Memo #1

As I was looking for topics on which to conduct my research, one thing kept returning to my mind; democratic schools. Democratic schools revolve around the concept that if students are very interested in the subject that they are learning about, then they are much more likely to want to learn about the subject and are more likely to do better in this subject. To combine this thought with writing, my question is; can we use writing to help students learn better and become more interested in the subjects that they are learning about? Something that schools are always trying to do is get students to be more fluid in their reading and writing skills. Thus, it makes sense that we try to incorporate both reading and writing into subjects like history, science, art, and maybe even math. But can having to incorporate reading and writing be a two-way street? Can we get students to improve their reading and writing skills while also intimately learning about subjects like science and history? I personally have spent hours upon hours reading and writing, not just about subjects that I am personally interested about, but also subjects that pertain for school. Even though I have been out of school for three years, the things that I remember the most out of all of the hours and hours of class time that I have had, is the things that I was allowed to write about, mainly creatively. Creative writing projects have helped me remember about women on the battlefield in World War I, and exactly the science behind the Titanic sinking. Reading creative stories about chemistry has helped me remember how covalent bonds work. Doing lots of writing in school across different subjects has also helped me be able to explore different writing styles and be able to learn how to write about multiple subjects. Having our students being able to read and write well is something that we are constantly working on achieving. So is it true that incorporating, say, science and writing, lead to better reading and writing scores on standardized tests? Will reading and writing help students learn science better than if they just had a teacher lecture at them or do the activities that they were doing before? Hopefully, by the end of this research session, I will be able to say for definite whether reading and writing can be a two-way street with other subjects like science or history. I hope to work with students and teachers from Coventry High School. I would like to interview teachers on how much writing they assign to their classroom, why they assign that much writing or that little writing, and if they think that increasing writing in all areas of school helps students learn more. I hope to pass out a questionnaire to students asking them about their writing experiences in school, if they would like an increase in writing in their classrooms, and if they think writing helps them learn better. Other things that I may have to consider is that maybe teachers don’t like adding writing to their classrooms, or are reluctant to add it to their classrooms because they don’t know how to teach or grade writing. Or perhaps teachers are unable to add writing to their curriculum due to the fact that they have to spend their time teaching to the test or doing other things that schools require them to spend time on.