Archive for February, 2009
Response Question:Prewriting
Thursday, February 19th, 2009 | Uncategorized | 3 Comments
Response Question:
Teaching Prewriting
Neman gave an example of an inventory of ideas activity. This activity was a prewriting activity in which the teacher goes around the room and asks every student to suggest something about the subject they are working with. Neman gives a list of advantages to this approach for example, “total participation builds widespread interest and the exercise also provides group practice.” She seems to be a firm believer in this approach because she does not give any downsides to it. What could be some disadvantages to this prewriting activity?
Making Writing Meaningful Response
Wednesday, February 11th, 2009 | Uncategorized | 52 Comments
Making Writing Meaningful Response
First, I would like to start by saying that I really liked the concept of this particular video. It was a topic that really appealed to me because one of my main goals as a future teacher of writing is motivating my students to write. Personally, I have always felt that if students are writing on topics they find interesting or appealing they will feel more motivated to write well and will be more invested in the assignment as a result. This video was about motivating students to write. The featured teachers in these videos encouraged students to write about matters that were relevant and important to their lives. Some strategies used were writing editorials, writing on current events, and using media such as music to encourage students to write on topics they cared about. The teachers talked about creating an environment where student’s voices are heard. Another concern was that the student writers need to fell a purpose and need to have ownership in their writing.
The first teacher that was introduced was Damond Moodie, he taught a diverse student-centered classroom. One of his main goals was to offer choice to the students because he felt that choice creates excitement and excitement creates a product. I really liked this concept and I really agree with his statement. He also gave an assignment I liked where the students were asked to look in the media for articles and give their opinion on the article they chose. First of all, this assignment gave the students a choice and when they found the article they liked they were more prompted to give a genuine reaction to the topic because it was something they cared about. This assignment also gave the students an opportunity to connect to the outside world express their views and interests. I gathered that the students seemed very excited and willing to share on their chosen topic. I think this particular assignment really proved that when a student is interested and invested in what they are writing about their final product will be a lot more successful.
This assignment idea also fit well with Stacey Osborn’s idea of having students formulate their own questions for their writing. I interviewed Stacey for the interview project and she stressed the importance of having students formulate their own questions to write on. She said that students will feel more invested in the assignment if they have chosen what to write about. I can speak from experience that this method is successful because I used the method of critical questioning in her class and not only did I learn a lot but I was also more motivated. I think the ideas from Damond’s classroom all the way to Stacey’s really come together to prove that if a student is writing about something they feel connected to or interested in they will be more motivated to write in the end. I realize that not every assignment can be based on current events but the more you try appeal to the students as individuals the more successful their writing will be.
Introduction
Tuesday, February 10th, 2009 | Uncategorized | 1 Comment
Interview Project Introduction
Throughout my life it has always been my dream to become a teacher. I have had teachers growing up that have impacted my decision and who I aspire to be like someday. It was not until I came to college that I started seriously thinking about my personal teaching pedagogy. I was inspired and greatly impacted by an instructor I had my sophomore year, Stacey Osborn. She changed my whole view on teaching and helped me realize how much fun I can have as a teacher while motivating my students to learn. I gained so much knowledge from the interview I conducted with Stacey. It was truly enlightening to hear about teaching writing from her perspective. I hope to model Stacy’s teaching style and pedagogy in my own classroom someday. Throughout my paper I will discuss many aspects of what I took from the interview and how I will apply the information I gained as a future teacher of writing.
Response Question: Thesis Statement
Thursday, February 5th, 2009 | Uncategorized | 3,680 Comments
In the section of Neman’s book, Understanding Expository Structure, she thoroughly explains what an arguable statement is and exactly how to arrive at one. She gives the readers ways to prove that it is important and different strategies to formulating them such as the five “strategies for formulating the arguable statement.” Neman puts a lot of stress on the importance of our students grasping and correctly formulating these statements. How do we as future teachers of writing respond to a student’s arguable thesis statement that might not be correct after a student has worked hard to understand and formulate what they perceive as a good thesis statement?
Teaching the Writing Process Informal Response
Tuesday, February 3rd, 2009 | Uncategorized | 3 Comments
Meg Richardson
ENG 484
Dr. Lee Nickoson-Massey
February 3, 2009
Teaching the Writing Process
I am a little hesitant to start this paper in fear that my introduction might be incorrect. I was not very fond of the beginning of this chapter which talked about introductions, in fact, I was a little annoyed after reading it. Don’t get me wrong the book has been great thus far but for the first time I found something I did not really like. For starters, the chapter opened up talking about something Neman describes as “blank-page jitters.” Blank-page jitters are what are referred to in the book as the reluctance to start writing or the fear of the blank page. This is a very common problem and something that I struggle with myself as a writer. Although she describes the blank-page jitters she does not actually talk about how to cure them or how to teach our students to get past them. If that was enough to irritate me, she jumps directly from the blank-page jitters to this statement, “We should not hesitate to advise our students: begin at the beginning, start with the introduction.” This statement amazed me because I don’t understand how Neman expects us to encourage our students to just get started on the introduction without even explaining how to get past the blank-page jitters. This was a little frustrating to me.
In my opinion, a main reason people get the blank-page jitters is because they stare at the blank page and have a hard time starting their paper. Neman thinks that we should encourage our students to start with the introduction, but for some people the introduction is the hardest part. A lot of times students can’t start their paper with the pressure of the perfect introduction and thesis statement hanging over their heads. Who wouldn’t be nervous to write the introduction after reading all the guidelines to a good introduction she gives. I did however like how she offered that that we could reassure our students that the introduction can be rewritten like other parts of the paper. I think that every person is different in their approach to writing a paper and it is our job as teachers to offer different strategies and help our students find what works best for them. For example, we shared in class when we write the introductions to a paper and there were a variety of different answers. For some people, the introduction is the last thing they write.
One of the topics I really liked in this chapter was teaching topic sentences. Topic sentences are something that really help me when I am structuring a paper. When I am doing an outline I always write the topic for each paragraph so I get an idea of where I want to go with that specific paragraph. Topic sentences can also be good transitions for your paper. I used to really struggle with topic sentences and now I understand the importance of them. I liked the activity that Neman presented for topic sentences. She said, “Providing students with a page or two from a professional or even student essay with the topic sentences whited out or otherwise omitted is a convincing way to demonstrate their importance for clarity of communication.” I think this is a really good idea and it after I read it I found a way that I could even expand on this. After they see how awkward a paragraph can be without a topic sentence, I could ask the students to practice writing topic sentences by having them construct a topic sentence for the missing sentence on the paper.