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Miroslawa Zurawski 21082393
An exploration of myself as a writer
A writer must first develop enthusiasm and confidence in their own writer identity before they can
competently teach writing. In this paper, I will discuss my growth as a writer over an eight-week
period of weekly diary entries of different styles and topics, as well as the resulting reflections, with
an emphasis on three polished pieces of writing. In addition, for contrast, this essay will examine my
experiences to those of another person, the interviewee. This dialogue will make use of the
interview transcript in appendix one as well as the weekly diary entries and observations in appendix
two.
A good writer considers their readers and satisfactorily communicates their intended meaning. This
perspective was conveyed in both my and the interviewee's answers when asked what
characteristics make a person a good writer and what knowledge and skills a good writer should
possess (questions 5 and 6). The interviewee discusses punctuation, grammar and imagination,
whereas I acknowledge "a broad and structured vocabulary." The first refined piece addressed, A
Day in the Life of Dexter, in contrast, uses a simpler lexicon to convey the story of an elderly man
who was inspired to live again after the tragic death of his wife. The collaboration emphasises my
effort to think outside the box with a self-created style of writing or structure, illustrating my
growing strength as a writer. Playing with the writing styles of other authors and poets, according to
Loane and Muir (2017, pp. 135-136), can help an individual build confidence in their emerging style.
At this point, I was my own audience, establishing my style based on my own feelings and
evaluation.
Polished piece number 2 shows a demonstration of being able to break down walls and reconnect
with ones emotions. As humans, we seem to find it difficult at the best of times to express our
feeling and emotions, let alone, being able to write about them. We react as readers and as humans,
with the commonality that entails. We can not only connect with the text on an emotional,
responsive level, but we can also dig deeper, exploring how the writer has created such a vibrant,
physical image for their readers (Loane & Muir, 2017). As per question 5, my interviewee agreed,
that being a good writer is all about having imagination, feeling and emotion as it inspires us to write
pieces of artwork. It is important to express feeling, emotions, memories through writing as it gives
the reader an insight into the message that the write is trying to convey. Every writer brings the sum
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Miroslawa Zurawski 21082393
of their personal experiences to their writing. No matter how good the work, writing about an event,
an issue, or a character can only be a representation by one person at a given time. The writer's
point of view will reflect life's influences, whereas another writer will express an entirely different
point of view (Loane & Muir, 2017, p. 179).
My third polished piece demonstrates the creativeness and ability to write my own biography as a
write in the third person. It really made me think and challenged my writing ability. It made me
realise how much I have grown as a person especially as a writer. Writers' identities matter because
they are shaped by diverse histories and experiences. They are likely to influence how writing is
approached and viewed, and they arguably merit more recognition and development in education
(Cremin, 2015). In agreeance with my interview, I agree that the most important skills you need are
knowledge of the English language and the ability to captivate your reader with your story. It's not
enough to talk about the weather or the type of day you're having without using words to paint a
vivid picture in your reader's mind. The reader must be drawn into the plot by your storyline.
Creating my autobiographical self was an empowering experience for me in two ways. One
important lesson was that learning English entailed more than simply memorising the linguistic code
(Flowerdew & Miller, 2008, p. 204). It entailed learning about and comprehending the world around
me using English as a medium. For me, creating my autobiographical self was a goal-oriented activity
that allowed me to see and make sense of the world around me. This led to a second learning
experience: learning how my perspectives around racial groups, sexual identity, and status differed
with language made me realise that my identities were strongly influenced and redefined by the
sociocultural and socioeconomic circumstances in which I had grown up in.
CONCLUSION:
Whilst recounting and evaluating on the interview, the weekly diary entries, and their evaluations,
my writer's confidence and creativeness have steadily grown. My preliminary perception of a writer
was somewhat entirely limited to journalists, book authors, and poets. As the weeks passed, my
perspective widened, and I started to see myself as an emerging writer. A writer can begin to
establish a distinct identity through environment, exposure, experimenting, and feedback, which can
then be used to expose others to writing.
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Miroslawa Zurawski 21082393
My approach to the teaching of writing
During a recent eight-week period, I created original pieces of writing to complete a writer's diary
with the intention of creating a writer-identity. I have documented the writer's journal and
reflections, which can be found in Appendix 2 and will be referred to on occasion during this whole
essay. I believe that a teacher-writer can become a proficient writer teacher by devoting time to
reading and writing numerous types of texts and developing literacy pedagogical practices that
reflects a writing ideology based on a desire to share and discover new ways to make meaning. The
intention of this essay is to discuss the advantages of being a writer-teacher who teaches writing and
how this benefits students. I'll go over how to create a teaching philosophy and pedagogy that will
best help students understand meaning-making. Finally, this essay will briefly analyse the use of
functional language in classrooms to adequately support learner-writers.
