Week Six: Be Original!

With lesson plans dancing in my head, I decided to take a personal day on Monday- doing absolutely nothing and loving every moment of it. As I curled up on my couch to enjoy another hour of meaningless "Bravo" shows, I was instantly rewarded for my laziness. One of my favorite movies ("Good Will Hunting") was playing. Not intending to think about anything serious, I was hit with an epiphany as I watched one of the opening bar scenes:



Will approaches a group of guys from MIT as they tease his friend, calling him out for his lack of education. One student in particular (we'll call him Blondie), begins a rhetorical analysis of economic situations in the south. Will jumps in, finishing the quote Blondie is reciting. Will remarks, "Are you going to plagiarize the whole book, or are you going to have a thought of your own? You've paid hundreds of thousands of dollars for an education you could have achieved with $1.50 in library late fees!" Blondie becomes upset, trying to cut down Will by stating, "I'll have a degree from all this, and you'll still be serving me and my family at McDonalds!" Will doesn't miss a beat as he claims, "Maybe so, but at least I'll won't be unoriginal!"

This scene got me thinking about this program- Are we being conditioned to merely regurgitate the great educational philosophies and practices of those that have become before us? Better yet, are we being educated to be successful, or are we learning to be original?

For me, these questions are answered best by our articles for this week. In my mind, digital literacies and digital writings are tools that can make our teaching practical, motivated, and original. As an example, many have come before us and taught "A Separate Piece" using the theme of guilt and responsibility. These ideas are not original. In contrast, having students use Gizmoz software to generate a digital personification of guilt is original. Asking students to create a blog and write journal entries as characters from this text also has numerous levels of originality. Finally, encouraging students to generate an iMovie of character reflections done twenty years later would certainly be original.

As future teachers, we feel bogged down by lesson plans, enduring questions, and state standards. But there's more to our occupation than just these concrete foundations. Digital literacies and writing gives us an advantage that those before us did not have- We have a unique opportunity to implement technologies to generate motivated learning, practical knowledge, and applicable education... ORIGINALITY!

Link of the Week: http://www.gizmoz.com/
I sent this out earlier but it affords repeating. Students can create a digital personality of themselves or a character, then use them in multigenre activities, paper proposals, or group discussion. Additionally, teachers can use this software to deliver grading notes, sub instructions, or short lessons.

Week Five: The Balancing Act

These past few weeks have completely affirmed my undying commitment to transparency and simplicity. While both of these concepts seem obvious and important in the classroom, a large part of the debate rests around the application of such strategies. Case in point- I have been instructed to teach a "writing boot camp" the second week in April for my freshman English class. In an effort to avoid failing AYP for a possible second year in a row, this district has enforced a writing workshop the week before the freshman writing tests. In English classes, the teachers must focus attention to academic writing, refresher grammar lessons, and test taking strategies to better prepare the students for a high stakes game of standardized assessments.

As I cuddle yet another Tuesday night with Dornan, I wonder: How do I encourage free, unfinished writing techniques (workshops, portfolios) in an atmosphere with the score as a bottom line?

In answering this question, I begin with what I won't be doing. I refuse to drop my content and teach a straight, unconnected week of writing techniques. This will be unmotivating and disengaging to the students (as well as the teacher) and will result in frustration before the first test page has even been turned. Also, I can't afford to ignore the demands of the administration and forgo the insistent writing instruction for that week. Not only would I be doing a disservice to my students, I'm also likely to piss off a few at the top.

So ultimately I take the middle ground: mirroring the "Mechanically Inclined" presentation we witnessed last week. I see my lessons following a structure that includes short mini grammar lessons, discussion of the text, and an incorporation of skill and content into a writing exercise. My saving grace in all of this cross curriculum planning will be the interjection of transparency. All grammar, organization, and writing strategies will be extremely explicit to the students. These will act as test taking strategies, while also filling up a writer's toolbox for later activities. None the less, this example illustrates just another way teachers find themselves imagining, creating, and performing the juggling act that is education.

Link for the Week: In following the theme of transparency, the Minnesota Department of Education has created a teachers guide to the GRAD writing test. This pdf file includes a past question, direct expectations, grading rubric, format of actual test, and examples of written work. This would be a fantastic tool to share with your students; it would help eliminate some test anxiety while illustrating sold writing tools (pdf available at the bottom of the link page below).

http://education.state.mn.us/MDE/Accountability_Programs/Assessment_and_Testing/Assessments/GRAD/Item_Samplers/index.html

Week Four- RED Pen Controversy and My Proposed Solution

For those of us who observed Tyler Livingston's classroom at Crosswinds, the Fulwiler and Harper articles make perfect sense. We watched in awe as Tyler helped students revise their papers using comments made in neat graphic drawings. Students were able to understand the meaning and importance of detail in much clearer terms (snapshot, exploding a scene). This approach to revising papers worked magnificently in Tyler's writing workshops, and seemed to carry a wide range of benefits for a variety of writing abilities. Fulwiler and Harper affirm my Crosswinds observations.

