Group items tagged

For the past few weeks in this class I have generated all of my focus on the identity of the students in Enlish 30 workshops. After reading the article, "Exploring teacher-writer identities in the classroom: Conceptualising the struggle" I a new question has stemmed: how do teacher's identity as writers affect students' progress in academic progress? Authors, Teresa Cremin and Sally Baker from the Department of Education of The Open University suggest "that teachers' development as writers has the potential to enrich writing pedagogy and impact positively on young writers." The idea of teachers writing alongside their students is in my opinion highly valuable because students and teachers have the opportunity to experience the writing process together. In previous articles I have read that relatability between students and instructor are essential to the learning environment. If instructors are constantly writing alongside their students trying to establish/re-establish their identity in academic writing, students can learn easily learn how to do the same through "shared challenges" (9). While English 431 students cannot use this strategy because members of their English 30 workshops come from different sections of English 130 we can attempt to produce similar assignments alongside our students. For example, inquiry assignments are a common goal in most English 130 classes. Similarly, English 431 students must write an inquiry essay. English 431 students could incorporate their progress into the workshop by showing the English 30 students what they have done so far, why they are asking certain questions, how they did something, etc.

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 covers a multitude of steps that assist in teaching the dynamics of writing to others. There is an extensive list of statements that is followed by a descriptions as well as procedural conduct. The first statement is "establish a positive atmosphere for writing, reading, and learning," and proceeds to illustrate the ambiances of a classroom, as well as possible arrangements of desks etc. The primary idea is to establish a sustainably, beneficial community in which the students are free of apprehension and unnecessary judgment of any kind. The classroom should be "inviting," "respectful," and have positive "routines and expectations." There should also be regimented activities and daily-designated prerogatives that allow the students to expand their literary intentions. This is article is utmost beneficial to every student within this English course that is committed to their weekly internships. The informatively instructive articulations of each scenario that is provided within this article are very versatile, and can generally assist us all in our own unique interned environments. I highly recommend giving it a brief glance, if you're busy or have some obligatory escapade to attend to.

This article by Claire Charles of Monash University suggest that boys are not up to speed in regards to "school based literacy competencies," but females appear to be thriving (72). The author focuses on women attending "elite" schools to explore the reasoning behind their success and how their "practices construct femininities" (72). Charles unveils the transformation women go through to find empowerment and translating that into their "reading and writing practices" (72). English 431 would benefit from this article because many of the students in English 30 are going through stages of self-discovery and by comparing genders this would allow us to sees the differences in this journey as well as the differences in their discourses. I'm interested to see how men and women incorporate gender into their writing. Some questions I had about this article were why/how are girls outperforming boys and what does gender have to do with mastering literacy? I hope English 431 students can learn how to bring feelings of empowerment to both genders in English 30 in order to help the students find their own voice and identity in their writing.

The article written by ERIC (The Educational Resources Information Center) which I must assume is a part of George Washington Univ. Washington DC. Graduate School of Education and Human Development is a broken down "checklist" of sorts. It addresses six different concerns with grading student's writing. One such concern is one I think we all might have asked ourselves at one point in time, "Why do professors need to construct effective writing assignments?"(3). The answer given to the question was interesting in that it pushed hard for effective peer reviews. While some peer review is helpful the article did address the fact that most students are unaware of how to give effective peer review. The basics of the article concerning peer review are that professors need to help students learn by example and explanation. I thought it interesting as well that the article addressed how professors can avoid giving a grade that they will have to defend after the fact, a problem for professors who grade writing without a series of rewriting stages. The solution offered is, that's right, stages of rewrites with the professor holding off giving a grade for as long as possible. One important idea brought up in the article is that "…the writing assignment should include necessary information about audience and purpose, the two pillars of writing."(3) I often wonder how we focus on the first and not the second. As the article states one of the pillars of writing is purpose, yet we seem to habitually focus on the audience and not give student's a purpose for their writing.

This is a .pdf file of a sort of slide show on classroom environment. It looks pretty cheesy when you first open it, but I went all the way through and found some good points. A lot of the content would work best with younger grades, but I think that it is totally applicable to high school levels, too. It focuses on creating a warm, welcoming environment that students WANT to be in. They suggest making changes in decoration, layout, movement, temperature, etc.

This article explores the reflective attitudes of college students concerning high school. College students are asked to reflect on whether their high school experience helped or hindered them. It also interviews teachers in high school and college to survey how each educator felt about their students and whether or not adequate methods were/had been empolyed to prepare them for college.

