Group items tagged

I watched this video in ENGL 030E workshop, and I am very interested in this video and the way the tutor use this video. The tutor show the video twice to students and assign them 8 minute quick write about what they have known from the video; after the quick write, the tutor let them discussion what they have gotten from the video in small group and share in the big group. In the big group discussion, some students mentioned that they "saw" words in the video. After discussion, the tutor show the video third time and asked students to write down all the words they have "seen" in this video. At the third, I figured out that the video shows different definitions of same words, like play, blow, run, etc., and the transitions between the words are done well. Through the process of thinking and discussing, the students noticed the words and the fluent transition. At the end of the discussion, the tutor collected the students' writings. The questions I raise from this video are that: 1. How to guide students to have such thinking rather than limited eyes. There will be more than two viewpoints to the same phenomenon, just like the different but interrelated definitions of the same word. At the beginning of the writing, the thought about the writing should be not limited in a specific topic or certain aspect, and writer can explore more ideas than they can. 2. How to start and use the invention strategies to avoid mechanical writing. Writing can be anything, not only the structure but also the idea. How to organize the essay, the structure, should be considered when the writing is certain; when having no idea of what to write, the free thinking and think deeper would be much more useful. It could be anything to inspire thoughts and ideas, like vocabulary, normal experience and so on. The video, the way the tutor delivers and the reading (Chapter 2 in Clark's book) make me think about how to really use the invention strategies.

I thought this article was a good fit on the path I, believe, I will be taking for my inquiry project ----- student efficacy within an English workshop. The article, written by James Williams and Seiji Takaku, covers the basis of workshops much like Rodby and Fox did in our packet article; however, the article instead of focusing on the structure of workshops focused on the students' efficacy and the effects it may have in order for a workshop to function as it was intended to - to help students better their composition skills in and outside of the English classroom. The article also mentions research done on students within "remedial" workshops and realized "...students had self-efficacy beliefs that did not match their writing performance .... their overestimated sense of efficacy was related to a lack of appropriate, correctional feedback in high school as well as to the tendency among high school teachers to praise and reward students for merely participating in the writing process rather than for producing good work" (3). I thought this statement was interesting because I find it to be true, especially in my experience with not only my internship at PVHS but also with my experience, this year, in Eng 30 workshops and my tutor sessions with second language learners. Sometimes educators focus on participation and the actual process of completing an assignment rather than making sure the student is adequately learning and putting into practice what is being taught/learned. The article also acknowledges the workshop characteristics that may affect students' self-efficacy in the first place. "In the U.S., the majority of writing centers rely on peer tutors" (4). "Some staff include graduate students, but only 3% of 4-year public universities employ professional tutors, that is, persons with an advanced degree" (4). This was a keynote since it reflects on the Casanave article from our class packet ---- to what degree can a peer be considered an actual peer

This study of second and fourth grade students examines student attitudes toward writing. The study suggests that the culture of high-stake testing has placed teachers in a bind that forces them to teach writing aggressively, which takes the fun out writing. The younger the students are, the authors claim, the more positive their attitude toward writing is. The older they are, the more likely they are to come face to face with these higher stake environments and the more negative their attitudes will become.The study actually has fourth grade students meet with and tutor the second grade students in writing in order to measure the positive or negative affect of tutoring on writing attitudes. I was especially drawn to the passage that said, "Some self-efficacy researchers have suggested that teachers should pay as much attention to students' perceptions of competence as to actual competence, for the perceptions may more accurately predict students' motivation and future academic choices." (182).

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.

This article was really interesting because it targeted exactly what I'm doing at the ESL resource center and gave me a lot of insight into what kinds of questions I should be asking students who come in, how I can better understand their writing and most importantly, how I can better help them with their writing. It discussed how as tutors, we should maximize our resources and skills to better help these students. In the ESL resource center, we have such a good mix of backgrounds, that it really helps accomodate the students as we better understand them. This article emphasized pointing out the differences between HOC (Higher Order Content) vs LOC (Lower Order Content) something I have definitely come across in my internship: students coming in focusing solely on grammar, or pronunciation, or content (a rare one.)

In this TED talk video Dave Eggers is talking enthusiastically about free tutoring centers where students receive one-on-one attention from either more experienced peers or teachers who volunteer to go to these centers at least two hours a week. He backs up the need of having individual help by research data (I would be interested to see the primary research) which say that 35-40 hours a year one-on-one attention students can get one grade level higher. The first center was opened to offer help in English and writing. Although there was an issue of trust at first to visit the center, with time and some advertising the center got packed with students. They even published their own writing in a form of a book, which is inspiring as it honors their work, hardship, creativity and thoughts. Now they have 1400 students in the center and they want to grow nationwide. Also, they have a website (http://www.onceuponaschool.org/) where there is somebody to show guidance to those who are interested in starting their own learning center in their town (for their public school students). To me, this is a great idea to inspire students and keep their motivation going in a particular subject. I wonder if they have done research and found out students of what achievement tend to go there, is it possible that those who are already into writing, science, languages, etc, are the ones visiting these centers. I also wonder if the volunteers who are there to help receive any kind training about certain methodology or ground rules.

In this space leave a 4-5 sentence summary and response to the article. Do your best to tell us not just what the article argues but how it could be useful for us in ENGL 431. Then use tags to categorize the article for us. (When you're in the blue screen, choices for tags will appear below; once published, they'll appear as gray squares above) That way, as we become more interested in particular concepts or issues, we can easily find all of the articles tagged with those specific terms.

