Ralph Fletcher Summary

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Ralph Fletcher’s story in the beginning of the introduction quickly grabbed my attention. Although the story was humorous, I found there to be a lot of truth in it. In the story, the young students realize that their teacher will take anything and make them write about it. It seems to be that the teacher does this so often, that the students are afraid to take joy in the simple things. The students don’t want to assigned another writing prompt. Fletcher then says that teacher need to be sure “not to get too evangelical about teaching writing.” I agree with this statement. It is very important to teach students how to write, but as a teacher we need to know when we should take a break so the students do not get burnt out. Once students get tired …show more content…

First of all, I have to know how to write. It is pretty obvious that I have to know this, because I can’t teach something I don’t know how to do. The second thing I need to know is how to teach. I believe this is critical to have. I have had many teachers in my past that had an immense knowledge of a certain subject, but lacked the skills to be able to teach it. The teachers were intelligent people, but I couldn’t learn from them. The third thing Fletcher says I should know in order to successfully teach my students how to write, is to have a knowledge of my students. This statement correlates with what I have been learning in my EDU classes. Students will have different learning styles. As a teacher, I will need to know how to reach each of my students educationally. Some students may be auditory learners, some may be visual learners, and some may be hands-on learners. Because of this, I will need to be able to mold my lesson plans around what my students will understand. These 3 things: knowledge of writing, teaching, and of the students, all work together. These teaching requirements reminded me of baking a cake. You can’t just have 2 out of the 3 ingredients. If you don’t have all of the ingredients the cake will not turn out right. The same is true with the things Fletcher lists. In order for the students to learn to write, it is imperative that I have all of these …show more content…

When I read this in the book, 1 Corinthians 12 came to my mind. In 1 Corinthians 12, Paul says that everyone is needed for the body of Christ to function. One person isn’t held higher than another. We all work together for the greater good. Fletcher states the same thing, except in terms of writing. Grammar, creativeness, clarity, fluidity, the beginning, the ending, character development, and plot all play equally important parts in writing. As a teacher it will be important to teach my students this concept. Students will need to be able to understand that just having a few of the skills won’t make them a good writer. If my students want to be great writers, they will need to do their best to master all of these

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