The Reading Writer



I love reading and I've loved reading for as long as I can remember. There have been various instances in my life that always sort of reinforce my love of reading, like a teacher that always recommended books I thought I would hate or my family trip to Boston where I got to see the Louisa May Alcott house. I always try to stay open-minded when selecting books because I’ve learned that I rarely find a book I don’t like.



I don’t spend as much time writing as I do reading but have written a lot for different classes. My bachelor’s degree is in psychology so before I decided I wanted to teach, most of the writing I had done consisted of research papers, which are really boring. I don’t consider myself overly creative but have enjoyed the challenge of creative writing on my path to becoming an English teacher.

I worked as an aide in a high school for a short time and have helped many students with their writing assignments. I also have a daughter in middle school and help her with different writing assignments. One of my favorite techniques for revising papers is to read aloud. I used to feel a little ridiculous reading out loud to myself but it makes it so much easier to hear where there are opportunities for improvement.




When helping others, or myself, I used to focus on issues like grammar and sentence structure but have recently learned that it’s more important to begin by focusing on “Higher Order Concerns, which are central to the meaning and communication of the piece, are matters of thesis and focus, development, structure and organization, and voice,” (McAndrew and Reigstad 42). Focusing on the content is going to make for a better paper. Also, it’s important to remember that writing is a process that takes time. When you try to rush it, it shows, so slow down and enjoy the process.

Bestselling author Jason Reynolds on engaging students in reading virtually - YouTube

John Green's "dream" piece of writing advice - YouTube








Comments

  1. Olivia ParkerFebruary 13, 2021 at 7:47 AM

    Hi Kelly! I absolutely love your selfie mash up. Did you enjoy Midnight Sun? I used to be (and am reverting to being) a Twilight freak, so I want to read it, but I haven't heard good feedback on it. Also from your selfie mash up, I'm happy to see that you included a specific location that inspires you. I also used locations as an inspiration, but I find it more interesting that you have, again, a specific location. Keep up the good work!! - Olivia Parker

    ReplyDelete
  2. Candance Doerr-Stevens (a.k.a. "dancing stylus")March 3, 2021 at 11:48 AM

    Thank you for sharing the interview with John Green. I just finished reading Turtles All The Way Down and appreciated peeking a bit into this mind.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Tyler SchaefferMarch 3, 2021 at 7:12 PM

    Hey Kelly,
    I really like the links you have included with your blog posts as I like both of those authors so I'll definately check those out. I also like how you have recently learned that focusing on the content on the paper makes a better paper as I too before this class seemed to have emphasized grammar and syntax over actual content and it's just not the best way to go about it as you can end up disencourging the writer.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Creating Multimodal Compositions

Image
Dry-Interactive Timeline I knew very quickly once I began reading Dry by Neal and Jarrod Shusterman that I wanted to create an interactive timeline for this book. The events in the book take place over a very short period of time and there are some major events. I also knew that I wanted civic engagement to be a component of my timeline since Dry is a cli-fi novel. Rather than incorporate images and videos that might have told the story of the book, I chose to use videos, images, and websites that would educate people on climate change while also highlighting the importance of water and how the world could potentially run dry one day. I used the dates from the novel with a short synopsis of what was occurring on that day and then included different media on climate change and water. I really enjoyed the process of creating a multimodal response, maybe a little more than I thought I would.  multimodal composition - Bing When I started to think about the types of media I wanted to ...
Read more

Technology in the Classroom

Image
When I was growing up, social media did not exist. Most of my friends didn’t even have computers in their homes, let alone access to the internet. In sixth grade, my school was able to buy about 30 desktop computers to be housed in a “computer room”. Teachers could sign up for specific time slots and take their class to the computer room where we mostly played games that kids today would certainly laugh at if given the opportunity. Back then, I don’t think anyone was aware at how essential computers and internet access would become in our everyday lives. Fast forward to today and I am currently active on a few social media platforms but my primary purpose is to keep in touch with friends and family. I primarily use social media to share pictures, and document experiences; however, I do occasionally read stories or articles relating to current events or pop culture. Most recently for a previous class’ assignment, I created a PechaKucha on the need for more mental health services in ur...
Read more

The Writing Process

Image
 As I sit here and try to figure out what my writing process looks like I struggle to find one technique or set of rules I follow for every piece of writing I do. My writing process very much depends on what I am writing but typically follows a goal-driven process similar to the one outlined in “A Cognitive Process Theory of Writing” by Linda Flower and John R. Hayes. Flower’s and Hayes’ mention writers working under a “high-level goal or plan to explore: that is, to think the topic over, to jot ideas down, or just start writing to see what they have to say,” (382). This is certainly something I do but it takes many different forms, usually resulting from the question, “What am I going to say about this?” Depending on the topic or the type of genre being written, the first step in my process likely involves note taking, which I consider as part of “exploring”. I start by researching the topic with the hope to really narrow the scope of my topic. Once I’ve taken notes from several...
Read more