Above is my research paper on teaching writing in an urban setting. Enjoy!

Article 6: Powerful Students, Powerful Words: Writing and Learning in a Poetry Workshop

Wiseman, Angela. "Powerful Students, Powerful Words: Writing and Learning in a Poetry Workshop." Literacy 45.2 (2011): 70-77. Print.

This article focuses on how students respond to a poetry workshop in an English classroom that is centered on teaching writing that is based on their knowledge from their various life experiences. The article follows a middle school urban classroom that used music lyrics and poetry in a weekly program all throughout the school year. It was found that the poetry workshops helped students to more actively be engaged, contribute to class discussions, and engage with critical ideas that were relevant to their personal lives.  The use of poetry and lyrics in the class was to help connect students to literacy instruction instead of following the traditional ways of teaching literature.  

Article 7: Beyond Story Grammar: Looking at Stories through Cultural Lenses

Urbach, Jennifer. "Beyond Story Grammar: Looking at Stories through Cultural Lenses." Education and Urban Society 44.4 (2012): 392-411. Print.

The article discusses how literacy is a socially constructed ideology. It is explained how literacy is merely broken down into standards, skill testing and reading. It was found that there is a huge cultural mismatch between the literacy and writing standards and the ‘literacy’ of minorities. The article highlights how different students with different backgrounds have different views on what is ‘good’ and ‘bad’ literature. Literacy is closely related to identity of the students. The article examines different discourse groups in order to help students engage with literature.

Article 8: Using Graphic Novels, Anime, and the Internet in an Urban High School

Frey, Nancy, and Douglas Fisher. "Using Graphic Novels, Anime, and the Internet in an Urban High School." English Journal 93.3 (2004): 19-25. Print

This article explains how when students struggle with literacy and writing, they are put into remedial English classes and spend countless days with paraprofessionals. While in these classes and with these people, these students basically work on basic skills i.e. decoding. The knowledge and skills that students already have are not typically used when helping these students learn. The article illustrates how teachers can use aspects of pop-culture (different forms of literacy that these students already have) in order to help them with the traditional forms of literacy. The study focused on graphic novels in order to address the multiple literacies that these students already have. The types of graphic novels chosen were typically 3 pages long and dealt with urban life. Students read these short stories dealing with urban life and then wrote their own short stories similar to the story they read. After doing this, teachers we able to look at their small pieces of writing and give them feedback. Students worked with different brainstorming and writing techniques.

Article 9: “There’s a Better Word”: Urban Youth Rewriting their Social Worlds through Poetry

Jocson, Korina M. ""There's a Better Word": Urban Youth Rewriting Their Social Worlds through Poetry." Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy 49.8 (2006): 700-07. Print.

This article highlights a program called Poetry for the People (P4P). This program was used to help urban students gain writing skills, confidence in learning, self awareness and social consciousness. The article demonstrates the use of P4P in order to increase the effectiveness of writing in and out of schools. P4P uses poetry as a form of political and artistic empowerment. Similar to the other articles dealing with poetry and the urban youth, different forms of rap and hip hop are used to engage students and form connections. This technique includes weekly writing workshops dealing with student chosen poetry and some teacher chosen poetry.

 

Article 10: Promoting Academic Literacy with Urban Youth through Engaging Hip-Hop Culture

Morrell, Ernest, and Jeffrey M.R Duncan-Andrade. "Promoting Academic Literacy with Urban Youth through Engaging Hip-Hop Culture." English Journal 91.6 (2002): 88-93. Print.

The article began by making a connection of how minority teachers will shrink as the years go on while minority students will continue to increase. This causes a challenge for teachers because it makes it more difficult for teachers to be able to connect with certain students. It is important for these teachers to be able to develop meaningful relationships with their students. This article examines teachers at an urban high school in California and their attempts to use hip hop in order to connect to these students’ cultures and form meaningful relationships with them. The rap culture has a very large influence on students especially of the urban youth. The article argues how hip hop lyrics can be dissected into literature. They contain aspects of imagery, irony, tone, diction etc. They also contain themes, plots, motifs etc. This article emphasizes the use of hip hop texts and as bridge to bring students to the different aspects of traditional academic literature. Hip hop can be analyzed and critiqued by students. This can help them build confidence in their English classes. Each rap or hip hop text that was analyzed was also compared to a traditional text such as Shakespeare. 

