Lucky #13

Trainor

Why do these kids hate life omfg. I read the entire thing without writing anything down. I actually had to go back and find something to say. All I came up with was, "The idea that complaining was kind of giving up was taught almost daily..." and "White victimhood and reverse racism..."

"It's hard when you are white." Lol ok.

To be honest, I read this entire thing with a stank look on my face and a furrowed brow the whole time. I could not un-furrow my brow to save my life. I am not even sure what to think of the majority of this article really and it was just obnoxious to read. Even in between student quotes, I did not care to read what was being said. I read it anyway. I get its point (eh as much as I needed to) but I still hated it.

Fortunately, though I know this close mindedness does not only exist in areas where the majority is white privileged kids and I know that it is not only white people that think in this manner etc. etc., but again, fortunately I do not see myself in a position where I will have to deal with this type of mindset so extensively that I would put further time into understanding how it should be dealt with. But as a future educator I also know that I cannot reflect my personal views as I do in a blogpost for a class so I know how I would deal on a smaller scale because I have been trained in doing so from my sensitivity and cultural diversity trainings as well as from experience.

Still hated it.

#12 Booth

I <3 rhetoric. "I believe that such a course, when planned and carried through with intelligence and flexibility can be one of the most important of all educational experiences."

This will teach the students to see things differently. "Why is it put together in this way?"

The idea is also how we will teach them to care about the practice of the art of persuasion as the book says. Is this not personal in itself? They must gain intrinsic motivation. Rhetoric is the perfect opportunity for them to understand why they can use language to their advantage. I mentioned in my teaching philosophy that mastering a language creates a confidence in how we carry ourselves. It also allows us to better communicate our thoughts and opinions. I hear so often, "I know what I am trying to say, I just don't know HOW to say it...but I know what I want to say I swear." This not only helps them in reflecting their thoughts accurately in writing, but it opens up the world for them outside of the classroom in speaking and listening. To listen and speak rhetorically can be an extreme advantage in finding jobs, etc. And no I do not mean in the manipulative sense - rather in organizing their existing thoughts ...better...in more meaningful and effective ways.

Lindemann Chapter 13 Blog #11

This is just another reminder of Chillder's Law. We have to keep ourselves in mind in addition to keeping our students in mind when creating assignments.

On assignments: "If we omit some of the factors that, in real life, help us define rhetorical contexts, we can expect students to perform poorly." "We must decide its function as a teaching tool, assess its relation to other assignments, and plan other kinds of instruction to support the assignment."

The idea is essentially not to set the students up to fail or give them assignments that they will not make connections to. If we do this, it can reinforce any beliefs that it is not useful for them or cause them to think they are the problem. When often times, it is the teacher that is giving terrible assignments. If a student can see value in one assignment and its relation to the next assignment or activity, such as class discussion, etc., they can at least know why they are doing the work. Nothing is worse as a student than thinking you are gaining nothing and not even understand why you are being forced to do an assignment you see no value in. That is called busy work and its useless.

Blog #10 Lindemann Chapter 16

This chapter was about the use of computers as a tool for research. The book was written in 2001 so the idea that we would generally rely on anything other than computers for the majority of our research seemed a bit dated. Not that the library doesn't exist. With million of dollars invested into, we can all definitely see it. As far as how often we actually go inside and check out a book - disregarding the fact that I literally did that last week but I happened to see an interesting book lying around as I was walking past a study area and decided to check it out - I am going to say that it seems rare if not entirely non-exist. I guess teaching students how to find credible work on the internet would seem much more useful. The idea of using it for revisions and feedback and it being instantaneous feedback is also a bit of a lie. We email professors and other students all the time and they do not get back to us even remotely quickly let alone instantaneously. But it is a nice thought.

It also discussed the usefulness of web forums and how they allow communication outside of the classroom, etc. This also can promote interactions between students if the teacher requests that you respond to your peers, etc.

Blog #9 Berthott

This article reminded me of my teaching philosophy. "If we teach our students to read for meaning - to interpret and appreciate literary texts - the meaning of meaning most useful to us is that it is a means: speaking and writing, listening and reading all..."

Reading, writing, listening and speaking are all important to language acquisition regardless if you are a native speaker or not. Being a language learner in your native language is never ending. There is always room to grow and gain new skills. As far as a writing classroom is concerned, it can be useful by incorporating readings that will force the student to "look and look again" and this will "teach critical reading and critical thinking." If students are asked to keep notebooks or journals on their readings, they can interact with the readings as they please. Using this to guide classroom discussions promotes the use of language skill and fluency in discussing the actual topics.

In my linguistics courses, we are taught to account for each aspect of communication (including gestural) and applying this same idea into a writing class helps with overall fluency.

Blog #8 Zammmm-el

"If students had been prepared appropriately, if the gate-keeping efforts had kept students out of her course until they were more native like..."

Why are students always to blame? Ha.

"...how this very unfamiliarity with this course content may be constraining students linguistic processes..."

I had just written on that topic when I read this article. We cannot treat non-native students as native students. And this is not just about the language gap and their inability to reflect their "intelligence" into the English language. No. This is about cultural and contextual gaps. It has to be accounted for. I have had students in PEGS GWIE that have failed their papers because they are international students and they were asked to write about how the value of American marriage has changed for them since childhood. How could they possibly have an opinion on this without researching the topic? The prompt specifically asked for no outside sources with only personal explanations. It is just not logical to not account for this gap.

