Archive for January, 2009
Interview Proposal
Thursday, January 29th, 2009 | Uncategorized | 4 Comments
1. Who: Stacey Lynn Osborn
Title: Current Instructor, English Department Bowling Green State University (Taught my World Literature, ENG 262 class)
2. Method: We will be having a face-to-face interview next Monday at 4:30 pm. I chose to do a face-to-face interview because it was convenient for Stacey. She has a very energetic and interactive personality so I think the interview will be more successful if we are in person as well. I think I will also benefit because I will actually get to experience her enthusiasm for the topic and her genuine reactions to the questions I ask.
3. Goals: I chose to interview Stacey Osborn because has had the biggest impact on me in the college classroom thus far. I had never had a teacher who was as passionate about her job as her in my life. She was very enthusiastic and motivating every day. I also really admired her teaching style. She had a unique way of getting the entire class involved each day and we were always having a good time. I loved her teaching pedagogy and I cannot wait to learn more about it in the interview I conduct. Stacey is a person that I really look up to and aspire to be like someday. I hope I can mock her teaching style in my own classroom and I am very interested to see learn her teaching tactics and how she has become so successful at building and comfortable and fun learning community. One thing that will be very important to me as a future teacher of writing will be how to make the process exciting and fun and I think talking with Stacey will give me good insight on how to do that in the future. I am nervous for teaching writing and I hope she will give me good advice as far as feeling comfortable, how to respond to students writing appropriately, and how to motivate students to write well. Another thing that I love about Stacey is her infectious personality that always seemed to make students feel comfortable.
4. Working Questions:
1. How do you go about creating a successful and safe learning community that encourages students to share their voice and interact?
2. What tactics do you use to motivate students to write well, especially students who might not view themselves as good writers?
3. How do you want students to think of your class? Why?
4. How do you engage students, specifically quiet/reserved students?
5. What is your biggest challenge of teaching writing?
6. What did you feel unprepared for as far as the teaching of writing?
7. What is the one thing every writing teacher should know?
8. How do you respond to student writing?
9. How has technology (re)shaped your teaching?
10. What do you wish you had been taught in school, but you weren’t?
11. What is the biggest surprise about teaching writing?
12. What is your teaching philosophy?
13. What motivates you as a teacher of writing?
14. What advice do you have for me as a future teacher of writing?
15. Why did you choose to teach writing?
16. Are you an affect-centered, craft-centered, or balanced teacher of writing?
17. What rituals or routines do you have for your classes?
18. Do you share your own writing with students? Why or Why not?
5. Questions: Can we record the interview?
Question for Discussion:
In the interview Donald Graves talks about the backlash against teaching and education as a result of budget cuts. As teachers of writing, how to we cope with this issue considering our current economic state? How do we help students who are more at risk without the help of school funding?
Workshop 1 Video Blog
Tuesday, January 27th, 2009 | Uncategorized | 1 Comment
After experiencing technical difficulties I finally had the chance to view the video. I was very happy after I saw the video because it was worth the trouble and the wait. I will be honest, I was a little hesitant after I listened to the opening speaker who was older. I thought the video was going to be boring, but I was very wrong. I learned a lot from the video. Not only from listening to the perspectives of the teachers but by watching the activities the teachers did in their classrooms. The video gave me a chance to think about the kinds of activities and values I want in my classroom. I like seeing how each of the teachers tried to implement a safe learning environment in their classroom. I got to see the things I liked and didn’t like about each of their teaching styles. For the most part I liked what the teachers were doing in their classrooms but there were some aspects that I didn’t think would work for me.
The general topic for the video was creating a community of writers. One common theme that each of the teachers shared was the idea of creating a safe environment for the students to learn. This idea involved different things for different teachers. They each had their own ideas, some of which were similar, on what makes a safe environment. They gave strategies for feeling safe which included; having a writing voice and speaking voice that students feel comfortable sharing, sharing stories and personal experiences, the teachers writing along with the students, and also the physical environment of the class room. I think all of these aspects are very important. I found that the two most important strategies across the board were writing with the students and having the students share their work and their voice.
I thought Velvet McReynolds was a very effective teacher and I liked everything she did with her class. It seemed like her class was very comfortable and they were always having a good time learning. Her class also seemed like they were the most willing to share their thoughts and their work. She had a lot of really good ideas that she implemented in her classroom. She expressed that building a community starts from day one with the teacher. She stressed how important it was for the teacher to share personal stories with their students. Also, she talked about the importance of having rituals and routines. In her opinion the children need to feel valued and respected and I couldn’t agree more. She focused a lot on sharing and participation in the classroom. She also talked about how critical it was for the share their work and for the students to view the teacher as a writer too. I think this is a good concept because I think modeling is the best tool in teaching. She said the finished product is often intimidating and it is important for the students to have the idea, “were all in this together.” Velvet did an activity where she wrote and story and had the students read it and give her feedback. I thought this was really cool because the students felt like she was learning just as much as they were and they got to see that writing was an ongoing process for everyone not just them. This activity also gave the students a chance to see Velvet in a different light, not just as the teacher who knows all.
