Blog Prompt: How can we learn from what we do/teach? How can we continue to better ourselves as teachers? What are some ways we can become “reflective practitioners”?
I think student’s work can and will reflect how the teacher teaches. But, sometimes, okay most of the time, students come into class with bad habits and faulty opinions that color their work in a way that could reflect poorly on the teacher. With that being said, I think it would be prudent of the teacher to be aware of this when they teach and ask for feedback, whether it be verbal or written.
It just ocurred to me that in all of my blogs I touch on the need to be hands-on in the classroom. I guess it is the pragmatist coming out in me, but I know it is applicable. In my experience as a student, asking questions and talking with the teacher was very benefitial to my work. In FYC, I think it is crucial that teachers try to create an atmosphere within the classroom that fosters discussion and questions because the students will eventually figure out that everyone else is more or less in the same boat as they are. Group work and discussion becomes an integral part of the class and offers a great springboard for progress and discussion if moderated by the teacher in a way that didn’t digress from the topic at hand: compostion and it’s components.
Today’s class was a great example of “reflective practitioning”, I think. I was able to take myself out of my viewpoint and work with another in order to try and see the advantages/disadvantages of different types of grading. I think peer reviews are helpful, but need to be moderated by the teacher so that the student does not take one extreme or another when critiquing.
Blog Prompt: What should a FYC teacher come to class knowing? What should a FYC student come to class knowing? How can we prepare for “Plan B” when they don’t?
I think a FYC teacher should be able to come to class with a basic knowledge of composition studies, however, that includes a lot of information. As a pragmatic individual, I find that a good ear for grammar and consistency to be very important, but not ultimate in composition studies. Things such as voice, content, audience, and style have just as much to do with one’s writing. I would hope that students in 1301 have a basic understanding of how a sentence is, could be, and shouldn’t be structure, but as I grade I find that that isn’t always true.
“Plan B” should definitely be a compromise between the students and teacher. In a previous blog, I mentioned that it would be ideal to be able to sit with each student individually and focus on their progress in that fashion, but that isn’t always possible or efficient for a classroom setting. The teacher will definitely have to stay on top of each student’s progress in regards to the class as a whole and the students should expect to work and work hard in class because of this.
Why do you grade the way you do? How does that focus/practice help you understand your “philosophy” of composition?
Above all, I want to be fair when grading, but that leads to all kinds of problems when teaching. First of all, you cannot give each and every student the time and focus they need because you would be in the classroom for days! Realistically though, I see that all students are not created equal in their learning abilities and determination. It is like trying to walk 16 different types of dogs, ranging from a bull mastif to a dauchsand, all at once and expecting them all to behave. As far as my teaching philosophy goes, I want to give my students 100% of the time while in the classroom. I believe that with more hands on learning, the students will be better equipped to tackle writing and reading issues down the road. Granted, I won’t be able to teach them everything, but the basics will be first (like grammar, form, content, voice). Once that foundation has been set, then we will be able to work on details.
In regards to my grading, I have to remind my self to follow the directions first. Then I look more specifically at content, form, and structure. If I can’t get the jest of what you are saying because of the grammatical errors, then I have no choice but to take off. The past six weeks of grading have shown me that hardly any student proofreads their papers, which is a shame because it helps so much! Anyway, I try to give them the benefit of the doubt, but that’s a lot like trying to read a psychiatrist’s mind: you don’t want to go there.
Blog Prompt: Given what you’ve read for this week (or even from previous weeks), what puzzles you? What are you wrestling with? What questions do you have that others might be able to answer/help you wrestle with?
The biggest problem for me is I’m not ever sure I’m getting through to each and every student. When I grade, I’m always second-guessing myself because what seems obvious to me isn’t obvious to everyone else. I guess my basic teaching philosophy would incorporate an emphasis on voice, writing development, structure, and form, but my main objective is to make sure the students understand what they are doing and its importance to their lives. In our last class discussion, we all wrestled with how to confront the lack of a level playing field most schools have when it comes to technology and teaching emphasis. I can’t say with any amount of surety that going school by school will work, but given the current circumstances, it seems to be the most encompassing.
Also, I believe that teaching composition is a beast in and of itself. I understand the financial agenda has a lot to do with how we teach and who teaches these classes, but I think composition studies are sorely lacking because it isn’t treated as a separate entity within the English department. Granted, the English department provides a ton of support, but when are going to stop viewing composition through an all-encompassing lens and start viewing it as it’s own? I don’t know…I think this blog was more of a rant than anything and I apologize now if it doesn’t entirely make sense.
Respond to the Take 20 video. What was most surprising? What were some “themes” you saw emerging? What was most inspiring?
