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For me, it started with some initial ideas from David Orr's book Ecological Literacy, and along with it the argument in his other book Earth in Mind: that all education is environmental education, and the purpose thereof is to increase ecological literacy. What this article sets out to do is to provide a more general understanding of what ecological literacy is (a blend between ecological thinking and environmental literacy). Learning appears in a fusion between three big learning domains: behavioural, affective and cognitive learning, and such a learner is called an authentic learner. An authentic learner is one who "can not only identify relevant dilemmas but also appreciate how their understanding of a scientific concept can influence their decision. The difficult fulfilment of students who face today's education is the highly fragmented status of disciplinary studies (the so-called academia). Ecological literacy sets out not only to introduce students to ecological concepts, but to push them so far as to recognise their place within the current ecosystem. Ecological Misconception Ecology is a strictly inter-disciplinary field of study, which draws concepts from Biology, Physics, Chemistry, Geology. Misconception appears when there is a misconnection between the seemingly holistic view of the general concepts, or a failure to express the necessary link between related concepts. Where does writing come in? Writing, according to the authors, is a reflective process. Students are first introduced to the concepts relevant to an ecological discussion. They are then asked to write three iteration essays to demonstrate their understanding along with their ability to make connections within the given concepts. Since it is important that students go through an extensive study just to recognise their place within the current ecosystem, personal reflection through writing is an essential tool not only to "show", but to connect, and make connections (writing discou

So pretty much this article emphasizes the idea of the connection between the flow of writing (creation and invention) and excercise. The mentioned excercise that helps resolve writer's block is running, but the article also hints at aerobic excercises in general can help cure this issue. So long as the physical excercises do not require "attentional processes" but rather allow the mind to 'free' itself, high-exertion work outs can hold benefits to get those creative juices flowing.

This online-community-sourced interview with Sir Ken Robinson (British education adviser, author, and speaker) followed his TED talk about creativity in education. He makes some good points about the need to cultivate creativity in students in all areas of education (not just those traditionally associated with creativity, like music or painting). This is closely tied to the struggle to create motivation in the classroom and addresses an attitude more than a specific set of strategies.  He tends to talk more about math and science than language, but most of what he says can be applied to our field as well. He connects the idea of "teaching creativity" to "teaching literacy", but I would argue to achieve true literacy, you need those creative elements that are so often lost in the language classroom.

This is a handbook for understanding and developing authentic materials suitable for adults published by the National Center for the Study of Adult Learning and Literacy (NCSALL), which ran out of money and funding sources about four years ago. I've already been sold on the value of authentic materials and tasks, but with this handbook, NCSALL takes that extra step I've been looking for, it gives me some guidelines to create tasks for my own potential classroom. The underlying theme of this text seems to be facilitating students' connections with their own literacy.

In this article, there are 21 steps to assist the literary councilor in teaching writing. Although it is a fairly short article, there is fairly useful information that can be extrapolated and applied to the multiplicity of situated learning that exist. A number of the steps actually have sub sections that pertain to the objective that is listed; furthermore, illustrating pragmatic, as well as feasibly applicable, instructive literary algorithms for assisting others in enhancing their writing skills. Truthfully, these steps contain information that isn't always brought to mind during our workshops; and I veraciously admit to relearning things in which I overlooked and/or have forgotten. Quintessentially, these steps can be applied to out workshop environment, and provide us with a helpful literary approach-instead of accidently sending the wrong idea, or running out of intellectual things to say (it happens to us all from time to time). Before we enhance our workshop surroundings, we should all endeavor to enhance our understandings of the procedural nature of excelling in writing, while simultaneously assisting others. In my opinion, teaching is one of the best, if not the best, ways to teach ourselves; instructing others reveals the hidden connecting points that we subconsciously always knew were there.

Li, Xuemei. "Identities And Beliefs In ESL Writing: From Product To Process." TESL Canada Journal 25.1 (2007): 41-64. ERIC. Web. 11 Mar. 2012. This article explored the differences between first language culture and second language culture in an attempt to fill the gap between them. It offered some really insightful notions on the connection between both western and eastern current learning norms and their historical developments. Li points out that western learning can be traced back to the Socratic ideologies; which were to question yourself and others, be skeptical, and to form self-generated knowledge. Li says that Eastern education is based on Confucian ideologies which is a more "humanistic" approach that taught to achieve social harmony by being "reproductive" rather than analytical and to focus on correctness instead of originality. The article also conveyed the idea of the importance of authority in the classroom and explained that students of Eastern cultures place high value on their teacher's position. It explains their indifference to "micro-processes" such as peer critiquing. The article was about 20 pages, but all of the good information is in the first part, the "Background of the Study. The rest is pretty much just a repeat of everything mentioned in the first part. It was a good and insightful article. I would recommend it (at least the first part).

this article sound good...i think i will use it later.

