Literacy Matters - Vol 21 - Winter 2021

Teachers as Writers: Finding Our Voice as Writers

by Katie Kelly, Furman University; Brian Kissel, Vanderbilt University; Maria Morrison & Brie Leggat Johnson, Winthrop University

Reading Matters Writing Matters

ABSTRACT—This article discusses the use of Writer’s Workshop in a literacy methods course for preservice teachers to help candidates develop their identities as writers and deepen their understanding of best practices for teaching writing. One preservice teacher’s reflective journey as a writer is shared. In this way, she examines her past literacy experiences and how they shaped her identity and self-perception as a writer. She began the literacy methods class as a reluctant writer-- fearful to write because of negative past writing experiences. Through powerful teaching practices within a writer’s workshop, she overcame her fears and reimagined herself as a writer. When she learned to address these fears through writing, she became a more reflective and confident writer. This reimagination helped her redefine her writing identity. This article explores the notion of teachers as writers to develop their own relationship with writing and identity as writers. For many, writing elicits vulnerability and even fear. Working in isolation, equipped with a pencil or keyboard, writers pour their thoughts, feelings, and ideas on the page for others to read. Yet many of us then experience the cruelty of response: the red marks that make our papers bleed, the overemphasis on conventions, the single words and symbols that clutter the margins of the writing. All these produce fear and vulnerability in writers. And, because many educators had similar experiences as students, this fear comes forward in their teaching. It is common for teachers to lack confidence when it comes to teaching writing (Frank, 2003; Street & Stang, 2008). Some experienced poor teaching practices as students themselves (Draper, Barksdale-Ladd, & Radencich, 2000), others received inadequate instruction as undergraduate students (Graves, 2002), and many carry negative feelings about themselves as writers (Morgan, 2010). This is an internal narrative we, as educators and teacher-educators, must change to help teachers identify as writing teachers--but also as writers. We believe it is important for teachers of writing to be writers themselves. When there are limited opportunities to write, it can be difficult to form positive relationships with writing. Like anything else, to develop an identity as a writer, one must engage in the act of writing. Yet, writing is a powerful tool that is often left out of classroom curriculum to make time for more heavily tested subjects such as reading and math (Bean & Harper, 2012; Murray, 1968; Kissel, 2017). Further, writing instruction has been left out of the majority of teacher preparation programs (Troia, 2007; Myers, Grisham, Scales, Wolsey, Smetana, Dismuke, Yoder, Ikpeze, Ganske, & Martin, 2016). In a study of 50 teacher preparation programs, Myers et al. (2016) found only 25% provided a specific course focused on writing pedagogy. Teacher educators must make writing pedagogy a priority in methods courses to provide future educators with the necessary foundation and pedagogical approaches for teaching writing in their own classrooms.

In this article, we describe one preservice teacher’s reflective journey as a writer as she examines her past literacy experiences in an undergraduate literacy methods course. Although the university program did not include a specific writing methods course, Katie, the instructor is committed to integrating writing instruction into the literacy methods course she teaches. Maria, a preservice teacher, entered the literacy course as a reluctant writer--fearful to write because of her negative past experiences in K-12 schooling. Her prior experiences led to her belief that writers are good spellers, always grammatically correct, and write only for the purpose of assigned work. Her instructor, Katie, valuing the importance of teachers as writers, enacted powerful writing practices to help Maria overcome her fears and reimagine herself as a writer. She addressed her fears by engaging in meaningful writing experiences and became a more reflective and confident writer. This reimagination helped Maria write a new narrative of her writerly self and set her up to implement similar practices in her own future classroom. Maria’s Shifting Writing Identity Writing has always been a struggle for me. As a child, I was unaware I had a learning disability. I recall forming letters with shaving cream, then graduating to sentences on a chalkboard. I often enjoyed writing stories about my dog. However, my love of writing abruptly ended when I entered 5th grade. No longer was I able to write about self-selected topics due to teacher-prescribed content, formats, and requirements. It was around this time I was placed in the remedial writing class and my identity as a “bad writer” was born. I met weekly with a tutor, in the “special room” and felt an incredible sense of vulnerability. My competence and perception as a writer continued in a downward spiral as I increasingly loathed writing. Every time my pencil touched the paper, I knew it would be wrong. It was easier to dislike writing and create a self- preserving wall to protect myself from rejection. Throughout middle and high school, we wrote prescribed five paragraph essays. I followed the formula, my papers were grammatically and structurally scrutinized, and I never considered that writing could be more than defending a thesis with supporting evidence. I quickly realized that my teachers seemed more concerned about my grammar and spelling than the content of my writing. My voice and my identity as a writer was stifled and I felt frustrated.

Literacy Matters | Volume 21 • Winter 2021 | 51 |

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