Connar Kelley

Dr. Leslie Cook

ENG 3580 Teaching Composition
8 December 2015
Final Reflection Essay
Throughout the course of this semester, I have learned a lot about myself
as a writer and as a teacher of writing. From the very start of the semester, I concluded
that, as a teacher, I would always be an emerging writer. The readings made me realize
that even as teachers, we are always improving as writers. We are not expected to be
perfectionist, in fact, when it comes to writing, nobody is perfect since writing is a
relative process. As a teacher, I want to relate to my students and show them that writing
is always a work in progress. We all have room to improve and grow as writers. To show
this, I plan on doing all writing assignments that I assign to my students. This way they
can show that I go through the same writing process as they do: brainstorm, prewrite,
draft, edit, and publish.
As far as the publishing aspect is concerned, I want my students to know that their
writings can be shared in class and out of class with whomever they want to share with.
As mentioned in the readings, all too often we fall prey in to writing for the sole purpose
of writing for our teachers, the ones who will grade it. I think this aspect will be crucial in
my future as a teacher. I foresee a strength of mine as being relatable to my students in a
way that they can hold me accountable for the work we both do. Teaching is a profession
that requires a community. The students and teachers have to be on the same page for the
environment to function in its most successful form.
Again, I realize the importance of acknowledging strengths and weaknesses in
writing as a means to teach writing. I personally struggled with the fictional narrative in
school. This is the main reason I am an English, Secondary Education major and not a
creative writing major. I like the idea of crafting together elements of life as I see it. I had
thought that this meant that all the writings I created had to be non-fiction. But then, it hit
me: Fictional narratives can still stem for seeing life through your own eyes and creating
new angles that lead to a believable story rather than just a past lived experience. So now
that I more fully understand the concept of a fictional narrative, I want to make sure that
my future students are promoted to do this sort of writing so they dont misunderstand
this creative writing as I had done for the past several years.
Often times, I feel as though teachers are tempted to teach exposition because
these types of documents are used in analyzing test scores. They also are very easy to
grade on the basis of research. However, I personally feel that it is easy to regurgitate
information in to a standard essay and still not fully understand the information. By
forcing students out of their comfort zone and making them write in multigenre forms,
students must truly comprehend and then apply the information in a different format. As
noted in the text, Multigenre requires thinking that reveals rather than just explain. This
certainly proves that a multigenre project takes the learning process to a whole new level.
Previously, I was concerned with the challenges that I faced in teaching expository work.
However, these units in the semester broadened my interpretation of how one can write in
certain modes.
The mini-lessons throughout the semester were great in showing several examples
on activities to promote writing in various stages. These lessons emphasized the

importance on being precise with instructions, as we sometimes may get lost in

explaining directions. Just because we know what we expect does not mean our students
will read our minds. We have to clearly state the specific directions if we want our
students to get the most out of the activities. Overall, I also picked up on some things that
I should keep in mind when teaching in general. As a student I was more inclined to do
the activity when the teachers were passionate and expressive about what they were
teaching. Also, I comprehended the material better when the resources used had some
sort of relevance to my own experience. I know this is hard to meet when you have 25 or
more students, but most high schools students have at least something in common to
relate on just based on them all being the same age. I will try to bring relevancy in my
classroom as much as appropriate
There was, however, a concept that tripped me up: argumentative. Specifically,
the concept of warrants is a completely knew concept for me. I have always been taught
to combine a belief with a fact that supports an argument. This formula still ensures that
there is sufficient evidence for taking a stance on the issue. The difficulty I face with the
idea of the warrant is that it seems that this could get redundant by adding an extra
restatement to the evidence. I would really like to read and explore more about the
concepts of warrants because, as of now, I would not feel confident in my own
understanding of them to teach them to my future students.
This course, in general, has helped me reflect on my abilities as a teacher of
writing and as a writer. This allows me to plan for the difficulties I may face in my own
classroom in years to come.