Deborah Holland
English 1000
Thoughts behind the course structure of English 1000, version 2
Upon reflection, I decided not to require texts for my section of English 1000. Since I’m using the writing workshop model, students will be focused on writing three complete essays, with very little time for extra work and reading. I plan to pull from compose.design.advocate as need, once I’m more familiar with my students/writing groups. Any readings I believe they would benefit from will be posted on the ning, or on eres.
I used the example syllabus as a partial source/ guide for the skeleton of my plan. Taking the offer to use the information therin, I copied what was permitted, then modified it to suit my purposes. I’ve used some of my blog postings below, plus attributed, modified postings to explain the Difficulty Paper and the Big Idea Project. I’ve also included a verbatim copy from the WPA Outcomes Statement for First-Year Composition
I like the idea of centering the first paper on an exploration of the student’s life prior to English 1000. The course guide states that the typical 19 year old Freshman is egocentric, and so they should find writing about themselves quite pleasurable, even as it challenges their media assemblage, information gathering, and expository writing skills. An auto-ethnography should provide a smooth entry into the world of academic writing. I’d start with the “Where I’m From” poem to lure them into beginning the larger assignment--and at the end of introductions, would confide that they’ve already finished one element of this assignment! Students like to believe that their work has a purpose, so this should get the writing ball rolling. The text: compose, design, advocate will be a valuable resource in this process and throughout the rest of the course.
Since I also know about Ohio State’s Digital Archive for Literacy Narrative, I’d ask students to structure their work so that it could be shared, if they wish, with others on this network. (Information pasted below this text.) Info below is from Ohio State's Digital Archive for Literacy Narratives, retrieved from (DALN) site: http://daln.osu.edu/ What is a Literacy Narrative? A literacy narrative is simply a collection of items that describe how you learned to read, write, and compose. This collection might include a story about learning to read cereal boxes and a story about learning to write plays. Some people will want to record their memories about the bedtime stories their parents read to them, the comics they looked at in the newspaper, or their first library card. Others will want to tell a story about writing a memorable letter, leaning how to write on a computer or taking a photograph; reading the Bible, publishing a 'zine', or sending an e-mail message. Your literacy narrative can have many smaller parts, but they will all be identified with your name. For instance, you might want to provide a story about learning to read a as a child, a digitized image of one of your old
report cards, a story about writing a letter as a teenager, a photograph of you as a young child; a song you learned when you were in school).
Step 1: Compose/Tell your story Decide what stories you want to tell and what items you want to include in your literacy narrative. You can tell these stories in many forms: words, images, videos, audio clips, photographs. You can include as many of these items as you’d like in your literacy narrative. They will all appear under your name. Some of the following prompts may remind you of stories you want to tell: Early experiences at home * Tell a story about how you first learned to read when you were a child. * Tell a story about how you first learned to write when you were a child. * Tell about the kinds of reading and writing that were done around your hose when you were little or when you were growing up. Were there books in your house? Comics? Music? * Tell a story about what your parents/grandparents read (example:
newspapers, books, religious materials, computer games, etc.). * Tell a story about what your parents/grandparents wrote (example: newspapers, books, religious materials, computer games, etc.). * What kinds of stories did your parents/grandparents tell you about how they learned to read and write? * Tell a story about how you first learned to use a computer. Who helped? Where was it? What did you use it for? (examples: chatrooms, email, gaming) Experiences during your school years * Tell a story about reading in elementary/secondary school. * Tell a story about writing in elementary/secondary school. * Tell a story about using a computer for reading or writing of any kind (examples: chatrooms, email, gaming, writing papers, creating music) * Tell a story about using other kinds of technology for reading and writing and communicating when you were in school (examples: cell phones, hearing aids, computers, PDAs). Why dis you use each device? How often? In what circumstances? Later experiences: * Tell a story about reading as an adult. What kinds of things do you
read for work? For fun? For education? With friends or family? * Tell a story about writing as an adult. What kinds of things do you read for work? For fun? For education? With friends or family? * Tell a story about using a computer for reading or writing of any kind (examples: chatrooms, email, gaming, writing papers, creating music). * Tell a story about the kinds of technology you unow se for reading and writing and communicating as an adult (examples: cell phones, hearing aids, computers, PDAs). Why do you use each device? How often? In what circumstances? Additional Materials We also encourage you to add as many other items as you’d like to your literacy narrative. Each item you submit should help illustrate or explain your literacy narrative: * scanned photographs of you as a child or your family, or snapshots you have taken; * scanned images of old report cards, maps you made, drawings you have created; * recorded music you have composed or sounds you have recorded * digitized clips from home movies that show your literacy practices; * short stories, letters, or other materials you have written. * essays, 'zines', newsletters, e-mail messages you have written or
contributed to; I’d help students focus on the details of this assignment through a series of mini-lessons, as a large group, then I’ll divide them into writing groups and turn them loose, using the once/week model to keep track of their progress.
The Difficulty Paper
Below please find justification and preliminary notes for the Difficulty Paper assignment. I’ve adapted and amended information posted by Michael Arnzen in Praxis and Theory, retrieved from
http://blogs.setonhill.edu/MikeArnzen/010483.html
For your second essay assignment, you will write a "Difficulty Paper" -- a task in writing about the things you find difficult to understand when reading an essay, ranging from vocabulary to turns in an argument to theoretical references -- in response to reading Fahrenheit 451. Although we will use writing group discussions to wrestle with reading and writing difficulties, the experience of recognizing and writing about story elements you find difficult to understand will serve you well in your analysis of future text and other forms of media. The "Difficulty Paper" is an assignment espoused by composition theorists Mariolina Salvatori and Patricia Donahoe in their book, The Elements (and Pleasures) of Difficulty. It comes out of the idea that by grappling with intimidating readings, students can master their anxieties about (and become more confident reading) academic texts, and that -- through writing out their thoughts (e.g., taking a metacognitive approach) they can identify what they already know and what they still need to
find out. This not only trains students in ways of reading in the future, but it also, in turn, can lead to more thoughtful and honest paper assignments. Peter Elbow calls this process "text-wrestling" -- an approach to writing that struggles-yet-embraces difficult discourse, while avoiding the superficial and distant approaches to writing that a student may have picked up in school. It's really a transcript of critical reading and I believe it will help you understand Fahrenheit 451 and then form your own ideas in relation to it, so you will construct your essay, and arguments wisely.
The Big Idea Project: Essay & Multi-Media Project
“Big ideas—broad, important human issues—are characterized by complexity, ambiguity, contradiction, and multiplicity. Whether stated as single terms, phrases, or complete statements, big ideas do not completely explicate an idea but represent a host of the concepts that form the idea. For example, the term conflict may represent a number of concepts, such as power, personal and social values, justice and injustice, and winners and losers. Because they provide artmaking with significance, big ideas are important to the work of professional artists—and of students if student artmaking is to be a meaning-making endeavor rather than simply the crafting of a product. Big ideas are what can expand student artmaking concerns beyond technical concerns. Big ideas can engage students in deeper levels of thinking.” Sydney Walker. Teaching Meaning in Artmaking.
“The principle goal of education is to create (wo)men who are capable of doing new things, not simply of repeating what other generations have done—(wo)men who are creative, inventive, and discoverers.” Jean Piaget (Creativity, 326) (wo)amendment by Deborah Holland
Big Ideas: Themes, Topics, and Issues that Endure: guidelines and justification for the Big Idea Project
Notes in blue by Deborah Holland
Template and annotations in black by Dr. Kathy Unrath
Quotes and notes in green from Rethinking Curriculum in Art by Marilyn Stewart and Sydney Walker
Project Title: Big Ideas: Themes, Topics, and Issues that Endure
Motive: Approaching an area of study through its enduring ideas is a useful strategy because big ideas are universal. This method can be designed to work for any age, in any group, at any time, anywhere, always.
Personal Stake in the Unit/Goals – Big ideas are flexible and can stretch to accommodate multiple modes of learning in a wide spectrum of curricular areas. This malleability and elasticity makes it possible to provide learning opportunities for students of all abilities in their preferred/optimum mode of learning. Meaning may be constructed in an infinite variety of response options. This approach encourages cross-curricular learning.
Big Idea Rationale: “Curriculum design is highly involved with decision making about inclusions and exclusions. Philosophical and conceptual commitments, not always overtly articulated, underlie curriculum design and influence how education is shaped. In our approach, choosing enduring ideas as a foundation for curriculum represents a philosophical commitment to content that exceeds any one subject matter or discipline.” From RethinkingCcurriculum in Art, Stewart & Walker, p. 25)
Key Instructional Concept: Big ideas are worthy of further thought and study.
Essential Questions:
What is the importance of the idea? Is it worth studying?
What is the appropriateness of the idea for study?
How does it relate to their present and future interest and needs?
How does it relate to contemporary culture?
How is the enduring idea represented in the arts?”
From Rethinking Curriculum in Art, Stewart & Walker, p. 32.
How is the big idea represented in Science/Social Studies/Language Arts/Physical Education/Media? What other experiences or information would enhance the study of the enduring idea?
Learning Strategies: One of the advantages of Constructivist learning is that multi-modal forms of response are both necessary and desirable. Students should engage in a wide range of learning/thinking/response behaviors: reading, writing, listening, field trips, art production. Accomodations should be made for Visual/Auditory and Kinesthetic learners.
Opportunities for Personal, Aesthetic and Critical Response: Students need to be encouraged to respond to big ideas in several different modes, and should be given the time and supplies necessary to do so.
Constraints: a resourceful teacher will creatively “wire around” the possible constraints of time and supplies, enabling students to engage in optimal learning experiences.
I will also use the information garnered from the WPA Outcomes Statement for First-Year Composition to guide my thinking during the course.
Retrieved from: http://wpacouncil.org/book/export/html/8
and copied verbatim
Introduction
This statement describes the common knowledge, skills, and attitudes sought by first-year composition programs in American postsecondary education. To some extent, we seek to regularize what can be expected to be taught in first-year composition; to this end the document is not merely a compilation or summary of what currently takes place. Rather, the following statement articulates what composition teachers nationwide have learned from practice, research, and theory. This document intentionally defines only "outcomes," or types of results, and not "standards," or precise levels of achievement. The setting of standards should be left to specific institutions or specific groups of institutions.
Learning to write is a complex process, both individual and social, that takes place over time with continued practice and informed guidance. Therefore, it is important that teachers, administrators, and a concerned public do not imagine that these outcomes can be taught in reduced or simple ways. Helping students demonstrate these outcomes requires expert understanding of how students actually learn to write. For this reason we expect the primary audience for this document to be well-prepared college writing teachers and college writing program administrators. In some places, we have chosen to write in their professional language. Among such readers, terms such as "rhetorical" and "genre" convey a rich meaning that is not easily simplified. While we have also aimed at writing a document that the general public can understand, in limited cases we have aimed first at communicating effectively with expert writing teachers and writing program administrators.
These statements describe only what we expect to find at the end of first-year composition, at most schools a required general education course or sequence of courses. As writers move beyond first-year composition, their writing abilities do not merely improve. Rather, students' abilities not only diversify along disciplinary and professional lines but also move into whole new levels where expected outcomes expand, multiply, and diverge. For this reason, each statement of outcomes for first-year composition is followed by suggestions for further work that builds on these outcomes.
Rhetorical Knowledge
By the end of first year composition, students should
Focus on a purpose
Respond to the needs of different audiences
Respond appropriately to different kinds of rhetorical situations
Use conventions of format and structure appropriate to the rhetorical situation
Adopt appropriate voice, tone, and level of formality
Understand how genres shape reading and writing
Write in several genres
Faculty in all programs and departments can build on this preparation by helping students learn
The main features of writing in their fields
The main uses of writing in their fields
The expectations of readers in their fields
Critical Thinking, Reading, and Writing
By the end of first year composition, students should
Use writing and reading for inquiry, learning, thinking, and communicating
Understand a writing assignment as a series of tasks, including finding, evaluating, analyzing, and synthesizing appropriate primary and secondary sources
Integrate their own ideas with those of others
Understand the relationships among language, knowledge, and power
Faculty in all programs and departments can build on this preparation by helping students learn
The uses of writing as a critical thinking method
The interactions among critical thinking, critical reading, and writing
The relationships among language, knowledge, and power in their fields
Processes
By the end of first year composition, students should
Be aware that it usually takes multiple drafts to create and complete a successful text
Develop flexible strategies for generating, revising, editing, and proof-reading
Understand writing as an open process that permits writers to use later invention and re-thinking to revise their work
Understand the collaborative and social aspects of writing processes
Learn to critique their own and others' works
Learn to balance the advantages of relying on others with the responsibility of doing their part
Use a variety of technologies to address a range of audiences
Faculty in all programs and departments can build on this preparation by helping students learn
To build final results in stages
To review work-in-progress in collaborative peer groups for purposes other than editing
To save extensive editing for later parts of the writing process
To apply the technologies commonly used to research and communicate within their fields
Knowledge of Conventions
By the end of first year composition, students should
Learn common formats for different kinds of texts
Develop knowledge of genre conventions ranging from structure and paragraphing to tone and mechanics
Practice appropriate means of documenting their work
Control such surface features as syntax, grammar, punctuation, and spelling.
Faculty in all programs and departments can build on this preparation by helping students learn
The conventions of usage, specialized vocabulary, format, and documentation in their fields
Strategies through which better control of conventions can be achieved
Composing in Electronic Environments
As has become clear over the last twenty years, writing in the 21st-century involves the use of digital technologies for several purposes, from drafting to peer reviewing to editing. Therefore, although the kinds of composing processes and texts expected from students vary across programs and institutions, there are nonetheless common expectations.
By the end of first-year composition, students should:
Use electronic environments for drafting, reviewing, revising, editing, and sharing texts
Locate, evaluate, organize, and use research material collected from electronic sources, including scholarly library databases; other official databases (e.g., federal government databases); and informal electronic networks and internet sources
Understand and exploit the differences in the rhetorical strategies and in the affordances available for both print and electronic composing processes and texts
Faculty in all programs and departments can build on this preparation by helping students learn
How to engage in the electronic research and composing processes common in their fields
How to disseminate texts in both print and electronic forms in their fields
Sunday, May 17, 2009
Syllabus for English 1000
English 1000
Deborah Holland, Instructor: Office in 303 Townsend: MWF 3-4:00 p.m. or by appointment
Phone: 882-6572; e-mail dkhad8@mizzou.edu
The goal of English 1000 is to improve students' skill in writing academic papers. The strategy in this section will be to focus, especially in Essays 2 and 3, on papers comparable to those assigned in Writing Intensive courses. These papers require close analyses of media in all its various forms and then collecting impressions and evidence to support an opinion about the form of media studied. Your essays and projects will also require the use and citation of outside sources, both tangible and electronic.
Suggested, but not required texts and materials:
Wysocki, Frances & Lynch, Dennis A. compose.design.advocate
Hacker, Diana A pocket manual of style, 4th edition
Some matters of classroom management: Attendance & Late Work Attendance:
I will take attendance, so please attend class unless there is a significant personal emergency and/or you are too ill to do so. I will drop students for absences if they miss the equivalent of six classes, You should arrive in class with the texts, documents and supplies necessary for your success, fully prepared to take an active role in class activities. We will meet as a large group during Weeks 1 & 2, then again during Week 10. Personal appointments to discuss big idea proposals will occur during Week 11. All other weeks, you will attend class on your assigned day to meet with your writing group.