Teachers who are confident and passionate about their subject matter help students develop self-
efficacy. How teachers model writing and the writing process influences student participation in
writing and their writing identities in school (Yeo, 2007, as cited in Cremin, 2015). According to
Loane and Muir (2017, p. 7), students who have passionate and enthusiastic teacher-writers will
undoubtedly be inspired to view literacy positively. Albert Bandura's (1997) social cognitive theory
proposes that our confidence and self-efficacy can be influenced by our social environments, such as
effective modelling from teachers and positive feedback (Duchesne & McMaugh, 2019, p. 160). This
emphasises the significance of a well-crafted literacy pedagogy.
Some aspects of Halliday's functional language framework have been applied to show students the
writing process. Language, according to Halliday (1978), is a useful component that evolves over
time through social relationships (Thwaite, 2019, p. 43). The proposed method is consistent with
Halliday's belief that learning occurs through interactions between students, their classmates, and
their teachers (Derewianka, 2015, np). This method proposes that educators use modelling and
collaboration, along with scaffolding, to assist students in making sense of texts (Derewianka, 2015,
np). According to Loan and Muir (2017, p. 19), the process is similar to holding a loupe up to a piece
of text so students can evaluate its meaning.
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Favorable attitudes towards writing among pre-service or in-service teachers cannot be assumed.
Several studies show that a concerning number of student teachers regard writing as both difficult
and potentially embarrassing; they express concerns about teaching writing and tend to make
negative judgments about their own writing expertise (Cremin, 2015). Positive attitudes towards
writing cannot be assumed among pre-service or in-service teachers. Several studies show that a
significant number of student teachers regard writing as both difficult and potentially embarrassing;
they express concerns about teaching writing and make negative judgments about their own writing
expertise (Cremin, 2015).
It seems clear to me that, whether we are concerned with the function of writing or the aesthetics of
writing, denying our students the opportunity to enjoy their authorship will never be acceptable. My
experience has taught me, and continues to teach me, that when teachers are enthusiastic learners,
readers, and writers in the classroom, students want to share in the joy of enjoying words and how
they are put together (Loane & Muir, 2017). CONCLUSION:
Ultimately, student literacy achievement is dependent on the writing skills they learn from
educators. Teachers who write and aspire to nurture a strong writer-identity have been shown to
have a beneficial impact on ambitious learner-writers. Learner-writers with strong self-efficacy and
meaning-making skills are more likely to be produced by a teacher who incorporates a writer's
philosophy into their literacy pedagogy. Reading and writing are used to interpret and convey
meaning, and this should be demonstrated to students in a way that they can confidently
understand. Teachers can effectively demonstrate the power of literacy and the various styles of the
writing process by using scaffolding, positive modelling, and supportive feedback.
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References
Byron-Cox, D. H. (2019, September 19). Self-Efficacy Theory of Motivation - Bandura's Self-Efficacy Theory.
Retrieved from Study.ccom: https://study.com/learn/lesson/bandura-self-efficacy-
theory-of-motivation.html
Cremin, T. (2015). Teaching writing in today's classrooms: Looking back to look forward. In J. Turnbill,
E. Brocke, & G. Barton (Eds.), Exploring teachers’ identity positions as teacher-writers and writer-teachers in the classroom
(pp. 51-68). Sydney: Australian Literacy Educators Association (ALEA).
Derewianka, B. (2015). The contribution of genre theory to literacy education in Australia.
Duchesne, S., & McMaugh, A. (2022). Educational Psychology for Learning and Teaching
(6th ed.). South Melbourne: Cengage.
Flowerdew, J., & Miller, L. (2008). Social structure and individual agency in second language learning:
evidence from three life history cases. Critical Inquiry in Language Studies, 5
(4), 201-224.
Kirby, P. (2022). What was Putin's original goal?
BBC World News. Retrieved from https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-56720589
Loane, G., & Muir, S. (2017). Developing young writers in the classroom: I’ve got something to say.
New York: Routledge.
Thwaite, A. (2019). Halliday’s View of Child Language Learning: Has it been Misinterpreted? Australian Journal of Teacher Education, 44
(5).
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Miroslawa Zurawski 21082393
Appendix 1
1.
Me: Did the person see themselves as a writer? Why or why not?
Interviewee: As I was growing up, I often wrote short stories and I remember being in
Highschool having an assignment to do where I wrote a short story, but in book form with
illustrations etc.; so, yes, I think I always knew that I would like to be a writer. While reading
books I immersed myself as part of the story and think about how I could change the outcome
of the story.