In contrast, editing for grammar seems to carry a lot of controversy these days. Those teachers who once owned stock in red pen companies now find themselves bankrupt. Educators throughout the disciplines charge RED with carrying negative connotations for students. The use of RED seems to negate student motivation, leading to lowered levels of writing engagement. But the red pen shareholders do not go quietly into the night. In “Papers, Papers, Papers”, teachers are encouraged to “make the page bleed” with red pen corrections.

This debate can be muddled further with the question: What are we correcting in RED?

For me the answer lies in the process of revising and editing. Drafts are meant to be imperfect. If writing is truly a process, then the method of revising and editing must also carry a degree of steps. I believe that correcting grammar, spelling, and punctuation is important. However, in the writing process, this should be the last step. Students need to have solid ideas and organization throughout the paper before worrying about the correct use of “its vs it's” (that one seems to stop me in my writing tracks every time).

So here's my proposed solution. Students should first read their writing out loud (this alone will alleviate a great degree of these Level I, II, and III grammar mistakes that Dornan references). After this, the following draft revisions should focus on ideas, structure of argument, and descriptions. Students should receive feedback on these concepts from both teachers and peers. I recommend friendly blues or purples for these revisions. The RED pen should be brought out as the teacher reviews the last rough draft. During this revision, grammar and spelling errors missed by the student or computer processing would be corrected. In this sense, the RED pen denotes a level of distinction. The student's work has neared completion, and only needs minor changes to complete the academic writing process. Final drafts of work should be revised/commented in green (only because it's one of my favorite colors). This solution spreads the wealth between the color wheel, while transforming RED into the new pink.

Read an interesting narrative by a tutor struggling with Red Pen Neurosis. It gets you thinking about your role as a teacher in the writing process:
http://www.uwsp.edu/tlc/TLC%20Publications/handbookPDFs/Red%20Pen%20Neurosis.pdf

Week Three- Five ParaWHAAA!

I find it ironic to be writing about this after watching twenty six wide
eyed freshman English students struggle through the formatting of this five paragraph essay. Before I bring up my individual concerns about this format of writing, I want to point out a few positive qualities.

First, the five paragraph essay does give a concrete, general format to writing. Students can clearly understand what is expected, and the breakdown of the five paragraphs has been ingrained into their brains from a very early start in any English curriculum. Add to the essay a formula for an analytical paragraph, and the writing assignment looks like a fill in the blank Star Tribune word puzzle. Overall, this format is clear, concise, and familiar to most students. The five paragraph essay is also conducive to many genres of writing. It can be narrative, expository, persuasive, synoptic, evaluative, or simply recall. In this sense, the five paragraph formula is able to cross genres of writing without losing (or gaining) any additional writing characteristics. Additionally, this tends to be very easy for teachers to grade. Most rubrics for the five paragraph essay are broken down by paragraph- first intro, body (which still manages to leave something to the writer's imagination) and conclusion provide neat boxed entries for any type of rubric.

In general, the five paragraph essay does have certain characteristics that are appealing to our current English curriculum. However, it certainly is not without its drawbacks. Comments heard today from the shaken freshman are included below to highlight some of the less desirable outcomes of the five paragraph essay:

• “Can we go over five paragraphs? What happens then?”
  The five paragraph essay has a tendency to pigeonhole students into a neat, concise format. But what happens when students have more to say? Some students feel that once the five paragraphs have been written, their assignment is over. Teachers tend to agree, and details, personality, or humor are often cut out of these compositions.

• “This sounds corny!”
  To the more experienced writer, a five paragraph essay is elementary. It doesn't show off their great dialogue, or highlight their ability to provide details in narration. Rooms full of students cringe when they hear “five paragraph essay” because they view it as a direct school assignment, rather than a great chance to showcase their writing abilities. I dropped the “multigenre paper” bomb on this class today, and the look of gloom was instantly replaced by a curiosity for this type of writing.

• “My paper doesn't sound right... What's that called- flow?”
  Sometimes students get so caught up in the five paragraph formula, they forget about what's between the lines. In this case- transitions! Many five paragraph essays have been written as three paragraphs, with a conclusion tacked on and an introduction pasted in. When the final produce appears, it looks right but often lacks a degree of fluidity. This seemed to be undetected to many students, until I had them read their papers aloud to themselves. As students stumbled and cringed, I saw them begin to notice the lack of anticipation and excitement their writing had created.

After all this, I'm sure I'll assign at least one “five paragraph essay” in my English class. While it's an important formula to understand, its just that... a formula that allows little room for discovery, a large margin of error, and daunting visions of multiplying pencils dancing in the writer's head.

Link of the week: It might be a shameless ploy, but the cornerstone of my quams with the five paragraph essay has to do with a lack of student motivation and engagement. To combat this, I've included a link to my "Motivate and Move" blog:

http://motivateandmove.blogspot.com/