Rose back in the day

Going back to the very first essay we read: Rose. I read this again because I was looking at my journal entry and I commented "I swear it is like reading about myself except this extended even further into my life. Literally until my junior year of college...yikes!" And I also quoted him saying, "I developed further into a mediocre student." Though he was blessed with a teacher in high school that gave him that "a-ha" moment where he realized writing was that important to him, I did not experience that until I was just about 22 years old. Or so. Close enough. Yeah I gained a love for reading and writing at a younger age but it did not affect me as a student. I read outside of the coursework and I wrote unrelated to class topics. But I did take history of comedy at CSULB my junior year and the professor had some odd effect on me, odd in that I cared to try, and it just changed my behavior as a student. I was so willing to put in the work. And this continued into my other classes. I half assed my way through college out of sheer boredom and stubbornness. Then from that moment on I refused to be less than what I expected from myself. While I am just shy of a 4.0 now, having entered my upper division coursework at CSULB with a rough 3.0 after several semesters of academic probation, I am not in any way a mediocre student.

Blog Post #12: Designing Assignments

I think designing assignments is a general anxiety that most teachers undergo. How I shape an assignment and are my instructions clear? These are definitely questions that I know I will have when I am asked to write out assignments for students. But I liked these guidelines that Lindemann stressed should always be in consideration when asked to design an assignment. 1. The students’ interest in and understanding of the subject 2. The purpose or aim of the composition 3. The audience (which needn’t always be the teacher) 4. A role for the student to take with respect to the subject and audience 5. The form of discourse (which needn’t always be an essay) 6. Criteria for success I think I like these guidelines because they are exactly that—guidelines. Every assignment that I have been given has more or less followed this structure with some elaborating on one part over the other. But I think I wrote this out because I know I want to keep this somewhere in my notes.

Blog #11: Berlin and Discussion

When Mark came to the class, and he led the discussion on Berlin I was lost. During his presentation, I could see that he was attempting to bring in all these thoughts about philosophy that he had stored in his mind, and he wanted to have an elevated conversation. But, we couldn’t follow, at least I couldn’t. I didn’t have the background or foundation to have this discussion and at least in that moment I wondered how I would be able to remedy a conversation I knew my students could not follow. How do I simplify or better explain concepts? Does that come simply through experience? Or is there some crazy technique that none of the readings seem to have addressed. How to ask poignant questions and when to ask them.

Blog #10: Rhetoric

I didn't encounter the term rhetoric until late into my education (I think high school) and even then it was strictly in the political sense. I didn't really encounter and understand the rhetorical triangle until college where it was assumed that it had been taught to me earlier in my school career. So, I was incredibly late to the game. Even now I'm only superficially versed in the subject, an unfortunate deficit. But I liked this line from Burke's line regarding the importance of rhetoric in a world that is confronting the dehumanizing effect of technology on people. I see it in regards to how little my students critically think about subjects, or in some respect how they aren't being asked to do that in class settings. They are constantly distracted with all forms of social media. However, they are not more informed because of it, in fact they are less. Few really think about the posts, pictures or videos that they are seeing and reading about. So, when they are asked to write in-depth, they seem to lack the tools to do it. They are flummoxed. They are familiar with the rhetorical triangle, so at least their teachers got that right, but I think Burke’s pentad gives them an added resource. To look at things in terms of act, scene, agent, agency, and purpose. I don’t know how I would go about actually teach these terms and how to get them to start working with these theories, but I do think that it gives students more resources for how to write their papers.

Blog #9: Response

In reading through "Responding to Student Writing" I focused on the second scenario between Michael and Ellen. Though each had varying techniques Michael (completely involved) and Ellen (Hands off), I think ultimately each didn't quite live up to their proposed pedagogy. Ellen was not as quite hands-off as she argued because she still asked poignant and directed questions of her students, and Michael completely dominated the conversation instead of letting the modelling he spent time on at the beginning of the session help the students through the conversation. Instead of being a fellow peer in the conference group setting, I feel that he instead continued to be teacher with authority. I think each teacher overreached a bit as most professors tend to do. In fact, in my experience I think though I tried to play the Ellen role at times I had to inhabit Michael's role. However, it's different from one class to the other. This semester I finally had a group of discussion ready students, in comparison to my last few batches that sit in silence and wait for my response. I agree with Michael that you can't let students completely dominate the conversation without guidelines. They need to know what the rubric is and what the guidelines to make effective comments. And the teacher has to be involved in some way, in order to guide students back on topic if need be. But it's a balancing act, and I think ultimately what is missing from both these experiences is the work that went into these groups to build trust among the students to honestly and critically comment on each other's work.

Blog #8: Peer Writing Groups

Throughout all the readings about composition research, the most striking piece was Godbee's in terms of the discussion on peer editing groups. In a lot of the reading the emphasis was on how trust needs to be built between groups in order to have successful writing groups. A lot of the issues that many point to is that students in group settings typically don't trust each, or some might take on authorial positions that might intimate quieter team members. As an SI, I have now experience both aspects. As a student, whenever I was placed in groups or asked to participate in group activities I always dragged my feet. I simply didn't trust the other members, or I was pushed aside in favor of the student with most leadership-like persona. As an SI, instituting group work among my students, I have also seen these types of patterns and actions occur. However, over Summer Bridge when I worked with my instructor in putting together groups of students over the course of several days for a project it seemed that constant work together as a group helped these students find a balance and trust. Of course, one group imploded because I put too many dominant personalities in one group, but the other three groups seemed to work seamlessly. In this respect, I think Godbee's five categories in regards to conferencing is true: voice, humor, respect, appreciative inquiry, and not alone are aspects that are gained through conferencing. However, I think I still have much work to do in how to manage group settings. Time management and group-trust building activities are my focus for this year's summer bridge.

Blog #14- Learning with the Students

In his discussion of Diana George and Diana Shoo’s primary text, Cauthen mentions that he thinks that choosing a text that both the instructor and students might be conflicted about is both politically and intellectually honest. This reminds me of a running discussion we’ve had in class—or maybe it wasn’t an overt discussion, but we definitely had it in some way, shape, or form. We talked about teachers learning with students and how we should be receptive to these experiences. I think often, instructors become the authoritarian figure at the front of the class. The students start internalizing the ideology that the instructor is always right and so questioning —even when confused—becomes a challenge. I like this suggestion because it levels the playing field a little bit and encourages students to take the challenge with the instructor. In some ideal cases, the student may even become the guide himself. I think this idea would play an instrumental role in building the culture of the classroom as one in which questions and dialogue are encouraged, so I want to keep this in mind when (if) I start developing a syllabus.