Article 1: Investigating the Process Approach to Writing Instruction in Urban Middle Schools

Patthey-Chavez, Genevieve G., Lindsay Matsumura, and Rosa Valdes. "Investigating the Process    Approach to Writing Instruction in Urban Middle Schools." Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy 47.6 (2004): 462-76. Print.

This article highlights how many schools try to reform writing in urban settings but don’t really take all factors into account. These reforms have not led to a change in the learning of at-risk students. The article also highlights how student-teacher interaction is very important. The importance of teacher feedback and opportunities to revise has also helped students to become better writers and helped them to develop their ideas. The study in this article concluded that when students receive content level feedback (meaning feedback about the content of their writing) as opposed to surface level feedback (grammar, punctuation, word choice etc.) students performed better. When students were asked to develop their essays, they would follow through. This article explains how the type of feedback given to students is very important to their work. Writing with the writing process must be used to aid students in learning. Teachers need more support and advice on how to provide meaningful feedback to students’ writing.

Article 2: Assessment-Driven Improvements in Middle School Students' Writing

Andrade, Heidi, Colleen Buff, Terry Joe, Erano Marilyn, and Paolino Shaun. "Assessment-Driven Improvements in Middle School Students' Writing." Middle School Journal 40.4 (2009): 4-12. Print.

This article focuses on improvement by the use of three main goals: Make assessment processes, criteria and standards clear to students, provide frequent and useful feedback to students about the quality for their work, use assessments to analyze the strengths and weaknesses of student work to plan instruction. It is also described how assessment should be done before the assignment, during and after the assignment. It is important for students to get regular feedback on their work. Feedback promotes learning and achievement. Teachers can also use students to help assess other students. Self-assessment is also important for students. They used a common rubric to assess all students for most assignments.

Article 3: Guiding Principles for Supporting Middle School Writers

Lacina, Jan. "Guiding Principles for Supporting Middle School Writers." New England Reading Association 48.1 (2012): 78-83. Print.

This article examines four different guiding principles that should be used for supporting middle school writers. The principles were used at an urban school that had a Latino majority with 92% of their students being low-income.  The guiding principles included teaching explicit writing strategies, write collaboratively, have a specific product goal and study models of writing. Certain strategies and topics examined include: engaging students, modeling examples, giving writing purpose, writing collaboratively, proving a variety of writing assignments for students, creating outcomes, products and goals, using the ‘think aloud’ process, blogging, reading and a list of literature that is suitable for an urban school at the middle school level.

Article 4: Picturing a Writing Process: Photovoice and Teaching Writing to Urban Youth

Zenkov, Kristien, and James Harmon. "Picturing a Writing Process: Photovoice and Teaching Writing to Urban Youth." Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy 52.7 (2009): 575-84. Print.

This article examines the use of visually based research in regards to literacy and teaching writing. This article is explaining how students are given open ended questions to answer along with the freedom to answer them any way they want by taking pictures to capture their feelings. Students were more engaged with critical analysis of their pictures because these photos meant something to them.  The better relationship a teacher can develop with a student, the better their writing becomes. Their work was showed to a variety of audiences which made the students more engaged.  Students who were given longer periods of time to work, produced better work.  Students also need teachers to listen to them about their lives. The major result of this article was: if teachers give students the freedom to write about things they are interested in, they will produce better work. Also, if teachers give students

Book 5: Savage Inequalities: Children in America's Schools

Kozol, Jonathan. Savage Inequalities: Children in America's Schools. New York: Crown Pub., 1991. Print.

This book discusses the various inequalities that take place in public schools all across America.  Most of the inequalities described in this book take place in urban public schools. Although this book was written in the 90s, it is still very relevant today. The book discusses terrible health conditions, a lack of resources and a lot of psychological despair amongst the lives and schools in an urban population. The book examines different schools in all different locations across America.

