting in class; we discussed writing, and focused on prewriting. When I was in elementary school my teachers stressed the importance of prewriting. We always would have to brainstorm for ten minutes before we could begin a first draft. The first draft was always referred to “sloppy copy” (which I learned was not a good idea, because this phrase makes it seem like the first draft is not important). Everyone in my class would rush through the “sloppy copy” so we could type our final draft. My class also had a word wall with words we were learning, and a “make it beautiful wall”. The “make it beautiful wall” was full of adjectives and we were required to use at least ten words from the wall to make our papers “beautiful”.
Having a blog has made me concerned about my writing and thinking about what I say before I type, and definitely has made me aware of the importance of proofreading. I am not sure I like the blog yet, I do not really like having to make sure I write on it once a week, I think I would like the blog more if it wasn’t graded and I could just write about my experiences with my tutoring or something like that. Although I don’t really like having to write on it, I see the importance of it because it makes me reflect on class (Meredith College is REALLY BIG on reflecting) and on my past experiences. So although I don’t “LOVE” the blog, I know it is really important.
My opinions have of writing have really changed this semester about the “sloppy copy”. By being referred to as sloppy copy in school it made me rush to finish it, therefore, when I write papers now, I don’t plan, I rush through my sloppy copy, proofread, fix, and I am done. If my teachers had referred to it my best first draft I might not be this way now. I feel the context we use when referring to something can really affect our students’ future
A project we are beginning is the book project I really think my book will include my experience of leaving home and going to college but I am not a 100% sure yet, it might be about when I found out my dad had cancer, or it could be a mix of it all my senior year of high school losing my band director to sleep apnea, my brother attempting suicide and then finding out about daddy’s cancer then having to leave home. I am not sure I want to do the last topic yet because I am still dealing with it in a way and I am not sure I am ready to confront that yet.

Can reading and writing disablities have an effect on social life?

Having a disability or delay in either reading or writing can have a big affect on one’s social life. One reason is because reading is the greatest way to build one’s vocabulary, if you have a delay in reading it can be quiet difficult building your vocabulary. If your vocabulary isn’t strong it could be hard to gain social skills. Another way that reading and writing can have an effect on social skills, that happens most often in school systems is the child’s confidence. It is really hard to obtain confidence in school if you aren’t reading or writing well, and also the other students might see you as dumb. I know from experience in school because I was a great reader and writer, but the not everyone in my class was. It really bugged me when my peers struggled in reading because I didn’t understand some people could have a disability or delay. I thought the students that got pulled out of class weren’t smart. Now that I look back I feel guilty for thinking that. I am majoring in psychology so I am really being to learn that students with delays and disabilities just learn differently than the average student.

In class (Educational Language Arts) we are reading a book about a little girl name, Sahara, who is having trouble with social skills and cues. We have not yet learned if she has a disability , we just know she does not do her work because she knows it will go in her "folder" whether she does a good job or not. (the folder is probably her IEP) We do know she loves to write and she is writing a "novel" and keeping the novel in the library.

As a teacher I really want to encourage kids not to be embarrassed if they aren’t the best readers or writers. If children are snickering at the struggling student, I plan to start a mini-lesson right then on respecting our peers. I plan to reveal that everyone is different and learns differently. Some people are super at academics while others are good at athletics ect.

Looking back into !995

It's August 1995 and I prance into Mrs. Bolt's classroom in a little pink dress with blue kitty cats on it; its the day that I begin to learn the complex language of English. To start with we learn the how the ABC's sound, we already knew our ABC's. Each day for 26 days we learned the sound of a new letter; each letter was printed on these long rectangular cards (portrait way) in upper case, lower case and with the pronunciation at the bottom. Behind the text was a picture that began with the letter that it was representing. For example the "A" card had an apple depicted in the background.

(this little apple is the closest picture I could get to help you visualize what I was seeing as a 5 year old)

The phonics is how I begin to learn the proper way to pronounce words, and as each grade progressed I was learning how to read words by sounding them out and then spelling by sounding it out. Finally I get to middle school and "BAMM" I am hit with grammar. In six grade I begin to learn how to diagram a sentence and that there are things like past participles, verb tenses, and adverbs; it's not just nouns, verbs, and adjectives. And you know what else I discovered in six grade...a noun is not just a person, place, or thing it can be an idea too. O my gracious the English language just keep getting more complex, and it has continued through my lessons at Meredith College, I am still learning new things about the English language.

I suppose I really begin learning/ discovering language when I was a baby through my parents saying word and me gradually learn to repeat them until I could formulate sentences that made sense from that moment I begin adding onto the scaffolding my parents provided at those very crucial early years.

My previous years of learning experiences have really impacted me today as a student learner. As much as I hate to say it I feel that I did not have the strongest elementary teachers which as resulted in me not being the brightest in the grammar area because I struggle in many areas like subject-verb agreement and commas. My elementary teachers were brilliant in teaching me to read, but really lacked in the area of grammar. This as really impacted me as a student learner because I struggle in producing professional papers for my education teachers, and lets not even mention the English department. Because of this I want to strive to soak up all I can in college, which means using all my resources such as the learning center, so I can be a elementary teacher that teachers her students proper grammar that can stick with them forever. Because my elementary and high school years didn't prepare me for as much as I would have liked for college it just means I have work extra hard in college to be a super teacher in the future. I know I will not be perfect and I will never fully master grammar, but I know will master good enough to teach my future students to succe in their futures.

If any parents are reading this I challenge you to challenge your child's teachers. Read every letter they send home, make sure they write well because they are teaching your students and if they are mastering areas then how will they be effective in teaching your childern, our future leaders?