Warm-up Rose 5&6

1. The writing Rose assigned to the students he worked with was rather basic because these were the kids the school decided were having difficulty with English. The first few assignments he gave them were simply to write about a picture. He brought in three pictures the first time and allowed the students to write about any of them that they chose. They could describe the picture, tell how it made them feel, anything. The second time, he brought in magazines and allowed the students to find a picture themselves to write about. Then, he took a few days to walk around the school and take pictures of his students while they were doing regular activities like playing on the playground, reading, etc. He then showed these in a slideshow and asked the students to write abuot themselves. He got mixed results with this assignment. Some took it deeper and wrote more abstractly while others kept their writing descriptive. I think he chose these assignments because it gave the students enough structure so that they were able to have ideas on what to write about, but it also gave them a bit of variety so they were able to have some free choice. It also started as very descriptive and simply got the students to put pen to paper and to realize that writing doesn't have to be scary. He didn't grade any of the work so as not to intimidate any of the students and discourage them from writing any more than their time in school already had done.
3. The language the schools used to refer to these students was not necessarily positive. Kids are not stupid. Whether or not a term sounds derogatory, they know if it means that they aren't as advanced as the other students. This can be discouraging. It can also lead to a sort of tracking. Even if it isn't official tracking, these students may be treated differently by the teachers, and not in a positive way. It can make it easy for the teachers not to expect as much of these students, and therefore the students may not achieve up to their full potential. If they're never given a chance or the support and faith to "catch up", they won't. Also, it can be discouraging to the students in general. They may realize that they are outsiders and become afraid to even attempt to achieve (or write, or read) due to their fear of failing again. And if these students are afraid to write, they'll never improve.