Blog #8- Theories as Explained by Berlin and the Power (too much of)

Apologies for not posting my blog entries, I won’t bore any of you with excuses. Anyway, Berlin proposes a number of different theories of writing but in doing so, he makes a few comments that struck me. He first suggests that teaching writing is “to argue for a version of reality”—let me take a moment to feel like Darkseid for a moment. Okay done. Anyway, I’ve heard a number of teachers say that they want to teach to empower students, give them a voice, etc. but the gravity of Berlin’s suggestion worries me. How can anyone trust me with that sort of power? Also it implies that as instructors we attempt to shape our student’s reality in some way and isn’t that kind of the opposite of what we’re attempting to do when we guide students to think critically about their writing? Perhaps I’m missing something, but this seems like it might be an overstep.

He also mentions that writing instructors should be clear and not offer contradictory instructions to their students—which seems obvious and yet it is an easy rabbit hole to fall into! I’ve seen a few professors, and I am sure I’ve done it too, attempt to simplify a writing task by offering additional guidance that contradicts previous instructions. I think a lot of this happens because we either don’t think enough or teach enough at the beginning of the assignment—going back to invention—and so we end up confusing our students. I’ve learned to keep my metaphors to myself particularly during workshops because they don’t always work and the risk of confusing students is simply too high. 

With regard to the theories that Berlin proposes, I think the expressionists are a little too feely for me? I can see the value in what they’re attempting to do, but I like their suggestions as tools for invention rather than the end-all of writing. Does that make sense?   

Blog #10- Writing Assignments for the Students

Lindemann’s Chapter 13 suggests a number of different strategies for creating writing assignments. Some of the advice seems fairly obvious, yet I don't know that I would have figured it out without having seen in written here (color me embarrassed). Lindemann suggests that we don't assign students writing tasks that are overly simplistic or boring. This reminded of one instructor I worked with who essentially asked her students to write an essay where they took a position on the question: Is love better than hate. While the prompt asked students to explain a quote from the reading, it did very little by way of guiding the students through the ins and outs of argumentation, and the lecture likewise did very little to help students structure their thoughts into an essay. When conferencing with students, most of them had the standard formula: three personal examples that revealed some heartwarming story, but most of them ended their paragraphs with sentences like: “that’s when I realized love was better than hate” or “I chose to be nice instead of hating….” I remember feeling frustrated with the assignment because my students were capable of writing a decent essay, but the prompt didn’t ask them to think beyond their personal examples. I like Lindemann’s suggestion of a number of purpose verbs to guide students through the process of an essay—especially as it would help with more complicated assignments. That way students are challenged, but with clear directions. 

Blog #11-Developing into a Basic Writing Instructor

While I found the names of Shaughnessy’s four stages annoying, I like her overall suggestion that in order to teach “basic writers,” teachers need to recognize that they must also learn to teach to the needs of the students. I think this is true for most classes, but I see how important it is for developing writers who enter the classroom with the “basic” title. I would have appreciated more how-to although I recognize thats not the purpose of the article—but maybe it should have been? I’ve worked with ESL students and non-ESL basic writers, and I find that they often make similar mistakes—errors in subject verb agreement, consistent tenses, and any number of grammatical errors—so I wonder if there should be a significant amount of time dedicated, within a composition course, to grammar? Or should that be a separate skills-based course? And do those even work? I know we’ve discussed in class that grammar building only works if the student is working on their own sentences, but its incredibly tedious work—so how do we strike the balance? 

Blog #14: Utopias and Political Activism

After reading through the last article by Mathison and Cauthen, I thought back to all the times when current or political issues were brought into the classroom setting. I think as a student I always felt uncomfortable because I didn't know what to say or what was the correct response. I was afraid because I knew I was ill-informed. I didn't want to sound like an idiot. The only teacher I know that handled politics deftly was my high school History teacher, Ms. Jones. Incidentally, she also taught me how to write, or at least she sparked my awareness in regards caring about what I write. Although I try to stay away from politics in my SI workshop class, this semester I have a few politically interested students that move discussions towards ethical and social questions. Inevitably, their question is always, "Miss, what do you think?" In these moments, I am always in a state of awkward and discomfort. Why? Because I don't want to push my ideas and thoughts onto theirs. I want to answer their questions, but I always frame my response as in this is how I see it, but what do you think. While I think the idea of politics and current issues is rife for discussion in any class discussion, I think there are too many pitfalls too for the inexperienced. Because current issues do incite passions, I don't think it's easy to always manage the wave of commentary. Also, I don't feel that any discussion regarding politics or ethical issues will spark a whole class of 20 or 40 to affect change in their environment. In this regard, I think this type of curriculum which serves to be a broad spectrum is actually narrow and specific.

Blog #9- The "How To-" and Working it Out

I’ve been thinking about my teaching philosophy and what I want my future (and current) students to come away with when they leave my class. The “How-to teaching philosophy” points out a few questions that I have been asking myself, and I think I want my students to be think critically about the stuff that they commit to paper. My interest in social justice issues  stems from this in that I want my students to be thinking individuals. I don’t care what they believe as long as they think about their choices and become functioning thinking adults. Critical thinking skills have been a major concern of mine while leading workshops. I worked with an instructor who once said that his students couldn’t think critically about the material, but I remember that comment bothered me. I thought it’s not that they can’t think, it’s that they have been so discouraged by writing teachers making general assumptions about them that they have given up. I really don’t want to be that instructor. I want to be a version of Mike Rose I guess, but you know, me. I want to engage my students in subjects that have an immediate impact on them and lead them to critical reasoning. I guess I stick to social justice issues because it’s what I know? But really any type of reading, yeah that too. I want my students to read more. 