2.
Me: How did they develop this perception of themselves in relation to writing?
Interviewee: From the time I learnt to speak English and then learnt to read, it was my passion,
reading. To this very day I love reading and have even tried translating books from another
language into English, but only for myself, to see if I had the ability to do it.
3.
Me: What processes do they use/go through when they write?
Interviewee: I tend to think out my story in point form, then have the introduction where I
introduce what is going on then have the body of the story or storyline, where it pulls the reader
to be part of the story and then the ending. Once I have all this I then go through to make
amendments and make sure that the whole story makes sense with the ending.
4.
Me: What kinds of things do they write most? Least? What do they like to write about?
Interviewee: I like to write mainly fiction. Historical romance, mysteries. I am not fond of
criminal stories or horror. I mainly write entertaining stories which can be an outlet for people
in this busy world.
5.
Me: What did you think makes a person a good writer?
Interviewee: To be a good writer you have to have a good imagination and be able to put down
all your thoughts into words that people will understand and thoroughly enjoy.
6.
Me: What skills and knowledge do good writers need?
Interviewee: The main skills you need is knowledge of the English language and be able to
entrance your reader with your story. It’s no good just to talk about the weather or the kind of
day it is without painting a colourful picture with words so that your reader can picture the
scene in their mind. Your storyline has to draw the reader into the plot.
6
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7.
Me: What supported you best to develop as a writer?
Interviewee: By reading the Classics. These writers for example Jane Austin, the Bronte Sisters,
Robert Jordan, Colleen McCullough etc have wonderful vocabulary that draws you into their
words and you can actually see yourself as part of the story. Once you start to read you don’t
want to put the book down. This is the making of a great writer, also to be entertaining to your
reader.
8.
Me: What did your teachers do or not do that supported your development and
confidence as a writer?
Interviewee: I think that with the number of children in classes during my time at school, it
made it very difficult for a teacher to support a child. They certainly did leave excellent remarks
on my short stories as well as good marks but that was as far as it went in the 1970’s. Hopefully
this has changed as the first person who reads your story is your teacher, and if they don’t help
with giving you confidence and support then most writers will give up and only write for
themselves as in my case, and never get published. Teachers groom the child with writing skills
and should support the child’s or young adults confidence so that maybe one day they too will
become a great writer.
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Miroslawa Zurawski 21082393
Appendix 2
EDC121 – Reflective Log & Writer’s Journal
Study Period 2, 2022
Please use this template to -
1.record your weekly reflections on your writer’s identity and the compositional process of writing,
2. record your writer’s journal tasks for each week (Weeks 1-10)
You are required to upload this document as part of Assignment 3. Please make sure you keep up to date with your journal entries and reflections.
Week One - Observation of an object
Did you know that there are 449 native trees in Australia? Trees come in all shapes and sizes. Trees give us oxygen; they give us life. The different colours of their leaves, the different shapes and sizes; dance to the rhythm of the wind.
I could sit for hours admiring their beauty.
Week One – Reflection
As a writer, I consider myself a curious newcomer who has always wanted to write. I enjoyed envisioning myself as a writer, particularly after awakening from aspirations that I dreamed would produce a fascinating story for everybody to read. When it came to my self-perception of my qualities, however, they seemed to
be a vision of the future. Is my vocabulary diverse enough? Is my mental strength powerful enough? Could my inspiration be prepared to go the extra mile to write more creatively? So, as a writer, I strongly feel my identity is that I am innovative and inquisitive with curiosity, clutching with aspirations
and insights but careful with optimism for the results now that I have the resilience to investigate and discover where this dream 8
Miroslawa Zurawski 21082393
could take me.
Week Two - Observation of a natural place
As I walk through Wianamatta park, I can smell the fresh air from the trees, the Autumn sun bares down on my face with
such warmth and radiance. I can hear the native birds chirping away into the glorious afternoon. As I continue to walk further into this beautiful serenity, I can see the kangaroos asleep under the tall gum trees. Laying there peacefully snoozing the afternoon away, without a worry on
their mind. As the Autumn breeze rustles my hair, I cannot help but wonder how beautiful and underappreciated Mother Nature is…
Week Two – Reflection
It takes me a while to get started, but once I do, the words begin to flow, and my imagination begins. I find that I write better with some ambient noise; I do not like it when
it is too completely silent. My descriptive language and writing skills are improving. I cannot say I am completely enjoying writing so far, and I am still struggling to find descriptive language.
