As silly as it sounds, before taking WRT 392 I thought there was only one specific way to be taught writing in secondary and middle school classrooms. I assumed that my teachers were doing their job the way that they were supposed to when it came to teaching my peers and I in the correct ways we should write. It was not until I came to Stony Brook as well as taking this class that I realized that teachers and schools have been setting children up for failure and I was a product of this.
My thinking of teaching has been expanded since taking this class, my knowledge about teaching writing has changed as well as my mentality in how to tackle each day as a future teacher of writing and English. As I previously mentioned I believed that my teachers were doing the most that they could have when it came to teaching my peers and I. The sad reality was that those teachers, like many others, are only teaching students to pass the exams and tests. They do not actually help students expand their knowledge in writing and are often setting them up for failure in college and beyond. One of the most popular teaching styles when it comes to teaching writing in high school is known as: “The Five Paragraph Essay” which is an essay that is conducted of 5 paragraphs which include and introduction, three body paragraphs, and a conclusion. This is the most standard model that students are taught in high school when it comes to writing anything in class. Since taking this class I have learned that there are a plethora of different ways and styles that are necessary to be taught in middle and secondary classrooms that are often not taught.
The Template Gap in writing is one of many different “gaps” that occur in middle and secondary classrooms. Since I plan to become a future teacher I believe it is important to recognize the problems that occur in teaching writing and make sure that I do a much better job in teaching my future students. This gap is one that resonates with me and is as well as one that I believe is very important. The Template Gap explains how the standard five paragraph writing model is not affective when it comes to college level writing and beyond and that these scenarios provide much more complex writing structures and styles. Students should not determine paragraphs and sentences by their length but by the meaning of the content within them. Teachers and schools teach this method in order for students to pass the test but is our responsibility to teach the students past the test. This means we do everything we can so that they can pass but also incorporating other diverse topics and methods so they are truly ready for real world writing. This has challenged me ti make sure I make more of an effective effort of incorporating different cultures and styles in my lessons.
Another crucial element of my teaching that I would like to include is the element of feedback to my students. According to one of the principles by the National Council of Teachers of English, having a community of feedback in the classroom is good for not only the students but the teachers as well. This is important because this allows teachers to learn why their students write in the ways that they write and do the things that they do. In turn it allows teachers to build a better bond with their students which may allow them to feel more incentive to do the assignments and work. Having a good relationship with as many students as you can is important to the success of these students. Not every student learns the same and there are many different ways to teach different students the same thing. In a community of feedback, teachers can learn what works for each student and individualize this teachings for each student. These points and teachings have made me challenge myself, learning this and learning just how poorly students are taught these lessons I want to make it my goal to incorporate these teachings in my lessons and classroom as much as I can.
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