Okay so I’m still working through it.  Anyway, in the Berlin reading he explains that expressionists believe that any good piece of writing is a personal. Speaking as someone who has written a quite a few formal papers that require distance (not that I’m arguing those papers were any good), I think it’s possible for students to produce pieces of writing that are largely detached from the person that they are. To explain, every essay that a student turns in is an effort to complete the course requirements. They can think through their argument, but in no way would I mean to suggest that the piece of writing is a piece of who they are. It’s a product that they are producing, perhaps the expressionist view hopes that students will put more of an effort into their work if they believe that the piece of writing is a piece of them…but then if they fail, isn’t that then a lot more discouraging? Maybe I’m overthinking this? Please correct me if I am.

-forgot to post this weeks ago, sorry!

Blog #13- Helping L2 Writers

One of the things that caught my attention from last week’s Matsuda and Hammill reading was their suggestion that L2 writers are actually learning two languages when in the composition classroom: both English and Standard Academic English. Although this seems relatively obvious, I didn’t really think about this. A lot of my struggles with L2 writers is helping them understand the difference between colloquial English and academic writing. With Spanish speakers, this is usually a lot easier, because I can explain it in Spanish—but I have yet to figure out how to help non-Spanish L2 writers through this. Any suggestions?

Some of the stuff in this article also reminded me of the Shen reading where she outlines some of the errors in writing that students make and their connections to the writing that they produce. Matsuda and Hammill advocate for justifications in conferences where students explain their rhetorical choices. Perhaps this would make the entire process less threatening/intimidating to students. 

Blog #12- Developing my Teaching Philosophy

As I was working through my teaching philosophy, I thought back to my Summer Bridge experience and how the instructor I worked with really advocated for student agency. We had our students read Edmundson’s “Who Are you and What are you Doing Here?” as we began the semester. A large part of our class discussion was centered on how students become involved in their own education. I enjoyed the dialogue that came out of this reading, so I would like my students to think about this especially as they are beginning their college career. I am not sure how I’m going to work this into my  teaching philosophy, but I’m pretty sure I want it in there somewhere. 

Given the process stuff we’ve been reading throughout the semester, I definitely want my classroom to look more like a writing workshop than a lecture-type class. I want my students to look at the classroom as a safe space to share their ideas and to work with their fellow classmates. I’m also thinking contained bi-weekly short writing assignments, so that students are constantly writing and developing their ideas. The complexity of this assignment will slowly increase over the term, but I want students to get the necessary practice throughout the semester and give them as much feedback as I can. 

Blog #13: Grading, Boredom and Repetition: How do you do it?

Over the past week, I got the opportunity to help a friend out with some grading. She recently gave birth and she needed all the extra help she could muster up. Of course, I didn't actually assign grades, but I gave comments on some of her students works. It was a traditional essay assignment, there was a book (Frankenstein) that they needed to use to respond to a prompt, and it needed to hit 5 pages. Simple, enough. I've done this assignment as a student too many times as an English major. However, the experience was different when I had to step into a reviewer/commentator role. Gosh---it was so boring! My brain felt like mush afterwards. Afterwards, I asked myself how my teachers were able to do it for every class that they taught? Almost every student had the same thing to say about either prompt one or two. I knew I had to treat each paper individually and give back comments that would enable the student to learn, but gosh it was hard when after a couple of papers I almost ceased to care. So, what did I gain from this experience? I don't want to use prompts if I can. In my experience, although they proved a bit more challenging, I preferred papers where I chose my topic based on a singular text. A close reading paper on a text over two papers helped me to develop my concision skills and get to the point of my argument. If I have to assign long papers, I think I want to reserve those gems for periods when I know an extended break will come up. I learned that I am a slow reader, and I like to reason through my student's responses. This does not make me into the type of teacher that can assign multiple writing assignments and turn it around quickly for my students. So, I think I need to figure out in the near future how I will choose to parcel out writing assignments.

Final Blog

I'm really torn on what to write about today.  I know i should write on the article assigned for today, but i've been thinking about all of our other readings and the class as a whole.  Before i dive into an article i wanted to put an "on the side" comment out there and say that i just applied to a teaching job and the teaching philosophy was SO HELPFUL when it came to that. Like i seriously can't imagine having to do one with absolutely no guidance!

Anyways back to the readings. The "Utopia" reading caught my eye instantly because utopias fascinate me!  I like the thought of thus Utopian classroom and playing "the doubting game" with students.  A lot of what was said in the article reminds me of how i, in theory, would like to run my classroom.  I did have some questions though.  It seemed like many times int he article it had a "perfect" scenario with students actively engaging. How would  these scenarios play out in a classroom with students that were not engaged or resistant (i'm thinking about a lot of remedial classes where the students tend to not care already)?

How do we best familiarize students who are indistinguishable in written speech but pronouncing it in sentences poses a problem to overcome the challenge and be both proficient in written and spoken speech?

Second Language Writing

Great essay and it answered a lot of my questions about pedagogical differences in teaching L2s and L1 who may make the same type of errors  eh mistakes.
What I will take away the most from this reading is how instructors need to be careful NOT to make assumptions about the culture, background, and social norms students bring to the classroom. The key is to ASK first, then use that knowledge to guide feedback and instructional practices. Americans have a tendency to assume they know what other cultures believe and value but, just like we would not appreciate being lumped into one type of "American" lets not do that with our second language students either.

reflection on teaching philosophy... Is it too cheesy?