Throughout my research, I have found quite a bit of valuable information on how learning occurs in urban schools. I have found one common theme throughout my research thus far and it is to make sure students have some sort of connection and engagement to the assignment. Teachers must make sure that the student is genuinely invested in the assignment or their learning; therefore teachers must take students’ personal experience, culture and interests in order to create meaningful assignments that students can invest in.

After receiving my research proposal feedback, one comment by Professor Knudson stood out to me the most. She stated that “Some people might argue that teachers just need to have a big tool box, a tool kit of strategies so that no matter if you’re teaching in a suburban environment or an urban one, or even a rural one for that matter, kids are kids. That’s one thing that I’ve noticed. I’ve taught in both urban and suburban environments and I just noticed that the personality types are consistent no matter where you teach. And it is a matter of the chemistry of the classroom and figuring out where the students are and where they need to go.” After hearing in the feedback Professor Knudson gave me, it made me really re-evaluate how I was viewing urban education.  It allowed me to reflect on experiences that I have had in an urban setting and realize that it is true that students’ personality types are consistent regardless of what type of setting you are teaching in. I was glad to hear that testimony in my feedback because it allowed me to look at my research paper from a different light. Although, I do still believe that even though personality types may be consistent and kids are kids, different kids deal with different things in their life which are sometimes (unfortunately) predetermined by their culture or background.

With that being said, I have found some information that caters to certain cultural backgrounds that are usually found in an urban setting such as a Latino population and African American population. In some of these articles, studies are conducted where teachers allow students to make decisions about what they are doing their writing about. In one article called “Picturing a Writing Process: Photovoice and Teaching Writing to Urban Youth,” students use photography to capture their views about school from their own perspectives. Students also were encouraged to take photos of things in their lives that they believe that hinder some of their opportunities to learn such as poverty. Students were encouraged to take photos around their homes, communities and friends to portray their feelings. The article also examines how poverty, which inhibits much of the urban area, is directly related to students’ ability and graduation rates in school. With this project, students were able to overcome this predetermined idea of inability to perform in a classroom setting and write to their best capabilities. The students working on the Photovoice project were very successful and produced wonderful pieces of writing based on their personal experiences and beliefs. This is similar to what Kittle has been explaining in her book, that students will be more engaged if what they can relate to what they are learning.

As I previously explained, a lot of the research I have found so far explains the same general idea: allow the students to involve their personal experiences and interests in their writing and learning.  I have already chosen about 10 articles and one book but I still need to find the rest of them and read some of the ones I already found. I believe I will have a better idea of what I want to write about after I gather more research.

There is one thing I am unsure about with my research paper: I am unsure of how I want to set my paper up and what issues I want to address. Since I am writing about how to teach writing in an urban school, I need to figure out what specific aspects I want to discuss and research.  Another issue that I think I may have while writing this research paper is putting my own bias and political views in it. I just have to make sure that I leave those views and ideas out of the paper. Another question I had was if I am allowed to use personal experiences as a part of my research paper? Would it be considered valid information and how would I do that?

Overall, as I continue to research my topic, I am sure that I will be able to develop a valuable and informational paper on teaching writing in an urban setting. I am very excited to write about this topic!

This year has been a life changing year for me. After getting a job at an urban school, I have been able to witness urban education first hand. Urban education is very different than suburban education.  As educators, it is important that we are able to adapt our teaching methods in order to provide adequate preparation for our students. I believe it is very important to be able to understand how to teach writing in an urban setting because these students must be reached in a different way.  When teaching in an urban setting, traditional classroom practices may not always work so it is very important to discover different ways to reach these students.

