"Errors"reminds me of my conflict when I comes to speaking and writing in Spanish and now Portuguese. As I'm still learning both languages, I struggle to find and arrange words to get my thoughts and intentions out or to be grammatically correct which resorts to me having to look it up using a translator or dictionary. In talking to friends who were going through a similar issue learning English it seemed more important to create what they wanted to say to simply use the language and then after making that attempt criticize it correcting the errors made not to interrupt and discourage communication . This reading also reminded me of a conversation with another friend, on the topic of differentiated learning, whereas I'm a visual learner while he is more auditory. When I'm learning things especially another language I need to hear the words, speak them but more importantly write and see the word; Seeing the word is what 'ties it all together' for me.
Guiding principles speaks of a time and place for types of writing especially as it relates to different content areas. It also encouraged and gave examples of positives teaching strategies to encourage learning and maintain eustress. Like a trainer was discussing with me in at my trapeze training session earlier, she said "I find it better to tell people why they should do it a certain way. They usually forget it anyway but I made the effort and for most eventually it'll stick. We were talking about how to use concise and efficient instruction in classes with new students.
Jason,
ReplyDeleteYou have a very interesting perspective on the readings! I like how you tied in your personal experience, learning Spanish and Portuguese, and how you can relate to others who write and learn English as a second language.
You suggest a process of writing in which a person first thinks of what he or she wants to say (the content), tries to write it, and then corrects errors. I agree that this is a beneficial process, as opposed to interrupting the flow of meaning.
In "Writing in the Content Areas," the author promotes a resource model of writing instruction (Benjamin 11). In this method, a teacher models sentences, outlines, and templates. You mentioned being a visual learner, as am I, so this modeling strategy would really benefit us as students.
Going back to the idea of writing as a process, the resource model promotes this as well. By allowing students to make mistakes, they learn and become better writers in the process.
Hey Jason, I found your perspective on the "Errors" article to be somewhat intune with my train of thought. Being an Artist, I too am a visual learner. Seeing something (especially words) along with how they are pronounced and written brings it full circle for me and I retain the word better. Correcting of grammar, vocabulary and punctuation is something that I believe should be reserved until the information is given then received, unless the errors prevent comprehension. The communication and information is mroe important than the formality to me unless it needs to be given formal. I think it's awesome that you are learning different languages especially in this global culture we live in. I just received The Rosetta Stone (Spanish edition) for a gift and I'm going to try to learn from it. I've heard mixed reviews from it, some people have said it was a great tool and some didn't think it was too helpful. I've heard that the best way to learn a language is to have a fluent person speak it to you constantly in conversation (clueing you in on meanings). That's probably true. At any rate I'm sure I will need the same visual learning process as well as hard work. Keep learning!
ReplyDeleteJimmy