Mutnick/Amos Blog #12

I love the idea of "translanguaging pedagogies" because I have fallen in love with teaching young adults from all over the world & have grown accustomed to "translanguaging" in my own classroom. It's extremely fun to work with such willing (to learn) and acceptable (of other cultures) who honestly care about everyone's different beliefs. Doing this for the past 4 years has given me insight into more than the differences in student learning styles. It has opened my eyes to the "whys" of drastically different belief systems and hope for others (in politics) to be more open-minded.

Blog #9 Students Feedback

As the semester is coming to an end, so are my SIL workshops. I have had the privilege of being an SIL for a composition stretch course. I decided to end my last workshop with a reflective paper that allows students to think back to our semester workshops and answer four questions. One questioned asked them to describe what they learned in my workshops. The second asked them to reflect on a workshop that best stood out to them, and that I should keep for my future students. The third allowed them to criticize me, by suggesting what I can do to enhance my workshops. Lastly, I asked them to provide a piece of advice to my future summer bridge students (something they will want them to know, or be aware of). I was super amazed to see how much writing they turned in. Some students literally wrote two pages. I was very happy to hear from them the fact that they liked the lesson that involved Instagram, and the postcard project that let them use both text and image. The students wrote that they would love to have more lessons like those, for they feel comfortable working with social media. Another student mentioned that through these projects she was able to make friends in the class. I truly believe that bringing social media into the classroom creates a more motivated learning environment and a collaborative learning classroom, for students socialize more with peers and have a stronger communication with their instructor.

What happened to Cinco de Mayo?

Last year, prior to Trump's election as president, there was always an aura of celebration in the Latino community during Cinco de Mayo.  During Trump's campaign, he made it a point to alienate immigrants by calling them "rapists" and other outrageous terms that were totally unfounded.  However, this year Cinco de Mayo fell on a Friday making it quite easy for the Mexican community to be in a festive mood considering the end of the work week should culminate in celebration.  But nothing happened.  No flags, no food, no togetherness, no racial identity, no pride, no nothing.  In fact, the community I live in embraced Cinco de Mayo so much that I conditioned myself not to cook because my neighbors were happy to give away their food in recognition of their moment to honor their independence.  Again, nothing happened.  Why?  I was forced to realize that Trump's campaign of "Making America Great Again" means different things for different people.  Does it sound like I'm complaining?  In fact I am.  I am not sure if I am reading to far into this mysterious absence of celebration on behalf of the Latino community, but after pondering the situation, I felt, at least to a small degree, the aftershock of Jim Crow Laws.  And here's why.  The immediate suppression of expression, the scenery of silence, the suffocation of celebration appeared to be a momentary trip down memory lane of legal attitudes to quarantine people, much like Jim Crow did for blacks years ago.  By no means am I suggesting that the lack of the Latino community to celebrate Cinco de Mayo is anywhere near the grotesque, systematic repression of Jim Crow.  I just think these developments have a didactic assignment written all over it.  It just smells of something that may proliferate into something mildly resembling Jim Crow or El Novo Jim Crow.  However,  I think I could have students write a paper about what exactly does "Make America Great" actually mean.  Is it for everybody?  Who is left out?  Why are they left out?  What do you think?

Lindemann chapter 13 blog #11

Lindemann's chapter, "Developing Writing Assignments"  lists 6 criteria teachers must account for if we give students complete freedom developing elements of an assignment, which are, 1. Student interest/understanding; 2. Purpose/claim; 3. Audience; 4. Role for students with audience/subject (I have no idea how to even begin to explain this to NNS. In fact, I'm not sure I really know what Lindemann is getting at. Help? 5. Form of discourse; 6. Criteria for success
I definitely do not use all of this criteria! My students are aware of all but # 4. Besides we don't write long enough papers to be too worried about everything, but definitely 1 and 6.

Lindquist blog #10

Lindemann ch. 12 blog #9

Lindemann's suggestion about peer review workshopping is what I already do, to a certain extent. I put student's in pairs based on gender, race/nationality, age and level of writing, but what I use these pairs for is not "typical" workshopping in a composition classroom because I have to teach multiple skills in addition to writing. Because of this, I have student's read their partner's written work, ask questions and/or take notes to "report"  (tell the rest of us) about their partner's paper. These are NOT essays, but this type of exercise provides students with the opportunity to work on all skills (listening, reading, speaking and writing). I love my students and my job, but I am excited to teach composition as I read about so many good strategies/suggestions. Oh this week I'm using about 2 classes (3hours) for pairs to write e similarities and differences of an event in their prospective countries (table manners, weddings, etc).

Hello.

Teaching Literature

I want to teach composition using literature. One way if doing this is with specific types. An article I found talks about "Teaching American Literature from a Market Perspective" and it connects well with the article about barroom ethnography. Students benefit from reading material that enriches their understanding of how class issues affect their academic awareness and their personal lives. Not that I want to be a strict Marxist either. I find it important to incorporate literature while working with students who are learning both authentic and academic voice. My question to those with experience is, do you suggest the standard books, such as Dreiser, which I read in community college and loved, or go rogue?