For my research project, I have decided to explore various methods and techniques for teaching writing in an urban setting.  Teaching in an urban setting requires a different approach to the traditional teaching methods that are typically practiced in other schools. “In our urban setting and in many others around the United states, where high school dropout rates regularly exceed 50% and the majority of adolescents are living in poverty, youths’ criticisms of school and their disengagement from traditional pedagogies suggest a void in the traditional high school curriculum (which man studies perceive as irrelevant to their lives) and a reasonable but often determinsitic perspective on school” (Zenkov & Harmon).  Basically, students feel as though they are bogged down and bored by the traditional practices of teaching. Because of this void in the traditional approaches to teaching and curriculum, it is necessary to establish various teaching techniques to find ways to fill the void.

In the book Savage Inequalities written by Jonathon Kozol, an exploration of the worst public schools in America takes place. Most of the schools examined in this book are in an urban setting. Through this novel, the many differences are demonstrated between urban education and suburban education. Although the curriculum may be the same in most cases, the environment in urban schools varies differently than most traditional schools. Issues such as filthy conditions, lack of supplies, lack of safety, lack of staff, students’ issues at home and lack of student motivation are examined. However, the intention of Kozol’s book was to observe the worst possible schools in America, therefore the locations and examples in the book are the most extreme cases. Taking this into consideration, not every urban school functions the same. It is still evident that the environment of urban education may create a disadvantage to the students (who are typically already disadvantaged in other ways) in regards to their education. It is my job, as a future English teacher, to overcome these obstacles that may affect students’ learning and achievement and practices strategies in order to successfully prepare them.

There are many questions when establishing a sound writing system to teach urban students. How can teachers keep students motivated? What types of lessons will keep students engaged? How can we intertwine reading and allow students to understand the importance of reading in relationship to writing? What are various ways teachers can reach each and every student, even the students who are the weakest writers? How will students be assessed?  What are some ways teachers can make writing personal to each student? How can teachers overcome the outside factors that are affecting students’ learning and focus? How can teachers develop relationships and trust between their students?

All of these questions and issues can and will be addressed by developing and using lessons and teaching methods that are adapted to suit the learning abilities of these students. As with teaching at any type of school, it is important to be open minded and innovative with teaching methods and techniques. Research suggests that students learn more when they are interested in the topic they are learning.  In order to strengthen writing instruction for urban students, “teachers must provide multiple voices and text which mirror the multiple literacies of urban youth” and find ways to keep students engaged by “teaching students explicit writing strategies, guiding them to set writing goals, and through connecting adolescent literature to writing instruction” (Lacina). When teaching in an urban environment, it is important to be able to reach students with topics and assignments that they can relate to. One large issue in the classrooms of an urban school is engaging students and keeping their focus. This paper will examine various effective and ineffective teaching techniques to keep the students focused.

There are many excuses (some valid and some invalid) that can be used in regards to students’ learning in an urban school.  An important aspect of working in this environment is being able to develop trust and relationships with students. An important theme that “became evident was the foundational role of teachers’ relationships—and youths’ relationship with other individuals—in supporting student writing success” (Zenkov & Harmon).Young adults value “teachers who interacted with them as people and who cared about them as more than one of the dozens of students teachers meet in a day” (Zenkov & Harmon).  It’s important to respect these students as human beings in order to engage with them in richer ways. “Teachers’ relationships with students were almost synonymous with youths’ relationships to writing tasks” (Zenkov & Harmon).

This research will be completed by examining various teaching techniques that have worked to successfully enhance students’ ability when writing. Some aspects that will be studied are: helping students develop personal connections to their writing, keep them engage, give them purpose to their writing, help them make and achieve goals when writing, and providing adequate support through the writing process.

Overall, the intention of this research paper is to find various ways of effective and innovative teaching in order to ensure the most adequate teaching of writing to students in an urban setting.

References

Kozol, Jonathan. Savage Inequalities: Children in America's Schools. New York: Crown Pub.,1991. 
     Print.

Lacina, Jan. "Guiding Principles for Supporting Middle School Writers." New England Reading     
     Association 48.1 (2012): 78-83. Print.

Zenkov, Kristien, and James Harmon. "Picturing a Writing Process: Photovoice and Teaching        
      Writing to Urban Youth." Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy 52.7 (2009): 575-84. Print.