Late work:
Decisions regarding the acceptance of late work will be made on a case-by-case basis. Do your best to plan ahead so you will be prepared to turn in your assignments on time.
Assignments are due at the beginning of class. Please contact me the day before the assignment is due if you require an extension of the due date.
We workshop papers, meaning that students' work will be shown to other students and discussed in class. In a class this size it is impossible to workshop anonymously. I will not, of course, discuss your grade with other students.
One function of this class is to ensure that students understand how to use sources properly and avoid plagiarism. Before you hand in any work, read sections 29 and 30 of A Pocket Style Manual (pages 115-123). In this class plagiarism, no matter how accidental or trivial, will always result in a grade penalty. Papers that involve plagiarism exceeding the accidental or trivial will be assigned zeros. In addition, I will report any incident of plagiarism that may be intentional to the Provost's office, which may administer penalties as severe as suspension or expulsion.
Words from the Provost:
Academic Integrity Academic integrity is fundamental to the activities and principles of a university. All members of the academic community must be confident that each person's work has been responsibly and honorably acquired, developed, and presented. Any effort to gain an advantage not given to all students is dishonest whether or not the effort is successful. The academic community regards breaches of the academic integrity rules as extremely serious matters. Sanctions for such a breach may include academic sanctions from the instructor, including failing the course for any violation, to disciplinary sanctions ranging from probation to expulsion. When in doubt about plagiarism, paraphrasing, quoting, collaboration, or any other form of cheating, consult the course instructor. Access If you need accommodations because of a disability, if you have emergency medical information to share with me, or if you need special arrangements in case the building must be evacuated, please inform me immediately. Please see me privately after class, or at my office.
To request academic accommodations (for example, a note taker or extended time on exams), students must also register with the Office of Disability Services (http://disabilityservices.missouri.edu ), S5 Memorial Union, 882-4696. It is the campus office responsible for reviewing documentation provided by students requesting academic accommodations, and for accommodations planning in cooperation with students and instructors, as needed and consistent with course requirements. For other MU resources for students with disabilities, click on "Disability Resources" on the MU homepage.
Whole class attendance and organization of writing groups:
For the first two weeks of class, we will meet as a group and work on some of the components of your first paper, an auto-ethnography. Starting with week three, you will attend class once/week on your designated day, where you will meet with me and the other members of your small writing group. We will use this time to discuss readings, projects, and the writing of each member of the group.
Learning Objectives:
Develop ability to apply principles and generalizations already learned to new problems and situations
Develop analytic skills.
Develop problem-solving skills; identify difficulties in understanding.
Develop ability to draw reasonable inferences from observations.
Develop ability to synthesize and integrate information and ideas.
Develop ability to think holistically; to see the whole as well as the parts.
Develop ability to think creatively.
Develop ability to distinguish between fact and opinion.
Develop the ability to work productively with others.
Grading
If you want to earn an A, you need to accumulate at least 225 of the 250 points available in this class. Each essay will be 20% of your grade. During this class, you will be asked to write three essays: an auto-ethnography, a difficulty paper based on Fahrenheit 451, and a final essay on a
topic of interest to you that has been approved by me. Three essays @20% each = 60% of your grade. Each essay is worth 50 points, for a total of 150 points. Writing group participation (20% of your grade) will be worth up to 50 points, and your blog posts will also be worth up to 50 points—the final 20% of your grade. It is possible to earn extra points if your thinking and writing stuns me with your brilliance! Assignments for the first essay: Auto-ethnography You will Write your own "Where I'm From" poem, after viewing the original and other examples. You need not follow the rhythm of the piece, but should keep the same general intent, using your own narrative voice. WIF poems will later be posted on the ning, but during class you will pair up and use the poem as a way to quickly get acquainted. Each person will introduce their paired up NBF, using information garnered from the poem and a brief informal interview. In the second assignment, you will write about your life in the manner of Hemingway. We’ll review and then discuss examples, noting characteristics of style. Please post your imitative essay on the ning, and then comment on the writing efforts of peers. Please post at least one interesting link to some of Hemingway’s short stories, or links to information about his life and times. Finally, please locate and post your favorite Hemingway quote and then write a justification as to why you chose it. (And if you cannot identify a favorite Hemingway quote, then post a favorite from another writer.) The third assignment involves a written imitation of the Peterman catalog style of writing. Please write about one aspect of your life in a Peterman-like manner and voice, and post your essay on the ning. The fourth assignment requires you to choose four items in your life that are important to you and use an essay, collage, poem, song, chant, rap, painting, photo or multi-media to express why these items are in your top four. Bonus points given for creativity and extra effort. Students should post their top four on the ning. Fave five: I'm borrowing this assignment from Facebook, and it is remarkably like assignment #4, except this time, you should choose five favorite songs,
YouTube videos, websites, blogs, games--with an explanation of why they are favorites. Think back five years and see if you can recall your fave five from back in the mists of time. How have your tastes changed? Check the DALN list posted on the class ning to help you think of to additional elements for your Auto-ethnography.
Schedule
Week
Monday
Wednesday
Friday
1
Introduction, Syllabus
Where I’m From essay: write in class, share with partner, class introductions, then post to the ning—an action hereby abbreviated as P2N.
Writing, made choppy. A study and imitation of
Hemingway’s writing voice. Write about some aspect of your life in Hemingway’s style, then P2 N.
This is your life—Peterman’s catalog style. Write about some aspect of your life in the style of Peterman’s, then P2N.
2
Fave Four: choose four of your favorite things, write about them, and
P2N.
Fave Five: choose five of your favorite items within one broad category, then write about your choice and P2N.
Collect information you plan to use in your auto-ethnography and put it into the form most useful for you. If you are stumped, check the class ning for the list of suggestions posted under information about the DALN project. Begin your essay, expanding on the information gathered, and bring copies of your rough draft for your group members next week.
Remember, we will begin small group meetings next week. The next time we will meet as a large group will be during Week 10, so please mark your calendar accordingly.
3
Go over small group guidelines and discuss rough drafts. Revise and add to rough draft, and
Go over small group guidelines and discuss rough drafts. Revise and add to rough draft, and bring copies
Go over small group guidelines and discuss rough drafts.
Revise and add to rough draft, and bring copies to the next
bring copies to the next session for everyone in the group.
to the next session for everyone in the group.
session for everyone in the group.
4
Group discussion of essay, final suggestions for revision. Finished paper due next week. Begin reading Fahrenheit 451 and come to class ready to discuss it.
Group discussion of essay, final suggestions for revision. Finished paper due next week. Begin reading Fahrenheit 451 and come to class ready to discuss it.
Group discussion of essay, final suggestions for revision. Finished paper due next week. Begin reading Fahrenheit 451 and come to class ready to discuss it.
5
Submit Essay One. Discuss Difficulty Papers.
Discuss Fahrenheit 451, noting difficulties and questions for later use. Begin a rough draft of Difficulty paper.
Submit Essay One. Discuss Difficulty Papers.
Discuss Fahrenheit 451, noting difficulties and questions for later use. Begin a rough draft of Difficulty paper.
Submit Essay One. Discuss Difficulty Papers.
Discuss Fahrenheit 451, noting difficulties and questions for later use. Begin a rough draft of Difficulty paper.
6
Discuss Fahrenheit 451 difficulty paper rough drafts, note additional difficulties that come to light. Rough Draft-500 word paper due next week.
Discuss Fahrenheit 451 difficulty paper rough drafts, note additional difficulties that come to light. Rough Draft-500 word paper due next week.
Discuss Fahrenheit 451 difficulty paper rough drafts, note additional difficulties that come to light. Rough Draft-500 word paper due next week.
7
Turn in rough draft for grading. Continue to discuss and write about F451.
Turn in rough draft for grading. Continue to discuss and write about F451.
Turn in rough draft for grading. Continue to discuss and write about F451.
8
Return papers. Revise and complete papers for submission next week.
Return papers. Revise and complete papers for submission next week.
Return papers. Revise and complete papers for submission next week.
9
Submit F451 paper (5 page minimum) for grading. Begin work on Big Idea project.
Submit F451 paper (5 page minimum) for grading. Begin work on Big Idea project.
Submit F451 paper (5 page minimum) for grading. Begin work on Big Idea project.
10
Meet as a large group to discuss research and guidelines for the production of the big idea project.
Examples of big idea projects will be revealed. Continued class discussion of big idea project.
Brainstorm use of technology for big idea project.
11
Individual appointments to discuss and receive project approval for big idea. Begin research and
Individual appointments to discuss and receive project approval for big idea. Begin research and writing.
Individual appointments to discuss and receive project approval for big idea. Begin research and writing.
writing.
12
Meet with writing group, go over Big Idea rough draft. Submit rough draft for review. Keep writing.
Meet with writing group, go over Big Idea rough draft. Submit rough draft for review. Keep writing.
Meet with writing group, go over Big Idea rough draft. Submit rough draft for review. Keep writing.
13
Rough drafts returned. Group review of latest product. Revise and continue assembling project.
Rough drafts returned. Group review of latest product. Revise and continue assembling project.
Rough drafts returned. Group review of latest product. Revise and continue assembling project.
14
Turn in papers and celebrate!
Turn in papers and celebrate!
Turn in papers and celebrate!
Deborah Holland, Instructor: Office in 303 Townsend: MWF 3-4:00 p.m. or by appointment
Phone: 882-6572; e-mail dkhad8@mizzou.edu
The goal of English 1000 is to improve students' skill in writing academic papers. The strategy in this section will be to focus, especially in Essays 2 and 3, on papers comparable to those assigned in Writing Intensive courses. These papers require close analyses of media in all its various forms and then collecting impressions and evidence to support an opinion about the form of media studied. Your essays and projects will also require the use and citation of outside sources, both tangible and electronic.
Suggested, but not required texts and materials:
Wysocki, Frances & Lynch, Dennis A. compose.design.advocate
Hacker, Diana A pocket manual of style, 4th edition
Some matters of classroom management: Attendance & Late Work Attendance:
I will take attendance, so please attend class unless there is a significant personal emergency and/or you are too ill to do so. I will drop students for absences if they miss the equivalent of six classes, You should arrive in class with the texts, documents and supplies necessary for your success, fully prepared to take an active role in class activities. We will meet as a large group during Weeks 1 & 2, then again during Week 10. Personal appointments to discuss big idea proposals will occur during Week 11. All other weeks, you will attend class on your assigned day to meet with your writing group.
Late work:
Decisions regarding the acceptance of late work will be made on a case-by-case basis. Do your best to plan ahead so you will be prepared to turn in your assignments on time.
Assignments are due at the beginning of class. Please contact me the day before the assignment is due if you require an extension of the due date.
We workshop papers, meaning that students' work will be shown to other students and discussed in class. In a class this size it is impossible to workshop anonymously. I will not, of course, discuss your grade with other students.
One function of this class is to ensure that students understand how to use sources properly and avoid plagiarism. Before you hand in any work, read sections 29 and 30 of A Pocket Style Manual (pages 115-123). In this class plagiarism, no matter how accidental or trivial, will always result in a grade penalty. Papers that involve plagiarism exceeding the accidental or trivial will be assigned zeros. In addition, I will report any incident of plagiarism that may be intentional to the Provost's office, which may administer penalties as severe as suspension or expulsion.
Words from the Provost:
Academic Integrity Academic integrity is fundamental to the activities and principles of a university. All members of the academic community must be confident that each person's work has been responsibly and honorably acquired, developed, and presented. Any effort to gain an advantage not given to all students is dishonest whether or not the effort is successful. The academic community regards breaches of the academic integrity rules as extremely serious matters. Sanctions for such a breach may include academic sanctions from the instructor, including failing the course for any violation, to disciplinary sanctions ranging from probation to expulsion. When in doubt about plagiarism, paraphrasing, quoting, collaboration, or any other form of cheating, consult the course instructor. Access If you need accommodations because of a disability, if you have emergency medical information to share with me, or if you need special arrangements in case the building must be evacuated, please inform me immediately. Please see me privately after class, or at my office.
To request academic accommodations (for example, a note taker or extended time on exams), students must also register with the Office of Disability Services (http://disabilityservices.missouri.edu
Whole class attendance and organization of writing groups:
For the first two weeks of class, we will meet as a group and work on some of the components of your first paper, an auto-ethnography. Starting with week three, you will attend class once/week on your designated day, where you will meet with me and the other members of your small writing group. We will use this time to discuss readings, projects, and the writing of each member of the group.
Learning Objectives:
Develop ability to apply principles and generalizations already learned to new problems and situations
Develop analytic skills.
Develop problem-solving skills; identify difficulties in understanding.
Develop ability to draw reasonable inferences from observations.
Develop ability to synthesize and integrate information and ideas.
Develop ability to think holistically; to see the whole as well as the parts.
Develop ability to think creatively.
Develop ability to distinguish between fact and opinion.
Develop the ability to work productively with others.
Grading
If you want to earn an A, you need to accumulate at least 225 of the 250 points available in this class. Each essay will be 20% of your grade. During this class, you will be asked to write three essays: an auto-ethnography, a difficulty paper based on Fahrenheit 451, and a final essay on a
topic of interest to you that has been approved by me. Three essays @20% each = 60% of your grade. Each essay is worth 50 points, for a total of 150 points. Writing group participation (20% of your grade) will be worth up to 50 points, and your blog posts will also be worth up to 50 points—the final 20% of your grade. It is possible to earn extra points if your thinking and writing stuns me with your brilliance! Assignments for the first essay: Auto-ethnography You will Write your own "Where I'm From" poem, after viewing the original and other examples. You need not follow the rhythm of the piece, but should keep the same general intent, using your own narrative voice. WIF poems will later be posted on the ning, but during class you will pair up and use the poem as a way to quickly get acquainted. Each person will introduce their paired up NBF, using information garnered from the poem and a brief informal interview. In the second assignment, you will write about your life in the manner of Hemingway. We’ll review and then discuss examples, noting characteristics of style. Please post your imitative essay on the ning, and then comment on the writing efforts of peers. Please post at least one interesting link to some of Hemingway’s short stories, or links to information about his life and times. Finally, please locate and post your favorite Hemingway quote and then write a justification as to why you chose it. (And if you cannot identify a favorite Hemingway quote, then post a favorite from another writer.) The third assignment involves a written imitation of the Peterman catalog style of writing. Please write about one aspect of your life in a Peterman-like manner and voice, and post your essay on the ning. The fourth assignment requires you to choose four items in your life that are important to you and use an essay, collage, poem, song, chant, rap, painting, photo or multi-media to express why these items are in your top four. Bonus points given for creativity and extra effort. Students should post their top four on the ning. Fave five: I'm borrowing this assignment from Facebook, and it is remarkably like assignment #4, except this time, you should choose five favorite songs,
YouTube videos, websites, blogs, games--with an explanation of why they are favorites. Think back five years and see if you can recall your fave five from back in the mists of time. How have your tastes changed? Check the DALN list posted on the class ning to help you think of to additional elements for your Auto-ethnography.
Schedule
Week
Monday
Wednesday
Friday
1
Introduction, Syllabus
Where I’m From essay: write in class, share with partner, class introductions, then post to the ning—an action hereby abbreviated as P2N.
Writing, made choppy. A study and imitation of
Hemingway’s writing voice. Write about some aspect of your life in Hemingway’s style, then P2 N.
