Class so far...

Dear Dr. Jones,
     Class so far is going great! I signed up for this class because it was the only elective that I had left to take and to be honest I wasn't too excited to take it. I have never been a big fan of writing, it just has never came easy to me. So at the start of this class I didn't really know what to expect because of my past feelings about writing. However, being over a month into this class, I couldn't be more pleased with what this class has to offer. I have never had so much freedom to write about whatever and however we wanted to. It allows me to enjoy the writing more, which I feel helps to improve my writing overall.

Over the past few weeks that we have been in class I have learned so much already and have enjoyed every minute of it! Although I have heard about blogs I have never used them before so everything was new to me. I have learned how to set up blogs as well as post and respond to others. Now that I have learned how to do them it is something that I can see myself using in the future-not only for myself, but with my students in the future as well. However, the one major thing that I found most interesting so far is the challenge that Hicks makes against the definition of writing. He tells us that we should think of writers not merely as writers, but as composers as well. He talk about photo-essays as being a form of writing, which I disagree with. I feel that writing should be visual letters written on paper instead of a bunch of picture put together to tell a story. However, I feel that if we add some writing to our pictures or if we add pictures or even podcasts into our writing, writers can be thought of composers and writers all in one.

When I write, I tend to do a lot of thinking to make sure I get everything that is needed or that I want to say down on paper. I think that I sometimes over think, which I feel could be the reason why I have always had trouble when it comes to writing. I tend to edit and revise as much as possible while I write, when I should be focusing on the flow of the writing and the content. One thing that I feel that I need to work on more is my prewriting. I need to plan better about the topics that I plan to write about since 70 percent of writing is spent on the prewriting part. That is one thing that I have never spent much time on, which has probably been my biggest weakness when it comes to my writing.

Blogging and wikis are two strategies that we have been taught that I feel will be very beneficial to use as a teacher of literacy. I want my students to have the change to learn from other people's writings and responses to their writings. They could share their thoughts and ideas with others and make changes to their writings if they feel the need to based on the feedback they receive from their peers as well as their teacher. Wikis will also provide my students the opportunity to work collaboratively with one another on writing tasks, which I feel is an important thing to be able to do.

Overall, I really wouldn't say that I am struggling in any certain area. I definitely think that I need to continue working on everything that we have learned about this semester so far, considering it is pretty much all new to me. The more practice I am able to get, the better I will become at everything that is new to me.

                                                                                Sincerely,
                                                                                  Krista Urbanczyk