Chapter 7: Christensen

I really love the idea of forming a Portfolio as an ending project. It's very helpful in showing the students the mistakes that they use to make and how much they have improved on their writing. Christensen's idea should be used more often in writing classrooms because of how useful it is to students. I sometimes come across some of my old writing in my parents house and its interesting to see what I use to think was a successful submission. I most of the time look back and go, "wow this is not as good as I probably thought it was." Things that I wouldn't dare turn in now show how I have grown since then. How I have improved the way I write paragraphs, essays, and responses. Even how my penmanship has changed. I think that assignments like this would help students improve their work quicker than if they go back 6 and 7 years later and see their mistakes.

I almost want to say that it should be a requirement. I think that we are our own worst critic and if students are faced with their own mistakes they can better improve them then we can by telling them what they do wrong. Teachers never focused on our progress but I wish they would have because I bet these students learned a lot from seeing what they did wrong and evaluating how they could improve it. I think that the things that Christensen focused on needed to be addressed. I like the way she helped her students understand the importance of the assignment by comparing it to their own interests. I think that if teachers do that more with other subjects of writing they can spark the students enthusiasm. Christensen's use of her own writing as examples was a good idea as well because I think it helps to see that the person teaching you didn't start out as good as they are now and that it took time for them to get where they are. I think this helps the students see that where they are can be improved and that just because they are not the best right now doesn't mean that they will never be that great at writing. It's a confidence booster to use the professional as an example and a role model.