Collaborative learning - I feel like I understand what this "means" but, especially as a teacher who values social constructivism approaches to classroom instruction, I want to know more about it and its history.
Empowerment - this term seems very broad to me. Does it have to do with the student's agency? Or is this related to other modes of empowerment in the FYC classroom?
Error -Type 1 and Type 2 errors - I am very interested in patterns of error and patterns of how we correct and score errors. What are the differences between Type 1 and Type 2?
Psychology of error - same as above. I need to delve more deeply into the "Phenomenology of Error."
Names I'm not recognizing:
Stephen North
Susan Miller
Sunday, October 25, 2015
Sunday, October 18, 2015
What is one assignment you will include in your syllabus assignment that uses collaboration and/or technology and/or other things Yancey, Selfe, Breuch, Bruffee, or Shaughnessey have discussed?
This past week, the curriculum was focused on revision. I thought what better way to discuss revision than to have a real, working writer (who isn't me and thus has a different kind of authority) come into the classroom and discuss his or her own revision processes. This would lend a whole new credence to the idea of re-envisioning over merely editing.
Mark Keats, a second-year Ph.D. in Fiction, came and spoke to my students about a video essay he did last year. We started by watching the video essay and then he showed us the original drafts of his text-only essay and how it progressed into a video. He was meticulous in first describing his "global" and "local" edits to the actual text - that is, explaining to the students how a piece has to work as a cohesive whole (global) and also on a sentence level (local). They really latched onto this terminology and I loved seeing them explore the idea of a piece of writing being like a puzzle in which all the pieces must click into place, but also be their own entity. Then, they absolutely loved getting to see how he chose the images to accompany his words, how much work went into lining them up with the music, and how the overall effect was achieved.
I bring this experience up in light of this week's question because, based on my experience with Mark this week, I would definitely want a video essay to be part of my curriculum in a composition classroom. I think students are much more attuned to the concept of video on a day-to-day basis and much more, if not at least equally, accustomed to watching videos as they are to reading text. Having them create a video essay with Mark's ideas about text, revision, and alignment in mind would be very exciting. It could also help some students who perhaps aren't as strong at expression find an outlet for their creativity.
I also think it's valuable to allow students multiple outlets for "research," which would certainly be part of the creation of a video essay. Searching for images, whether personal ones or stock photos to support their argument in an analysis, can be a very reflective and generative process. Timing those photos to one's recorded voice also takes an entirely different kind of precision. Also, research like this can be more comfortable for some students who are not as at ease in the classroom or with the traditional strictures of writing. A computer lab or library or trove of newspaper articles and photos that relate to their topic (as my syllabus would be topic-centric) can be a safer space for certain students than the hubbub of class, as put well by Selfe & Selfe in "The Politics of the Interface: Power and Its Exercise in Electronic Contact Zones": "These spaces, it has been noted, have the potential for supporting student-centered learning and discursive practices that can be different from and - some claim - more engaging and democratic than those occurring within traditional classroom spaces." (p. 6)
Lastly, I would like to assign a video essay because the format appeals to me. Certain technologies elude me and I would struggle to grade them, but this one feels fresh and also applicable, so I would have an easier time as a teacher engaging with the results.
Mark Keats, a second-year Ph.D. in Fiction, came and spoke to my students about a video essay he did last year. We started by watching the video essay and then he showed us the original drafts of his text-only essay and how it progressed into a video. He was meticulous in first describing his "global" and "local" edits to the actual text - that is, explaining to the students how a piece has to work as a cohesive whole (global) and also on a sentence level (local). They really latched onto this terminology and I loved seeing them explore the idea of a piece of writing being like a puzzle in which all the pieces must click into place, but also be their own entity. Then, they absolutely loved getting to see how he chose the images to accompany his words, how much work went into lining them up with the music, and how the overall effect was achieved.
I bring this experience up in light of this week's question because, based on my experience with Mark this week, I would definitely want a video essay to be part of my curriculum in a composition classroom. I think students are much more attuned to the concept of video on a day-to-day basis and much more, if not at least equally, accustomed to watching videos as they are to reading text. Having them create a video essay with Mark's ideas about text, revision, and alignment in mind would be very exciting. It could also help some students who perhaps aren't as strong at expression find an outlet for their creativity.
