What I Learned in 5060

This class was very interesting and I thoroughly enjoyed the classroom discussions.  I can honestly say that my views on education and the priorities in a classroom have shifted greatly.  My original teaching philosophy focused on three things: students writing about things they understand, students understanding the relevance of classroom material, and students writing about what they care about.  As I looked closer at these elements, I realized that a class should not exclusively focus on what students already understand, even if it is easier for them to write (technically speaking). A teacher’s job is to work towards students understanding the course material well enough that they can write cohesively about it. Looking back, this seems to be very obvious.  At the time, however, I was concerned with the student’s basic writing skills that I saw while grading.  Now I see that our main job is to teach them to think, and if they think will they will write well. Also, I adjusted my understanding of reverence. Relevance does not only refer to the subject about which they are writing, it also includes understanding the relevance of composition in their lives.  Of course when they write they will write about things that are relevant to them or their careers, but they need to be show how the act of writing and choices made while communicating are instrumental in interacting with the world around them. The last focus of my original philosophy was students write best when they write about things they care about.  This is basically restating what the first two went over.  The more important key in teaching is making the students care about what you are teaching.  I feel like my revised philosophy sums up what I learned in this class:

Good teachers are reflective teachers: those whose teaching strategies evolve and adapt to the needs of their students. When it comes to teaching composition there are two basic things that I believe:

1.      1.  Courses need to be designed to include assignments and assessments that support a myriad of learning strategies.

2.      2.  Students want to explore topics that are relevant to their lives and experiences

Composition is more than simply learning to write. It is about understanding how choices affect how their message is communicated.  While clear and professional writing is a desired of goal of composition classes, students should be given the opportunity to do more than write. Essays are extremely complex and require comprehension of a number of elements: grammar, spelling, organization, and all the requirements of a given genre. While mastery of these concepts is desired, there should be alternative ways for students to express their knowledge about how rhetoric can be used to manipulate a message. Students learn in different ways and it is unfair to assign projects that appeal to one kind of learner. Modern students are constantly exposed to all forms of composition and communication, and composition teachers need to create a course that facilitates discussions of the burgeoning forms of communication. Students should be given options as to how to represent their comprehension of the course material. By allowing them to explore modalities such as in-class presentations, podcasts, or visual projects, students get to choose what strategy best expresses their understanding and gives them agency over their education.  Giving students control and respecting their needs allows them fully explore composition and how it is relevant to their lives.

When a topic is interesting or relevant, students will engage with the subject.  The most important aspect of teaching adults is demonstrating to them why the subject is relevant to them and how it will help them achieve their goals. A student’s time and energy deserves respect, as college students they are beginning to demand more out of their educational experience and need to know that what they are doing will help them.  It is my goal to make sure that each student feels respected and that their time is valued. Approaching composition as a way of improving communication skills is applicable to every career path. Making connections that allow students to understand the course material will directly affect their lives will encourage them to engage with the material. Conveying relevance is a struggle for composition because it is a required class and often it is a subject that students resist due to lack of confidence or poor past experiences. As a composition teacher, I combat this by including the students in the conversation of how composition is relevant to their lives. I cannot fully comprehend how a lesson or subject will be relevant to every student in the class; therefore, it is a useful exercise to ask the students how they think the material is relevant to them. This will give them responsibility and control over what they get out of the class, and engage them in the course material in a significant way.

Composition requires students to learn to articulate their thoughts and interpret those of others. As a teacher, I provide new information and lead discussions that foster a respectful environment that considers a multitude of perspectives and opinions.  Just as the assignments will allow students to express their thoughts in a way that best appeals to their personal learning strategy, students will be taught to appreciate those differences and the value in presenting information using different modes. Students will engage in conversations that allow them to offer different opinions on the relativity of the subjects, creating a discussion that combines multiple experiences and perspectives. Students want to express themselves, and it is the teacher’s job to allow them to do so.  They will want to communicate clearly and thoroughly if they are allowed to express themselves in a way that makes sense to them. If teachers can help students realize that the skills they are learning in first year composition will help them express their views and communicate in their future careers and life goals, they will be eager to learn.    

Free Write: Yop!