This is your life—Peterman’s catalog style. Write about some aspect of your life in the style of Peterman’s, then P2N.
2
Fave Four: choose four of your favorite things, write about them, and
P2N.
Fave Five: choose five of your favorite items within one broad category, then write about your choice and P2N.
Collect information you plan to use in your auto-ethnography and put it into the form most useful for you. If you are stumped, check the class ning for the list of suggestions posted under information about the DALN project. Begin your essay, expanding on the information gathered, and bring copies of your rough draft for your group members next week.
Remember, we will begin small group meetings next week. The next time we will meet as a large group will be during Week 10, so please mark your calendar accordingly.
3
Go over small group guidelines and discuss rough drafts. Revise and add to rough draft, and
Go over small group guidelines and discuss rough drafts. Revise and add to rough draft, and bring copies
Go over small group guidelines and discuss rough drafts.
Revise and add to rough draft, and bring copies to the next
bring copies to the next session for everyone in the group.
to the next session for everyone in the group.
session for everyone in the group.
4
Group discussion of essay, final suggestions for revision. Finished paper due next week. Begin reading Fahrenheit 451 and come to class ready to discuss it.
Group discussion of essay, final suggestions for revision. Finished paper due next week. Begin reading Fahrenheit 451 and come to class ready to discuss it.
Group discussion of essay, final suggestions for revision. Finished paper due next week. Begin reading Fahrenheit 451 and come to class ready to discuss it.
5
Submit Essay One. Discuss Difficulty Papers.
Discuss Fahrenheit 451, noting difficulties and questions for later use. Begin a rough draft of Difficulty paper.
Submit Essay One. Discuss Difficulty Papers.
Discuss Fahrenheit 451, noting difficulties and questions for later use. Begin a rough draft of Difficulty paper.
Submit Essay One. Discuss Difficulty Papers.
Discuss Fahrenheit 451, noting difficulties and questions for later use. Begin a rough draft of Difficulty paper.
6
Discuss Fahrenheit 451 difficulty paper rough drafts, note additional difficulties that come to light. Rough Draft-500 word paper due next week.
Discuss Fahrenheit 451 difficulty paper rough drafts, note additional difficulties that come to light. Rough Draft-500 word paper due next week.
Discuss Fahrenheit 451 difficulty paper rough drafts, note additional difficulties that come to light. Rough Draft-500 word paper due next week.
7
Turn in rough draft for grading. Continue to discuss and write about F451.
Turn in rough draft for grading. Continue to discuss and write about F451.
Turn in rough draft for grading. Continue to discuss and write about F451.
8
Return papers. Revise and complete papers for submission next week.
Return papers. Revise and complete papers for submission next week.
Return papers. Revise and complete papers for submission next week.
9
Submit F451 paper (5 page minimum) for grading. Begin work on Big Idea project.
Submit F451 paper (5 page minimum) for grading. Begin work on Big Idea project.
Submit F451 paper (5 page minimum) for grading. Begin work on Big Idea project.
10
Meet as a large group to discuss research and guidelines for the production of the big idea project.
Examples of big idea projects will be revealed. Continued class discussion of big idea project.
Brainstorm use of technology for big idea project.
11
Individual appointments to discuss and receive project approval for big idea. Begin research and
Individual appointments to discuss and receive project approval for big idea. Begin research and writing.
Individual appointments to discuss and receive project approval for big idea. Begin research and writing.
writing.
12
Meet with writing group, go over Big Idea rough draft. Submit rough draft for review. Keep writing.
Meet with writing group, go over Big Idea rough draft. Submit rough draft for review. Keep writing.
Meet with writing group, go over Big Idea rough draft. Submit rough draft for review. Keep writing.
13
Rough drafts returned. Group review of latest product. Revise and continue assembling project.
Rough drafts returned. Group review of latest product. Revise and continue assembling project.
Rough drafts returned. Group review of latest product. Revise and continue assembling project.
14
Turn in papers and celebrate!
Turn in papers and celebrate!
Turn in papers and celebrate!
Monday, April 20, 2009
A recipe site & comma splices
Found this recipe site via serendipity and include it here just in case you've been wondering what to assemble for supper--like the clear narrative style of the author.
http://www.101cookbooks.com/archives/a-twist-on-guacamole-recipe.html
The Visual Thesaurus included an article on comma splices, and I think it could be used for a quick lesson. I spotted at least one comma splice in my previous blogs (oh, the horror!)and while I wouldn't use a whole class period, this article could be used as a springboard for a mini-lesson on comma splices. As a follow-up activity, I'd challenge students to identify and capture comma splices in their world (much more practical & entertaining than a lame-o worksheet)and give prizes for their finds--perhaps even Smartees candy because they are brilliant language detectives. I'd also have them enter this information in a notebook where I'll ask them to log words of interest, words they needed to look up, difficulties they encountered, questions they have, and a place for links they found useful. They could store this information electronically as a singular and group project, or via the time-honored, analog method. If they put this information up electronically, then collaborative learning will likely be set into motion.
Red Pen Diaries: Zero Tolerance for Comma Splices
April 20, 2009
By Simon Glickman and Julia Rubiner
Are comma splices running rampant, or is it just me?
I keep seeing them in newspapers and magazines and on billboards and can't help but wonder if they, too, are now becoming acceptable, as have so many once-verboten grammar, ahem, alternatives before them. I sure hope not — as you might guess, I'm agin 'em.
So you can imagine my ire when I saw this in the New York Daily News recently: "She had a headache, she had no signs of impact, no bleeding."
Now I know the New York Daily News is not the New York Times (as if they've managed to remain above the fray), but the appearance of the comma splice in that context chagrined me mightily. As some of you have likely surmised, it sullied an (otherwise acceptable) article about Natasha Richardson's fatal skiing accident, posted online in the hours after the incident but before the actress was removed from life support. I was gripped by the story. I wanted details. I wanted an explanation. What I did not want was to be forced to re-read the line "She had a headache, she had no signs of impact, no bleeding." What I did not want was to stumble over this critical information. What I did not want was to be stopped — nonplussed — on my way to finding out how this could have happened.
When I see a comma splice, I usually dismiss it with an internal "effin' moron" aimed at the perpetrator. But the stakes felt higher in this instance. I felt the paper was insulting not only me but also Richardson and her family. You'd think among the three of them, the Daily News staff writers responsible for this piece could have avoided the damn comma splice. I don't care if the copy desk has been decimated and they're doing the work of six journalists — they've got staff jobs in this economy; they should act like they deserve them. In the spirit of not just bitching about the problem but becoming part of the solution, the following goes out to them.
Per Wikipedia (which borrows liberally from Strunk and White's classic The Elements of Style): "A comma splice is a sentence in which two independent clauses [i.e. each of which can stand on its own as a complete sentence] are joined by a comma without a coordinating conjunction. For example: It is nearly half past five, we cannot reach town before dark ... A coordinating conjunction is one of the following seven words: for, and, nor, but, or, yet, so ... Only semicolons and periods are strong enough to separate two independent clauses without a conjunction ... Simply removing the comma does not correct the error, but results in a run-on sentence. There are several ways to correct this:
Change the comma to a semicolon: It is nearly half past five; we cannot reach town before dark.
Write the two clauses as two separate sentences: It is nearly half past five. We cannot reach town before dark.
Insert a coordinating conjunction following the comma: It is nearly half past five, and we cannot reach town before dark. It is nearly half past five, so we cannot reach town before dark.
Make one clause dependent on the other: As it is nearly half past five, we cannot reach town before dark."
So there you have the formal explanation. On a more personal level, what I ask myself in identifying a comma splice is: "Are there two complete sentences mashed together with a comma between them?" Of course, to determine that one must know what constitutes a complete sentence. For this I call upon Grammar Girl, who said in her podcast of Dec. 15, 2006 (episode 30), entitled "Sentence Fragments":
"In the most basic form, a complete sentence must have a subject and a verb. A verb is an action word that tells the reader what's happening, and a subject does the action of the verb. You can make a complete sentence with just two words: Squiggly hurried. Squiggly, our beloved snail, is the subject, and hurried is the verb." This reminds me of a boy I knew in high school named Tim Shook. Very handsome. Maltese heritage. Loved Aerosmith. Those were sentence fragments, by the way.
In my book, sentence fragments can be kosher, and I'll take this opportunity to point out that there are exceptions to the laws governing comma splices (shocking, I know). Wikipedia again quotes The Elements of Style: "Splices are sometimes acceptable when the clauses are short and alike in form, such as: The gate swung apart, the bridge fell, the portcullis was drawn up."
I don't like that construction much either. Nor can I get behind the various canonical authors who employ the comma splice as art. I don't care who you are — if you're gluing together independent clauses/complete sentences with a comma, you're doing your reader a disservice and, in the case of outdoor advertisers, inviting vandalism. I've said to myself more than once, "If I could just get up there with a can of spray paint, I could turn that comma into a semicolon and all would be right with the world." Don't push me, people.
Seen any juicy comma splices lately? Let us know in the comments below!
Simon Glickman and Julia Rubiner are the principals of Editorial Emergency, a Los Angeles-based copywriting agency. Since opening its doors in 2005, EE has wrangled verbiage for the Honda Civic Tour, Disney Interactive Studios, Borders, Target, Mattel, Sony, Universal, EMI/Capitol and assorted other content-hungry customers.
Click here to read more articles by Simon Glickman and Julia Rubiner.
http://www.101cookbooks.com/archives/a-twist-on-guacamole-recipe.html
The Visual Thesaurus included an article on comma splices, and I think it could be used for a quick lesson. I spotted at least one comma splice in my previous blogs (oh, the horror!)and while I wouldn't use a whole class period, this article could be used as a springboard for a mini-lesson on comma splices. As a follow-up activity, I'd challenge students to identify and capture comma splices in their world (much more practical & entertaining than a lame-o worksheet)and give prizes for their finds--perhaps even Smartees candy because they are brilliant language detectives. I'd also have them enter this information in a notebook where I'll ask them to log words of interest, words they needed to look up, difficulties they encountered, questions they have, and a place for links they found useful. They could store this information electronically as a singular and group project, or via the time-honored, analog method. If they put this information up electronically, then collaborative learning will likely be set into motion.
Red Pen Diaries: Zero Tolerance for Comma Splices
April 20, 2009
By Simon Glickman and Julia Rubiner
Are comma splices running rampant, or is it just me?
I keep seeing them in newspapers and magazines and on billboards and can't help but wonder if they, too, are now becoming acceptable, as have so many once-verboten grammar, ahem, alternatives before them. I sure hope not — as you might guess, I'm agin 'em.
So you can imagine my ire when I saw this in the New York Daily News recently: "She had a headache, she had no signs of impact, no bleeding."
Now I know the New York Daily News is not the New York Times (as if they've managed to remain above the fray), but the appearance of the comma splice in that context chagrined me mightily. As some of you have likely surmised, it sullied an (otherwise acceptable) article about Natasha Richardson's fatal skiing accident, posted online in the hours after the incident but before the actress was removed from life support. I was gripped by the story. I wanted details. I wanted an explanation. What I did not want was to be forced to re-read the line "She had a headache, she had no signs of impact, no bleeding." What I did not want was to stumble over this critical information. What I did not want was to be stopped — nonplussed — on my way to finding out how this could have happened.
When I see a comma splice, I usually dismiss it with an internal "effin' moron" aimed at the perpetrator. But the stakes felt higher in this instance. I felt the paper was insulting not only me but also Richardson and her family. You'd think among the three of them, the Daily News staff writers responsible for this piece could have avoided the damn comma splice. I don't care if the copy desk has been decimated and they're doing the work of six journalists — they've got staff jobs in this economy; they should act like they deserve them. In the spirit of not just bitching about the problem but becoming part of the solution, the following goes out to them.
Per Wikipedia (which borrows liberally from Strunk and White's classic The Elements of Style): "A comma splice is a sentence in which two independent clauses [i.e. each of which can stand on its own as a complete sentence] are joined by a comma without a coordinating conjunction. For example: It is nearly half past five, we cannot reach town before dark ... A coordinating conjunction is one of the following seven words: for, and, nor, but, or, yet, so ... Only semicolons and periods are strong enough to separate two independent clauses without a conjunction ... Simply removing the comma does not correct the error, but results in a run-on sentence. There are several ways to correct this:
Change the comma to a semicolon: It is nearly half past five; we cannot reach town before dark.
Write the two clauses as two separate sentences: It is nearly half past five. We cannot reach town before dark.
Insert a coordinating conjunction following the comma: It is nearly half past five, and we cannot reach town before dark. It is nearly half past five, so we cannot reach town before dark.
Make one clause dependent on the other: As it is nearly half past five, we cannot reach town before dark."
So there you have the formal explanation. On a more personal level, what I ask myself in identifying a comma splice is: "Are there two complete sentences mashed together with a comma between them?" Of course, to determine that one must know what constitutes a complete sentence. For this I call upon Grammar Girl, who said in her podcast of Dec. 15, 2006 (episode 30), entitled "Sentence Fragments":
"In the most basic form, a complete sentence must have a subject and a verb. A verb is an action word that tells the reader what's happening, and a subject does the action of the verb. You can make a complete sentence with just two words: Squiggly hurried. Squiggly, our beloved snail, is the subject, and hurried is the verb." This reminds me of a boy I knew in high school named Tim Shook. Very handsome. Maltese heritage. Loved Aerosmith. Those were sentence fragments, by the way.
In my book, sentence fragments can be kosher, and I'll take this opportunity to point out that there are exceptions to the laws governing comma splices (shocking, I know). Wikipedia again quotes The Elements of Style: "Splices are sometimes acceptable when the clauses are short and alike in form, such as: The gate swung apart, the bridge fell, the portcullis was drawn up."
I don't like that construction much either. Nor can I get behind the various canonical authors who employ the comma splice as art. I don't care who you are — if you're gluing together independent clauses/complete sentences with a comma, you're doing your reader a disservice and, in the case of outdoor advertisers, inviting vandalism. I've said to myself more than once, "If I could just get up there with a can of spray paint, I could turn that comma into a semicolon and all would be right with the world." Don't push me, people.
Seen any juicy comma splices lately? Let us know in the comments below!
Simon Glickman and Julia Rubiner are the principals of Editorial Emergency, a Los Angeles-based copywriting agency. Since opening its doors in 2005, EE has wrangled verbiage for the Honda Civic Tour, Disney Interactive Studios, Borders, Target, Mattel, Sony, Universal, EMI/Capitol and assorted other content-hungry customers.
Click here to read more articles by Simon Glickman and Julia Rubiner.
Saturday, April 18, 2009
Word use
The essay below is from Visual Thesaurus, and thought it might be of general interest. In English 1000, I might use it to spark a debate about "real" words, and have students argue for or against non-standard word use in an essay. Might also recommend that they visit the Urban Dictionary online to see if it has anything of interest on the topic, then show them how to access the Oxford English Dictionary online in the event that they are interested in the historical origins of words in our language. Finally, I'd let them know that a vast difference in dictionaries exists, and that the "Webster's" copyright lapsed (so anyone may use Webster's in their dictionary title)but that the standard publisher's recent offering is the Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary, 11th edition.
Mailbag Friday: "Texted"
April 17, 2009
By Ben Zimmer
Today's Mailbag Friday question comes all the way from Dakar, Senegal. Jodi W. asks: "What's up with texted? As in, 'I texted her yesterday.' Is it a real word?"