I also think it's valuable to allow students multiple outlets for "research," which would certainly be part of the creation of a video essay. Searching for images, whether personal ones or stock photos to support their argument in an analysis, can be a very reflective and generative process. Timing those photos to one's recorded voice also takes an entirely different kind of precision. Also, research like this can be more comfortable for some students who are not as at ease in the classroom or with the traditional strictures of writing. A computer lab or library or trove of newspaper articles and photos that relate to their topic (as my syllabus would be topic-centric) can be a safer space for certain students than the hubbub of class, as put well by Selfe & Selfe in "The Politics of the Interface: Power and Its Exercise in Electronic Contact Zones": "These spaces, it has been noted, have the potential for supporting student-centered learning and discursive practices that can be different from and - some claim - more engaging and democratic than those occurring within traditional classroom spaces." (p. 6)
Lastly, I would like to assign a video essay because the format appeals to me. Certain technologies elude me and I would struggle to grade them, but this one feels fresh and also applicable, so I would have an easier time as a teacher engaging with the results.
Sunday, October 11, 2015
Engage in discussion about something that captured your attention over the past few weeks in the course.
So many things have been on my mind these past few weeks in 5060. I've enjoyed very much the open discourse we've created, the way we can challenge each other to think more critically not only about teaching but about the teacher's role in society. Analyzing the first year writing program at the George Washington University forced me to consider the weak spots in our 1301 curriculum. It also taught me that I can integrate the things I admire about their program into my own classroom. I never would have thought to offer my students "other" methods of writing, such as creating a mini-documentary or podcast. I only with the structure of 1301 gave me even more flexibility to create assignments like this, particularly for students who are working in multimedia in their other studies and could "show off" their talents which maybe fall flat on the RaiderWriter page.
"Curriculum" derives from the Latin currere which means to run, or race. Sometimes it does feel as if we're forcing students to compete with each other, or with our idea of what "writing" is. I'm interested in all of these readings we have that try to create a metric for "good" writing. As opposed to other subjects - those with easily-measured achievements, obvious boxes to be marked - we are asking students to understand how to communicate. That's really the goal of a composition classroom, right? To create better communicators? Students who can express themselves clearly and also receive information with a clearer ear? I have begun to realize that I'm not necessarily teaching better writing, but rather teaching them how to care about writing.
I would be remiss in ignoring the conversation we had in class last week about campus shootings. Though this is not part of our curriculum in any traditional sense, it is arguably one of the most important conversations we can bring to the classroom. Higher education is always changing, shaping to society's subtle shifts and fresh violences. The campus shooting phenomenon is no different. Teachers are afraid. People are pointing fingers. Rhetoric abounds.
I'm still not sure how to talk about this with my students but feel that I would be missing a valuable teaching moment if I did not. Some of the things we've talked about in 5060 will help me - to lead them with questions, to frame it from a rhetorical standpoint, to let them do the critical thinking - but it's still such a knotty, tragic topic that I know even the most measured conversation will turn emotional. But that's the challenge of teaching composition, in some ways. Writing incites emotion. We communicate to survive. These are not small lessons, and we shouldn't pretend they are.
"Curriculum" derives from the Latin currere which means to run, or race. Sometimes it does feel as if we're forcing students to compete with each other, or with our idea of what "writing" is. I'm interested in all of these readings we have that try to create a metric for "good" writing. As opposed to other subjects - those with easily-measured achievements, obvious boxes to be marked - we are asking students to understand how to communicate. That's really the goal of a composition classroom, right? To create better communicators? Students who can express themselves clearly and also receive information with a clearer ear? I have begun to realize that I'm not necessarily teaching better writing, but rather teaching them how to care about writing.
I would be remiss in ignoring the conversation we had in class last week about campus shootings. Though this is not part of our curriculum in any traditional sense, it is arguably one of the most important conversations we can bring to the classroom. Higher education is always changing, shaping to society's subtle shifts and fresh violences. The campus shooting phenomenon is no different. Teachers are afraid. People are pointing fingers. Rhetoric abounds.
