The Writing Experiences and Beliefs of Secondary Teacher Candidates

Abstract

Writing affords students an opportunity to clarify their thinking. Through the process of writing, students recognize what they know and what they still need to learn. Graves has observed that makes sense of things for oneself, and then for (cited in Bright, 1995, p. 36). Writing promotes intellectual growth as students connect their prior knowledge with new information and refine their concepts (Kresst & Carle, 1999). It enhances understanding and retention (Clark, 2007; Gere, 1985; Langer & Applebee, 1978). Writing's greatest gift is the ability to help us learn (Moore, 1994, p. 290). Moreover, writing offers empowerment. According to John Updike, humblest and quietest of weapons [is] a pencil (cited in Rountree, 2002, p. 46). Writing affords dignity (Daisey & Jose-Kampfner, 2002). Greenberg and Rath (1985) believe that writing enables the writer, perhaps for the first time, to sense the power of ... language to affect another (p. 12). Teachers need to provide positive writing experiences that promote student enjoyment, as well as help students to express themselves with clarity and power (Elbow, 2000). Despite the importance of writing in instruction to clarify thought (O'Conner, 1999) and to empower (Daisey & Jose-Kampfner, 2002), writing instruction continues to be overlooked in this country's 1300 schools of education. A course in writing instruction is not a specific requirement in most state teacher certification programs (National Writing Project and Nagin, 2003). A report from the National Commission on Writing in America's Schools and Colleges (2003) recommends enhancing the emphasis on writing instruction across the curriculum. Teachers are the most important condition in the classroom environment and need to begin with their own literacy (Graves,1990). This is because teachers pass on their attitudes about writing to their students. Teachers who do not like to write, ask their students to write less than teachers with positive attitudes toward writing (Claypool, 1980), tend to avoid conferencing with students about writing (Bizarro & Toler, 1986), and avoid conversations with students about their own writing experiences (Lane, 1993). When we model our struggles along aside [students], we wipe out the disempowering notion of perfection that teachers often unwittingly model, and we expose our uniqueness, our vulnerability, and most important of all, our humanity (Lane, 1993, p. 145). It is essential for teachers to be writers so that they can share their writing experiences and explain why writing is worth the anxiety and work it entails (Augsburger, 1998). Yet, Ada and Campoy (2004) found that too many teachers with whom they worked feared writing. Daly, Vangelisti, and Witte (1988) found that mathematics and science teachers had higher writing apprehension than teachers in other subject areas. In contrast, Rasberry (2001) observed that some of his secondary teacher candidates enjoyed writing, others were reticent and even fearful of it while others were ambivalent. He learned that he could not assume either before of after his course that teacher candidates' enthusiasm for writing could be predicted by their content area. The ability of a teacher to include writing-to-learn activities in a classroom with efficacy and success depends on the teacher's beliefs and attitudes about writing and his or her capacity to develop instructional activities (Brinkley, 1993; Kamman, 1990; Pajares, 2002). Ultimately, writing will be viewed as unreasonable and time consuming if its purpose is not clear, the subject area content is not the focus, and the social support is perceived as inadequate (Chinn & Hilgers, 2000). This combination of factors prompts the belief among teacher candidates that education courses are impractical, and do not prepare them for the real classroom (Kagan, 1992). From a sociocognitive stance (Vygotsky, 1978) learning is affected by values, attitudes, and experiences. …