Jodi's not alone in wondering about texted as the past-tense form of the verb text (meaning "to send a text message to"). Stanford linguist Arnold Zwicky recently noted a similar query on his blog, and the topic has come up on the American Dialect Society mailing list and various English usage forums online. Challenges to the legitimacy of texted are often accompanied by personal impressions that the word "just sounds wrong."
First, let's gently dispense with the "real word" part of the question. As we saw in the case of funner and funnest, a common disparagement of odd-sounding additions to our shared vocabulary is to suggest that they're not (really) words. And as I wrote about the funner/funnest brouhaha, "You can call them nonstandard, colloquial, informal, casual, slangy, or even signs of the apocalypse, but there's no reason to deny them wordhood."
Texted elicits similar reactions as funner and funnest, for broadly similar reasons. In both cases, a monosyllabic noun (fun, text) has also come to be used as another part of speech (fun has turned into an adjective and text into a verb). And in both cases the grumbling begins in some quarters when the part-of-speech shift becomes unavoidably obvious, with an inflectional affix grafted directly on the base word (the comparative/superlative suffixes -er and -est added to fun, the past-tense marker -ed added to text).
But it's not just any inflectional ending that makes text "sound wrong" to certain listeners. There are far fewer complaints about texting, whether used as a present participle or a gerund. So it seems that the "verbing" of text isn't so much the issue here as what happens when the verb ending -ed comes into play. The resulting form is pronounced /tɛkstəd/ (in phonetic notation), since a regular verb that ends in /t/ requires /əd/ as the past-tense marker. This isn't difficult for native speakers of English to pronounce, so why does it sound a little strange?
The problem is that the base form text (pronounced /tÉ›kst/) already has a phonetic ending that sounds like a past-tense verb marker. If there were a verb tex, then we'd spell the past tense as texed and pronounce it /tÉ›kst/, rhyming with hexed, vexed, perplexed, and so forth. (The rules for how to pronounce -ed — as /t/, /d/, or /É™d/ — are acquired by native speakers in early childhood. For an explanation, see the Wikipedia article on allomorphs.) Thus, when the past tense form texted is called for, it might actually sound like a double past tense, and double past-tense marking is not accepted in standard English.
This has emerged as a usage issue because the verb text — and the social phenomenon behind it — are still new, so we're still working out the conventionally accepted linguistic forms. Interestingly, text already appeared as a verb much earlier in the history of English, about four hundred years ago, when it meant "to inscribe, write, or print in a text-hand or in capital or large letters." Shakespeare used it in Much Ado About Nothing (1599):
Don Pedro: But when shall we set the savage bull's horns on the sensible Benedick's head?
Claudio: Yea, and text underneath, 'Here dwells Benedick the married man'?
The past-tense and past-participial form texted appeared back then too, but it faded from memory. It was only with the advent of cell-phone text messaging in the late '90s that text(ed) came back on the scene, and with it came questions about its usage and pronunciation.
If texted sounds wrong thanks to the whiff of double past-tense marking, then what are the alternatives? One could avoid the verb form of text entirely and say "I sent him a text (message)" rather than "I texted him." But if the verbing of text is considered firmly entrenched (as the major English dictionaries all recognize), then we need to have some way of expressing the past tense. Those who are uncomfortable with texted sometimes suggest that the past tense should simply be... text. In other words, they would propose treating it as an irregular verb like put or burst where the past-tense form is identical to the present-tense form.
Though this type of "irregularization" is pretty unusual, it's not unprecedented. On his Literal-Minded blog, Neal Whitman has noted that the verbs pet, grit (one's teeth), and retrofit are sometimes treated as irregular by those who would prefer not to use the past-tense forms petted, gritted, or retrofitted. Dictionaries might not recognize these "bare" past-tense forms, but the usage is out there.
Let's assume that texting is here to stay, at least until some new technology arrives with its own vocabulary. That means we will continue to need to talk about this activity without resorting to roundabout (or "periphrastic") turns of speech like "send a text message." Which past-tense form will win out in conventional usage? If I had to guess, I would wager that it's unlikely for the "bare" form of text to become widely accepted, as in "She text (/tɛkst/) me last night." Rather, I'd expect that the complaints about texted will fade, as listeners get more accustomed to hearing it. Consider it merely the growing pains of a newcomer to our common lexicon.
Do you have your own question about the history of a word or phrase that you'd like to have discussed in a future Mailbag Friday? Click here and let us know!
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Rate this article:4.5 (3 votes)
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Words, Usage
Post a comment Email to a Friend Sign up for email Suggest a topic / contribute
Click here to read more articles from Word Routes.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ben Zimmer is executive producer of the Visual Thesaurus and editor of the online magazine. Before coming to the Visual Thesaurus, he was editor for American dictionaries at Oxford University Press and a consultant to the Oxford English Dictionary. In addition to his regular "Word Routes" column here, he also contributes to the group weblog Language Log. His writing about language has been published in two recent blog anthologies: Ultimate Blogs and Far from the Madding Gerund.
Click here to read more articles by Ben Zimmer.
Mailbag Friday: "Texted"
April 17, 2009
By Ben Zimmer
Today's Mailbag Friday question comes all the way from Dakar, Senegal. Jodi W. asks: "What's up with texted? As in, 'I texted her yesterday.' Is it a real word?"
Jodi's not alone in wondering about texted as the past-tense form of the verb text (meaning "to send a text message to"). Stanford linguist Arnold Zwicky recently noted a similar query on his blog, and the topic has come up on the American Dialect Society mailing list and various English usage forums online. Challenges to the legitimacy of texted are often accompanied by personal impressions that the word "just sounds wrong."
First, let's gently dispense with the "real word" part of the question. As we saw in the case of funner and funnest, a common disparagement of odd-sounding additions to our shared vocabulary is to suggest that they're not (really) words. And as I wrote about the funner/funnest brouhaha, "You can call them nonstandard, colloquial, informal, casual, slangy, or even signs of the apocalypse, but there's no reason to deny them wordhood."
Texted elicits similar reactions as funner and funnest, for broadly similar reasons. In both cases, a monosyllabic noun (fun, text) has also come to be used as another part of speech (fun has turned into an adjective and text into a verb). And in both cases the grumbling begins in some quarters when the part-of-speech shift becomes unavoidably obvious, with an inflectional affix grafted directly on the base word (the comparative/superlative suffixes -er and -est added to fun, the past-tense marker -ed added to text).
But it's not just any inflectional ending that makes text "sound wrong" to certain listeners. There are far fewer complaints about texting, whether used as a present participle or a gerund. So it seems that the "verbing" of text isn't so much the issue here as what happens when the verb ending -ed comes into play. The resulting form is pronounced /tɛkstəd/ (in phonetic notation), since a regular verb that ends in /t/ requires /əd/ as the past-tense marker. This isn't difficult for native speakers of English to pronounce, so why does it sound a little strange?
The problem is that the base form text (pronounced /tÉ›kst/) already has a phonetic ending that sounds like a past-tense verb marker. If there were a verb tex, then we'd spell the past tense as texed and pronounce it /tÉ›kst/, rhyming with hexed, vexed, perplexed, and so forth. (The rules for how to pronounce -ed — as /t/, /d/, or /É™d/ — are acquired by native speakers in early childhood. For an explanation, see the Wikipedia article on allomorphs.) Thus, when the past tense form texted is called for, it might actually sound like a double past tense, and double past-tense marking is not accepted in standard English.
This has emerged as a usage issue because the verb text — and the social phenomenon behind it — are still new, so we're still working out the conventionally accepted linguistic forms. Interestingly, text already appeared as a verb much earlier in the history of English, about four hundred years ago, when it meant "to inscribe, write, or print in a text-hand or in capital or large letters." Shakespeare used it in Much Ado About Nothing (1599):
Don Pedro: But when shall we set the savage bull's horns on the sensible Benedick's head?
Claudio: Yea, and text underneath, 'Here dwells Benedick the married man'?
The past-tense and past-participial form texted appeared back then too, but it faded from memory. It was only with the advent of cell-phone text messaging in the late '90s that text(ed) came back on the scene, and with it came questions about its usage and pronunciation.
If texted sounds wrong thanks to the whiff of double past-tense marking, then what are the alternatives? One could avoid the verb form of text entirely and say "I sent him a text (message)" rather than "I texted him." But if the verbing of text is considered firmly entrenched (as the major English dictionaries all recognize), then we need to have some way of expressing the past tense. Those who are uncomfortable with texted sometimes suggest that the past tense should simply be... text. In other words, they would propose treating it as an irregular verb like put or burst where the past-tense form is identical to the present-tense form.
Though this type of "irregularization" is pretty unusual, it's not unprecedented. On his Literal-Minded blog, Neal Whitman has noted that the verbs pet, grit (one's teeth), and retrofit are sometimes treated as irregular by those who would prefer not to use the past-tense forms petted, gritted, or retrofitted. Dictionaries might not recognize these "bare" past-tense forms, but the usage is out there.
Let's assume that texting is here to stay, at least until some new technology arrives with its own vocabulary. That means we will continue to need to talk about this activity without resorting to roundabout (or "periphrastic") turns of speech like "send a text message." Which past-tense form will win out in conventional usage? If I had to guess, I would wager that it's unlikely for the "bare" form of text to become widely accepted, as in "She text (/tɛkst/) me last night." Rather, I'd expect that the complaints about texted will fade, as listeners get more accustomed to hearing it. Consider it merely the growing pains of a newcomer to our common lexicon.
Do you have your own question about the history of a word or phrase that you'd like to have discussed in a future Mailbag Friday? Click here and let us know!
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Rate this article:4.5 (3 votes)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Words, Usage
Post a comment Email to a Friend Sign up for email Suggest a topic / contribute
Click here to read more articles from Word Routes.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ben Zimmer is executive producer of the Visual Thesaurus and editor of the online magazine. Before coming to the Visual Thesaurus, he was editor for American dictionaries at Oxford University Press and a consultant to the Oxford English Dictionary. In addition to his regular "Word Routes" column here, he also contributes to the group weblog Language Log. His writing about language has been published in two recent blog anthologies: Ultimate Blogs and Far from the Madding Gerund.
Click here to read more articles by Ben Zimmer.
Tuesday, April 14, 2009
compose design advocate: a rhetoric for integrating written, visual, and oral communication
compose design advocate: a rhetoric for integrating written, visual, and oral communication by Anne Frances Wysocki and Dennis A. Lynch. New York: Pearson Education, Inc., 2007.
This book is an amazing, engaging resource, so in-sync with what I believe to be an enlightened approach to composition that it is a pleasure to review. What features of this text did I find so compelling? The arrangement of the text and illustrations is visually pleasing--it breaks information into useable chunks in an aesthetically pleasing and logical manner. The chapters build on prior knowledge in an engaging way--a wide variety of illustrations have been chosen to demonstrate concepts and to keep the reader interested--I found this text to be a real page-turner since it reinforced concepts I would want to cover, supplemented by items I may not have thought of in time. Flipping through the text and stopping on the essay about Periodic Tables caused me to think about composing in a new way--and I immediately began planning the Elements of Composition in my head, and later on paper. If I structured my syllabus on the concepts included in this work, and if I could get students to buy into the process, they would emerge from this class better able to change the world through their skillful use of media within the myriad forms of communication available in our current cultural/digital/technological revolution.
It may surprise you to know that I didn't love everything about this book--the repeticious element: Assignments: thinking through production in every chapter but the fourth may be useful, but annoyed the artistic, less linear part of me that appreciates variety and longs for change. The text is aesthetically pleasing, but if I had control of the colorways, I would have made other color choices. I did, however, appreciate the wide variety of meaningful illustrations and believe that students will find them helpful. In some chapters, I was drawn into the text through the illustrations; after reading the comic strip produced by Lynda Barry (Sniff--Today's Demon: Common Scents)I backtracked and read what I was supposed to read about how to analyze the content of comic strips. This backtrack was a choice, and heigtened my interest in the text. What should I know before I look at the comic strip again? My random approach to this text transformed this review assignment into an entertaining, as well as enligtening experience. I would likely encourage students to first approach the text in a random manner--have a look and stop to read interesting bits--before adopting a more traditional, sequential reading. Setting different purposes in reading is a useful skill--wish I'd known about it while wading through Bleak House earlier in my reading career.
This book is an amazing, engaging resource, so in-sync with what I believe to be an enlightened approach to composition that it is a pleasure to review. What features of this text did I find so compelling? The arrangement of the text and illustrations is visually pleasing--it breaks information into useable chunks in an aesthetically pleasing and logical manner. The chapters build on prior knowledge in an engaging way--a wide variety of illustrations have been chosen to demonstrate concepts and to keep the reader interested--I found this text to be a real page-turner since it reinforced concepts I would want to cover, supplemented by items I may not have thought of in time. Flipping through the text and stopping on the essay about Periodic Tables caused me to think about composing in a new way--and I immediately began planning the Elements of Composition in my head, and later on paper. If I structured my syllabus on the concepts included in this work, and if I could get students to buy into the process, they would emerge from this class better able to change the world through their skillful use of media within the myriad forms of communication available in our current cultural/digital/technological revolution.
It may surprise you to know that I didn't love everything about this book--the repeticious element: Assignments: thinking through production in every chapter but the fourth may be useful, but annoyed the artistic, less linear part of me that appreciates variety and longs for change. The text is aesthetically pleasing, but if I had control of the colorways, I would have made other color choices. I did, however, appreciate the wide variety of meaningful illustrations and believe that students will find them helpful. In some chapters, I was drawn into the text through the illustrations; after reading the comic strip produced by Lynda Barry (Sniff--Today's Demon: Common Scents)I backtracked and read what I was supposed to read about how to analyze the content of comic strips. This backtrack was a choice, and heigtened my interest in the text. What should I know before I look at the comic strip again? My random approach to this text transformed this review assignment into an entertaining, as well as enligtening experience. I would likely encourage students to first approach the text in a random manner--have a look and stop to read interesting bits--before adopting a more traditional, sequential reading. Setting different purposes in reading is a useful skill--wish I'd known about it while wading through Bleak House earlier in my reading career.
English 1000: Beginning of Class
The Elements of Writing
I’ve been thinking about how to structure my English 1000 syllabus, and have the idea of designing a table much like the Periodic Table to assemble the elements of writing, suggesting that writing is like chemistry in that both writers and chemists combine elements with an expected reaction in mind, and that the subtraction or addition of elements will impact the outcome of their work. I don’t know if students will embrace the idea of the writer as a scientist, but it might appeal to them on a subliminal mad-scientist level, and spark their interest and enthusiasm for writing, reframed as an experiment with changing elements. I do know that many students may not enjoy writing, and that 13 years of public education and repeated pressure to produce a five paragraph essay have crushed most creative impulses and ground them into dust. My mission, as I see it, is to convince them that communication has multiple forms and purposes--and that the ability to use “written, visual, and oral communication that works in specific contexts for specific audiences through the process of composing and designing” will give them the power to advocate, to make their communication meaningful and effective in our diverse, increasingly digital world.