So i wrote my Teaching Philosophy, and i really truly believe in what I am saying in it, but i feel so cheesy about it.  It just seems so optimistic for a job interview.  So my questions and thoughts i guess are how do i make it sound less cheesy if i truly feel this way about teaching? I am very passionate about teaching, and i still to this day email students from semesters ago to see how they are doing.  I am all about creating a bond with my students so that they will seek me out for help even after they have moved on from my class.  I personally feel like that type of instructor is the most effective.  I am also always very hopeful with my new classes, i want to push them to be their very best.  To me as a teacher, seeing a student succeed is so fulfilling and gratifying to me.  It is because of all this that i feel like other instructors or bosses wont higher me because they will think i am making it up or that i am just saying what they want to hear.  I dont know how to market myself in a way that captures what a true optimist int he classroom i am without sounding like an inexperienced buffoon that everyone is waiting to see get "jaded" by the system.  Because i refuse to become that jaded professor that is there for the check, for me teaching has never been about the check or how much money i can make. for me i can truly say it is about helping students achieve their goals, and showing everyone that said they were "failures or less than" wrong by earning their degrees. What do you guys recommend for this predicament?

Blog #14: The End

As I sit at my dinner table, laptop illuminated by a single overhead light, the silence broken by the low hum of the refrigerator nearby, and the "Peaceful Piano" playlist on Spotify - and I think about everything I have read and experienced thus far this semester. My whisky on the rocks keeps me company, the cold liquid contrasting with the warmth it brings me. I become pensive, introspective, even melancholy - as only the night can make me. Maybe my late-night drinking and blogging is something not unlike Wyche's "mindless activities that alter brainwaves into a more relaxed, creative state". Maybe you're asking yourself as Hodges does, "Why should I care as a reader?" Because we read to learn, and write to make sense of what we've read. As Fulwiler says, "When we write about anything, we learn it better" - this is me, writing about what I've read, and giving you, the reader, a chance to share in this knowledge. I think on the St. Martins reading and how I highlighted the life out of the idea of "Topic Sentences: Simple Coordinate and Simple Subordinate, and Mixed" in an effort to remind myself to share this idea with my fledgling writers I call students. The ice cubes clink together in the glass as I take another sip, swallow, whatever. While we have learned (through a metric fuckton of drilling) that writing is a process, I am pleased (snarky? possibly) to say that this was a complete free-write with my journal beside me. As Peter Elbow succinctly puts it (and I bastardize) "revision is not present in speech, only in writing". I am a firm believer in revision - and I have learned through the years (especially in college) that the major key in revision is simply the second half of the word: VISION. See it again, in a new way. Take a different stance. Read with the paper. Read against it. Play the "doubting game". Read parallel to some random notion and tie some personal experience to it to make sense of it. If I asked for a peer review of this (I won't), I would ask what you (my Peer) would change. What would you do differently? How can you further organize another person's stream of consciousness writing? As Jeffery notes, "the writers diction helps reveal their voice", so what voice is this? Is this my head leaking through my fingertips? This (also Jeffery) is "natural", not "forced".  This is where it ends, not because I have any less to say or other notes to reference, but because I am at the bottom of the text box, and I hate not having space beneath my typing. I bid thee adieu.

Blog #13: The Paradox of Oppression

Of the final reading: I loved the early part about how there must be a balance between showing students the ropes without hanging them from them; hence my title. Specifically, I am referring to the (half paraphrased, but quotes so I don't plagiarize) "Control of discourse in class reinstates oppression, it's necessary to provoke defamiliarization required for students to initiate ideological critique...scaffolding is needed to achieve more complex analysis [provided by the teacher] - BUT - this scaffolding must not impose the teacher's own beliefs in any attempt to 'sell' them to 'impressionable' students". This resonates with me. When teaching my students I do my best to help them find the answers themselves (via the Socratic method), but try not to come off as a pompous ass. I like the concept of offering students a critical question without a specific answer - allowing them the "freedom of discovery in the discourse". I also think that a good takeaway from the article is to always try and think about what we think about when we've thought of something. 

Blog #12: ESL/L2 vs. L1 Learners

So, I've been thinking; I was reading these last few readings and wondering where the line is drawn. "What Line?" Well, if we have an entire class of ESL students or L2 students (when did that become a thing, by the way?) I would understand the necessity for patience, understanding, and overall compassion for students. However, when faced with *dun dun dunnnn* DIVERSITY in the classroom - where do we decide to impose the same requirements on the other students as the general? I understand it's up to the students to meet the requirements of the class as the syllabus dictates, but I was thinking of how this would pertain to k-12 students. My only real concern on the topic is the thought that I would be invoking the lich known as No Child Left Behind. I care for my kids, and I care that they learn - but how do we balance the work so everyone has a chance to learn and earn equally?

"If one student suffers, that one is too many" - (fr. Matsuda & Hammill)

This time, I will participate by  summary the article of 4/27 SHAUNGHNESSY; HULL/ROSE/FRASER/CASTELLANO; TINER
The article discusses basic writing which entails students writing regularly as the teacher reads what they have written. It helps the teacher diagnose writing problems in students as well as offering the students a chance to improve their reading and writing skills. The author divides reading into four stages. In the first stage; guarding the tower, the preconceptions of students begin to rise. The second stage; converting the natives involves the development of rules and enhancement of grammatical brilliance. The third stage; sounding the depths, a deeper understanding of both students and the teacher is enhanced. The last stage: diving in, not only involves teaching the students to write well but also giving them a challenging work to sharpen their skills.