In this article, President of Teaching That Makes Sense, Steve Peha shares his views, methods, philosophy, and applications of teaching writing to others. He addresses questions like "how do teachers achieve the best practice" and "what is the best practice for writing instruction?" Steve also has incorporated a chart that dichotomously sorts the attributes of the quality, process, strategies, reading-writing connection, philosophy, management and forms of writing. He also includes his "Six Traits" of evaluative criteria for assessing a variety of genres of writing. His arguments are quite applicable and logical, and his instructive guide is considerably pragmatic and "easy to follow." For anyone endeavoring to assist and critique others' writing on an academic plain will find this article to be of assistance. Even if there is a disagreement on some of the material, it is arranged in a way that can be slightly altered and still beneficially applicable.

In this article, there are 21 steps to assist the literary councilor in teaching writing. Although it is a fairly short article, there is fairly useful information that can be extrapolated and applied to the multiplicity of situated learning that exist. A number of the steps actually have sub sections that pertain to the objective that is listed; furthermore, illustrating pragmatic, as well as feasibly applicable, instructive literary algorithms for assisting others in enhancing their writing skills. Truthfully, these steps contain information that isn't always brought to mind during our workshops; and I veraciously admit to relearning things in which I overlooked and/or have forgotten. Quintessentially, these steps can be applied to out workshop environment, and provide us with a helpful literary approach-instead of accidently sending the wrong idea, or running out of intellectual things to say (it happens to us all from time to time). Before we enhance our workshop surroundings, we should all endeavor to enhance our understandings of the procedural nature of excelling in writing, while simultaneously assisting others. In my opinion, teaching is one of the best, if not the best, ways to teach ourselves; instructing others reveals the hidden connecting points that we subconsciously always knew were there.

It's very strange, i went to read your article and all it show me was computer stuff, like C++ stuff. This is not about you wrote. It is not about applied multiplicity of situated learning.....maybe i got the web site wrong, can you post your website again?

Thank you very much for pointing that out to me Khou. I must have cut off a fraction of the URL when I pasted it~ I re-posted the article, please check it out! Here's the link if you don't feel like searching for it- it's kind of monotonous digging through postings http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=6&cts=1331526916842&ved=0CGoQFjAF&url=http%3A%2F%2Fmembers.shaw.ca%2Fenglishtour%2Fway_correct_essay.pdf&ei=_3xdT72nO6OPiAKOrIizCw&usg=AFQjCNFFk0ZVEBkpvxpMk6dA-RAZ4ClavQ

This article discusses "how emotions affect the composing process" in academic writing. The author argues that writing assignments that demand "critical thinking and identity shifts" cause anxiety for students, hence why they cannot fully engage in "critical analytic writing" under these conditions. The author suggests instructors need to better understand these conditions in order to help students succeed in academic writing. ENGL 431 would find this article useful because the students we are observing are at stage in life in which identity and self-discovery is central. Therefore, tutors, mentors, and instructors may be able to use these factors to draw connections between "discourse and emotion." Also, if tutors, mentors, and instructors found a way to make themselves more relate-able the students would feel more comfortable in the classroom setting. In turn, by making academic writing, in some way about the students they would feel more comfortable about academic writing assignments.

Aimee C. Mapes writes about her experience as a teacher in Freshman Connection of FC, on the social and cultural context among at-risk, first-year university students. Issues of identity are central to understanding the discourse because the context instances identity. I found parallels in the experiences of Keneika and my own experiences as a minority, although she was a girl. The study examined the role of gender as the site of pedagogic content. Academically underprepared students in the federal TRIO program include first generation, having low income, racial minority status, or learning disabled. The author/instructor also felt a commonality with the student she observed. One thing that emerged from the FC progam was that conflict emerged and it was related to identity. The most interesting thing to me was the fact that because of the focus on "at-risk" groups, much of the attention was devoted to males. This dynamic was a response to the male voice that dominated discussions and seemed to be heard whenever there were behavoiral problems--males were associated with problems and males were overrepresented as a result. The programmatic behavoir necessarily overlooked the status or identity of females in the FC. Because the females were not vocal, their nonparticipation, as a function of gender, diminished focus on them. Keneika responded to her position through the assignments. She thought of herself in very positive terms and absolutely different from the males whom she considered inferior. Everything that represented male to her, she constructed the opposite trait or quality for herself. Assignments offer students a way to polarize against social positioning.

Interesting! Aimee Mapes did her MA here at Chico State. Will have to read the article!