I like the idea of centering the first paper on an exploration of the student’s life prior to English 1000. The course guide states that the typical 19 year old Freshman is egocentric, and so they should find writing about themselves quite pleasurable, even as it challenges their media assemblage, information gathering, and expository writing skills. I’d start with the “Where I’m From” poem to lure them into beginning the larger assignment--and at the end of introductions, would confide that they’ve already finished one element of this assignment! Students like to believe that their work has a purpose, so this should get the writing ball rolling. The text: compose, design, advocate would be a valuable resource in this process and throughout the rest of the course.
Since I also know about Ohio State’s Digital Archive for Literacy Narrative, and have offered to help Dr. Patton with this worthwhile project on our own campus, I’d ask students to structure their work so that it could be shared, if they wish, with others on this network. (Information pasted below this text.)
Info below is from Ohio State's Digital Archive for Literacy Narratives
(DALN) site: http://daln.osu.edu/
What is a Literacy Narrative?
A literacy narrative is simply a collection of items that describe how you
learned to read, write, and compose. This collection might include a story
about learning to read cereal boxes and a story about learning to write
plays. Some people will want to record their memories about the bedtime
stories their parents read to them, the comics they looked at in the
newspaper, or their first library card. Others will want to tell a story
about writing a memorable letter, leaning how to write on a computer or
taking a photograph; reading the Bible, publishing a 'zine', or sending an
e-mail message.
Your literacy narrative can have many smaller parts, but they will all be
identified with your name. For instance, you might want to provide a story
about learning to read a as a child, a digitized image of one of your old
report cards, a story about writing a letter as a teenager, a photograph of
you as a young child; a song you learned when you were in school).
Step 1: Compose/Tell your story
Decide what stories you want to tell and what items you want to include in
your literacy narrative. You can tell these stories in many forms: words,
images, videos, audio clips, photographs.
You can include as many of these items as you’d like in your literacy
narrative. They will all appear under your name.
Some of the following prompts may remind you of stories you want to tell:
Early experiences at home
* Tell a story about how you first learned to read when you were a
child.
* Tell a story about how you first learned to write when you were a
child.
* Tell about the kinds of reading and writing that were done around your
hose when you were little or when you were growing up. Were there books in
your house? Comics? Music?
* Tell a story about what your parents/grandparents read (example:
newspapers, books, religious materials, computer games, etc.).
* Tell a story about what your parents/grandparents wrote (example:
newspapers, books, religious materials, computer games, etc.).
* What kinds of stories did your parents/grandparents tell you about how
they learned to read and write?
* Tell a story about how you first learned to use a computer. Who
helped? Where was it? What did you use it for? (examples: chatrooms, email,
gaming)
Experiences during your school years
* Tell a story about reading in elementary/secondary school.
* Tell a story about writing in elementary/secondary school.
* Tell a story about using a computer for reading or writing of any kind
(examples: chatrooms, email, gaming, writing papers, creating music)
* Tell a story about using other kinds of technology for reading and
writing and communicating when you were in school (examples: cell phones,
hearing aids, computers, PDAs). Why dis you use each device? How often? In
what circumstances?
Later experiences:
* Tell a story about reading as an adult. What kinds of things do you
read for work? For fun? For education? With friends or family?
* Tell a story about writing as an adult. What kinds of things do you
read for work? For fun? For education? With friends or family?
* Tell a story about using a computer for reading or writing of any kind
(examples: chatrooms, email, gaming, writing papers, creating music).
* Tell a story about the kinds of technology you unow se for reading and
writing and communicating as an adult (examples: cell phones, hearing aids,
computers, PDAs). Why do you use each device? How often? In what
circumstances?
Additional Materials
We also encourage you to add as many other items as you’d like to your
literacy narrative. Each item you submit should help illustrate or explain
your literacy narrative:
* scanned photographs of you as a child or your family, or snapshots you
have taken;
* scanned images of old report cards, maps you made, drawings you have
created;
* recorded music you have composed or sounds you have recorded
* digitized clips from home movies that show your literacy practices;
* short stories, letters, or other materials you have written.
* essays, 'zines', newsletters, e-mail messages you have written or
contributed to;
I’d help students focus on the details of this assignment through a series of mini-lessons, then I’d group them up and turn them loose, using the once/week model to keep track of their progress. Stay tuned for further developments.
I’ve been thinking about how to structure my English 1000 syllabus, and have the idea of designing a table much like the Periodic Table to assemble the elements of writing, suggesting that writing is like chemistry in that both writers and chemists combine elements with an expected reaction in mind, and that the subtraction or addition of elements will impact the outcome of their work. I don’t know if students will embrace the idea of the writer as a scientist, but it might appeal to them on a subliminal mad-scientist level, and spark their interest and enthusiasm for writing, reframed as an experiment with changing elements. I do know that many students may not enjoy writing, and that 13 years of public education and repeated pressure to produce a five paragraph essay have crushed most creative impulses and ground them into dust. My mission, as I see it, is to convince them that communication has multiple forms and purposes--and that the ability to use “written, visual, and oral communication that works in specific contexts for specific audiences through the process of composing and designing” will give them the power to advocate, to make their communication meaningful and effective in our diverse, increasingly digital world.
I like the idea of centering the first paper on an exploration of the student’s life prior to English 1000. The course guide states that the typical 19 year old Freshman is egocentric, and so they should find writing about themselves quite pleasurable, even as it challenges their media assemblage, information gathering, and expository writing skills. I’d start with the “Where I’m From” poem to lure them into beginning the larger assignment--and at the end of introductions, would confide that they’ve already finished one element of this assignment! Students like to believe that their work has a purpose, so this should get the writing ball rolling. The text: compose, design, advocate would be a valuable resource in this process and throughout the rest of the course.
Since I also know about Ohio State’s Digital Archive for Literacy Narrative, and have offered to help Dr. Patton with this worthwhile project on our own campus, I’d ask students to structure their work so that it could be shared, if they wish, with others on this network. (Information pasted below this text.)
Info below is from Ohio State's Digital Archive for Literacy Narratives
(DALN) site: http://daln.osu.edu/
What is a Literacy Narrative?
A literacy narrative is simply a collection of items that describe how you
learned to read, write, and compose. This collection might include a story
about learning to read cereal boxes and a story about learning to write
plays. Some people will want to record their memories about the bedtime
stories their parents read to them, the comics they looked at in the
newspaper, or their first library card. Others will want to tell a story
about writing a memorable letter, leaning how to write on a computer or
taking a photograph; reading the Bible, publishing a 'zine', or sending an
e-mail message.
Your literacy narrative can have many smaller parts, but they will all be
identified with your name. For instance, you might want to provide a story
about learning to read a as a child, a digitized image of one of your old
report cards, a story about writing a letter as a teenager, a photograph of
you as a young child; a song you learned when you were in school).
Step 1: Compose/Tell your story
Decide what stories you want to tell and what items you want to include in
your literacy narrative. You can tell these stories in many forms: words,
images, videos, audio clips, photographs.
You can include as many of these items as you’d like in your literacy
narrative. They will all appear under your name.
Some of the following prompts may remind you of stories you want to tell:
Early experiences at home
* Tell a story about how you first learned to read when you were a
child.
* Tell a story about how you first learned to write when you were a
child.
* Tell about the kinds of reading and writing that were done around your
hose when you were little or when you were growing up. Were there books in
your house? Comics? Music?
* Tell a story about what your parents/grandparents read (example:
newspapers, books, religious materials, computer games, etc.).
* Tell a story about what your parents/grandparents wrote (example:
newspapers, books, religious materials, computer games, etc.).
* What kinds of stories did your parents/grandparents tell you about how
they learned to read and write?
* Tell a story about how you first learned to use a computer. Who
helped? Where was it? What did you use it for? (examples: chatrooms, email,
gaming)
Experiences during your school years
* Tell a story about reading in elementary/secondary school.
* Tell a story about writing in elementary/secondary school.
* Tell a story about using a computer for reading or writing of any kind
(examples: chatrooms, email, gaming, writing papers, creating music)
* Tell a story about using other kinds of technology for reading and
writing and communicating when you were in school (examples: cell phones,
hearing aids, computers, PDAs). Why dis you use each device? How often? In
what circumstances?
Later experiences:
* Tell a story about reading as an adult. What kinds of things do you
read for work? For fun? For education? With friends or family?
* Tell a story about writing as an adult. What kinds of things do you
read for work? For fun? For education? With friends or family?
* Tell a story about using a computer for reading or writing of any kind
(examples: chatrooms, email, gaming, writing papers, creating music).
* Tell a story about the kinds of technology you unow se for reading and
writing and communicating as an adult (examples: cell phones, hearing aids,
computers, PDAs). Why do you use each device? How often? In what
circumstances?
Additional Materials
We also encourage you to add as many other items as you’d like to your
literacy narrative. Each item you submit should help illustrate or explain
your literacy narrative:
* scanned photographs of you as a child or your family, or snapshots you
have taken;
* scanned images of old report cards, maps you made, drawings you have
created;
* recorded music you have composed or sounds you have recorded
* digitized clips from home movies that show your literacy practices;
* short stories, letters, or other materials you have written.
* essays, 'zines', newsletters, e-mail messages you have written or
contributed to;
I’d help students focus on the details of this assignment through a series of mini-lessons, then I’d group them up and turn them loose, using the once/week model to keep track of their progress. Stay tuned for further developments.
Sunday, April 5, 2009
Organization of Classroom Time
Although I've taught for many years, and have had national, state, and district curriculum guidelines to follow, I've typically presented information and skills in the order I believed was most useful to the group of learners before me--but always needed a baseline in order to proceed. I don't want to spend time on concepts they've mastered, but am also concerned that students have what they need to succeed in future writing intensive classes. I'd ask them to write about who they are as a reader and writer--might use the "Where I'm From" poem exercise to promote and establish classroom culture first--then move on to the reader/writer survey. I'd very likely have students pair up and tell each other what they've written, so each pair will introduce each other.
I think the idea of having students actively engaged in their own learning is most beneficial to them, but I've had students who were highly annoyed when asked to do anything but listen. Once they have a seat, they've established a nest/beachhead and they don't want to move unless it is to get up for refreshments, or flee the building. Given a preference, I think I'd rather have students for 2 or 3 short class periods than all at once. I had a 3 credit hour Statistics class last semester that would have been much more beneficial in smaller chunks. Quite frankly, 15 minute chunks of problem solving, followed by 5 minutes to review what we had just done and why--and a 10 minute break to meditate and/or obtain additional caffeine would have been the ideal learning environment for me--but that was not what happened.
What I find out from students the first day will help me decide how to proceed. If I have a group of confident writers, there will be less need for remediation and so I'll plan for them to employ and discuss a wide variety of writing exercises. I'm with our guest speaker in that I'll strive to make the exercises enticing so that they will be inspired/tricked into producing rafts of writing and beg for more...or at least not howl in agony when they receive a new assignment.
The syllabus will be subject to adjustment/change and while I will most likely have a schedule of activities for the first month, I'll see where the students are individually and as a group and tweak the syllabus to reflect the direction class should go, based on the input received and graded. If I have a group of writers who have not been successful writers in the past, and do not expect to be successful in the future, we'll proceed at a different rate. Pairing the students according to their ability levels works, but they should have the opportunity to work in different groups and be exposed to peer coaching. I think a rubric is important for big projects, but always want the option to adjust grades to truly reflect effort and meaning--conventions are important, but positive feedback and gentle suggestions encourage writing growth without anxiety.
I've always been a patient, low-key teacher; I'm the oldest of three and was used to being in charge of the health and well-being of my brother and sister from a fairly early age. I think I've been a teacher for most of my life, now that I reflect on it. I read Stephanie's blog about teaching others and thought about all the times I was assigned someone in school to help because they just didn't "get it." Both of my parents taught school, my brother, sister, and I followed their career path. This intensive reflection about teaching writing caused me to reflect how much teaching writing is like teaching swimming. As an undergraduate, I worked as a cashier/lifeguard in the summer, and during swimming lessons, I was "given" the sinkers-- students who were extremely afraid of the water or non-compliant. It was my job to ease their fears and charm them into tolerating the feeling of water all around them. As their peers learned to swim, my sinkers learned to let the water touch their face, and that blowing bubbles in the water was a surviveable event. They practiced kicking, and eventually trusted me enough to let me help them float; they knew by then that I would never let them drown. Years later, in my classroom, students must work very hard to drown/fail; I'm patiently insistent that they succeed. If there are sinkers in class, my goal is (still)to help them learn how to survive, and evntually thrive.
I think the idea of having students actively engaged in their own learning is most beneficial to them, but I've had students who were highly annoyed when asked to do anything but listen. Once they have a seat, they've established a nest/beachhead and they don't want to move unless it is to get up for refreshments, or flee the building. Given a preference, I think I'd rather have students for 2 or 3 short class periods than all at once. I had a 3 credit hour Statistics class last semester that would have been much more beneficial in smaller chunks. Quite frankly, 15 minute chunks of problem solving, followed by 5 minutes to review what we had just done and why--and a 10 minute break to meditate and/or obtain additional caffeine would have been the ideal learning environment for me--but that was not what happened.
What I find out from students the first day will help me decide how to proceed. If I have a group of confident writers, there will be less need for remediation and so I'll plan for them to employ and discuss a wide variety of writing exercises. I'm with our guest speaker in that I'll strive to make the exercises enticing so that they will be inspired/tricked into producing rafts of writing and beg for more...or at least not howl in agony when they receive a new assignment.
The syllabus will be subject to adjustment/change and while I will most likely have a schedule of activities for the first month, I'll see where the students are individually and as a group and tweak the syllabus to reflect the direction class should go, based on the input received and graded. If I have a group of writers who have not been successful writers in the past, and do not expect to be successful in the future, we'll proceed at a different rate. Pairing the students according to their ability levels works, but they should have the opportunity to work in different groups and be exposed to peer coaching. I think a rubric is important for big projects, but always want the option to adjust grades to truly reflect effort and meaning--conventions are important, but positive feedback and gentle suggestions encourage writing growth without anxiety.
I've always been a patient, low-key teacher; I'm the oldest of three and was used to being in charge of the health and well-being of my brother and sister from a fairly early age. I think I've been a teacher for most of my life, now that I reflect on it. I read Stephanie's blog about teaching others and thought about all the times I was assigned someone in school to help because they just didn't "get it." Both of my parents taught school, my brother, sister, and I followed their career path. This intensive reflection about teaching writing caused me to reflect how much teaching writing is like teaching swimming. As an undergraduate, I worked as a cashier/lifeguard in the summer, and during swimming lessons, I was "given" the sinkers-- students who were extremely afraid of the water or non-compliant. It was my job to ease their fears and charm them into tolerating the feeling of water all around them. As their peers learned to swim, my sinkers learned to let the water touch their face, and that blowing bubbles in the water was a surviveable event. They practiced kicking, and eventually trusted me enough to let me help them float; they knew by then that I would never let them drown. Years later, in my classroom, students must work very hard to drown/fail; I'm patiently insistent that they succeed. If there are sinkers in class, my goal is (still)to help them learn how to survive, and evntually thrive.
Tuesday, March 31, 2009
Sock it to me, Wysoki!
