Writing, Thinking, Learning: How to Teach Response To

Writing, Thinking, Learning: How to Teach Response to

Literature Through Informal Writing-to-Learn

Tracie Lavarnway

Many students, most likely because of their learned expectations about school, have trouble retrieving their most reflective self while they feel an audience looking over their shoulder. The notebook gave them a way to bring the writing to the site of their thinking, rather than forcing them to summon up all their thoughtfulness in the service of a written performance in school.

--Randy Bomer

One of the most common directives in English classes all over the country is “Okay, class, get out your journals.” Marbled composition books, three-ring binders, or spiral notebooks appear on students’ desks and they begin to write. As teachers, we should always examine how and why we are conducting activities in our classrooms. Are journals merely used a way to quiet the class and keep the students busy while the teacher attends to other matters? Or are they meaningful exercises students use to respond to and think about their classroom work? When I surveyed three sections of eleventh graders about their attitudes toward reading and writing, many students listed journals as one of their favorite in-class writing assignments. The students said they enjoy journals because they are allowed to “write whatever [they] want” and “don’t have to worry about being wrong.” Their responses capture the essence of informal writing-to-learn, which frees student writers from concern about the end product of their writing and instead to use to process to formulate their own thoughts and ideas. We want students to enjoy their work in the classroom and fully engage with it. In this article, I will discuss using informal writing to enable our students to work through their own thinking and to respond to literature in a more thoughtful and significant way. If done effectively, informal writing will have a deeply positive impact on middle and high school students’ ability to construct their own learning in a meaningful way.

What is Writing-to-Learn?

As secondary English teachers, our most important concern is that our students become active and engaged learners as they sharpen their reading, writing and critical thinking skills. Writing is a powerful tool that facilitates learning. Most of us recognize this. We spend hours assigning and grading student essays that require textual analysis. However, emphasis on formal writing undermines writing as a process for thinking by focusing students on a finished product. When students write formally, they use language to convey specific information, formulate an argument, or instruct their reader. Here, correct form and structure, as well as clear, thought-provoking, and correct content, are emphasized. Though this remains an important part of a meaningful experience in the English classroom, we should be even more concerned about fostering higher order thinking and problem solving skills. Writing itself can serve as a conduit to such thinking rather than its product. Informal writing, free of the pressure to produce a specific end, allows students to use language to shape, order and represent their own experiences to reach a deeper understanding of a text. Students can use writing as an instrument for inquiring, reflecting, and working through a text and their own thoughts about it. When our students are able to construct their own knowledge in a meaningful way, rather than viewing knowledge as something external to be acquired, true learning occurs.

Traditional Views of Journals

In the past, informal writing has been perceived as less valuable than formal writing because it was considered less rigorous and intellectually demanding. The expressive, anecdotal, and subjective nature of journal writing caused educators to dismiss it as ineffectual or a waste of time. Traditional schooling valued well-organized writing that followed grammatical conventions and could be assessed easily. A 1993 study found that only about one-third of the secondary teachers surveyed emphasized informal writing as a means of exploring literature. About half the teachers in grades six through eight said they use at least some journal writing, but less than one quarter of the eleventh and twelfth grade teachers surveyed said they use journals (Anson and Beach 4).

Journals have traditionally been relegated to a peripheral role in the classroom, and are usually only used in one of three ways: expressive diaries, scientific observation logs, and prewriting exercises (Fulwiler 2). Though these are legitimate uses for informal writing, limiting journals in this way undermines their potential as significant tools for thinking and learning. Chris M. Anson and Richard Beach, two leading figures in the field of reader response and informal writing, encourage us to bring journals to the center of the English classroom and make them an integral part of our students’ learning: “Placed at the center of classroom experience, the academic journal can develop and flourish…and suffer less from the abandonment and growing skepticism that comes with using them in unprincipled ways or placing them at the margins of students’ learning…We are advocating a powerful method for enhancing students’ learning and thinking” (3).