Baby Talk

When my daughter was born I read a lot of parenting books and articles; some good, some a waste of time. But now, 22 years later, I still remember one article's advice that stood out and made perfect sense. Its advice was to NOT use "baby-talk" when speaking to your child. "Just talk normally," was the suggestion. Use the language your child will use as they grow into adulthood, the earlier you start the better. Otherwise, the author concluded, your child will have to learn another language when they go out into the big, wild world. (Paraphrasing here)
All this came back to me while reading Peters' Five Ways article. Why not begin with the concepts  of literary criticism, such as New Criticism, Structuralism, psychoanalysis, etc? The "adult talk"?
Most of the "ways" Peters describes could easily fall into one of the standard academic theories. Introducing students to the theories earlier will give them the language they'll need in future studies, regardless of their chosen disciplines. In other words, skip the baby talk.

As to Salvatori's article, I think that teaching reading in the teaching of composition is an effective way for students to learn. This article was great, but I have two questions:
Is there a right and a wrong answer in this method?
If so, how should we guide our students to the right answers?

Blog #11: Ranting about Mutnick and Lamos

Okay. Today's issue is brought to you by the letters B and W.  Basic Writers. I am forced to ask the question - are these approaches to teaching BW a joke? Ha. Ha. While I understand a need for assessment and identification for Basic Writers, I don't see the rhyme or reason behind this....this. "Error-Centered Analysis"? God. Albeit a good point was made, that various groups worry about "marginalizing" BW. But, isn't that what they already are? I feel that this is no different than saying, "those aren't homeless people! they're just down-on-their-luck-billionaires!". No. Just like giving every child a participation trophy is bad for competition, acting like BW are on the same field as AW (Advanced Writers) is not only unfair to the advanced party, but to the basics as well. I wouldn't want to be held to a standard I wasn't prepared to reach - that's not right. While BW need attention, we should focus on getting them through that stage and slowly working elements of AW into that pedagogy; kind of like working the flour into a mixture when baking a cake - add a little bit at a time and stir it in, or you'll fuck up the whole cake.

Thoughts/reflections on my last blog to possibly use in my teaching philosophy

Looking back on my last blog makes me think more about teaching in the future.  It's not that I don't believe in what I am saying, rather I don't know how to market a more free thinking teaching philosophy to a potential job opportunity without a solid structure laid out for them.  I very much believe in having an general idea for the semester, but then amending it based on what the current class needs as a whole.  For example, if English 99-25 has grammar down no problem, but lacks reading comprehension skills, and English 99-26 can comprehend, but not write, I personally would change my syllabus to match their specific needs instead of following along the set path I said we'd take on day one.   My question for myself I guess is: How do I market myself as this type of teacher? Will i land a job with this type of philosophy?

Blog #10: Bazerman and Berthoff

Bazerman:  I really liked this article. I agree with the current "Independent Self/Original Voice" schematic for writing. I also enjoyed the notion of "writing as a contribution to an ongoing, written conversation". I believe that all academic writing - possibly even leisure writing - should in some way add to the knowledge pool, not just report on it or merely agree or disagree. Another excellent point was that (and I'm paraphrasing here) "paraphrase encourages precise understanding of individual terms and statements; the act of translating thoughts from one set makes the student need to focus and think about what they've read". I always tell my students that comprehension is tantamount to being able to read - and this article drives that point home.

Berthoff: This one I am ambivalent about. While there are usable points here they seem to lack depth. I didn't really like the ripped-off Rhetorical Triangle, and instead I built a Rhetorical Bridge for her which does a better job of explaining her Word, Referent, and Reference. It did raise a question in me however, if we're going to make writing in texts taboo for the majority of a student's life, just to tell them to mark a book up with annotations in college - why not find a middle ground that prepares them earlier? This would also encourage the note-taking habits that will be critical to college learning. If students can practice focusing on the content when they're younger - as opposed to just answering teacher-pointed questions - then they should be able to do better, in theory.

Conversations with Text

I really enjoyed this essay, especially the content around "interconnectedness" and the prospect of using it in the classroom although I wonder about introducing it to first year comp students. Too much too soon. Perhaps using Parker's 5 ways first?
The biggest benefit of Salvatori's approach is that I can see how it could cause students to become better readers and writers. The type of responding she advocates calls for close readings (hello New Criticism) which can lead students to see how a text works or makes meaning. These insights will stay with them while they compose their own essays, arguments. Hopefully.

Peirce

Within the first few sentences I did not like how he mentions that students that pass the quiz only could enter a group discussion. I understand it is online but what if some students actually gain a better understanding of the material if they were a part of a discussion more so than they would by just reading the material on their own. I understand that it would be after the fact but either way, why not allow them a different style opportunity for learning. It seems like a negative reaction from a teacher. I do like having small groups with different questions for discussion though. My professor does that now and it works because then we all share to the class and each group gains new information and nothing is being repeated throughout the class discussion.

"Students who experience a gap in their knowledge will seek to fill it."

I really like that but I think it works half the time. A student might half ass their research just to make sure it kind of sounds like what they are saying but I would still do this in a class nonetheless. Challenging their beliefs as the article explains is a great way to accomplish this because they will spend time searching why people have opposing views, etc.

Lindemann Chapter 15

This chapter was great.  I do have some questions and comments though. So she says that knowing more about teaching doesn't necessarily make you a more effective teacher.  I really like this because I personally believe in a more "free" thinking environment in the class room. I am not a huge fan of structure because i feel it restricts creativity.  I feel that once we start adding all of this extra knowledge and theory about teaching, the class room becomes too scientific, and that in my opinion makes the teaching effectiveness go down.  Our goal should be to make students intelligent readers which I personally feel means that when working with a text 1 + 1 wont always equal 2. To them, with their reading it could mean red, or any other crazy variation as long as they have an argument to support what they are saying.  

Extra Blog on Clustering

So this blog needs some background information before i get into it.  My younger brother is an aspiring author, and he has had some serious writes block on the novel he is working on lately.

Ok, so I must confess when we were learning about clustering and the writing process I was like "This is silly I don't think I'll ever use it!" On Friday he was telling me about how he's stuck on his writing, and for what ever reason I kept thinking about "Clustering."