When I began to read this day's reading, Opening to New Media, the mention of the five material components of composition did not make immediate sense, but as I continued to read, this essay synced up with Daniel Pink's book, A whole new mind, as well as Ren Gen by Patricia Martin--both of whom believe that we are undergoing a cultural revolution. The difference between their assessments of this revolution is that Wysocki goes into considerably more detail, with an emphasis on the factors behind composition. I'm reminded of Louise Rosenblatt's text, The reader, the text, and the poem: and her assertion that the reader, the writer and the text interact, within the context of what "material" each item or person brings to the process. I had never considered in the exquisite detail expressed in Wysocki's essay the infinite variables present in every communicative transaction. I knew that communicating while conveying pure meaning was a complex transaction, but when I started to think of all the elements involved, I think it is a miracle that we humans communicate as well as we do. The idea that transfering in between modes changed the meaning and the form of the text became especially fascinating when I was asked to consider one text in several different forms, and if my reaction and interaction would alter the meaning of the text. So, if the same words and images presented in different ways evoke different meaning, is there ever any hope for future understanding? If words and images are entered into a computer, and become a series of zeros and ones, does the form change their meaning? Wysocki's loving, intricate examination of this topic reminds me of Boice's minute examination of the writing process, which makes me eager to read more.
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
Paper 2: Extremely Rough Draft
3.5.09
If I need to write this paper in an APA format and scientific style, then I’d better get a move on, because I always have to look up APA and remember again how it differs from MLA or the Chicago Manual of Style. Back in the day, I used Turabian as my go-to reference for research papers, and I still consult Elements of Style/Strunk & White to make sure I’m following at least some of the rules of civilized composition. This paper has been on my mind, especially since it seems to be SO difficult to schedule an observation time for English 1000—am about ready to ask CDIS if I can lurk online and observe their English 1000 students. In the meantime, my thoughts about this project led to a mini-epiphany as I brushed my teeth this morning: it may be that it is the students, and not the teacher, who are primarily responsible for climate of the classroom, which in turn blows to hell Haim Ginnott’s statement:
I have come to the frightening conclusion that I am the decisive element. It is my personal approach that creates the climate. It is my daily mood that makes the weather.I possess tremendous power to make a life miserable or joyous. I can be a tool of torture, or an instrument of inspiration.I can humiliate or humor, hurt or heal.In all situations, it is my response that decides whether a crisis will be escalated or de –escalated, and a person humanized or dehumanized. Haim Ginott
My mother taught with this saying posted in her classroom; I had a copy in my classroom and typically distribute copies to future teachers in the classes I teach.
So what if students really are the decisive element? Let’s face it; we’re outnumbered and mutiny is always possible. I believe that teachers play a large part in determining classroom climate, but in the end, it is your skill, knowledge, and charm that will save the day.
Teaching vs. Helping students learn
Both of my parents taught school in Oklahoma City and American Samoa, and I've listened to them talk about their students my entire life. They are both retired now, but every so often, my mother agrees to substitute because she misses having a regular group of students. It surprises me that they aren't both teaching night school, because they did that, too, and liked the challenge of helping students earn their GED.I had the great good fortune, or extremely bad luck, to have both of my parents as teachers --my mother was also my fifth grade teacher at Fia Iloa, and my father volunteered to teach at Samoana, my high school, so that I could have the benefit of his in-person teaching, instead of his televised lessons beamed all over the island to village school children. Was I appreciative? Not really--I think it warped me for life. I was, however, able to observe up close and in person the teaching styles of both parents and in later years chose their best techniques to use in my own classroom. The biggest difference between them was their teaching style--my father could lecture for hours without notes on any of the historical times we studied, disclosing juicy tidbits about historical figures and helping all of us think about and understand what motivated the people in history to behave as they did--and how their behavior changed the world for better or worse. My mother's approach to teaching was more individualized, but less engaging. My father cajoled us into learning by letting us peek behind the curtains of history. My mother didn't cajole. We all had work to do, and we'd better get to it! We churned our way through the fifth grade textbooks and in our spare time individually worked our way through the box of SRI reading resources. We finished the spelling book by Christmas, so we started on the 6th grade book and were more than half-way thorough it by the end of school. We did do several art projects, and it wasn't entirely grim, but I would have much preferred another teacher, as my friends complained bitterly to me when they were in trouble for not doing their work. My mother's philosophy towards classroom behavior/finished work was consistant throughout her whole teaching career--but fortunately, she had not yet implemented the pink chair cure. Looking back, there should probably have been sanctions against pink chairs in the documents drawn up by the Geneva Convention, but this form of torture somehow escaped notice. Her pink chair method was simple: when she taught first or second graders, anyone in trouble was required to sit in a pink chair outside while everyone else enjoyed recess. She had three pink chairs. Strangely, this method of behavior modification seemed to work. Only one child needed a second pink chair experience--once was enough for everyone else. How is this relevant to English 1000? I've noticed that teaching undergraduates is not much different from teaching middle or high school students--and while pink chair use is verboten, there are "tricks" you can do to engage students in their own learning, even though they balk at active participation with more resistance and energy than would be required to successfully complete the assignment. Somehow, students may feel that their job is to be a funnel head--and my job is to pour information into the funnel while they check their e-mail, text their friends, and mutter to their classmates about how much effort it will take to finish assignments. I think part of the problem is that teachers do not continue to learn and grow with their students--and do not see the need to vary their methods of information delivery in order to help all learners learn.
My plan to observe an English 1000 class this morning fell through, so it will be my next/final observation. For now, I'm going to write about my Q2 course--Qualitative Analysis, Part 2. The members of this class are a fascinating mix of age, race, nationality and subject specialties. One student requires a dog and 2 interpreters -- and is a very active participant in the class. Two of my friends from the 2001 Missouri Writing Project are in there with me, and we've noticed and discussed the different levels of understanding that our classmates bring to the class. Four weeks ago, we spent much of the entire class period discussing the syllabus in minute detail. Several students were very vocal about the many ways that completing the final project would be impossible in their field of study. Two people are gathering data in other countries, so I can see how they may need special accomodations and altered expectations, but many of the concerns seemed to be blown out of proportion for the task at hand. Our professor was patient, articulate and diplomatic throughout this proceedure, and offered to meet with anyone still confused outside of our regularly scheduled class time, but the questions continued, eroding what was left of our class time. I began to worry that I had somehow misunderstood the gravity and scope of task at hand, but a brief check for clarification revealed that my understanding of the project was clear, and on target. If that was the case, then why were my classmates behaving as if they had little ability to read and understand the goals/objectives/project directions/expected outcomes stated on the syllabus? How had they made it this far, academically? Given their level of confusion, how did they operate a moving vehicle or roam out in the world without a keeper? Had one of Hulu's alien representatives gobbled up most of their brain? Were they only capable of processing auditory information in 60 second chunks?My hypothesis is that a small percentage of the students were truly puzzled--and since some of them were operating in L2, their confusion was understandable. However, I think others continued to ask questions to delay a discussion of our reading assignment. If I wanted to be mindful about this, I'd say that I noticed that my classmates had so many questions about course requirements that our class time was consumed in the Q & A process. If a deeper analysis was required, I'd note that our different cultures and subject expertise impacted understanding in a negative way. When I talked with my friends after class, we concluded that some of our classmates understood the assignment, some needed clarification, and the rest were just wasting our class time because they felt like being disagreeable.
meta-observation?
Last Friday--11:50-12:50 Young Writers Conference in Townsend Hall/Mindful Writing for TeachersThe plan was for me to offer an hour long seminar on mindfulness and writing, with extra time to construct meaning with other forms of media. I arrived in 303 A with my rolling cart of stuff and several auxillary bags. I was delighted to offer this service, as I truly believe in the power of mindful writing--and was also going to get paid for this session-- enough to buy a new set of ink cartridges for my printer, which has separate color cartridges that run dry at the most inopportune times. I soon found out that my class could begin only after introductions had been made, and two other people briefed everyone on this summer's Missouri Writing Project offerings and opportunities for professional development in other places. We were finally able to begin. I asked everyone to make a list of wishes. I advised them that these were wishes if time and money were readily available--or at least not roadblocks. After the lists were finished (about 4-5 minutes worth of writing) we listened to a mindful breathing exercise. The room grew very quiet, and people seemed to be complying with the idea of sitting calmly and breathing deeply. After meditation, I asked them to focus on one wish and write down an action list--a way to make it happen. While everyone else wrote, I did too, planning my studio in our walk-in attic. Instead of a vague dream/wish, I have a floor plan of what I'd like to put where, and how I want to arrange my many supplies for my hobbies. I'm one step closer to making this wish a reality. After everyone seemed finished writing (and they didn't take long--maybe 4-5 minutes again) I attempted to get them to talk about what they had just experienced, and they looked back at me with "I'm not going to tell you anything" looks--two people eventually spoke up, but everyone was still very tightly strung. I can understand tension with a new experience, but some of these folks seemed almost hostile to the idea of meditation. This was a very different reaction from last year's group, and I don't know why it was so. I know people are on edge from the economy but I would think they would welcome the opportunity to set aside their tension, if only for a few minutes. We moved on to supplies. I brought all the stuff I brought to our class, plus painting supplies--but guess what? No one wanted to paint. I think there must have been trauma involving tempera in their childhood, because no one would risk putting a brush to paper. They were a little better with the art supplies, but looked at me doubtfully when I assured them that they would not be judged--they weren't buying the "this is a mistake free exercise" reassurance. Eventually, supplies spread out and they began to relax a little. Someone had chocolate, and passed it around, which helped. About the time everyone finally, finally got in the multi-modal groove, it was time for them to rejoin their students. One of my former students stayed to help me clean up, then hurried off to claim her students. Why was it so difficult for these teachers, who are familiar with the learning process, to allow themselves to learn something new? Was it my presentation? I am a bit succinct at times, but I think I told them enough, reassured them enough, and smiled enough that they should have loosened up sooner and more completely. Next time, I need a bigger list of the benefits of meditation and writing--splashier somehow, or more convincing. Do I need a commercial with a spokesmodel to advise them that this is truly the thing to do? Surely not. Is this too woo woo for teachers in small towns? It shouldn't be, but it did seem to disconcert them, which was certainly not my intention. What was with the aversion to paint? Worried about getting messy? Worried that they will look foolish? Was it just an unwillingness to drag a dripping painting back home? Thinking about this experience is valuable, because I've generated concrete examples of what to consider to make the next lesson as close to flawless as possible: I want to edify, electrify and imbue them with enthusiasm for the whole mindful writing process.
If I need to write this paper in an APA format and scientific style, then I’d better get a move on, because I always have to look up APA and remember again how it differs from MLA or the Chicago Manual of Style. Back in the day, I used Turabian as my go-to reference for research papers, and I still consult Elements of Style/Strunk & White to make sure I’m following at least some of the rules of civilized composition. This paper has been on my mind, especially since it seems to be SO difficult to schedule an observation time for English 1000—am about ready to ask CDIS if I can lurk online and observe their English 1000 students. In the meantime, my thoughts about this project led to a mini-epiphany as I brushed my teeth this morning: it may be that it is the students, and not the teacher, who are primarily responsible for climate of the classroom, which in turn blows to hell Haim Ginnott’s statement:
I have come to the frightening conclusion that I am the decisive element. It is my personal approach that creates the climate. It is my daily mood that makes the weather.I possess tremendous power to make a life miserable or joyous. I can be a tool of torture, or an instrument of inspiration.I can humiliate or humor, hurt or heal.In all situations, it is my response that decides whether a crisis will be escalated or de –escalated, and a person humanized or dehumanized. Haim Ginott
My mother taught with this saying posted in her classroom; I had a copy in my classroom and typically distribute copies to future teachers in the classes I teach.
So what if students really are the decisive element? Let’s face it; we’re outnumbered and mutiny is always possible. I believe that teachers play a large part in determining classroom climate, but in the end, it is your skill, knowledge, and charm that will save the day.
Teaching vs. Helping students learn
Both of my parents taught school in Oklahoma City and American Samoa, and I've listened to them talk about their students my entire life. They are both retired now, but every so often, my mother agrees to substitute because she misses having a regular group of students. It surprises me that they aren't both teaching night school, because they did that, too, and liked the challenge of helping students earn their GED.I had the great good fortune, or extremely bad luck, to have both of my parents as teachers --my mother was also my fifth grade teacher at Fia Iloa, and my father volunteered to teach at Samoana, my high school, so that I could have the benefit of his in-person teaching, instead of his televised lessons beamed all over the island to village school children. Was I appreciative? Not really--I think it warped me for life. I was, however, able to observe up close and in person the teaching styles of both parents and in later years chose their best techniques to use in my own classroom. The biggest difference between them was their teaching style--my father could lecture for hours without notes on any of the historical times we studied, disclosing juicy tidbits about historical figures and helping all of us think about and understand what motivated the people in history to behave as they did--and how their behavior changed the world for better or worse. My mother's approach to teaching was more individualized, but less engaging. My father cajoled us into learning by letting us peek behind the curtains of history. My mother didn't cajole. We all had work to do, and we'd better get to it! We churned our way through the fifth grade textbooks and in our spare time individually worked our way through the box of SRI reading resources. We finished the spelling book by Christmas, so we started on the 6th grade book and were more than half-way thorough it by the end of school. We did do several art projects, and it wasn't entirely grim, but I would have much preferred another teacher, as my friends complained bitterly to me when they were in trouble for not doing their work. My mother's philosophy towards classroom behavior/finished work was consistant throughout her whole teaching career--but fortunately, she had not yet implemented the pink chair cure. Looking back, there should probably have been sanctions against pink chairs in the documents drawn up by the Geneva Convention, but this form of torture somehow escaped notice. Her pink chair method was simple: when she taught first or second graders, anyone in trouble was required to sit in a pink chair outside while everyone else enjoyed recess. She had three pink chairs. Strangely, this method of behavior modification seemed to work. Only one child needed a second pink chair experience--once was enough for everyone else. How is this relevant to English 1000? I've noticed that teaching undergraduates is not much different from teaching middle or high school students--and while pink chair use is verboten, there are "tricks" you can do to engage students in their own learning, even though they balk at active participation with more resistance and energy than would be required to successfully complete the assignment. Somehow, students may feel that their job is to be a funnel head--and my job is to pour information into the funnel while they check their e-mail, text their friends, and mutter to their classmates about how much effort it will take to finish assignments. I think part of the problem is that teachers do not continue to learn and grow with their students--and do not see the need to vary their methods of information delivery in order to help all learners learn.
My plan to observe an English 1000 class this morning fell through, so it will be my next/final observation. For now, I'm going to write about my Q2 course--Qualitative Analysis, Part 2. The members of this class are a fascinating mix of age, race, nationality and subject specialties. One student requires a dog and 2 interpreters -- and is a very active participant in the class. Two of my friends from the 2001 Missouri Writing Project are in there with me, and we've noticed and discussed the different levels of understanding that our classmates bring to the class. Four weeks ago, we spent much of the entire class period discussing the syllabus in minute detail. Several students were very vocal about the many ways that completing the final project would be impossible in their field of study. Two people are gathering data in other countries, so I can see how they may need special accomodations and altered expectations, but many of the concerns seemed to be blown out of proportion for the task at hand. Our professor was patient, articulate and diplomatic throughout this proceedure, and offered to meet with anyone still confused outside of our regularly scheduled class time, but the questions continued, eroding what was left of our class time. I began to worry that I had somehow misunderstood the gravity and scope of task at hand, but a brief check for clarification revealed that my understanding of the project was clear, and on target. If that was the case, then why were my classmates behaving as if they had little ability to read and understand the goals/objectives/project directions/expected outcomes stated on the syllabus? How had they made it this far, academically? Given their level of confusion, how did they operate a moving vehicle or roam out in the world without a keeper? Had one of Hulu's alien representatives gobbled up most of their brain? Were they only capable of processing auditory information in 60 second chunks?My hypothesis is that a small percentage of the students were truly puzzled--and since some of them were operating in L2, their confusion was understandable. However, I think others continued to ask questions to delay a discussion of our reading assignment. If I wanted to be mindful about this, I'd say that I noticed that my classmates had so many questions about course requirements that our class time was consumed in the Q & A process. If a deeper analysis was required, I'd note that our different cultures and subject expertise impacted understanding in a negative way. When I talked with my friends after class, we concluded that some of our classmates understood the assignment, some needed clarification, and the rest were just wasting our class time because they felt like being disagreeable.
meta-observation?
