THE PETER EFFECT: ENCOURAGING THE WRITING HABITS

AND ATTITUDES OF PRESERVICE TEACHERS

 

Joan Oldford

Faculty of Education

 

 

Preservice teachers need to be enthusiastic, writers so that their engagement in writing may be passed on to their students.

 

 

Introduction

 

In our first week of classes during Fall Semester in Education 3312, a course for preservice teachers of language arts, we engaged in writing poems and publishing them through a literacy practice of 'author's chair' in which students orally shared their poems with the class.  A description of the process we followed in composing and publishing our poems 'Where I Come From@ is found in Reading, Writing and Rising Up:  Teaching About Social Justice and the Power of the Written Word by Linda Christiansen (2000) and is described more fully in a previous volume of The Morning Watch (Oldford 2003).  The second poem written was a haiku.  As the prewriting activity for composing haiku poetry, a summary was prepared based on a discussion of its history, mood and form from A. Watts in The Way of Zen (1957).  This summary was discussed and the students then composed their poems.  A week after the prewriting phase, the students shared their poems in class.  The poems were then photocopied and compiled into an anthology entitled Where I Come From and Other Haiku Poetry.  To enlarge the reading audience for the poetry writing, we have chosen to present the haiku selections in this volume of The Morning Watch.

 

 

One of the objectives of the writing activity was to illustrate how personal and imaginative language purposes can be included for writing in the classroom.  As mentioned previously (Oldford, 2003), language use in the classroom needs to provide a balance of purposes that includes personal and imaginative language, if children are to become competent communicators and develop positive concepts of themselves as writers.  As well, teachers seeking to teach writing must be concerned with students' attitudes toward writing.  When students are intrinsically motivated to engage in writing for its own sake, they write more often and, consequently, attain higher levels of achievement.

 

The challenge for teachers is to create classroom environments that promote engaged writing.   One important way to accomplish this is for the teacher to be a writing model.  Teachers become writing models when they share their own writing experiences with students, emphasizing how writing enhances and enriches their lives.  Teachers who are engaged and enthusiastic writers themselves are likely to use teaching strategies that foster a love of writing.  In summary, teachers= beliefs about writing, their writing attitudes and demonstrations may have a significant effect upon the motivation, self-concepts, attitudes, and engagement levels of their students.  In the literature on reading, this kind of influence has been referred to as 'The Peter Effect' (Applegate and Applegate, 2004).  >The Peter Effect= in reading refers to the story of the Apostle Peter, who, when asked for money by a beggar, stated that he could not give what he himself did not have (Acts 3:5).  When applied to writing, >The Peter Effect= refers to the condition characterizing teachers who are expected to convey an enthusiasm for writing that they do not possess themselves.  Studies of 'The Peter Effect' in reading have shown that 54.3% of 195 prospective teachers were classified as unenthusiastic about reading, with only 25.2% reporting unqualified enjoyment of reading (Applegate and Applegate, 2004).

 

Although we have not conducted a research study, a show of hands in our classrooms indicates that our preservice teachers' liking for writing is much less than it is for reading.  Writing may be less popular because it is most often experienced in the context of fulfilling academic and evaluative purposes for learning, a purpose often fraught with dislike, rather than with the enjoyment that often accompanies personal and imaginative writing for wider audiences.  To foster a positive attitude towards writing and to provide a context that encourages persistence and success, we engaged in some classroom practices that help us conceive of the classroom as >a community of readers and writers=.  Writing poetry, sharing author=s chair and conducting a classroom bookclub are activities that contribute to collaboration among us as students and teacher to help us develop an intrinsic interest in the language arts.  Where such classroom contexts can be created, students are more likely to persist, take risks and achieve more than in classrooms where individual achievement is a competitive focus.

 

Writing Haiku Poetry

 

The following paragraph contains information about haiku that was discussed in our class during the prewriting phase of the process.  It is presented here with our students= and teacher=s attempts to compose haiku poetry.