I decided that i would explain to him what it was (he had never heard of it) and show him how to do it.  I got a text the next morning from him telling me that he had made a break through.

So what's the importance of this little story?  I learned not to dismiss a style of learning that doesn't work for me because it worked for my brother.  This was enlightening on how students all learn differently.

Lindemann in ch15 mentioned that "How we teach is shaped by whom and what we teach" I agree with Lindemann 50% because I have another view which is" How we teach is shaped by what the students know and what they want to know.
Another thing that I want to add this time is a question which is " Do you think that telling your students about your teaching philosophy is considered as a good idea? If so, do you think this will affect their writing if they are against ( disagree with )your philosophy?

Blog #9: Teaching Philosophy pt 2 "Musings"

Okay, I'm going to just dump this:  I was considering what I would put down on my teaching philosophy. I figure I would be talking about things I believe would be best in the classroom when I teach, and what I have learned thus far that has really stuck with me. However, when I consider teaching things like the Pentad, the importance of discourse as a form of power through the teachings of Michel Foucault, the importance of understanding the rhetorical triangle as it applies to everyday life - I came to the (obvious?) realization that these things are more useful at the 16 - college age group. While Rhetoric and Composition can be implemented in all avenues and in some ways taught at any level, I have found a hurdle: I'm trying to teach these advanced (based on their knowledge base) theories and techniques to children. I like teaching middle school. I feel I would best benefit by either changing my teaching philosophy so as to cater it to this preference or simply shift my perceived attention to a high school senior English class. I believe that this might be the only way to mold an applicable philosophy because everything I have been considering researching so far has been to benefit my students. I think I need to start thinking about another path or a way to take all I have learned and make it work for junior high. IDK - but that's why we're here, right?

What's my objective

I was surprised that Lindemann didn't spend more time on the area of objectives in Ch 13. I have found that starting with that element is the best way to begin drafting assignments. Asking: what, exactly, do I need students to demonstrates? What learning, what skill? Beginning there I then consider the level of cognition I need them to perform at. Bloom's Taxonomy is what I use to make sure I am not assigning a task at a level students may not have reached yet. There are verbs attached to each level which is very helpful. This method is a hold over from my public school teaching days where not being able to state a complete (and standard-based) objective was a huge no-no.

Purpose-verb in Lindemann CH13

Lindemann chapter 13 touches on some fantastic points about developing writing assignments.  A part of the text that stood out to me was on page 218 when she writes, “An assignment usually reveals its purpose in one crucial verb, analyze in this case, and much of the challenge in drafting effective assignments involves making the purpose verb clear […] Keeping an assignment short allows the purpose-verb to stand out” (218).  This is an aspect of prompt writing I have never thought about.  I’ve always just stuck a prompt and the board without thinking about the words analyzes or discuss. I mean I have used them in my prompt writing, but only by happy accident it would seem.  This chapter has brought the importance of this purpose-verb to my attention.  

I read the teaching philosophy 2, but I have some criticism for it.
I did not agree with the writer in his saying " I would encourage my students to do the same when writing and thinking.  Some of the methods I would encourage them to try is to use unconventional writing forms and language, such as slang, native language, poetry, journalistic writing, in addition to standard English and forms. "

I think if the writer write in slang, he restrict his writing for his nation, not for international readers. For example, I can understand any writing in English that has written in academic words but I can't understand any writing that has written in a slang words. Also, I disagree because the writer want to make the writing skill as the speaking skill by using the slang words in writing. The writer think his way is kind of freedom he give it to his students but in my opinion this is not freedom, this is undesirable indulgence.
I know that I do not have the right to criticize the writer in his philosophy but I have the right as a reader to express objection politely.

Teaching Philosophy

My teaching philosophy centers on the atmosphere I wish to create in the classroom; one that fosters creativity, risk taking, and trust. Big goals, I know.

 I think about myself as a young student, shy and intimidated by the other students who I felt were smarter than me. I now understand that what I really believed was that my voice didn't matter. "No one cares what I think" I told myself. Or, "I can't say that! I'll sound stupid. Get laughed at." These are thoughts I want to eliminate in my classroom and my teaching philosophy should reflect that in some way.
I'll be reviewing  the articles on invention, workshop, and feedback for guidance.

Blog 8: Teaching Philosophy (part 1)

I was thinking about what my teaching philosophy would be. I also thought about how I teach my kids now, particularly focusing on comprehension - I teach middle school. I also prefer leading my students through discussion via the Socratic method. I also find that being more than just a stationary authoritarian at the head of a classroom works well (i.e. walking around the room and sitting in random chairs next to them). I also jotted a bunch of random phrases and buzzwords while in class last night: Peter Elbow; the notebook from class; teaching students that they should be "saying" something; Voice; Invention Techniques; Deciding between endless revisions for improvement or strict deadlines; explaining the difference in research & analysis and persuasive stance; and a few random things. Either way, I feel like my style will be highly involved as a teacher with a little bit of everything (in regards to what I have learned so far).

Hi everyone,, I hope that all of us enjoyed in the spring break.
I want to say that actually I dis agree with Mathison that people can learn rhetorical Analogy through the facebook. My reason is that because people in the face book tend to use simple, slang words and some time cut the letters words to write fast. So, to teach rhetorical Analogy through facebook I personally do not think it is a good way.

The Role of Audiences - Fulwiler

As I started reading this, I agreed with a lot of the points. I liked the idea that we generally learned how to distinguish between audiences at an early stage but only with oral language because we use it much more often and essentially are continuously practicing it. At the bottom of page 173 is where I was not to pleased. Ha. "However, as an individual writer, you can make choices that will influence this difficult audience positively -- especially if you understand that most of your instructors are fundamentally caring people."