This article by Caleb Corkery analyzes the use of literacy narratives as a technique to help transition students who aren't from our culture. Corkery argues, and I agree, that storytelling gives students a chance to change their identities. He cites an example given by Betsy Rymes, "Rymes claims that former high school dropouts can re-script themselves through narratives that eliminate their past identities" (51.) Also through literacy narratives, students can gain insight into their own cultural identities and through this awareness understand how one is "culturally scripted" or how their culture affects how they see writing and the writing community which they are attempting to join. One of the hindrances that Corkery mentions in his article is the difficult transition for writers who come from an oral tradition. A different consciousness accompanies oral thought. Citing two researchers who study the Athabaskan culture in Alaska, Corkery writes, "Because learning to read and write in the essayist manner is in fact learning new patterns of discourse, literacy for an Athabaskan is experienced as a change in ethnicity as well as a change in reality set" (61). While we might not have the opportunity to teach writing to an Athabaskan, we do have students that come from a oral culture. The African American community has a very deep oral tradition. While it may not be as extensive as the native tribe in Alaska, it still deals with a certain amount of ethnicity change.

This article by John Bitchener, Stuart Young, and Denise Cameron of the Auckland University of Technology explores the value of grammar-related feedback in ESL writing. They found a combination of explicit written and oral feedback to be the most effective method to enact change. However, the change in grammar accuracy did't always last. The authors suggest prolonged exposure to this kind of feedback would show a more consistent result. 

After much searching, I was able to find a book that was written by an educator from England about her varying experiences with excellent writers that had a difficult time adapting their writing style to the expectations the West. Helen Fox, author of "Listening to the World: Cultural Issues in Academic Writing, analyzes the effects of culture and the problems this cultural influence causes when students try to adapt their writing styles and personas to that of Western academia. Problems include; focusing on a group instead of emphasis on self, a mindset geared toward a focus on the past instead of a focus on the future and a circular approach to writing instead of a linear approach. Fox investigates these issues and other cultural effects on the writing process.

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, Oura discusses authentic materials and task-based lessons in ESL instruction. The more I read about motivation in the classroom and successful skill learning, the more I read about authenticity and  task-based lessons (as well as a couple of other things not explicitly covered in this article). Though I've many authors talk about these two topics, this article stands out for it's clear and concise explanations and included examples. Interestingly, the examples aren't authentic tasks for any class I foresee teaching, but I can see their value in other courses.

This article contains a variety of helpful recommendations in assisting others with essays, and beneficial of extensive methods in establishing coherence. There are also intriguing statistics about illiteracy and each section, as well as the subcategory within is very specific and unified. Essentially, the article revolves around the diversified nature of everyone's unique interpretation of writing and is magnified towards all students. There's also information such as: informing others, consulting others, approaching the students, entertaining them, acquiring the knowledge of their materials, appropriately responding, and using moderate persuasion. All in all, there are a total of seven recommendations with very concise explanations of writing instruction, analytical approaches, and assessing the quality of literary works. This article is applicable to our instructive endeavors within our micro, or macro, aggregates of situated learning. The content within this particular article will elucidate the path to molding students into strategic writers, capturing and sustaining motivation, and substantiating an enjoyable environment. So please give it a read! I'm sure you'll find it quite pertinent to our weekly scenarios of peripheral participation and consultative interactions.

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.

This article is looking at the differences in Non-Native speaker (NNS) and Native speaker (NS) in their writing discourse. The main focus is on the usage of tense, aspect, and active/passive voice in their writing. The subjects include NS, and NNS Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Indonesian, Vietnamese, and Arabic. They were given a class periods to answer one out of three questions. The result is very interesting for it shows the difference between the different groups of NNS and the overall differences of NNS and NS. At the conclusion of the finding, it says that NNS are less likely to use passive voice in their writing. I reflected it back to professor Wyrick's question about passive tense in Hmong. I notice that the reason we never pay attention to passive voice because we rarely use it in everyday communication that when I translated to my parents they said it's possible but it's hard to make sense out of it. I also tried to translate some transition words and found it to be very disturbing to the flow of the sentence.

The author inquires about why students dislike writing. Bricker presents a case in her inquiry that addresses the student's problem through one on one discussion. Her case lifted the student's aversion to writing by showing him directly that he was able to write without realizing it. This article really brings to light the importance of identifying negative attitudes towards writing and paying close attention to the student's psychological reaction to writing. In doing so, teachers can adjust the dialogue to get a more eager response to write from students having difficulties with writing. One significant idea presented in this inquiry is allowing students to write what they want to say rather than what the teacher wants to hear. This gives teachers and future teachers a big clue as to what possible circumstances prevent students from writing and ones that encourage them to write.

Day's article discusses the various beliefs and habits that contribute to writer's block. Many of these beliefs include sets of rules that are heavily rigid and grammatical rather than content. Day suggests that writers that go through their writing with little rigidity and skimming over the editing process while writing is a preventative strategy to overcome writer's block. This article brought into view the point that, most of our writer's block comes from rules that disrupt the flow of writing and content. For the most part, students hang on to rules that are grammatical or structural plans that attempt to perfect writing on the first draft. I think this can be valuable to teachers because when we identify the cognitive strategies preventing students from writing, we can instruct them how to overcome those strategies to develop ones that help students with writing.