C4T #2

Remember the renegades. . . and be their friend. Their creativity, their thinking, their pushing the envelope just may change the world. - Paula White

Reflection of the TZS Teacher

When kids write because they want to…..

Ms. Paula White is a teacher who writes several blogs. In her blog post “When kids write because they want to….” she emphasizes the importance of providing feedback to her students not only regarding the style of their writing but also the content of their texts. She feels teachers are so consumed by preparing their students for testing that teachers are overlooking the creative side of the students’ ability to write. In order to encourage her students she feels that the students have to be confident to write freely so that the students will want to write.
My comment to Ms. White was that I enjoyed her post because she encourages her student to write. I also agreed that when students are solely critiqued on their writing abilities that it can take away from the students’ creative ability and discourages them because they feel that the content of their writing is irrelevant.

When Is Listening Not Enough?

In this post Ms. White describes the importance of students being able act upon their beliefs but are unable to because of their age. She experienced the more actively her students were able to use modern technology to share their opinion and have an audience the more engaged they want to become with a certain subject. Her students are using wiki, blogs and conversation calendars to voice their opinions on such items as saving the rainforest, endangered species and being humane to animals.

Ms. White states, “We’ve simply got to find ways to validate their feelings, empower them to act, and not just listen to what they say”.