I'm still not sure how to talk about this with my students but feel that I would be missing a valuable teaching moment if I did not. Some of the things we've talked about in 5060 will help me - to lead them with questions, to frame it from a rhetorical standpoint, to let them do the critical thinking - but it's still such a knotty, tragic topic that I know even the most measured conversation will turn emotional. But that's the challenge of teaching composition, in some ways. Writing incites emotion. We communicate to survive. These are not small lessons, and we shouldn't pretend they are.
Sunday, October 4, 2015
Response to Leah Heilig's Extended Analysis of FYC at University of Wisconsin - Eau Claire
"Language is a method used to establish and perform individual identity, as well as form connections between individuals and their society." - Leah Heilig
I'm hard-pressed to critique this analysis because I find Heilig's methodology so perceptive and encompassing. I pulled this particular quote to start my analysis because I am so impressed with Heilig's recognition of language as a performance tool, not just for writing but for human identity. She seems deeply aware of the powerful but also tenuous bond between teacher and student in the classroom, and how the teaching of writing can strengthen and reinforce students' ideas about education for their entire lives.
As both analysis and "job application," I think Heilig expertly toes the line here between pedagogical jargon and putting things into her own, more digestible words. Particularly as a candidate for a position in composition, this balance proves she is a strong teacher with a broad understanding of the history and current state of FYC in America. One of the most difficult things to do as a teacher of FYC is to put the "big terms" into "understandable terms" for students. By doing both of these things within her analysis/application, Heilig presents herself as a measured, thoughtful teacher and colleague.
As I stated before, I'm excessively impressed with Heilig's awareness of student bias and also their neediness. Even the most disengaged student is in that state because he is in need of something - affirmation, attention, stimulation. It seems that Heilig aims to create a classroom wherein students understand the broader implications not only of writing but communication in all its forms. As she says near the end of her piece, "Developing awareness, both of their own biases and rhetorical constructs such as context, exigency, audience, and purpose goes hand in hand with the development of their identity as students, writers, and citizens."
It is no secret that I see the classroom as a space for citizen-creating. I applaud Heilig as a more technically-minded compatriot in this belief, and think her analysis reveals an incredibly nuanced but also clear-cut understanding of what needs to be done in an FYC classroom, and how best to do it. Were I on the committee at UW - Eau Claire, she'd have my vote.
I'm hard-pressed to critique this analysis because I find Heilig's methodology so perceptive and encompassing. I pulled this particular quote to start my analysis because I am so impressed with Heilig's recognition of language as a performance tool, not just for writing but for human identity. She seems deeply aware of the powerful but also tenuous bond between teacher and student in the classroom, and how the teaching of writing can strengthen and reinforce students' ideas about education for their entire lives.
As both analysis and "job application," I think Heilig expertly toes the line here between pedagogical jargon and putting things into her own, more digestible words. Particularly as a candidate for a position in composition, this balance proves she is a strong teacher with a broad understanding of the history and current state of FYC in America. One of the most difficult things to do as a teacher of FYC is to put the "big terms" into "understandable terms" for students. By doing both of these things within her analysis/application, Heilig presents herself as a measured, thoughtful teacher and colleague.
As I stated before, I'm excessively impressed with Heilig's awareness of student bias and also their neediness. Even the most disengaged student is in that state because he is in need of something - affirmation, attention, stimulation. It seems that Heilig aims to create a classroom wherein students understand the broader implications not only of writing but communication in all its forms. As she says near the end of her piece, "Developing awareness, both of their own biases and rhetorical constructs such as context, exigency, audience, and purpose goes hand in hand with the development of their identity as students, writers, and citizens."
It is no secret that I see the classroom as a space for citizen-creating. I applaud Heilig as a more technically-minded compatriot in this belief, and think her analysis reveals an incredibly nuanced but also clear-cut understanding of what needs to be done in an FYC classroom, and how best to do it. Were I on the committee at UW - Eau Claire, she'd have my vote.
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