When I set out to discover more about teaching writing my first thought is that I need to find out what's really going on in my community. I want to interview a few teachers at my local high school. I have a friend who is a teacher and he has been helpful in the past when I needed an interviewee. In addition, I plan to ask him if he can connect me with a few other teachers. I would specifically like to speak with the English department head as well as a few teachers in other content areas. I would like to ind out what the curriculum is like. Are there specific requirements with regards to writing? Do they have working relationships where they look to each other for ideas or support? I would also like to know about accountability. Obvious student achievement is a clear indicator of what is happening in the class but if they have writing requirements how are they accounted for?
I have been so focused on the teaching aspect that I lost sight of the learning aspect. I have a thriving young teenager in my own home with a constant stream of music feeding into her ears. I'm hoping I can get her to detach from her numerous electronic devices, long enough to get some information from the other side of the spectrum. How often does she write at school? What class does she write most in? If she lists her classes according to most writing to least, how would she list them? What would the list look like? Will I be surprised? Is she surprised? My daughter is in some honors classes. If I ask a few of her friends would there information look different? I'm thinking about hosting a round table discussion with her friends to ask them all of these questions. If I compare their grades would there be correlations between higher writing instances with higher grades overall? Would this be a fair measurement tool? Grades take in many factors, not just writing so I want to be a little subjective here. I would of course gain their parents permission before beginning this process.
I'm excited about this aspect of my research. I have been looking forward to speaking with teachers. However, I am most excited to speak with students and finding out how writing is viewed and what part it plays in their learning.