I do not agree with that statement at all. For the most part, before I entered graduate school, I hated most of my teachers. They just did not seem to give a shit about what they were teaching or whether or not the content was of any value or whether or not we truly understood anything. From middle school to my last years of my Bachelor's, I had so many teachers that really were not fundamentally caring. I think this should not even be mentioned in the writing. If anything, I'm pretty sure a student can gauge whether or not a teacher cares about them simply by how they treat them. I know it says "most." But even that is pushing it.

Anyway. The rest was pretty agreeable. I like the part discussing how you should ask for a certain kind of feedback and how teachers enjoy reading things or learning new things etc. I used to grade papers for a couple of instructors and I would definitely get bored reading the same thing -- but I sometimes blame the teacher for making such closed prompts that the results will most like not vary.

This whole post seems very anti-teacher and I do not mean to be. Just in general, not everyone has the opportunity to have a great instructor so I think that should also be accounted for very explicitly.

Turning off my biases

From 12 Readers Reading

While reading Donna's persuasive essay on prayer  in schools, I found that my hyper-liberal, progressive critic emerged and pushed the composition instructor to the margins.  Besides the errors in writing, she was just flat out wrong in so many of her points. If she was my student, I can see how it would be challenging to conference with her and leave my  personal bias out of the conversation. I also wondered: if the essay mirrored my beliefs, biases and prejudices, would I be as diligent in finding errors in arguments.

Blog #7- Writing a Lit Autobio...the aftermath

So this was an interesting assignment. I don’t like talking about myself or writing in first person, so most of the steps with this paper were a struggle. I tried writing it in third person and justified it as a stylistic choice, but I quickly realized that wasn’t going to work—so I took a break and talked to my dad. We discussed some of the games we remembered watching together and recent events involving racism on the pitch. Particularly Dani Alves, a Brazilian Barcelona player (probably one of the best players that the team currently has) who experienced racism on during a game—fans of the opposing team threw bananas at him when he ran to the corner to convert a corner kick. This conversation spark a lot of new ideas, so I moved away from some of the stuff I came up with in class and tried re-framing my lit autobiography around some of the events that my dad and I discussed. Usually, the my writing process is solitary and contained to brief online conversations with Jennifer where I ask, “Hey I’m thinking about writing this?” and she’ll respond, “yeah that sounds good.” With narratives, I usually talk them out with Jennifer, but this was a personal story, so I wasn’t overly willing to share until it was complete. She read my draft during class, but after I spoke to my dad I felt a lot more comfortable asking her advice, so I went from there. 

Blog #7: Post-Process

I think that unlike my formal essays this literacy autobiography was easier in some ways to write. I think that I was alleviated by the fact that I didn't have to synthesize information and try to sound smart. But I was left astray because I couldn't rely on critics or texts. I couldn't hide behind my academic voice. This literacy autobiography required me to rely on my memories and be honest. This made me uncomfortable. Because the class forced me to work on my project beforehand, I had some material to work with before I had to finish it. I had a running start and a direction. I think that what this project forced me to do was confront my personal inside voice and use it. Unlike my younger SI students who are much more comfortable asserting and inserting their voice in their academic work, I've been trained out of it. I can write an academic essay (perhaps not as well as in previous semesters), but creative works not so much. I can orally develop stories, I can talk about characters with my writing partner--Brenda, but I can't seem to physically get myself to write them down anymore. I think in some way I am afraid of being completely honest, and of being exposed. And, I think the solution is just to write.

Reflection on Lit Auto-bio (it's sappy, but true...)

Looking back on my lit autobiography I’ve been thinking a lot about how lucky I am that I had my 7^th grade teacher.  She fired me up to do the best I could in school.  She is indirectly responsible for me overcoming my dyslexia because of her AR assignments which triggered my mom to get me books on tape. When I think about this and where I’m at now I can’t help dropping a big F bomb thinking about how my life could be VERY different right now if my series of events did not happen.  That scares me because I could be something disgusting like a Math major or something super lame like an underwater basket weaver. Anyways, the project had me thinking about all of the amazing teachers I’ve had on this journey of education and overcoming my dyslexia.  I’ve had so many fantastic English teachers that put me on the path to my MA and though my autobiography only covers one of these amazing teachers I have many of them to thank.  Like I can’t stress how much I would not be in an MA program (let alone for literature and rhet/comp) if I didn’t have a series of amazing English teachers that really pushed me into this field.  I just wanted to read books so I took as many English classes as I could.  Before I knew it I was being told that I was doing a good job in these classes.  I never thought I’d excel in reading in writing as a kid, but here I was with so many different teachers believing in me.  The next thing I knew I was going to my *back up school* CSUDH because Harbor College FORGOT to send CSULB my transcripts, and this is one of the greatest things that happened to me.  This series of events lead me to an MA program at a school that fits me so perfectly.  Ok I know I’m going way off track now.  What I’ve been really been meaning to say is this project helped me connect a lot of dots about education as a whole and not just one aspect of learning to read, and when I look back on everything I’ve learned from then to now, I am humbled by my experiences and grateful I had them.

Literacy Autobiography and Process Writing Reflection

Prepare yourselves for some stream of consciousness writing. Okay. So. When I was originally writing the paper, I was at a loss. I wrote all of my ideas down in class. I did a bit of free writing. I even managed about 4 pages of a rough draft. However, after reading it I realized that my paper was complete and utter trash. This was a blessing in disguise because after taking some time to reflect and tap some of the resources available to me – e.g. the examples, peer feedback, some introspection – I was able to write a whole new draft. In a way, writing the original draft allowed me to purge myself of all the garbage writing that was clogging my creative arteries. I believe that my process needs tweaking in a lot of areas: I need to learn to get all distractions like cleaning and cooking out of the way first; I need to sit down and write for a dedicated number of minutes at the minimum; and I need to not dwell on the fact that writing absolute garbage is Okay as long as I revise it later on. Revision is the key to success, but I did not revise any of this post.