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.

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

The article I found articulates the beneficial attributes of tutoring, mentoring, and faculty assistance in the "alleviation of writing anxiety." There is also discussion on embellishing the self-efficiency university students when writing essays.There authors also use gender as a precursor in determining the differences between the efficacy of writing among males and females. In addition to analytical gender studies, the authors also integrate other academic variables such as GPA's and literary composition as a "recreational activity." There is even breathing exercises, methods for relaxation, and interventional aid to students who completely reprehend writing all together. This is article is definitely pertinent to the academically overstressed life of university students; especially, students enrolled in an English course. At a certain point, we all experience unpalatable junctures of unwanted anxiety, that by any means, impedes our ability to academically perform. It is very similar to the dynamics of examination anxiety. A student may have acknowledgments that exceed the finite boundaries of an exam, but cannot access their superior level of comprehension because of their cognitively, suppressive test anxiety. The word "test," "examination," or "dissertation" have become connotatively dreadful; however, replacing these words with academic euphemisms such as "long quiz" or "filling paper words project" could potentially reduce oppressive, academic anxiety-in a sense. Judging by all of the diagrams of everyone's writing process, I'd say the extraneous variety of distractions can all result from, or even cause, anxiety.

After reading our Homework assignment I was truly interested in the true "America Style" of writing. According to this article some styles of the American writing include directness, audience,clear examples, and the uses of sources. I've witnessed many non-native speakers of English struggle in their writing due to their cultural writing expectations. In this article it shows that for those students they offer tutoring one on one, workshops, help sheets and multilingual readers. This made me wonder as to what techniques are the most beneficial for American students struggling in writing and what techniques help native speakers the most. There are different modes of writing as well and each will change depending on the class subject.

Byung-In Seo explains why she teaches the rigid five-paragraph essay to her remedial students. She argues that doing so gives the students a formula to follow. This is important because the majority of her have trouble organizing their thoughts when they try to speak with her, let alone trying to write in an organized manner. She states that once the students grasp the basic five-sentence, five-paragraph essay, she allows them to extend beyond that as they become more fluent in essay writing. I found this article interesting because after tutoring in a high school where the five-sentence, five-paragraph essay was the ONLY format allowed, I began to have a negative opinion of such rigidity. However, Seo's philosophy is one I can agree with and one in which I can see working to bring the remedial students to a higher level of writing. I also think that following Seo's lead will also help those students develop critical thinking skills that will benefit them in their everyday lives.

This is an article by Frank Mcguire on (obviously) different strategies that are supposed to empower students and build confidence in their writing. The article starts out with the quote that we have all heard before, "It's so hard to put my thoughts on paper." The strategies listed include how to effectively implement a writing journal, the structure of assignments, discussions, positive feedback, peer tutoring, etc. The author goes through specific ways to make each of the strategies work, in order to create an effective and fun classroom environment.

This article is about how students have low-confidence in their writing abilities and how that greatly hinders their ability to get through a paper. The author, Christy Martinez, explains how the students haven't been taught or prepared to write well or they don't believe they can write well and so don't try hard because the students don't see the point. Martinez argues that "through mentoring and tutoring, teachers can help students become more confident, engaged writers." The article talks about where writing anxiety comes from and notes a variety of the different types of anxiety that students experience. Martinez claims that high expectations on writing is one of the major sources of anxiety. She also talks about students' self-efficacy and how that plays a major role in their writing ability. Some students believe that they can not write and that they don't write well so they don't even try to turn in a good paper. Martinez then shows the results of a study that focused on predictors of writing anxiety and self-efficacy and attempted to find the relationship. The study took gender, GPAs, and actual interest in writing as a recreational activity into account. The article read more like a self-help column towards the end. The methods Martinez list for combating writing anxiety include "breathing exercises, meditation, and guided imagery." She then goes on to note ways teachers can help students to be less anxious about their writing and to encourage them to try harder.

Patrick Hartwell discusses the value of teaching formal grammar by reviewing its history as a fundamental building block to the development of good writing. By determining a set of definitions for grammar Hartwell shows that the process of absorbing correct grammar usage occurs within native speakers naturally by exposure to the language; even young children are able to use complex grammatical structures with skill. Yet when sorted through the scientific lens and broken down into categories and labels the study of grammar cannot explain how learning the component rules of language will prove valuable to overall writing ability. Instead Hartwell suggests and I agree that "one learns to control the language of print by manipulating language in meaningful contexts, not by learning about language in isolation, as by the study of formal grammar" (125). Language, Hartwell says is "verbal clay, to be molded and probed, shaped and reshaped, and, above all, enjoyed" (125). So language is play dough; it is supposed to be fun; it should not be something you do because you have to, but because you want to; you do it because you like to do it; it is about process not product. What can tutors/teachers do that can encourage students to view writing not as a means to an end, but as a valuable tool of expression, a concrete manifestation of focused energy that is representative of an individual's attempt to express? This need to express is at work on us all of the time; our survival depends on it. That is not an exaggeration; a closed mouth does not get fed. By funneling our thoughts into words, even if the result is an approximation of the truth of our energetic pursuits, there is still a result. Words do work on people because people feel. Maybe some of the frustration that freshman feel is a result of the heaviness of the rulebook; certain grammar rules affect student grades, certain constraints are imposed by the teachers rubric and the teacher as well a