What Journals Accomplish in the Classroom

We all want our students to become independent learners and critical thinkers. Journals foster this ultimate goal and provide other benefits along the way. See Appendix A for a detailed list of the benefits of journal writing. Using journals will develop fluency and build confidence. Students who are accustomed to giving correct answers on short answer or multiple choice tests will have difficulty writing extended prose. Their lack of experience or anxiety leads to trouble formulating their own ideas and figuring out what they think about a text. They may view us, their teachers, as the expert possessors of knowledge, while they discount their own ability to formulate knowledge and develop ideas. The journal assuages these concerns. Students can practice writing prose at length, free from the constraints of formal writing and the rules of grammar and mechanics. The informal and spontaneous nature of journals encourages student writers to develop a sense of voice without fear of chastisement about their work being correct, properly formatted, or neat. Informal response to literature also helps students concentrate. Chris Anson and Richard Beach, researchers in informal writing, assert that students will be able to “explore an idea in a more sustained way” as they jot down reactions, perceptions, and questions about their reading (25).

According to reader-response theory, students navigate various levels of meaning while reading. Work with reader response reflects an interest in the reading process and relationships between the text and the reader. Such responses are always layered. Louise Rosenblatt, a leading figure in the field of reader response, developed the terms “efferent” and “aesthetic” reading. Catherine Ramsden, a teacher and researcher who has used reader-response in her classroom, explains that these two types “exist at opposite ends of a continuum.” Efferent reading is focused outward, “toward concepts to be retained, ideas to be tested, actions to be performed” (3). Aesthetic reading, conversely, is focused inward, with an emphasis on the reader’s relationship to the text and his or her own thoughts and feelings about it. Both efferent and aesthetic reading may be done with the same text. Aesthetic reading, though less concerned with details and specific information, requires sustained attention to the text and to its effect on the reader. The two types work in concert. For example, Ramsden writes, “aesthetic reading may be interrupted by a concern about information being acquired [efferent reading] but this only enhances the overall aesthetic reading” (5). Informal writing, which can be based on efferent or aesthetic response, helps student readers negotiate the various layers of textual response that they experience simultaneously as they read.

Though you may have reservations about the expressive nature of journal writing, having your students express emotional reactions to a text is a useful exercise. Emotional response precipitates analysis. When students react to a piece of literature, they can then explore that response and reflect on what lead them to react that way. Such introspection prompts a deeper analysis of the text. Deidra M. Gammill, a teacher who uses journals extensively, points out that a journal entry extends students’ thinking by becoming an inner dialogue, questioning and reciprocal, in which the students function as both writers and readers simultaneously (43). The students act through writing, then react to their own writing as readers, which in turn spurs further action--more writing. Chris Anson and Richard Beach emphasize that this reflection can move from an inner to an outer dialogue when students start to share their responses, respond to others, and include such discussion in subsequent exploration (35).

Easily transferable from the personal to the public, informal writing has a positive affect on the social aspects of the classroom. Journal entries serve as an excellent springboard for class discussion. Rather than expecting students to produce thoughtful responses to the reading by asking impromptu questions, we should use their work with journals to prepare them to contribute in a meaningful way. When students have had time to formulate and articulate their thoughts beforehand, everyone can be expected to have some material to share. Therefore, you will avoid a common difficulty of a text-based discussion: only a few students who more readily think on their feet talk, and the majority remains silent. In addition, journal writing enables students to experiment with different voices, which contributes to their exploration of social identities within the classroom.

Most student writing functions to tell the teacher what the students know, which generally consists of what the teacher wants them to know. Rather than prompt our students to find out and articulate what’s in our minds, we should encourage our students to figure out what’s in their own minds. Informal writing takes the emphasis off what the teacher knows and allows students to formulate their own knowledge and test their beliefs about what they read. When they can connect their own beliefs and concerns to the material at hand, our students construct their own knowledge. Often students don’t know what they think about a text until they explore its multiple perspectives and struggle to make sense of its complexities through writing.

Incorporating Journals Into Your English Class

Using journals in your classroom is a slow, year-long process. Students may have had limited experience writing extended prose. In addition, apprehension about being right, neat, etc, may inhibit students when they initially use journals. Remember that their former teachers have probably only used informal writing peripherally. You are going to ask your students to make writing a primary mode of thinking in the classroom. This can be daunting at first, so expect students to be hesitant or resistant in the beginning. The key is to use the journal as often as possible; the more students write, the more their thinking and writing will develop.