I think that as a teacher sharing your writing could be very intimidating. I don’t think I am the best writer so even though I think it’s a good idea, at the same time I feel like they would find me less credible if I shared my writing and my students thought it was terrible. I think it is different in the high school setting than the middle school setting. At the high school age the students might tend to feel like they already know a lot and they might be harsher critics to my writing than a middle school student might be. Regardless I think I would be willing to try it for the sake of my classroom learning community.
Handling the Blank-Page Jitters
Thursday, January 22nd, 2009 | Uncategorized | 198 Comments
The first thing that Beth Neman talks about in Chapter 4, “Teaching the Writing Process,” is something called “Blank-Page Jitters.” She describes what it is and that many students, even professional writers and authors suffer from it. I found this very appealing because it is something that I struggle with myself. She explains that as teachers we must tap into how it makes the students feel, but she never actually gives examples of ways to get rid of the blank-page jitters. For my own personal benefit and as a future teacher of writing I would like to know; How exactly do you cure the blank-page jitters? What are some strategies I could teach my students and I do I motivate them to get past their issue?
Teaching Students to Write: Chapter 1
Tuesday, January 20th, 2009 | Uncategorized | 25,311 Comments
For Tuesday’s class we were asked to read the first chapter of Teaching Students to Write by Beth S. Neman. I am not just saying this because Lee is going to read this and I want brownie points, but I really learned a lot from this chapter. I think this book is going to teach me more than any other book I have read thus far for a class. It wasn’t just another textbook that cures insomnia, at least from what I have gathered by reading the first chapter. In summary, it showed different teaching styles for writing and gave the pros and cons of each, it provided different teaching strategies, and also gave first hand examples from former teachers that had used the strategies and styles listed in the chapter.
One of the teaching styles they talked about in the chapter was called the “affect-centered solution.” One aspect I really liked about this approach was the teacher’s role that was described. The teachers role in this approach was to, “consider themselves ‘facilitators’ whose role is to free the student’s imagination and promote growth by sustaining a positive classroom atmosphere.” Personally I feel like I can connect with this statement. I think one of the most important things a teacher can do is to create a positive learning atmosphere where the students feel comfortable expressing themselves. I also agree with this style because I believe that students will be more willing to express themselves through writing if they are genuinely interested in a topic they are writing about. Although I really like this teaching approach I agree with the author when she says, “we would recommend adoption of its many features, we would not suggest that teachers embrace it as the heart of the entire writing program.” I really appreciate the fact that this book is willing to give real advice to future teachers of writing by showing the pros and cons of everything they provide to the readers. They are giving the information and then allowing the reader to chose whichever style they prefer.
A lot of what I read I found very beneficial to my future as a teacher of writing. There were a lot of excerpts that I thought, “Wow…I better write this down, I could really use this when I’m a teacher someday.” For example, one quote I was particularly fond of was, “Certainly, it is important to let our students experience success, but we must understand that they experience a sense of success more readily when they feel they have met a challenge.” I had not put much thought into this concept before and I really liked the idea. I know it is important to be a positive motivator and encourager and it makes so much sense to me to implement this idea into my own classroom in the future. Another part of the chapter that I found very helpful was the part where they gave tips on establishing relationships with students. It was defiantly a list I could see myself referring back to, especially as I begin my student teaching next year.
Ultimately, I guess my point is that I will not dread doing the reading assignments in this book. From what I gathered from the first chapter I think I will find the information in this book to be very helpful to my future as a teacher of writing. Also I would like to discuss the essay in the end of the chapter, “In short why did the class fail?” I think it would be a good class discussion, at least to hear what everyone thought of it.
Writing and Teaching Attitudes Survey
Thursday, January 15th, 2009 | Uncategorized | 21 Comments
Writing and Teaching Attitudes Survey
The questions that follow are designed to elicit your feedback as a student, a writer, and one who is interested in teaching writing to others.
