Supporting Middle School Writers

by Debbie Collins, Eighth Grade Language Arts Teacher, West Union High School

Before I tell you what I understand about adolescent literacy learners, I should tell you a little about myself. I teach eighth grade language arts at West Union High School in Adams County. A lot of people I know shriek at this because they feel that junior high students are subhuman. I, however, have been teaching at this level for nine years and love it. Junior high students need variety, modeling, and explicit instruction.

Essay writing is a perfect example of these needs. When introducing a new type of essay, I help my students write a class example. I write a topic on the board. We brainstorm together. After we have several ideas listed, we decide what items to put in each paragraph. Then we write a rough draft on the board or on butcher paper. We continue on through the entire writing process. Students write the next essay in small groups. I like to have three to four students in a group for this. The writing is divided among students as follows: One person is responsible for prewriting, one is responsible for the rough draft, and one is responsible for the final draft. If a group has four students, the fourth is responsible for writing revisions. For guidance, students can consult the board, where I have listed the writing process steps as a reference.

Each member of the group is responsible for creating ideas and sentences for the essay. I walk from group to group and clarify, question, and suggest. After these two essays, I feel students are ready to try writing on their own; however, I usually put them back into small groups for editing and revising for one or two more assignments. Junior high students are very sociable and like to work in groups--plus they often lack the self-confidence to work alone at first.

Journal writing is a more informal method of writing instruction. Mrs. Lettie Willis, my senior English teacher, was the first teacher who asked me to keep a journal. I loved it. When I became a teacher, journal writing was one project I was determined to incorporate into my classroom, sure that my students would feel the same about it as I did. Boy, was I wrong! Even though I still get complaints about required journal writing, here are some things I have learned that have helped.

First, I don't require students to write every day. Second, I give students interesting topics and have them describe or narrate to various audiences. Some topics are favorite things, current events, reading responses, opinions, and short stories. I also give them an opportunity to write on a self-selected topic about once a month. Once a week students have a shared journal topic. They are given a topic and five minutes to respond to that topic. Then they trade journals with a friend, read the friend's journal entry, and respond to what the friend wrote. This entry is more successful usually because of the social aspect.

I write in a journal as well, and I write on the same topic and for the same period of time. I also read my entries to students occasionally and allow them to look through my journal. When I take up journals, I write a response to at least one entry. This is time consuming, but I find that students appreciate it and feel as if they are writing for a purpose. Finally, I explain topics and give examples when I can.

I would also like to share one other anecdote concerning writing instruction that happened during one of my first years. My students were writing at least two essays a week in class to prepare for the ninth grade proficiency test. They had mastered narrative pieces, and they had mastered descriptive pieces. I felt it was time to move on and try expository essays. I did explain that expository essays were often more formal and required more formal language. I told them to stay away from slang words, contractions, and the word "you." I did not, however, explain how to do this. Not one single student had used the word "you." This is not because I am such a wonderful teacher, though. Instead, they had used "y'all" and "you'uns." Needless to say, I had to be more explicit.

Reading instruction also requires variety, modeling, and explicit instruction. I require students to participate in sustained silent reading twice a week. At the beginning of the year, they may read any appropriate material they choose including magazines, newspapers, and books. They read for 10 minutes and may bring books from home or choose from my classroom library. (In case you're interested, a lot of my eighth graders will choose Chicken Soup books, I Spy books, Zoobooks, and Shel Silverstein poetry books.) By the end of the year, I have worked them up to 20 minutes of silent reading. Also, they must read a book during one of the two days. This is difficult because they feel they are "too cool" to enjoy reading, but I try to find books that relate to their interests.

I also like to incorporate choral reading about once a week. I usually choose poems for this but have also used short plays. They love "Who's on First?" I distribute a copy of a poem (or play), ask students to read it silently, read aloud to students, and then ask them to read aloud together. After students read aloud the first time, I read aloud parts that gave them trouble. This might be with vocabulary but is usually with inflection or fluency. We continue to read and reread until it is right. I won't lie: It is difficult to get 100 percent participation, especially with a large class. I feel it is an important exercise that helps with inflection and fluency. Both these methods can be used to introduce students to a variety of genres and authors, promote reading, and practice reading.

Debbie Collins is an eighth grade language arts teacher at West Union High School. She has taught at West Union for nine years. Presently, she is working toward National Board Certification. She plans to begin a master's program after completing her National Board Certification.

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