Read case study - Brenda Forester
Do you sometimes feel the same as Brenda? Are her concerns valid? What do you think of the overall issue?
Initially, I had some of the same concerns as Brenda from the case study but, as is somewhat the case in the story, observing classrooms has changed my perspective of what classroom knowledge on pedagogy a teacher needs to be effective. Brenda’s primary concern is that she is not learning how to teach or create lessons and that the methods she is learning will not helpful for her preferred teaching style. While this concern is understandable, no one is forcing her to use the “writing process” method taught in the story, so her concerns are somewhat unnecessary and dramatic. Having spent a lot of time in classrooms this semester and prior, I have realized that most teachers not only have a detailed day-plan telling them exactly what and sometimes how to teach, but also that most teachers do things the way that they believe is best or the way that has attained them the best results. If Brenda wants to teach a more traditional class, there is probably a detailed curriculum guide in her teacher’s book or her school, district, and/or state requirements. Additionally, if she is not sure which kind of teaching methods she wants to use, there is nothing stopping her from trying multiple methods of teaching or combining multiple methods. The important thing for her should be that her lessons and teaching style are effective and not whether students spend too much time picking a topic or not.
As I stated before, I do see Brenda’s concerns as valid; however, I think that she is taking them too seriously. I doubt that anyone is expecting her to be a phenomenal teacher in her first year, or to know exactly how she intends to teach for the rest of her career. While her professor seems adamant about a particular method of teaching, that professor is not going to follow her into the classroom. Ultimately, Brenda will decide how and what she teaches and it will be her choice to use, incorporate, or discard what she learns about the “writing process” as a method of teaching reading and writing.
If the overall issue is the writing process discussed, then I think that everyone in the scenario is unnecessarily bifurcating the issue of teaching methods. Both Brenda’s professor, Dr. Garrison, and her teacher mentor seem to be advocating that this teaching method is the best one, that it can or should be used solely, and that it will inherently correct students’ deficiencies in writing. Brenda is at least acting like, somewhat dramatically might I add, that she has to choose one method or the other and stick with it. At this time in education, neither of these ideologies has a place in a modern, progressive education plan. Personally, I think that the writing process discussed in the article sounds like a great idea, but should only be used as one part of an overall curriculum.
Wanting primarily to teach English, I whole-heartedly believe that the actual act of writing is essential in creating proficient writers. As with sports or playing a musical instrument, writing essays, prose, letters, or anything else becomes easier as you attempt and participate in that type of writing more often. I do believe that there is a practical learning application for many in writing as well; most of the challenging words I know how to spell or use, I know because I have at some time tried to write them and had to ask or look it up. I also think that the process of writing, especially about what you want, can have a great power to interest students in reading and writing. With that said, I think Brenda is correct in feeling like knowing how to properly use paragraphs or punctuation, is something that for almost everyone will only come with instruction. In a time when more people were avid readers, it might have been possible to familiarize yourself with paragraphing or punctuation simply from reading often but, in a modern world where the average American reads between zero and one books a year, this is simply not realistic. I believe that now it is only through a combination of instruction and practice that great readers and writers can be cultivated or refined from the average student.
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