1. Describe your abilities as a writer (circle one):
Excellent Strong Okay Weak Terrible
2. Describe your perceived abilities as a soon-to-be teacher of writing (circle one):
Excellent Strong Okay Weak Terrible
3. Describe your history as a student of English/Language Arts (circle one):
Excellent Strong Okay Weak Terrible
4. How confident are you in your writing ability? (5 = extremely confident, 0 = not at all confident)
5 4 3 2 1 0
5. How confident are you in your ability to teach writing? (5 = extremely confident, 0 = not at all confident)
5 4 3 2 1 0
6. How comfortable are you having teachers assess your writing? (5 = extremely comfortable, 0 = extremely uncomfortable)
5 4 3 2 1 0
7. How comfortable are you with assuming the role of assessor—of assessing student writing? (5 = extremely comfortable, 0 = extremely uncomfortable)
5 4 3 2 1 0
8. How much value do you give instructor assessments of your writing? (5 = tremendous value, 0 = no value)
5 4 3 2 1 0
9. How much value do you believe your students will give your assessments of their writing? (5 = tremendous value, 0 = no value)
5 4 3 2 1 0
10. How often are or were you asked to participate in some form of peer response activity in the writing classes you have taken in college and in high school?
Very often Often Sometimes Rarely Never
11. How often will you ask your students to participate in some form of peer response activity?
Very often Often Sometimes Rarely Never
12. How comfortable are you having fellow classmates respond to your writing? (5 = extremely comfortable, 0 = extremely uncomfortable)
5 4 3 2 1 0
13. How comfortable do you believe your students are likely to be having their fellow classmates respond to their writing? (5 = extremely comfortable, 0 = extremely uncomfortable)
5 4 3 2 1 0
14. How confident are you in responding to your peers’ writing? (5 = extremely confident, 0 = not at all confident)
5 4 3 2 1 0
15. How confident do you imagine your students will be in responding to their peers’ writing? (5 = extremely confident, 0 = not at all confident)
5 4 3 2 1 0
16. How much value do you give peer responses to your writing? (5 = tremendous value, 0 = no value)
5 4 3 2 1 0
17. How much value do you imagine your students are likely to give peer responses to their writing? (5 = tremendous value, 0 = no value)
5 4 3 2 1 0
Short Answer
18. If asked to define writing in your own words, how would you respond? What is (or isn’t) writing?
-Writing is a process. It has many different elements and levels. It can be anything from forming letters and words on paper to grammar, syntax, and even story writing. Writing can be formal or informal.
19. If asked to define teaching in your own words, how would you respond? What is (or isn’t) teaching?
– Teaching is hard to define for me. Teaching is about sharing the knowledge you have and giving it to others. There are different styles of teaching and different ways to teach things. It’s about providing instruction in a way that others can learn from and enjoy.
20. What would you list as your particular strengths as a writer? And how have you come to know them as your strengths?
-One of my biggest strengths as a writer is to be able to put my thoughts into words on paper. Once I have an idea I go with it. I think writing in a journal has helped me because I am used to writing down my thoughts.
21. What would you list as your particular weaknesses or challenges as a writer? And how have you come to know them as your weaknesses or challenges?
-Sometimes I lack the motivation to sit down and write a paper, especially research papers or long papers. Once I get started I’m fine but the problem is getting motivated to write things that I’m not interested in.
22. How did you learn to write; or, how do you remember learning to write?
-I remember practicing at home with my parents, how to write my name and address etc. I also remember learning to write at school on the paper that smears and on the chalkboard.
23. When, or as a result of what phenomena, do you believe writing improves?
-I think writing improves with motivation and practice. Just as other things in life, practice makes perfect. I also think that when people enjoy or are interested in what they are writing their writing will improve as a result. People also need people to encourage them along the way.
24. When, or as a result of what phenomena, do you believe writing worsens?
-I believe writing worsens when people lose interest or start to not care. For example someone’s writing might get worse at the end of a 20 page paper because they are tired and may have lost interest by that point. Also, if someone believes they are a bad writer, their writing might worsen because they don’t think the are good so they don’t care.
25. What would you list as your particular strengths as a teacher of writing? And how have you come to know them as your strengths?
-I feel like I am a pretty motivating person. Even though I may not see myself as the best writer I feel like I could motivate people and get them excited about writing. I could express my knowledge and enthusiasm and them become better writers.
26. What would you list as your particular weaknesses or challenges as a teacher of writing? And how have you come to identify them as your weaknesses or challenges?
-I think my weaknesses might be teaching grammar because I find it kind of boring. I think it will be challenging to teach students grammar in a fun and interesting way.
27. Some people say that writing ability is something that cannot be taught. What do you think?
– I disagree. I think people have to develop and interest first. Once a person is interested in something the motivation to get better will come with it. Someone could become a good writer with good instruction, practice, an motivation.
Any additional thoughts and/or comments you’d like to add? Feel free to include them here.