Week Three - People Watching POLISHED
As I sit here and drink my extra hot large latte, I cannot help but notice this older gentleman from the corner of my eye. He is sitting their drinking his English Breakfast tea. His white hair is delicately styled with a part on the side. The wrinkles on his face tell a story of a hard-working man. His eyes, however, tell a different story. They are sad and droopy; almost like he is tranced into another world. I slowly get up and start walking over towards him. I gently sit
in the seat opposite him. He looks at me and smiles. “Hello, my name is Dexter,” he says. I responded back, “hello, Dexter, my name is Bella, how are you today?” I could see it in his eyes that he was going to struggle with a simple response. We sat there for a little while, looking at each other and occasionally smiling. The lady from the coffee shop walked over and cleared our cups. I asked her what the matter with Dexter was. She replied, “a few years ago, his wife got very ill and suddenly. Dexter went into a state of
shock and has only spoken the “Hello, my name is Dexter” ever since.” I could feel tears well up in my eyes. How could something like this be possible. At that moment I knew, I could help make a difference in his life. I stood up, took Dexter’s hand, and told him that we were going for a walk in
the park across the road from the coffee shop. As we walked through the park, the Autumn breeze kissed our faces, colours of red, yellow, and brown floated through the
air around us. What seemed like five minutes turned out to be hours. We made our way back to the coffee shop. I thanked Dexter for the company and as I turned to walk to my car, Dexter grabbed my hand, with the biggest smile on his face and said “thank you Bella, I had a lovely time. You have shown me that despite what happened, I can live again.”
Week Three – Reflection
Amazing! Within only a few weeks, I have gained a lot of confidence in writing in my diary and discovered that each entry is becoming lengthier. I write best at my desk in
the spare bedroom, where the laptop is set up and there are not any interruptions. I am excited for the next content areas and see how my writing progresses.
Week Four - Eavesdropping Week Four – Reflection
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P1: “On my goodness Sharee, did you hear what happened to Stella?”
P2: “No Sarah, what happened? I heard that she isn’t doing to well, but I haven’t heard why.”
P1: “The poor thing was diagnosed with cancer and when she told her husband, he packed his bags and left her and their 3 kids.”
P2: “You’re joking, how could anyone be so selfish, after all that she has done for him, what a coward to just up and leave. It makes me sick knowing that there are people out there like that.”
P1: “I know, it heart breaking, poor Stella, I can’t imagine what must be going through her head right now. The news of cancer alone would be frightful, but knowing that you have to go through it alone and raise 3 children, I feel so bad
for her.”
I believe I have grown as a writer. I am more comfortable in my writing
skills; after all, practise makes perfect. I believe that by the end of
this course, I will be able to teach writing confidently and efficiently, which is very exciting. I am excited to share my knowledge with today's children. I believe I have enhanced my linguistic skills. I have
attempted to be more intricate and
competent, as well as to think outside the square. I am becoming more comfortable of writing and expanding my experiences as time goes on. I doubt my writing would have improved as much if it had not been for this course. I enjoy writing now because it is relaxing, takes my mind off my stressful schedule, and enables me to feel at
ease and serene. Some of the writing tasks are challenging because you must think about what to write and exactly how to write it, but I believe I am steadily improving at it with time, at least I hope so.
Week Five - Memory Lane POLISHED
It feels like it was only yesterday. I can still recall the scent of Johnson and Johnsons baby wash drifting through the air.
She had just had a bath and her mother was drying her off to put on her cosy little jumpsuit. I slowly enter the room; my Aunty looks at me with loving and welcoming eyes. “Mira” she says in her thick Polish accent, “come see your new baby cousin.” I slowly walk into the room and over to the bed. I carefully lean over and see this tiny little creation just lying there so peacefully. I lean in a little closer and extend my little arm to touch her tiny little hand. That is when it happened. The next thing I know, is that he walks into the room. He smells funny and sways from side to side. He started screaming at me “GET AWAY FROM MY DAUGHTER!” Conscience is a man’s compass, and he was far
from having any. He grabs my little three-year-old body, lifts
me into the air and throw me out of the room. I feel short of
breath as my tiny toddle body bounces off the wall and ends
up in the middle of the upstairs living room. I get up slowly, struggling to breath and with every ounce of strength left in me, I stumble into my Great Grandmother’s bedroom, take Week Five – Reflection
Writing this piece was a real test for me. I still remember like it was yesterday. I have tried to shut out this memory, but whilst writing about it, it brought up so many mixed emotions, angry, scared, in pain, sad.
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Miroslawa Zurawski 21082393
a deep breath, and fall to the ground in a slumber. When I awoke, I was in a hospital bed, surrounded by my family; all but that giant….