Class discussion is a good way to get started with journals. Though the writing itself will later springboard into richer and more inclusive discussions, the “thinking on paper” aspect of journal writing is a natural extension of verbal expression and thinking out loud. Once a discussion is underway, you can have students stop speaking their thoughts and start writing them. They can respond in writing to what other students have said or start a new topic. Though you will shortly begin to add more specific writing prompts to journal activities, students should initially have freedom to write whatever they wish. This will give them a positive experience with informal writing and allow them to focus on the writing process rather than an end-product. This is the key to writing-to-learn.

Journals should never be used in isolation. When you use lass discussion as a jumping off point for writing, you immediately integrate writing with speaking and listening. Using speaking, listening, reading and writing together is a crucial aspect of the New York State ELA learning standards. Journals are an effective way to hit all four aspects of learning with one activity. Students respond to what they have read in writing and discuss what they’ve written in both large and small groups. Hearing their classmates’ responses will further their own thinking as they reflect on various points of view and synthesize what they have heard. Once students have had some time to work in their journals, make sure that they periodically revisit and reread some of their previous entries so that they can reflect on what they have written. Elizabeth Perritt Lee, a teacher who emphasizes such reflection with her students, says that it enables them to see how their writing and thinking has developed over the term (41).

Encouraging reflection will also play an important role as you develop writing prompts for your students’ journal entries. When working with a text, it is important to incorporate prompts for each of the three stages of reading: before, during, and after. Suggestions for devising good writing prompts, with examples, can be found in Appendix B. The prompts you create will differ depending on where students are in their reading. Make sure that you foster connections between what students are thinking and writing about during various stages of reading. For example, if you are about to begin reading William Golding’s Lord of the Flies, you can ask students to reflect on what qualities a good leader should possess. Then, you will revisit this theme throughout the novel by prompting them to look at how Ralph or Jack exhibit leadership and how other characters respond. In post-reading, ask your students to look back at their pre-reading entry on leadership. Which character followed their profile of a good leader? Has the novel affected their initial thoughts on leadership? Make sure your prompts are open-ended and give students plenty of room to explore their thinking. You want to privilege their voices in your classroom while at the same time giving them the benefit or your own experience as a reader, writer and thinker. You can use a variety of prompts to orchestrate development. Ruie Jane Pritchard writes, “Certainly we teachers must encourage a student’s authority as a reader of literature, but as informed readers ourselves, we must also help student readers to expand their repertoires of response to and interpretation of literature” (24).

Students have a wide variety of textual response strategies at their disposal when they respond to literature in their journals. For a comprehensive list of strategies, see Appendix C. For example, students can explore an emotional response and describes how a particular scene from a story made them feel. Or, students can pursue a deeper analysis as they interpret the larger symbolic meaning of an event or a character’s actions. Anson and Beach articulate the importance of including a variety of strategies for engaging with and working through a text, which is crucial for students to develop fuller understanding (122-132). We want students to develop their critical thinking and problem solving skills, activate prior knowledge, connect literature to other texts and their own experience, explore the cultural norms of the text, and articulate their own personal reaction or emotional response that the texts evokes. If your students do a lot of free-writing, where they choose any strategies they wish to employ, you should encourage them to vary the kinds of responses in their journals. Students should examine their work and evaluate what strategies they usually employ. Urge them to try another type of response and make sure they have models available if they are hesitant to branch out. When you develop specific prompts, combine various strategies in a single entry, carefully considering the sequence you wish students to utilize. For example, ask students to recount what happened a short story, then connect the story to a personal experience, and use that to infer meaning to the original text. Or, students first explain a character’s actions, go on to explore how the cultural norms of the story’s setting shape those actions, and lastly judge those actions based on the story’s cultural norms.

Keeping your own journal or notebook as a model for students is a crucial aspect of using journals in the classroom. Randy Bomer writes, “Students can not be expected to write something that they have not read and become familiar with” (53). You have to show as well as tell your class how to use journals. Share your own entries with them. This not only encourages their writing, but also helps them see you as co-learner who also works through a text in writing rather than as an authoritative dispenser of knowledge. When sharing your own journal entries during discussion, avoid monopolizing the experience or giving students the impression that you have the “right” answer. Remember to keep the focus on your students’ thoughts and voices and prioritize their independent knowledge construction.