I was asked recently to publically exclaim my political views. I will admit that I took the easy way out saying something very general and obvious.  When I got chance to reflect on this later, I was fairly disappointed with myself and I did some work trying to figure out why I shied away from this opportunity.  Firstly, it is the Holiday season, which always primes me to bit my tongue. Also, I will avoid making another person feel uncomfortable at all costs. I have not figured out yet if this is because I am too nice (a thought I am suspicious of) or if I am too scared. Either way, I have chosen to try to make a career with my voice, and it seems that the time for neutrality has ended. As was pointed out to me recently, everything is political—even remaining silent.  If I must be political, I would prefer to be articulate and honest.  This, for me, will have to start small, and I will have to spend some time really considering what I believe and what I find to be reasonable.  At this time, I have very little to say (another thing I realized when I was asked to voice my opinion) because I have remained intentionally ignorant to avoid conflict—it was easier to say, “I don’t know enough about it.” So this is the official beginning to me trying to become someone with something to say.  

Response to Brooke's "Underlife and Writing Instruction"

Brooke’s article “Underlife and Writing Instruction” brings up some really interesting ideas about classroom management and forming relationships in the classroom.  First, he describes the student’s underlife and anything that takes the students out of the classroom, distracts them from participating, or even causes misbehavior. Then he explains that in general, writing teachers attempt to use aspects of underlife to help the students see themselves as writers.  Brooke gives many interesting ideas, but it all comes down to respect.  In undergraduate education classes, I was told that everyone has a story, and it is the teacher’s job to learn it.  I do not recommend that composition classes turn into come-to-Jesus meetings, but there has to be room for the student’s personal identity and expression.   More so than any other subject, writing not only reveals a student’s underlife, it relies on it.  It was clear from the first assignment that I graded for 1301 that students were desperate to set themselves apart and share their story.  That urge has been systematically beaten out of them every time we tell them there is no room for their opinion in this genre.  Writing is not only a tool for communication, it is a vehicle for self-expression.  There are so many different ways to communicate now, and if we continue to remove self-expression from writing there will be very few left who willingly do it. I cannot think of many students who would choose to write an essay if there was any other option. 

It seems that the best solution is to include underlife in classroom management in order for the students to remain engaged and bring a certain level of respect into the relationship.  College students are old enough to understand mutual respect—I believe that having an open discussion about aspects of underlife that can distract from classroom participations can be helpful.  Ask them why they are on their phones, when do they stop listening and start doodling? Do they distract themselves because they are uninterested, tired, or for some other reason? I think that including them in the conversation about how a class operates and what can be done to keep the course work interesting can be a very valuable opportunity to learn more about their identity. I am not saying that it is a teacher’s job to make sure that the students are constantly entertained, but it is important to know in general which teaching strategies appeal to your students and which cause them to tune you out.  Students will bring their underlife to class no matter how often you tell them to “leave it at the door.” It is about teaching them to balance their classroom identity and underlife identify and showing respect for both.    

Course Objective that Connects to an Objective of Future Job: Make Stylistic Choices Appropriate for a Given Rhetorical Situation.

One of the more earth shattering things I learned about composition this semester was the idea of the mode being the message.  My schooling has had a staunch devotion to the almighty essay.  While now I am thrilled to be able to write a decent essay, they were for many years the bane of my existence.  I was never a strong writer, and I am still a wretched speller.  Essays were extremely difficult for me.  For most of my school career I assumed that because I could not write an essay, then I must not understand the information.  Now I realize that essays did not jive with my personal learning strategy.  One of my missions as an educator is to provide learning opportunities that appeal to a wide variety of learners. Of course, I will continue to teach the basics that men in suits expect from their employees, but fortunately that idea is quickly broadening due to an explosion of multi-modal communication.

I admit, I may have overdone the notion of self-expression in my syllabus, but that is because I was so taken with the idea of allowing students to make choices about how they present information and reflecting on the success of that choice.  This is a really exciting time to study communication because it has never been so varied.  With the proliferation of technology, classes will have to include different ways for students to present information, and, by extension, will appeal to a larger range of learners.  Students will not only have to make choices about what they present, but how they present it; what is the right choice for the right audience and topic.  This notion pairs so well with composition is like the entire field has been waiting for this shift.  It is clear to me from grading that there are students who still struggle with the idea of making choices in writing.  It a fair thing to struggle with; it is abstract and they have had very little experience intentionally practicing it.  However, the idea of choices will be easier to demonstrate if you ask them whether or not this information should be presented in a video or podcast.  Without realizing it, they will be discussing rhetoric, and it will be easier for them to recognize similar choices in pieces of writing. 