This is quite a small article, but it presents a certain interest as it connects writing with other social practices. I guess this assumption is crucial for teaching because it presupposes writing in the classroom with real-life purposes. The article also mentions interculturality and constant interaction of two languages, which is important when teaching writing to ESL students. The author is concerned about the specifics of effective transfer of literacy skills in bilinguals and heritage speakers. According to Martinez, as a result of traditional teaching, bilingual students tend to write with "conformity to rhetorical traditions in the dominant language" ("backwards literacy"), which creates certain problems with style, thoughts expression, choice of words and sentence patterns (i.e., mechanical transfer of the dominant language features into L2 writing). Therefore, it is necessary to develop "forward literacy", which accepts a non-standard way of writing ("writers carve out their own transcultural paths of expression"). In other words, writing of a bilingual or heritage learner implies constant shifts (transfers) between languages and cultures, and using the multiple resources of both languages in order to create an original pattern. The instructor's task is: (1) to identify multiple literacies (i.e. writing practices) that students possess and / or should possess in their heritage language and their dominant language; (2) to teach the students how to shift without mixing two languages. E.g. in early works of Spanish heritage learners, English norms penetrate Spanish writing: estoy the acuerdo instead of estoy de acuerdo. The shift should concern rhetorical strategies, which reflect cultural and aesthetical values of the two languages worlds, but not grammar or writing vocabulary; (3) teaching writing in the context of multiple social practices and contents While teaching writing, it is important to distinguish between positive transfer of skills already acqu

Wow, i like your article. It state purposely on how to help ESL student to write English better.

This article focuses on the relationship between students and teachers and how students feel about the way their teachers act. They gathered information by conducting surveys and focus-groups in an effort to truly understand how what students think about their teachers, and how their relationships effected the students' achievement in school. They collected information from three different sources: special education, general education, and honors education. The results for all three were incredibly similar with some slight differences in what the students focused on. In general, the students responded very amiably to teachers who demonstrated respect and caring for their students and conveyed high expectations of them. It became clear that students were very aware of the amount of effort teachers put in to connecting with their students and the amount of work the teachers put in to the class. In many cases when the teachers told stories, demonstrated respect, and tried to relate to their students on a personal level, treating them as humans and peers rather than subordinates, the students were not only more engaged in the assignments but they admitted that they grew fond of those teachers and their classes. The article was incredibly interesting to me because of the fact that they focused on the students' perceptions rather than the teachers'. I've read many studies that interview teachers and discuss what the teachers think they've effectively conveyed to their students but it is rare to really see how students feel and think, though it seems to me that the students' opinions should be a larger focus because they're the ones who are trying to learn. This article has made me realize that what a teacher says is not always the most important aspect of effectively teaching information, but instead, what really matters, is the way they say it and the way they make their students feel.

This article challenges the idea that there is a binary distinction between academic writing and an author's identity. He argues that identity is always present in writing and that it is impossible to separate one from the other. As such, it is important for teachers to help students understand the role that identity plays in academic writing. For example, students must understand that the presence of identity is not tied to the presence of the pronoun "I." Instead, he advises teachers to show students that identity in academic writing involves connecting passion, point of view, and experience with research, evidence, and analysis. He finishes by pointing out that researchers dedicate their lives to their fields because of their identities, not in spite of them. In the same way, students must find a field of study that fits their own interests, so that they can produce meaningful writing.

apparently the link I provided is wrong. This should be the correct link. Sorry for the error. http://ehis.ebscohost.com.mantis.csuchico.edu/eds/detail?vid=8&hid=23&sid=cd495c58-13e5-4797-b3c8-a7e279a3685e%40sessionmgr11&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWRzLWxpdmU%3d#db=aph&AN=20913663

Nature writing This particular article deals with a post-composition era that still resides in the university. Writing is depicted as a means of a disconnection between different experiences that students often times find themselves bewildered. This goes along with the argument against writing from the stimulation of reading: writing, for example, a response to a piece of reading in an anthology might be interesting, but it does not provide the original experience for the writer. By the time something is put into words, it makes a specific connection, or a specific rhetorical stance towards that thing. Reading, then, becomes a re-interpretation of a text, not the original experience wherewith the text is from. What this paper argues, then, is to take students through the original experience of actually confronting the scene of nature itself: what is there, what is constituted, and what can be written. Traditional texts in nature writing include the following: Aldo Leopold's A Sand County Almanac, Loren Eiseley's The Immense Journey, Joseph Krutch's The Desert Year. The course would include times dedicated to the reading of what is emphasised on style of writing, technique of writing and different elements of style. By then, not only would the students learn the value made by the originality of experience, they also learn the value that writers put into writing. It is not an exaggerating thing to say that such is the writing experienced by a writer. Peer critique is one of the crucial aspects of the course where students will give feedbacks on "perception, emotion, evaluation that includes both efferent and aesthetic considerations". At the end of the course, the value(s) in perception will be a lifelong skill, which in time develops into a tradition.

This study focuses on colleges with first year experience programs and whether or not having these programs be main faculty led is beneficial. It explores the idea that have upper classmen take part in the first year experience by interacting with freshmen would make the transition process easier because the first year students would connect more with peers than teachers. In the introduction it says that 'more than 68% of 2005 high school graduates entered some form of post-secondary education within 4 months of graduation' but more than 40% of these students fail to complete college and that most students will drop out within the first 6 weeks.

Compared to my other sources, which thus far have had a solely focused on Gamification and all ties to education were stated by myself, this article takes a greater initiative in connecting Gamifaction and education, by discussing potential uses for Gamification in a classroom setting. It also refers to a psychology study conducted on implementing Gamification at the University level.