Staying hands off

Both my sophomore and freshman classes are working on an essay. In both cases a fellow teacher and I wrote the prompts together. Typically, my coworker has a tendency to be much more structured than I am and gives her students specific instructions on how many paragraphs to include, topic sentences, context, 2 pieces of evidence per paragraph, analysis, concluding sentences etc. In all fairness, her guidelines align with those expressed by my department and often produce decent products. I on the other hand, prefer to give students a prompt and allow them to make decisions about how many pieces of evidence they think they need, how many paragraphs are appropriate, etc. My coworker decided to try it "my way" and is anxious about the lack of instruction (though also excited to try something new). Her anxiety unintentionally brought out mine. Should I be giving students more structure? I have read and learned that writing does not follow the rigid rules often taught in English classrooms, but how hands off should I be? 

          I always have students submit their thesis statements for approval so as to make sure that they are answering all parts of the prompt, and I often encourage students to see me during office hours or class time but I have started wondering if I am being too hands off. I think this may be a momentary stress, as usually I feel pretty confident in what I am doing, but for now I am struggling with how much guidance is too much vs. too little.

Blame The Teacher

In 2009, I attended a conference in Los Angeles Valley College. The discussion was featured students and teachers. My speech teacher, at the time, conducted the conference, and the audience was a combination of students and instructors of no more than thirty in attendance.


We discussed various problems from the point of view of the student and teacher alike. However, what I will never forget is one student's comment on a teacher's apathetic approach to lecturing. I'm paraphrasing his words: "I have this one math teacher who slurs his words and shows no enthusiasm in his lectures, and he expects the students to write down his notes. I cannot do that."


I mention this experience because while I enjoy the role of a student more than a teacher, I think it is worth noting that these teachers contribute to these students' grasp on the subject. In order for students to succeed, teachers must provide a quality education for them. It is a proven fact that there are countless factors that must be taken into consideration in the teacher-student relationship.


Having said that, I think that teachers must keep in mind that their students are sensitive, and they rely on the instructor's interest and knowledge in the field in order for them to fully grasp it. Simply put, teachers must be passionate in their field in order to contribute to their students' growth. Teachers need to remember that some of their students are already uninterested in their field, so the teachers' lack of interest worsens their plight.


It is easy to blame the students for their poor study habits and organizational skills. However, teachers are to equally blame for the poor academic performance.

Andersen Blog #10 - Self-Directed Learning

Self-Directed Learning

A relatively new wave in education is the concept of self-directed learning which proceeds from the idea that people learn best when they have a stake in their own placement. It is believed that they will learn better if they have control of what level and what direction their learning takes. I have not fully researched this concept, but I am challenged with accepting it. If students are unconsciously incompetent (don’t know what they don’t know) how can they successfully select where they should be placed? Students often overestimate their comprehension levels or underestimate the amount of help they truly need. For example, in my tutoring class I have a student who informed me that she did not need to be in the basic class because her credits from high school have all come in and it was determined that based on her credits, she does not need remediation. However, she has not received a passing grade on any of the assignments this semester and will undoubtedly fail the class. I find it hard to believe that the reason for her failure is because she did not place herself in that classroom but someone else made the selection for her.  Should I expect that when she goes to ENG 101 she will suddenly understand the concepts of complete sentences and paragraph structures? I worry that this innovation will leave students behind or pass them along when they have not truly mastered the concepts of writing.

Bar Room Criticism

I had a conversation in the bar this weekend with a barber/salon coworker about the need for us to be critical of the work that leaves our shop regardless of who the stylist is.  We talked about the critical eye and criticism as a mode to protect our product image and improve the work of each of the artist/ stylist in our shop.  I tried to relate to her some aspects of Berthoff's essay "A Curious Triangle and the Double-Entry Notebook; or, How Theory Can Help Us Teach Reading and Writing".  Of course there was some disconnect in the relationship between the discourse of hair and discourse of writing.  However, as Berthoff suggest, "becoming critical, developing a method, is the best way, I think for teachers and students to learn from one another."  As, we talked about the struggle some stylist have when others are critical of their work and how to best engage that dialogue effectively, I related it to the possibilities in the classroom setting.  As Berthoff suggest, "the meaning of meaning most useful to us is that it is a means: speaking and writing, listening and reading all engage us in the making of meaning by means of language..."  As teachers and students must do in the classroom by developing or expanding a discourse for reading, writing and critical responses to student writing, we must develop a professional discourse in a workplace like a salon that enables coworkers to be empowered in the same way teachers must empower students.

EnJaMbEd Success!

I'd like to take this blog to say thank you and Congratulations to the staff and everyone involved in the publication of this years Enjambed and the event that they put on Thursday afternoon.  The guest speaker was thematically appropriate and inspiring!  The food was awesome.  The crowd was energetically engaged!  The event and the publication surpassed any expectations that I may have had and I am honored that my work was selected.  The quality of this publication is a testament to the importance of student centered classrooms and learning opportunities.  It was more than a chance to showcase student work. It is an emblematic example of the students ability expand the learning experience for the entire academic community.  Once again, thank you and congratulations!