grading

I feel the need to start a new post when I really change topics. So, I am changing topics and here is my new post. The quarter ended last Friday. I graded portfolios on Wednesday and Thursday. On Friday, I had to leave for a wedding in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee. Another story.

I read two or three composition portfolios on the way to Tennessee. They wrote an I-Search paper and I stole an assignment from something we read in Roen. The author had them pull their best process paper, favorite essay, write a top ten list, choose several informal writings, etc. Each of these was followed by a memo explaining your choices. I always do a persuasive self-evaluation essay that I love a la Elbow and an author from the NWP book Breakthroughs. They had to do the self-evaluation essay also.

I love reading the portfolios because I can see how much they worked. It is so obvious what they learned. But I hate grading. Hate it, hate it, hate it. Susan wrote a paper and the end product was not that spectacular, but it was a huge learning process for her. This girl worked hard the entire semester. Completed every assignment I gave her, but the I-Search wasn't so hot. She recognized that to and wrote a two-page single-spaced letter analyzing all that went wrong and the problems that she saw. So, does she get an A for the class or a B because the I-search wasn't so hot. I guess you could do some percentage--the I-Search is 20% and the portfolio is 80%--that's what I do with English II. Quantity versus quality. Then I have not so good writers who have improved vast amounts. Is theire writing A quality? Probably not. Was there a vast improvement? Definitely.

I don't have my paper proposal back from Donna yet. The two members of my group like the paper topic on grading. I will probably write my paper on that. I would like to get started on that this week.

I watched a great movie this morning. It's my spring break, and I traveled twelve hours yesterday. I watched a movie this morning. It was called "My Father's Glory." It was a French movie. It was on Encore and it was so good.

Last Wednesday instead of class

I know I need to do this daily, but I'm having a hard time finding the time. Last Wednesday, I participated in a panel discussion on the transition from high school to college writing. In our preparation meeting, one person on the panel took every idea I ever had. That was okay. I knew I would think of something to talk about. On Tuesday, I had my students write about what they had learned so far in composition. I wanted to know what shocked them. I always get this shocked reaction in comp. None of the students really resist what I ask them to do--mainly write, but there is always this sense of "why haven't we ever done this before?"

I'm not sure how to answer that. Anyway, they wrote about what they learned and that's what I presented to the high school seniors. They seemed interested. I wasn't a total bore, thank goodness. I really love teaching.

I can't believe it's Wednesday

Maybe I am having a hard time with this blog because I have never been so busy in my life. I barely know what week it is and I always get confused about whether to respond by Friday or Monday. I do not know what is wrong with me. I'm not usually like this. Today I am going to SMSU to participate in a panel discussion about the transition from high school to college writing. There are two writing center people, one lecturer, and myself. One person from the writing center must think anyone who teachers high school is stupid. I think I said I wanted to talk about students being active participants. She turned to her co-worker and said, "Oh, that sounds just like Friere's banking education." She didn't say concept. Like I didn't know that. Like I didn't know what she was talking about. I didn't say anything. I had the comp students I teach write about what they learned so far that was surprising to them. At first, they are shocked that I ask them to write so much. Yesterday, Chris told the story about a girl he knew that made A's and B's in high school and is now a C and D student in college. Chris said it was all because of her writing. I like it that they feel the class is valuable and that they get a lot out of it. That's rewarding because I want the class to be helpful.

Another rewarding item that is directly related to 8010. For the first time, I did a decent job of teaching students how to interrogate sources. A girl is writing about international adoption. We discussed the credibility of her sources at length. She had the names of two adoption agencies. When she checked the Russian embassy's list of qualified adoption agencies, neither of the two companies were on that list. That was so cool to me. The next quarter starts after spring break, and I plan on using more things that I have learned from 8010.

How do you teach someone to teach?

That's the question I've been thinking about. I have a student teacher for the next eight weeks. What do I need to tell her? In the busyness of a school day what do I need to stop and let her know. I try to think about the people who taught me the most. I think maybe they listened to me. I made so many mistakes, and maybe that helped me to learn the most. I'm hopeful for her. She loves people and she cares for kids and she loves to teach and talk about writing. What do I need to say or do for her to make the experience go well? Teaching comp when I started graduate school seemed easy compared to teaching a roomful of seventh graders. The one thing I didn't see in my class observations was a community. I think it is so important for each student to know each person in their class. They need to know each other's names and they need to talk. In the classes I've observed the teacher has been the fulcrum--is that the right word. All of the talk is channeled through the teacher. The students aren't talking to one another. The more the teacher can decenter herself I think the better class can go. If the teacher decenters herself, students can depend more on what they know and what other students know, rather than just depending on the teacher. Just some thoughts that I have as I attempt to become a better blogger. :)

Ink Shedding

The Writing Center Director at the University of Michigan. Amy knows because we took the shuttle with her the morning we left California. She told me about ink shedding. I have the website at school. Here's my academic writing invention idea that worked well this week.

I also used an idea from my observation.

Students write their thesis statement or question down. Then they write down research of evidence that they would like to find or that they may have alread found. They write down what information they hope to find. Then they traded papers, reading each other's work and writing as many ideas or questions about the topic as they could. We traded a lot and wrote quickly. Students said that they received a lot of ideas that they had not thought. I'll link the ink shedding website here. I will use it again.

Bazerman

I heard him speak at the composition conference we went to in Santa Barbara. He gave an uninspired and rambling speech. Later in the afternoon, I asked a woman if the coffee was still hot. He was three feet away and said, "It doesn't matter if the coffee is hot. We have coffee. That is all that matters. You should be happy that there is still coffee." I disagree so much on this point that it caused me to lose respect for the man. He didn't realize how seriously I take the temperature of coffee and how seriously I take coffee in general. So when I read his article I turned up my nose a bit because I have serious reservations about anyone who would make a statement like that, regardless of the Ph.D. in Physics and English. He can't be that smart if he would say something like that.

But I read the article. I do agree with him that we need to teach students how to respond and argue with the text. He and Kantz both had some good things to say. There is also a chapter in Allyn and Bacon that outlines questions for analyzing and critiquing sources that would be very handy. They ask great questions. It's funny that I'm reading these chapters right now because I have been struggling to get the students to really questions their sources. I think this dialectic needs to be modeled by the teacher.

Here's an idea: Pass out the A&B questions on critiquing and analyzing sources. Have each student bring in a source--enough copies for each person in the class. If you don't want to have them make copies, you could have them write a section of the source on the board for everyone to see. The teacher can then interrogate the text. The teacher may also need to interrogate the student a little bit.

These articles made me think about a student who I talked to in class today. I was asking her to argue with a source. She said, "Well, it's really hard because it is all facts." I started questioning her about the rhetorical purpose. Although the source seems to be purely facts, I asked her the author's purpose behind writing about this. Kantz writes, "Like many people, Shirley believes that you can either agree or disagree with issues and opinions, but you can only accept the so-called facts. She believes that facts are what you learn from textbooks, opinions are what you have about clothes, and arguments are what you have with your mother . . . ." I think I am teaching them that critical eye. Now, teaching this thinking and modeling this thinking is very hard to do. This can be frustrating. You may find in your classes that few students have been asked to believe and doubt the text or as A&B says go with the grain and against the grain.