Week Six – Metamorphosis
The world is so big and colourful, full of different creatures, big and small. Life as a bird is not easy. Only means of transport are our wings. We get so tired from flapping them all day long. It may look easy and lots of fun, but it is more work than you think. The hardest part is that we spend our day looking for food. One may think it is easy, but it is harder than it seems. Worms are not always easy to find. But singing, ahh, how we love to sing, especially while taking
a bath, fluffing up our feathers as we splash around…
Week Six – Reflection
This piece of writing made me think a lot, and it took me a while to realise that I needed to be the bird and write from the bird's point
of view. It seemed like a simple task, I was surprised when it took me a little while to begin writing, which is why it is not the best piece
I have written thus far. I ended up choosing birds because there are numerous beautiful birds that visit and sing on the fence at my home, and their chirping brings back wonderful memories of when I was
a little girl, and we would go camping as a family to Oberon State Forest. I frequently get to enjoy these magnificent creatures and regularly take note of their behaviour patterns, so it was relatively simple to think of what they do and how they act but writing from their point of view was challenging.
Week Seven - Children’s story
Week Seven – Reflection
I really struggled with this task, no matter how hard I tried to use the Children’s Literature Log as a model, nothing came to me. This is an area that I will need further work on.
Week Eight – In the News The Russian leader's preliminary intention was to take over Ukraine and overthrow its government, effectively destroying the nation's intention to join the Western defensive alliance NATO. He decided to abandon his attempt to seize Kyiv after a month of failures and shifted his focus to Ukraine's east and south. Once he initiated the encroachment on February 24, he stated to Russians that his primary objective was to "demobilise and de-Nazify Ukraine." His indicated objective was to safeguard people who had suffered "eight years of oppression and mass slaughter" at the hands of Ukraine's government. A further Week Eight – Reflection
I believe that my awareness of what a writer is, is changing faster than my awareness of how I feel about myself as a writer. I do, however, feel more competent, and perhaps more optimistic, in annotating thoughts
....
Any concepts, feelings, or findings should be written down without regard for the final words to be used. The words and expressions 11
Miroslawa Zurawski 21082393
aim was immediately added: keeping Ukraine impartial. Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has spoken of relieving Ukraine from persecution, while government intelligence chief Sergei Naryshkin contended that "Russia's prospect and position in the world are at risk." Volodymyr Zelensky, Ukraine's democratically elected leader indicated that "the adversary has identified me as attack number one; my family is attack number two." According to his counsellor, Russian troops attempted to storm the presidential facility twice.
(Kirby, 2022)
worry me a little because I genuinely think my vocabulary is severely lacking. There will evidently be subjects with which you relate to more, and it will appear that the writing will ripple through more easily, whether that relationship is from past encounters, flashbacks, or merely the fact that you find it fascinating. It was difficult to describe and observe an animal, as well as see the world through its eyes. I did enjoy it but found it challenging to put myself there, once more due to
the language. I am having trouble finding the words I know I would like to use. Despite my being fully bilingual in English and Polish, and both of my parents are Polish, I attended school in Australia, so there is no language problem; I simply need to plan my writing. I have grown to enjoy writing tasks and am less nervous when I see the
topic.
Week Nine – The Essayist
Week Nine – Reflection
Week Ten – Portrait of the Writer POLISHED
Mira Zurawski is now the happiest woman she can possibly be. Life has not always been easy for her. What she went through has only made her stronger, not only as a person, but as a woman too. She is the mother of two beautiful girls,
Aleksandra who is 8 years old and Delilah who is 4 years old.
She is busily studying her Bachelor of Primary Education full time, working part time as well as planning her wedding to the love of her life Michael; that will take place on 3
rd
December 2022. She also has a Master of Commerce (Professional Accounting) from UNE, but primary teaching has always been a passion and dream of hers. She resides in Western Sydney with her family and her precious little (well,
not so little) Bluey the Blue Cattle dog. Mira is very close with her family, well, the ones that live her in Australia anyway. About 95% of her entire family reside in Poland. Mira is bilingual and can speak both English and Polish fluently, as well as read and write in both languages. To Mira, family is everything, and she hopes to be able to use the core values that they have taught her as well as her studies to assist in implementing various pedagogies in the Week Ten – Reflection
I found writing in the third person to be fun. It really made me think and challenged my writing ability. It made me realise how much I have grown as a person especially through as a writer. I never imagined myself to be able to just pick up a pen and write away.
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classroom. She has never considered herself to be a writer, bust as time goes on, she finds herself writing more and more through the inspiration of people and things around her. she hopes to continue to expand her writing ventures into the future.
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