Last Friday--11:50-12:50 Young Writers Conference in Townsend Hall/Mindful Writing for TeachersThe plan was for me to offer an hour long seminar on mindfulness and writing, with extra time to construct meaning with other forms of media. I arrived in 303 A with my rolling cart of stuff and several auxillary bags. I was delighted to offer this service, as I truly believe in the power of mindful writing--and was also going to get paid for this session-- enough to buy a new set of ink cartridges for my printer, which has separate color cartridges that run dry at the most inopportune times. I soon found out that my class could begin only after introductions had been made, and two other people briefed everyone on this summer's Missouri Writing Project offerings and opportunities for professional development in other places. We were finally able to begin. I asked everyone to make a list of wishes. I advised them that these were wishes if time and money were readily available--or at least not roadblocks. After the lists were finished (about 4-5 minutes worth of writing) we listened to a mindful breathing exercise. The room grew very quiet, and people seemed to be complying with the idea of sitting calmly and breathing deeply. After meditation, I asked them to focus on one wish and write down an action list--a way to make it happen. While everyone else wrote, I did too, planning my studio in our walk-in attic. Instead of a vague dream/wish, I have a floor plan of what I'd like to put where, and how I want to arrange my many supplies for my hobbies. I'm one step closer to making this wish a reality. After everyone seemed finished writing (and they didn't take long--maybe 4-5 minutes again) I attempted to get them to talk about what they had just experienced, and they looked back at me with "I'm not going to tell you anything" looks--two people eventually spoke up, but everyone was still very tightly strung. I can understand tension with a new experience, but some of these folks seemed almost hostile to the idea of meditation. This was a very different reaction from last year's group, and I don't know why it was so. I know people are on edge from the economy but I would think they would welcome the opportunity to set aside their tension, if only for a few minutes. We moved on to supplies. I brought all the stuff I brought to our class, plus painting supplies--but guess what? No one wanted to paint. I think there must have been trauma involving tempera in their childhood, because no one would risk putting a brush to paper. They were a little better with the art supplies, but looked at me doubtfully when I assured them that they would not be judged--they weren't buying the "this is a mistake free exercise" reassurance. Eventually, supplies spread out and they began to relax a little. Someone had chocolate, and passed it around, which helped. About the time everyone finally, finally got in the multi-modal groove, it was time for them to rejoin their students. One of my former students stayed to help me clean up, then hurried off to claim her students. Why was it so difficult for these teachers, who are familiar with the learning process, to allow themselves to learn something new? Was it my presentation? I am a bit succinct at times, but I think I told them enough, reassured them enough, and smiled enough that they should have loosened up sooner and more completely. Next time, I need a bigger list of the benefits of meditation and writing--splashier somehow, or more convincing. Do I need a commercial with a spokesmodel to advise them that this is truly the thing to do? Surely not. Is this too woo woo for teachers in small towns? It shouldn't be, but it did seem to disconcert them, which was certainly not my intention. What was with the aversion to paint? Worried about getting messy? Worried that they will look foolish? Was it just an unwillingness to drag a dripping painting back home? Thinking about this experience is valuable, because I've generated concrete examples of what to consider to make the next lesson as close to flawless as possible: I want to edify, electrify and imbue them with enthusiasm for the whole mindful writing process.
Sunday, March 8, 2009
Teaching vs. Helping students learn
Both of my parents taught school in Oklahoma City and American Samoa, and I've listened to them talk about their students my entire life. They are both retired now, but every so often, my mother agrees to substitute because she misses having a regular group of students. It surprises me that they aren't both teaching night school, because they did that, too, and liked the challenge of helping students earn their GED.
I had the great good fortune, or extremely bad luck, to have both of my parents as teachers --my mother was also my fifth grade teacher at Fia Iloa, and my father volunteered to teach at Samoana, my high school, so that I could have the benefit of his in-person teaching, instead of his televised lessons beamed all over the island to village school children. Was I appreciative? Not really--I think it warped me for life. I was, however, able to observe up close and in person the teaching styles of both parents and in later years chose their best techniques to use in my own classroom.
The biggest difference between them was their teaching style--my father could lecture for hours without notes on any of the historical times we studied, disclosing juicy tidbits about historical figures and helping all of us think about and understand what motivated the people in history to behave as they did--and how their behavior changed the world for better or worse.
My mother's approach to teaching was more individualized, but less engaging. My father cajoled us into learning by letting us peek behind the curtains of history. My mother didn't cajole. We all had work to do, and we'd better get to it! We churned our way through the fifth grade textbooks and in our spare time individually worked our way through the box of SRI reading resources. We finished the spelling book by Christmas, so we started on the 6th grade book and were more than half-way thorough it by the end of school. We did do several art projects, and it wasn't entirely grim, but I would have much preferred another teacher, as my friends complained bitterly to me when they were in trouble for not doing their work. My mother's philosophy towards classroom behavior/finished work was consistant throughout her whole teaching career--but fortunately, she had not yet implemented the pink chair cure. Looking back, there should probably have been sanctions against pink chairs in the documents drawn up by the Geneva Convention, but this form of torture somehow escaped notice. Her pink chair method was simple: when she taught first or second graders, anyone in trouble was required to sit in a pink chair outside while everyone else enjoyed recess. She had three pink chairs. Strangely, this method of behavior modification seemed to work. Only one child needed a second pink chair experience--once was enough for everyone else.
How is this relevant to English 1000? I've noticed that teaching undergraduates is not much different from teaching middle or high school students--and while pink chair use is verboten, there are "tricks" you can do to engage students in their own learning, even though they balk at active participation with more resistance and energy than would be required to successfully complete the assignment. Somehow, students may feel that their job is to be a funnel head--and my job is to pour information into the funnel while they check their e-mail, text their friends, and mutter to their classmates about how much effort it will take to finish assignments. I think part of the problem is that teachers do not continue to learn and grow with their students--and do not see the need to vary their methods of information delivery in order to help all learners learn.
I had the great good fortune, or extremely bad luck, to have both of my parents as teachers --my mother was also my fifth grade teacher at Fia Iloa, and my father volunteered to teach at Samoana, my high school, so that I could have the benefit of his in-person teaching, instead of his televised lessons beamed all over the island to village school children. Was I appreciative? Not really--I think it warped me for life. I was, however, able to observe up close and in person the teaching styles of both parents and in later years chose their best techniques to use in my own classroom.
The biggest difference between them was their teaching style--my father could lecture for hours without notes on any of the historical times we studied, disclosing juicy tidbits about historical figures and helping all of us think about and understand what motivated the people in history to behave as they did--and how their behavior changed the world for better or worse.
My mother's approach to teaching was more individualized, but less engaging. My father cajoled us into learning by letting us peek behind the curtains of history. My mother didn't cajole. We all had work to do, and we'd better get to it! We churned our way through the fifth grade textbooks and in our spare time individually worked our way through the box of SRI reading resources. We finished the spelling book by Christmas, so we started on the 6th grade book and were more than half-way thorough it by the end of school. We did do several art projects, and it wasn't entirely grim, but I would have much preferred another teacher, as my friends complained bitterly to me when they were in trouble for not doing their work. My mother's philosophy towards classroom behavior/finished work was consistant throughout her whole teaching career--but fortunately, she had not yet implemented the pink chair cure. Looking back, there should probably have been sanctions against pink chairs in the documents drawn up by the Geneva Convention, but this form of torture somehow escaped notice. Her pink chair method was simple: when she taught first or second graders, anyone in trouble was required to sit in a pink chair outside while everyone else enjoyed recess. She had three pink chairs. Strangely, this method of behavior modification seemed to work. Only one child needed a second pink chair experience--once was enough for everyone else.
How is this relevant to English 1000? I've noticed that teaching undergraduates is not much different from teaching middle or high school students--and while pink chair use is verboten, there are "tricks" you can do to engage students in their own learning, even though they balk at active participation with more resistance and energy than would be required to successfully complete the assignment. Somehow, students may feel that their job is to be a funnel head--and my job is to pour information into the funnel while they check their e-mail, text their friends, and mutter to their classmates about how much effort it will take to finish assignments. I think part of the problem is that teachers do not continue to learn and grow with their students--and do not see the need to vary their methods of information delivery in order to help all learners learn.
Tuesday, March 3, 2009
My plan to observe an English 1000 class this morning fell through, so it will be my next/final observation. For now, I'm going to write about my Q2 course--Qualitative Analysis, Part 2. The members of this class are a fascinating mix of age, race, nationality and subject specialties. One student requires a dog and 2 interpreters -- and is a very active participant in the class. Two of my friends from the 2001 Missouri Writing Project are in there with me, and we've noticed and discussed the different levels of understanding that our classmates bring to the class. Four weeks ago, we spent much of the entire class period discussing the syllabus in minute detail. Several students were very vocal about the many ways that completing the final project would be impossible in their field of study. Two people are gathering data in other countries, so I can see how they may need special accomodations and altered expectations, but many of the concerns seemed to be blown out of proportion for the task at hand. Our professor was patient, articulate and diplomatic throughout this proceedure, and offered to meet with anyone still confused outside of our regularly scheduled class time, but the questions continued, eroding what was left of our class time. I began to worry that I had somehow misunderstood the gravity and scope of task at hand, but a brief check for clarification revealed that my understanding of the project was clear, and on target. If that was the case, then why were my classmates behaving as if they had little ability to read and understand the goals/objectives/project directions/expected outcomes stated on the syllabus? How had they made it this far, academically? Given their level of confusion, how did they operate a moving vehicle or roam out in the world without a keeper? Had one of Hulu's alien representatives gobbled up most of their brain? Were they only capable of processing auditory information in 60 second chunks?
My hypothesis is that a small percentage of the students were truly puzzled--and since some of them were operating in L2, their confusion was understandable. However, I think others continued to ask questions to delay a discussion of our reading assignment. If I wanted to be mindful about this, I'd say that I noticed that my classmates had so many questions about course requirements that our class time was consumed in the Q & A process. If a deeper analysis was required, I'd note that our different cultures and subject expertise impacted understanding in a negative way. When I talked with my friends after class, we concluded that some of our classmates understood the assignment, some needed clarification, and the rest were just wasting our class time because they felt like being disagreeable.
My hypothesis is that a small percentage of the students were truly puzzled--and since some of them were operating in L2, their confusion was understandable. However, I think others continued to ask questions to delay a discussion of our reading assignment. If I wanted to be mindful about this, I'd say that I noticed that my classmates had so many questions about course requirements that our class time was consumed in the Q & A process. If a deeper analysis was required, I'd note that our different cultures and subject expertise impacted understanding in a negative way. When I talked with my friends after class, we concluded that some of our classmates understood the assignment, some needed clarification, and the rest were just wasting our class time because they felt like being disagreeable.
Tuesday, February 24, 2009
meta-observation?
Last Friday--11:50-12:50 Young Writers Conference in Townsend Hall/Mindful Writing for Teachers
The plan was for me to offer an hour long seminar on mindfulness and writing, with extra time to construct meaning with other forms of media. I arrived in 303 A with my rolling cart of stuff and several auxillary bags. I was delighted to offer this service, as I truly believe in the power of mindful writing--and was also going to get paid for this session-- enough to buy a new set of ink cartridges for my printer, which has separate color cartridges that run dry at the most inopportune times.
I soon found out that my class could begin only after introductions had been made, and two other people briefed everyone on this summer's Missouri Writing Project offerings and opportunities for professional development in other places.
We were finally able to begin. I asked everyone to make a list of wishes. I advised them that these were wishes if time and money were readily available--or at least not roadblocks. After the lists were finished (about 4-5 minutes worth of writing) we listened to a mindful breathing exercise. The room grew very quiet, and people seemed to be complying with the idea of sitting calmly and breathing deeply. After meditation, I asked them to focus on one wish and write down an action list--a way to make it happen. While everyone else wrote, I did too, planning my studio in our walk-in attic. Instead of a vague dream/wish, I have a floor plan of what I'd like to put where, and how I want to arrange my many supplies for my hobbies. I'm one step closer to making this wish a reality. After everyone seemed finished writing (and they didn't take long--maybe 4-5 minutes again) I attempted to get them to talk about what they had just experienced, and they looked back at me with "I'm not going to tell you anything" looks--two people eventually spoke up, but everyone was still very tightly strung. I can understand tension with a new experience, but some of these folks seemed almost hostile to the idea of meditation. This was a very different reaction from last year's group, and I don't know why it was so. I know people are on edge from the economy but I would think they would welcome the opportunity to set aside their tension, if only for a few minutes.
We moved on to supplies. I brought all the stuff I brought to our class, plus painting supplies--but guess what? No one wanted to paint. I think there must have been trauma involving tempera in their childhood, because no one would risk putting a brush to paper. They were a little better with the art supplies, but looked at me doubtfully when I assured them that they would not be judged--they weren't buying the "this is a mistake free exercise" reassurance. Eventually, supplies spread out and they began to relax a little. Someone had chocolate, and passed it around, which helped. About the time everyone finally, finally got in the multi-modal groove, it was time for them to rejoin their students. One of my former students stayed to help me clean up, then hurried off to claim her students.
Why was it so difficult for these teachers, who are familiar with the learning process, to allow themselves to learn something new? Was it my presentation? I am a bit succinct at times, but I think I told them enough, reassured them enough, and smiled enough that they should have loosened up sooner and more completely. Next time, I need a bigger list of the benefits of meditation and writing--splashier somehow, or more convincing. Do I need a commercial with a spokesmodel to advise them that this is truly the thing to do? Surely not. Is this too woo woo for teachers in small towns? It shouldn't be, but it did seem to disconcert them, which was certainly not my intention. What was with the aversion to paint? Worried about getting messy? Worried that they will look foolish? Was it just an unwillingness to drag a dripping painting back home? Thinking about this experience is valuable, because I've generated concrete examples of what to consider to make the next lesson as close to flawless as possible: I want to edify, electrify and imbue them with enthusiasm for the whole mindful writing process.
The plan was for me to offer an hour long seminar on mindfulness and writing, with extra time to construct meaning with other forms of media. I arrived in 303 A with my rolling cart of stuff and several auxillary bags. I was delighted to offer this service, as I truly believe in the power of mindful writing--and was also going to get paid for this session-- enough to buy a new set of ink cartridges for my printer, which has separate color cartridges that run dry at the most inopportune times.
I soon found out that my class could begin only after introductions had been made, and two other people briefed everyone on this summer's Missouri Writing Project offerings and opportunities for professional development in other places.