When composition shifts to focus as much on the medium as much as the content, there will be a number of struggles. Adding new complications will be difficult for some, others may not appreciate the differences in the mediums, and a hundred more issues that no one can prepare for.  However, this is a massive shift in composition, and when the topic expands to more than just writing, it can appeal to and interest a number of different learners.  After all, learning is about making choices, considering the results, and adjusting your actions.  As with every lesson, the process becomes more complicated. However, the advances we talk towards expansion and inclusion can only lead to an overwhelming number of good things.  

Which assignment from my syllabus will students struggle with?

Due to where it falls in the schedule and the kind of paper it is, I believe that the assignment students would struggle the most with in my syllabus is the iSearch paper.  First of all, I chose to have the big research paper due after only 4 weeks in the semester.  I did this because it is a form that they understand: the essay. The other assignments in my syllabus are not essay based, so by having them write an essay first, they can use it to examine the other assignments and have something recent to compare them to. Also, it calls for them to evaluate different resources, consider their credibility, and make choices about which sources to trust and include.  But the main reason I decided to put the research paper first is because I do not think they will do well.  I want them to make mistakes so we can identify their weakness early and work on them while there is still time in the semester.  Part of my syllabus includes a portfolio with revisions and a reflection on the revision process; the hope is that the students will realize their weaknesses, learn about them and how to correct them throughout the class, and have a chance to revise thoughtfully.

 I realize that students will struggle with a number of things regarding this assignment.  They will most likely have a difficult time accumulating credible resources this early. Differentiating between the information that they are bombarded with every day will be very difficult—some advanced students struggle with this idea.  Therefore, I believe it is important to begin that conversation as early as possible. The second aspect they will struggle with is keeping this paper focused on what they know rather than on what they think.  Because this paper is called an iSearch and relies on the writer’s reflection over the research process, it may be difficult for students to separate the information they find and their own opinions—it is important to convey that this is a paper about discussing what they want to learn and how they will learn it, rather than a platform on which to preach. Finally, having something this early in the semester that relies on clear writing will be problematic for students.  The hope is that in high school they learned how to articulate their thoughts, but that is not always the case.  This may be the first time that they realize something they wrote down only makes sense to them.  I think this is an important thing to realize early so they adjust throughout the semester. 

One teachable moment that comes with this assignment is the gentle realization that to struggle and to fail is not the end, it is a chance to examine and explore mistakes in order to fix them.  This assignment will hopefully show them the difference between papers based on opinion and papers supported by credible resources.  I also hope to show them that revisions are as important as the paper itself.   

5 Key Terms

These are a could words I am not sure I understand the meaning of in the context of this class:
1.  Feminism

2.  Errors and expectations

3.  Knowledge

4. Making of Knowledge

5. Discipline

Composition assignment that includes technology

Generally, I really like thinking of lesson plans.  However, I had a very difficult time thinking of something for this week’s blog. Most of my ideas are class activities or group work.  I was having a hard time thinking of a good assignment that included technology. I am very open to suggestions on how to improve this idea!  I got the idea from an undergraduate education class I took.  In that class we talked a lot about different learning strategies; this is an important concept that everyone recognizes as necessary for early childhood education, but for some reason, starting in high school, we all decide that students suddenly learn best through lecture and note taking.  With a class like composition that is a requirement, and a very large and abstract topic, I think approaching it from many different angles and many different modes is not only important, it is necessary. 

Towards the end of the semester, I would like to have to students make a video.  The subject of the video would be their thoughts on composition and the composition course: what did they learn, how did their thoughts about composition change, what did they like about the course, what did they not, etc.  The video would need to be 6-10 minutes—I realize this is not long for a video, but I want them to focus on concision and making choices about what to include.  I would like them to post this video to a website, like YouTube, this will help them think about a real audience outside of the class and besides the teacher.

I firmly believe that the students need to have choices within assignments, so they could bring me alternative topics they wanted to do a video about as well as the points they will cover.  There are many different ways that they could make a video, they could do a voice over with relevant pictures and notes, they could do a more casual video discussion, there is even potential for them to be creative with their video.  There is lots video software out there that can appeal to different learners.  I hate the sound of my recorded voice, so when I did a similar project in my education class I used a website called animoto.  It allowed me to put pictures and text in a video and have a song playing in the background.  After doing this project I use animoto several different times for different projects.  We want to expose students to different ways of thinking about composition, but if we can do that and help them find materials they can use to be successful in other classes, all the better!