 

According to A. Watts in The Way of Zen (1957), by the seventeenth century, Japanese poets had brought Awordless poetry@ to perfection in the poetic form of the haiku.  The haiku poem comprises just seventeen syllables, and three lines, commonly displaying five, seven and five syllables, respectively.

 

The development of the haiku was largely the work of Basho, a Japanese poet, who wrote in the mid-to-late seventeenth century.  To write haiku, he said, we need a child=s expression of wonder that returns us to the feeling of seeing our world for the first time.  Basho wrote his haiku in the simplest type of Japanese speech, creating a style which, he believed, made it possible for ordinary people to be poets  (Watts, 1957).

 

The haiku poem drops its subject almost as soon as it takes it up, and, to readers unfamiliar with its form, it appears to be more like the beginning or title of a poem than a poem itself.  According to Watts, the effect of a good haiku is like a pebble

thrown into the pool of a reader=s or listener=s mind; it can create associations out of the richness of the reader=s or listener's memories, which complement the few words of the poem.

 

The haiku attempts to see things in their fulness or Asuchness@, without any need for comment; hence, the few words are surrounded by silence.  The Japanese refer to this as >sonoBmama= (just as it is or just so).  The effect of the empty space or surrounding silence of haiku poetry produces a silence of the mind in which one does not so much 'think about' the poem as 'feel the sensation' which the words evoke, an effect brought about because the poem has said so little.

 

According to Watts, haiku poems reflect four differing moods: (I) sabi, (ii) wabi, (iii) aware and (iv) yugen.  Sabi expresses loneliness in its sense of seeing things happen spontaneously.  The quiet thrilling loneliness of sabi is conveyed by the following poems composed in our class.

 

 

           

 


Blanket of whiteness                     

Burning, stinging at my face        

School is closed today.                  

Lisa Elliott


Warm sun becomes chilly

Leaves change color, petals fall

Autumn=s in the air.

Rebecca Furlong


Green becomes crimson               

Slowly covering the ground          

A crunchy blanket                          

Kristen Garrett


Moonlight sky above

Feel the crisp cold winter air

So calm and peaceful

Susanne Giles


A flower blooms and

baby animals frolic.

The day has begun.

Krystal Lee Hann


A cold chill in the air

The colours will fall

White glistens everywhere

Andrea Hill


Katrina relief

For the suffering children

Let=s make the right choice

Michele Hillier


Brown, red, yellow, orange

Falling slowly to the ground

Empty, lonely trees.

Amy LeGrow


 

Wabi conveys the unexpected recognition of the faithful Asuchness@ of very ordinary things.  The following haiku were written in the mood of wabi.

 


Autumn leaves falling.

Shades of orange, red, and brown.

Halloween is near.

Jennifer Curnew



Clumps of butterflies

Fall from the blooming treetops

Break into bright flight

Lisa Evans


Autumn is awesome.

Big piles of leaves to jump in,

Bright colors to view.

Melanie Fudge


The brown and white owl

Sleeps in that tree all day long;

On the move at night.

Melanie Fudge


Sun breaks through the cloud

Snow glistening on the ground

C Green suddenly peaks.

Jennifer Garland


Sleeping in the sun

Padded paws that make no sound

Lazy stretch is cat

Andrea Goodman


The little kitten

Orange, soft fur.  Sweet little paws

Sleeping on my bed.

Danielle Hatch


Beating on the roof

Echoing like a tin can

Puddles are forming

Peggy Hatcher


Autumn leaves fall

The wind swirls and whirls

Winter is near.

Kimberly Hopkins


A crisp morning air

Warm sweaters, jeans and jackets

Yellow, red and brown leaves.

Natasha Howell


A proud peacock

A running start and a cloud of dust

A perfect picture

Dena Jacobs


I hear the ferry B

Its horn pierces the morning.

I wake with a smile.