We were finally able to begin. I asked everyone to make a list of wishes. I advised them that these were wishes if time and money were readily available--or at least not roadblocks. After the lists were finished (about 4-5 minutes worth of writing) we listened to a mindful breathing exercise. The room grew very quiet, and people seemed to be complying with the idea of sitting calmly and breathing deeply. After meditation, I asked them to focus on one wish and write down an action list--a way to make it happen. While everyone else wrote, I did too, planning my studio in our walk-in attic. Instead of a vague dream/wish, I have a floor plan of what I'd like to put where, and how I want to arrange my many supplies for my hobbies. I'm one step closer to making this wish a reality. After everyone seemed finished writing (and they didn't take long--maybe 4-5 minutes again) I attempted to get them to talk about what they had just experienced, and they looked back at me with "I'm not going to tell you anything" looks--two people eventually spoke up, but everyone was still very tightly strung. I can understand tension with a new experience, but some of these folks seemed almost hostile to the idea of meditation. This was a very different reaction from last year's group, and I don't know why it was so. I know people are on edge from the economy but I would think they would welcome the opportunity to set aside their tension, if only for a few minutes.
We moved on to supplies. I brought all the stuff I brought to our class, plus painting supplies--but guess what? No one wanted to paint. I think there must have been trauma involving tempera in their childhood, because no one would risk putting a brush to paper. They were a little better with the art supplies, but looked at me doubtfully when I assured them that they would not be judged--they weren't buying the "this is a mistake free exercise" reassurance. Eventually, supplies spread out and they began to relax a little. Someone had chocolate, and passed it around, which helped. About the time everyone finally, finally got in the multi-modal groove, it was time for them to rejoin their students. One of my former students stayed to help me clean up, then hurried off to claim her students.
Why was it so difficult for these teachers, who are familiar with the learning process, to allow themselves to learn something new? Was it my presentation? I am a bit succinct at times, but I think I told them enough, reassured them enough, and smiled enough that they should have loosened up sooner and more completely. Next time, I need a bigger list of the benefits of meditation and writing--splashier somehow, or more convincing. Do I need a commercial with a spokesmodel to advise them that this is truly the thing to do? Surely not. Is this too woo woo for teachers in small towns? It shouldn't be, but it did seem to disconcert them, which was certainly not my intention. What was with the aversion to paint? Worried about getting messy? Worried that they will look foolish? Was it just an unwillingness to drag a dripping painting back home? Thinking about this experience is valuable, because I've generated concrete examples of what to consider to make the next lesson as close to flawless as possible: I want to edify, electrify and imbue them with enthusiasm for the whole mindful writing process.
Tuesday, February 17, 2009
Collage
Collage Deborah Holland February 17, 2009
Observing and reporting on my writing process in a detached manner has been an extremely helpful exercise. My writing process is all over the place, and what I find astonishing is how much other work I do to support the process. My brain seems to require both visual and kinesthetic activity to process my thoughts and move my writing forward. I often resort to multi-tasking despite the fact that it shatters any mindfulness I have going-- I’m still writing in my head, as I mop the floor or fold a load of clothes. It is more of a luxury to knit, or to go sit in the tilty massage/heat jiggle chair and allow myself to become lost in my thoughts. I seldom work from an outline, and I usually start writing in the middle of my topic, then loop back and the forward as I write.
I spent most of last Monday thinking about what I want to write about the way I write, and although this practice thinking was useful, it was also task avoidance—words on paper may be modified and added to—but words in my head are still intangible. My biggest writing struggle centers around allowing my words to become visible – and I argue with myself as to what form would suit the writing best. I prefer composing on my computer, but if a printer is not readily available, then I’d rather write in longhand because I prefer to edit a tangible, not electronic copy.
How do I avoid writing? Let me count the ways:
I load the dishwasher, start supper in the Crockpot, start a load of clothes in the washer and move the clothes in the washer into the dryer—I check my e-mail, and then follow any promising leads regarding electronic dallying. This week, I shopped for comfort items—a padded lap desk so that I can recline and write instead of perching on the edge of the chair with my legs twisted sideways, reaching up to write on my laptop balancing precariously on a short barstool. I also found and acquired the most comfortable shoes on earth and tracked down portable laptop speakers and a 4GB SD card for my camera. (Then read the Office Depot advertisement and saw an 8GB for close to the same price, and a better deal on the speakers—luckily have not unpacked those yet, so back they go for an upgrade.)
What have I done to get ready to write the article on imagination? I’ve posted my root writing on Google documents and wrote a note to Kathy. (She wrote to me and suggested we collaborate, as we presented together last Fall at NCTE in San Antonio.) I also added English Journal to my NCTE subscriptions so I could look at EJ online and read the particulars of the call for manuscripts. Now that the skeleton of an article exists on Google doc, I’ll see where I can add to it. I still need to write to Kathy and tell her the name of the other book that I think she needs—growing up digital—and start taking some notes about the points we need to hit in the article. I also need to print out a copy of the multi-modal literacy guidelines and also a copy of 21st century guidelines for literacy, just so we can refer to it while writing.
My writing process has evolved though the years. As an undergraduate, my writing fuel included Diet Coke and a large supply of Double Bubble chewing gum and/or peanut M & Ms. I would read all the sources I planned to use and then bookmark the places where I thought I should use quotes, then wait until the night before and whip out an essay. These days, I start writing much earlier and require fresh tea and instrumental music. Chocolate in any form still helps, but is not essential to the process. I’ve noticed that I bribe and make deals with myself in order to get fragments of work done. If you are wondering, the reward for finishing this work is stopping by Cool Stuff to see if they still have separate meditation bowl stick implements, because I bought a brass bowl yesterday that has great potential as a meditation bowl. I wonder if a wooden spoon would work? Sometimes, my reward is a nap, or a stroll in a garden, or making time for watercolor painting.
With a recent classroom remark in mind, I finally sat down and wrote just for a few minutes-- while watching Get Smart with my family. Not an ideal writing environment, but I’m still able to write in a fairly cogent manner. How fortunate am I to know touch typing, so I don’t need to look at the keys. Writing for a few minutes at a time may be my best strategy in the future, given my hummingbird (much better than ADD) nature. Upon reflection, my writing is much like a collage—I move words around, then add and delete until my essay assumes its final form and is launched into the world to be discovered by others. I’m working on non-attachment, as it is still a little difficult to release my writing, but my detachment grows with every launch.
Observing and reporting on my writing process in a detached manner has been an extremely helpful exercise. My writing process is all over the place, and what I find astonishing is how much other work I do to support the process. My brain seems to require both visual and kinesthetic activity to process my thoughts and move my writing forward. I often resort to multi-tasking despite the fact that it shatters any mindfulness I have going-- I’m still writing in my head, as I mop the floor or fold a load of clothes. It is more of a luxury to knit, or to go sit in the tilty massage/heat jiggle chair and allow myself to become lost in my thoughts. I seldom work from an outline, and I usually start writing in the middle of my topic, then loop back and the forward as I write.
I spent most of last Monday thinking about what I want to write about the way I write, and although this practice thinking was useful, it was also task avoidance—words on paper may be modified and added to—but words in my head are still intangible. My biggest writing struggle centers around allowing my words to become visible – and I argue with myself as to what form would suit the writing best. I prefer composing on my computer, but if a printer is not readily available, then I’d rather write in longhand because I prefer to edit a tangible, not electronic copy.
How do I avoid writing? Let me count the ways:
I load the dishwasher, start supper in the Crockpot, start a load of clothes in the washer and move the clothes in the washer into the dryer—I check my e-mail, and then follow any promising leads regarding electronic dallying. This week, I shopped for comfort items—a padded lap desk so that I can recline and write instead of perching on the edge of the chair with my legs twisted sideways, reaching up to write on my laptop balancing precariously on a short barstool. I also found and acquired the most comfortable shoes on earth and tracked down portable laptop speakers and a 4GB SD card for my camera. (Then read the Office Depot advertisement and saw an 8GB for close to the same price, and a better deal on the speakers—luckily have not unpacked those yet, so back they go for an upgrade.)
What have I done to get ready to write the article on imagination? I’ve posted my root writing on Google documents and wrote a note to Kathy. (She wrote to me and suggested we collaborate, as we presented together last Fall at NCTE in San Antonio.) I also added English Journal to my NCTE subscriptions so I could look at EJ online and read the particulars of the call for manuscripts. Now that the skeleton of an article exists on Google doc, I’ll see where I can add to it. I still need to write to Kathy and tell her the name of the other book that I think she needs—growing up digital—and start taking some notes about the points we need to hit in the article. I also need to print out a copy of the multi-modal literacy guidelines and also a copy of 21st century guidelines for literacy, just so we can refer to it while writing.
My writing process has evolved though the years. As an undergraduate, my writing fuel included Diet Coke and a large supply of Double Bubble chewing gum and/or peanut M & Ms. I would read all the sources I planned to use and then bookmark the places where I thought I should use quotes, then wait until the night before and whip out an essay. These days, I start writing much earlier and require fresh tea and instrumental music. Chocolate in any form still helps, but is not essential to the process. I’ve noticed that I bribe and make deals with myself in order to get fragments of work done. If you are wondering, the reward for finishing this work is stopping by Cool Stuff to see if they still have separate meditation bowl stick implements, because I bought a brass bowl yesterday that has great potential as a meditation bowl. I wonder if a wooden spoon would work? Sometimes, my reward is a nap, or a stroll in a garden, or making time for watercolor painting.
With a recent classroom remark in mind, I finally sat down and wrote just for a few minutes-- while watching Get Smart with my family. Not an ideal writing environment, but I’m still able to write in a fairly cogent manner. How fortunate am I to know touch typing, so I don’t need to look at the keys. Writing for a few minutes at a time may be my best strategy in the future, given my hummingbird (much better than ADD) nature. Upon reflection, my writing is much like a collage—I move words around, then add and delete until my essay assumes its final form and is launched into the world to be discovered by others. I’m working on non-attachment, as it is still a little difficult to release my writing, but my detachment grows with every launch.
Monday, February 16, 2009
Another small piece
Watching myself write this week has been such a revelation! How very informative to notice but not judge the many activities I generate that seem to center around my act of writing. I've also noticed that my son and husband impact my writing in several ways. Even the birds and Miss Daisy, my hamster, get into the act. I can be ripping along on the computer, typing like mad, and am gradually lured out of my trance because Miss Daisy is barking at me, demanding attention and the special seeds I hand feed her. If I move from the study to the den, my cockatiel will occasionally pause his conversation with our parakeet and/or the outside birds to advise me that
"I'm a pretty bird" which is my cue to go over to his cage and agree with him, maybe even encouraging him fly out and sit on my shoulder, or begin his hobby of perforating and scraps of folding paper. Clearly, I should head for a different area of my home or choose somewhere else entirely.
"I'm a pretty bird" which is my cue to go over to his cage and agree with him, maybe even encouraging him fly out and sit on my shoulder, or begin his hobby of perforating and scraps of folding paper. Clearly, I should head for a different area of my home or choose somewhere else entirely.
Thursday, February 12, 2009
Autho-ethno first draft
Well, I’ve spent most of the day thinking about what I want to write about the way I write, and think this thinking may be useful, but it is also task avoidance—words on paper may be modified and added to—but words in my head don’t actually exist yet. How do I avoid writing? Let me count the ways: I load the dishwasher, start supper in the crockpot, start a load of clothes in the washer and move the clothes in the washer into the dryer—I check my e-mail, then follow any promising leads regarding electronic dallying Do I have fresh tea? Better start the kettle. I think chocolate would help. Better check in with my parents and see if they are still alive—yes, they are. Those boxes need collapsing for recycling… Sit down and write just for a few minutes—even though I’m writing while watching Get Smart with my family, I’m still getting work done. How fortunate am I to know touch typing, so I don’t need to look at the keys. This wasn’t the case when I taught myself to type on a typewriter without marked keys when I was in the third grade…but I digress. What have I done to get ready to write this article? I’ve posted my root writing on google documents and wrote a note to Kathy. She wrote to me and suggested we collaborate, as we presented a variation this Fall at NCTE in San Antonio. I also went on and added English Journal to my NCTE subscriptions so I could look at EJ online and read the particulars of the call for manuscripts. Tomorrow, I’ll go onto google docs and see where I can add to it, and also need to write to Kathy and tell her the name of the other book that I think she needs—growing up digital—and start taking some notes about the points we need to hit in the article. I also need to print out a copy of the multi-modal literacy guidelines and also a copy of 21st century guidelines for literacy, just so we can refer to it while writing.
Debbie
Retrieved from "http://comp.missouri.edu/wiki/index.php/Talk:Assignment_sheet"
Debbie
Retrieved from "http://comp.missouri.edu/wiki/index.php/Talk:Assignment_sheet"
Thursday, February 5, 2009
Here are some other sites of interest for Joseph Cornell
http://americanart.si.edu/collections/search/artwork/results/?&name=joseph%20cornell&title=&keyword=&number=&image=1&view=0
http://www.josephcornellbox.com/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Cornell
Haptic poetry explanation
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haptic_Poetry
http://www.artchive.com/artchive/C/cornell.html
http://www.ibiblio.org/wm/paint/auth/cornell/
http://www.ndoylefineart.com/cornell.html
http://americanart.si.edu/collections/search/artwork/results/?&name=joseph%20cornell&title=&keyword=&number=&image=1&view=0
http://www.josephcornellbox.com/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Cornell
Haptic poetry explanation
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haptic_Poetry
http://www.artchive.com/artchive/C/cornell.html
http://www.ibiblio.org/wm/paint/auth/cornell/
http://www.ndoylefineart.com/cornell.html
Wednesday, February 4, 2009
Joseph Cornell
Joseph Cornell was an amazing artist; I admire his assemblages of found objects and the fact that he obviously felt compelled to make meaning in this manner. The brief interactive film at
http://www.pem.org/cornell/# is a perfect little showcase for his art. I don't think he would have wanted to talk much about his art--his art did his speaking for him.
http://www.pem.org/cornell/# is a perfect little showcase for his art. I don't think he would have wanted to talk much about his art--his art did his speaking for him.
Thursday, January 29, 2009
This is my five minutes of freewriting after three minutes of mindful breath awareness on 1.29.09
It is amazing how quickly by body can get back into the groove of meditation--it is like jumping into the diving pool with the confidence that you'll know how to swim once you are wet--and you do. Getting wet in class is a bonus; I have a practice informally established that I do daily--several times a day, depending on whether or not I feel I need to do so.
It is amazing how quickly by body can get back into the groove of meditation--it is like jumping into the diving pool with the confidence that you'll know how to swim once you are wet--and you do. Getting wet in class is a bonus; I have a practice informally established that I do daily--several times a day, depending on whether or not I feel I need to do so.
Boice
I'm delighted to learn that Boice is to be part of this class in composition, because I think he gets to the root of any problems writers have and has strategies to patiently improve the entire process of writing. I know I am a different writer after reading his work last semester and I imagine that I will benefit from a second intense exposure. Instead of waiting until the last second for everything, I find that I have the forethought to begin to think and write about a topic without a clear view of how I'll end the piece; I'm sure that this less frantic pace can only improve the quality of my output, although I may want to write more than I need to because I have the time to do so. Waiting is an excellent quality, but I wait better if I put something in the water to contemplate--like fishing, I bait my hook with a brief start and then sit back and see what happens next. I'm forcing this a little right now, but just because I want to get something posted on this blog--so I'm really baiting the hook of this repository for my writing, then will see what shows up here during the semester.
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