Engaged Collaboration.

How do we engage students in the process of writing?

Engage.

This word is discussed excessively in the College of Education and I am grateful for that because I need to be challenged by this idea of engagement.  Often student engagement cannot be assessed in a formal ways, but in summative ways or through every day interactions with students.  I want to find ways to draw my students in, and to get their wheels turning.  Now I will be the first to admit that certain professors or peers will say, "We need to engage our students." That is a lovely concept, but let's take that a step further and see how to have authentic engagement in the classroom because I think that is the conversation that is often missing.

I need to be engaged in my classes in order to succeed.  If I do not try to connect with all my professors or actively participate to take part in that course, then I will not succeed.   I think the same is often true for students, and I personally believe that it is our job to give students the tools to engage but they have to make that decision to be an active participant in the classroom. I do not think it is easy for middle school students to engage in a writing class where I just talk about the process of writing for an entire period, and send them home to do the writing on their own.

One of the most natural ways to engage students in the process of writing is through collaboration with peers.  In the discussion post entitled, "Conversations Among Peer Writers," I explored if collaboration with peers is effective or beneficial in engaging students in the writing process.  I believe that these peer conferences can be helpful if set up and explained as explicitly as possible.  Some students may need questions written on the board to ask classmates, but others might really be able to just start providing feedback with little interference from the teacher.  Jack Wilde stated on the video, "Conversation Among Peer Writers," that peer conferencing is valuable because students value their peer's opinions. One of the best ways to make this time effective is to model peer revision. I feel that a huge part of educating is modeling and being able to learn along the way.  I want to model drafting with my students, researching, and even allowing students to give me feedback on my writing.  I further discussed modeling peer revision in my Interview Project when I met with a middle school teacher named Kerry Stoots and Kerry reminded me of the importance of modeling to her students and participating in the activities she asks her students to do.  Kerry stated when asked about peer revision that, "it needs to be modeled to students first so they have a clear idea on what look for and how to help their peers."

I found this to be true when working with my peers in our Collaborative Pedagogy project.  Working with two of my peers was a great reminder that three people can have three completely different interpretations.  We were asked to discuss contract grading and between the three of us it was difficult to agree on a unified viewpoint on such a controversial topic. We all felt frustration with the conflict within ourselves and the conflict with each other to take a stance on the idea of contract grading.  This seemed like a disadvantage but we actually ending up using it to our advantage.  We established what contract grading was and asked the class to express their feelings on it, and allowed their reactions to spur conversation.

I love this idea of sparking intellectual conversations amongst my students, and seeing their midst turn as they re-learn something from a trusted peer.  We all want our students to be engaged in the writing process, but we forget that one the best resources of engagement are lying within those conversations amongst their classmates and collaboration.