The question in the Take 20 video that resonated with me the most was “How do you address process and product?” At the end, McQuade gives the analogy that writing is like molding a clay pot. Whatever shape it takes in the beginning can be re-shaped or taken down as much as the writer wants to. The importance shouldn’t not be stressed on the shape so much as the substance, or clay, the writing is made of.
A general theme within this dialogue of teachers emphasizes giving time to the students to collaborate, put together, take down, check, re-check their writting in class. I believe this is an excellent way to focus time in the classroom. This way, the teacher and students alike are setting a foundation they can stand, or write on I suppose, outside of the classroom and in other aspects of their daily lives. This re-emphasizes the need to take a step back in the writing process to go over what may or may not need to be changed, added, taken out, corrected, etc, etc. From this viewpoint, writing as a product doens’t matter anymore because you have a ‘product’ at the end of each stage regardless of how well written it is or isn’t. I like how Condon remarks that even the “writers at the ‘New Yorker’…have teams of copyeditors”. This statement just supports the the collaborative effort even more.
I think it is important to keep this aspect of writing in mind at all times when writing/teaching. Even if you stress grammar or idea planning within your teaching, writing as a process will always play an integral part in the student’s writing and life outside of and after the class. They will be able to use this skill for as long as they write.
Describe YOUR process: How do you write? Can you think of things that might make the process more successful? How do you think we should value “process” in our classes?
My writing process is all over the board. In high school, they stress specific points to write about, but don’t deviate from that standard. I’m shocked I got into college, let alone grad school because I’ve been so dependent on this type of learning. However, this semester I have been making an effort to, as Kellyanne puts it, “intellectually vomit” on my papers more often. I find that once I get all the garbage out of my head and onto the paper, then I can leave it behind. While I’m not too thrilled about writing several drafts, I believe it is the best way for me to write. On that note, I believe that students should make the same effort when writing. Granted, most of them just want to get the assignment done without having to worry about their writing style or process for that matter, but some students are willing to go through that process. A few may need to write several drafts, some will write outlines and the rest will just wing it in hopes that it will make sense on its own. (lol)
I definitely believe that we should value process in classes. While there are several different ways to teach, within those modes are ways to learn and write. I think an exercise touching on the major types, say at the beginning of the year, will help students figure out how they like to write. For example, they have to respond to a prompt using a different voice, perspective or way of thinking such as expressive or mimetic mode of writing. Afterwards, have them compare their results and have a class discussion over what they like best, didn’t like, had a hard time with, etc. This may be an overreaching assignment, but it’s something the students and teacher alike can benefit from, I think.
Does “voice” that resonates compete with or enhance “academic voice”? How can we write successfully as “academics” and still have voice? Or, you can talk about how important you think voice is in teaching/grading: how do you teach “voice”? How do you assess it?
First of all, I believe that a voice that resonates within a text, regardless of what type, is absolutely necessary. You have to have voice just like you have to have an author to a text. Granted, there are times when an author is Anonymous or Unknown, but even then there is someone out there who wrote that text in question. As far as academic papers/texts go, I would still advocate some type of voice within. The author has to argue/point out/discuss/manipulate/work with/present their text in a way that is accessible to their audience and, in doing so, must ‘speak up’ or give life to what is being said. Some would argue that academic texts should only be written in the traditional manner because opinions are like assholes: everyone has one and not everybody wants to smell or hear it in this case.
When teaching, I think voice is a critical issue that needs to be discussed with the students. Activities and exercises that get students out of a rut when writing are great. However, it is a tricky area of study. I think the key component of teaching should be how to adapt to any situation/audience in way that doesn’t exclude your voice entirely, but doesn’t alienate the audience either. This process needs to be started earlier rather than later in one’s education so that when they do want to publish in college/grad school, they will be able to recognize what elements of their own voice to include.
Blog Prompt: Why do we teach First Year Writing? What should we be teaching in this course? Why?
We teach first year writing to give everyone the chance to write and write well regardless of their profession/occupation/interests. I believe that the fundamentals, like basic grammar, sentence structure, idea forming, research, are absolutely necessary to any first year writing program. I guess a sub-objective of this would be helping the students feel comfortable writing with these points in mind regardless of their aptitude. Also, being able to discern key points in a text are imperative to any profession and life in general. I believe a well read and well written individual is worth more, therefore I am all for writing objectives in every class, even in math and science. The basic need for humans is to be able to communicate and in order to communicate, we need to understand what is being said, written or explained.
I believe that context, style and research are three main concepts of composition that need to be focused on. First and foremost, context is important because it can pertain to one specific audience or several depending on the complexity or reach of the issue. Style then comes into play by emphasizing what has been said in a way that pertains to the audience/focus/intention of the writer. More often than not, readers will critique what has been said by how it has been said, so the writer must take into consideration that their intention and style may show similar or different meanings. And research can make or break a composition by expanding, narrowing or even confounding the viewpoint all together.