Crystal Kane


His smile lights up his face

His eyes twinkle with wonder

He is my nephew

Jennifer Laing


Winter has fallen

Snow has melted, spring rising

Flowers are growing

Sherry Lewis


 


 

The third mood, aware, is not quite grief and not quite nostalgia.  It is the echo of what has passed and of what was loved.  For example, the following poems illustrate this mood.

 


Wind strips the trees bare

Birds wing southward silently

Summer surrenders

Joan Oldford


Sweeping over me

The silence of the river

Echoes through my soul

Olivia Dunne



The joy of friendship

Brings love to my heart and soul

And peace to my mind

Amanda Edwards


Eyes closing slowly

Escaping inside myself

Precious memories

Jennifer Eveleigh


Quilts, mitts, cookies too

My Nan=s love was always true

Without her I=m blue.

Michelle Glavine


Yellow, Orange, Red,

Autumn leaves fall to the ground;

Tell of summer=s end.

Andrew Greeley


Ancient walls of stone

There is never-ending green

Above, a rainbow

Melissa Hickey


Curled >round or stretched straight,

Shiny, silky coat of white

I love my furball.

Danielle Jacobs


The leaves are changing color

Feet playing with them in the streets

Winter is slowly coming again.

Wendy Kelly


Angels sit on clouds

Crying down their raindrop tears

A loved one taken

Kayla Kenny


Destructive, wrenching, the wind

Heartbreak, sad sorrow

Haunting comes the wind

Beth Loder


Fertile and free

Fading with fearfulness

Futile famine

Beth Loder


Caribbean breeze

Embracing the warm spring air

The palm trees rustle

 

Caribbean sun

Surrounding me with its warmth

Vibrant golden rays

 

Caribbean blue

Dancing across the shoreline

Cool upon my toes

Susanne Giles

 

 

The final haiku mood, yugen, signifies a kind of mystery, when there is a perception of something mysterious and strange, hinting at an unknown never to be discovered.  This mood is baffling to describe, but the following poems may capture it.

 


Night's winds were chilly   

My coat I chose to give you

Did you need my coat?

Joan Oldford



The tree in the yard

Reaches up forward the sky

For something better

Nadine Hann



Dancing on the street

Showing sweet faces

Interruption, boots

Beth Loder


Amazing new land

Endless possibilities

Like a child at play.

Laurie Crummey


Illuminating,

Bright starlight high above me.

Make a wish and dream.

Carolyn Hillier


The Sun Is Shining

The Beating Of My Heart Stops

Life Ends Suddenly

Karla Kendell


Rain slides down window

Teardrops fall from broken clouds

The world is crying

Sonya Lewis


 


 


 

Conclusion

 

The poems from this activity are now being published here by permission from our 'teacher authors'.  We invite you as readers to enjoy the collection and respond to our poems by contacting us at:

 

Joan Oldford

Professor

Faculty of Education

Memorial University of Newfoundland

St. John=s, NL

A1B 3X8

Fax: (709) 737-2345


 

 

 

References

 

Ada, A.F., & Campoy, F. Isabel (2004).  Authors in the classroom:  A Transformative Education Process.  Boston, Pearson Education, Inc.

 


Applegate, M.D., & Applegate, A.J.  The Peter Effect:  Reading habits and attitudes of preservice teachers.  The Reading Teacher, 57, 554-563.

 

Blyth, R.H. (1949-52).  Haiku.  4 Vols.  Hokuseido, Tokyo.

 

Christiansen, L. (2000).  Reading, Writing and Rising Up:  Teaching About Social Justice and the Power of the Written Word.  Milwaukee, WI: Rethinking Schools.

 

Kash, M., & Borich, G. (1978).  Teacher Behavior and Pupil Self-Concept.  Read, Mass:  Addison-Wesley, 11.

 

Oldford, J. (2003).  Where I Come From...  A Collection of Class Poems.  The Morning Watch, 31, 1-2, Fall.

 

Watts, Alan (1957).  The Way of Zen.  New York:  Pantheon Books.