Week four: First Year Comp Assignments

I would imagine that I would formulate a first year composition course around the types of writing that I want them to be exposed to, with some of the general principles in mind that I included in my philosophy of teaching. What we call an “argument essay” in the English 3 curriculum is what I consider one of the single most important forms of writing for the high school student. The writing portion of the SAT gives students about 25 minutes to write on an idea. Many times, they are clueless about how to write more than their opinion through their thesis statement. They generally enjoy doing this in class because they get to voice their opinions, and it is also an opportunity to explain to them what makes an argument well-formulated.

Current Events

April _____ 2012

Title of Article______________________________________________      Author____________________ From (Source) ________________________     Date on Article _____________

Genre (Entertainment, Economics/Business, Law/Legislation, Politics, Science, Crime, Education, Technology)______________________

Summarize your article in 3-4 sentences

In 3-4 sentences, write what makes this article newsworthy and important. What is the impact this “news” or “event” has on society?

They use the current events to discuss what is happening in the world around them. When we do a researched argument later in the year, they use these articles as inspiration for topics to research. This assignment is completed weekly for six weeks and each Monday we discuss the issues. When students bring in editorials relating to the current events, we have fun identifying the appeals, discuss the audience of the news sources, and share our own opinions on the topics.

According to Bruffee’s findings, “reflective thought is public or social conversation internalized” (399). By providing students with group activities that require natural conversation, we are giving them an additional tool to create original ideas, commentary, and eventually, composition. We can determine that thought is “an artifact created by social interaction” (400). I think that tasks that are similar to the ones at these stations but are more advanced for a first year composition classroom would be equally as successful.

I do allow students to use a “pass” on one of the stations. Many times, they look at what will be the most work and skip it! But for the average student, the pass could be used on a task that they don’t do well on. For example, one of my students who is less “verbally” inclined and considers him or herself a better at creative expression may not complete a longer writing task but will spend plenty of time on stations three or four. These ideas of left and right brained individuals (and the theory of hemisphericity on p. 336) are represented.

Stations on Oppression

1. Read an excerpt from “My Sojourn in the Lands of my Ancestors.”  In this story, Maya Angelou journeys to Africa and “became a hunter for that elusive and much-longed for place the heart could call home” (110).  She craved acceptance, but was often times rejected.  READ P.112-113 (arrows).
2. Respond to the following question about what you read in Station 1.  Compare and contrast the experiences of Olaudah Equiano and Maya Angelou. What would Olaudah Equiano say about Maya Angelou’s experience? Write 5-6 sentences about a similarity between the two. 

3. The painting on p. 96 is by Robert Riggs.  It portrays action on the open deck as well as the scene in the dark hold below.  In 4-6 sentences, describe the mood that the painting brings about.  How does the artist achieve this mood?  What was the artist’s intention when he painted this?  How does it make you feel.

-Hint: Look at the colors, shapes, and where the painting forces you to focus.

4. Read the passage below and illustrate what could be seen through Olaudah Equiano’s eyes.  The drawing can be abstract or it can be realistic.  YOU MUST USE COLOR. 

“The closeness of the place, and the heat of the climate, added to the number in the ship, which was so crowded that each had scarcely room to turn himself, almost suffocated us…. The shrieks of the women, and the groans of the dying, rendered the whole a scene of horror almost inconceivable.  Happily perhaps, for myself, I was soon reduced so low here that it was thought necessary to keep me almost always on deck.”

5. What makes a place feel like home?  Write a description of a place that feels like home to you.  Use sensory details-details that appeal to the five senses- to make the place come to life for your readers.  Write four sentences about this.

6. Research “modern day” slavery online

• Take Cornell notes on information found (you can’t print anything!)
• Keep everything “classroom appropriate”
• Try to answer the following questions:
• What are some types of modern day slavery?
• Where is slavery prevalent?
• Is slavery present in the United States?
• What is being done to get rid of these practices?
• 5-7 bulleted facts required (more is better)

7.       Look up vocabulary words below and write the definitions on a sheet a paper.  Include the FIRST definition and the part of speech of the FIRST definition.

·         Impervious

·         Purge

·         Reverberate

·         Surreptitious

·         Wane

·         Rebuff

·         Careen

I have one assignment that reflects my style of student-centered and individualized learning that I can’t seem to find. It involves a chart (similar to the one below) and tasks. There are several ways to do this type of assignment, but the simplest is to say to pick one from each column. Differentiated instruction like this would work well in a FYC course to allow for personalization in interests while achieving similar goals. Another element could be added when returning to class after the assignment was due. Students who chose particular tasks could work together and “jigsaw”, eventually sharing with the class what they learned through the tasks.

Summer Reading Reflections

Close Readings	Essays	Visual Representation
Section 1	Prompt A	Task A
Section 2	Prompt B	Task B
Section 3	Prompt C	Task C

Week 3: Philosophy of Teaching

Philosophy of Teaching

I take my responsibility of educating our future very seriously, but with a sarcastic, fun, and brutally honest style that have seemed to become notorious with my name at James Madison High School. I want my students to leave my class reading and writing with a critical eye, inquiring about things they hear about, and most importantly, improving their character. The following quote by Ralph Waldo Emerson is displayed in my classroom: “Character is higher than intellect. A great soul will be strong to live as well as think.” I discuss its importance the first day of school and I constantly reinforce this philosophy to my students.

While enhancement of character is definitely a big priority in my classroom, teaching students skills that are vital in today’s society is vital as well. I remember some of my elective classes from high school more than the core classes because the things that we did in the elective courses were more applicable to what I use today. Specifically, my technology classes are most memorable. I have a laptop cart in my room and I try to get my students to use them weekly. Utilizing technology in the classroom not only makes lessons more unique, but it allows students to do things hands-on, reinforcing it better with what they will have available to them independent from my course. They are able to share their ideas with each other while working with partners and can put their learning in their own hands.

The idea that “truth can be learned but not taught” is particularly true when it comes to my student finding their own individual “truth” (Berlin 241). My job as the leader in the classroom is to guide students to the novels, plays, and poems that we read and allow them to take from them what they wish from a personal standpoint. If “all good writing is personal”, then making literature more personal to the reader (as in reader-response theory), will allow my students to connect to the text and to themselves simultaneously (Judy and Miller 242).

Whenever I hear the argument that teachers don’t get paid enough, I immediately think of the rewards I get nearly every day from my students. Seeing a “light bulb” moment during a simple lesson is irreplaceable.  The words “I never knew how to do that!” and “Oh, I get it!” are gratifying and make me feel like I’ve done my job for the day. Seeing my angriest, most disrespectful students treat their classmates and I with respect and kindness is simply priceless, even if it takes a heart to heart once in awhile.These golden nuggets are worth considerably more than money any day.

Work Cited

Emerson, Ralph W. "The American Scholar." The American Scholar. N.p., n.d. Web. 15 June

2012. <http://www.emersoncentral.com/amscholar.htm>

What is the most difficult thing to teach? And Audience!

To the high school students that I teach, getting started seems to be the biggest challenge. This is particularly a problem in my on-level junior class. The ever present “I don’t know what to write” statement rings in my ears at the end of each essay-writing day. Regardless of the prompt that they are given, they need to me to hold their little hands to write down the first few words through the thesis, then show them what is needed in the body paragraphs.

There are four forms of writing that we typically teach each year, though it varies some: an argument essay, a business letter (proposal, to a state representative or something), a personal narrative, and a literary analysis.  No matter how much we discuss the prompt or “brainstorm” as a class, when the pen goes into their hand, they freeze up. Traditionally, we have given them a template to write from as a jumping off point. Sentence starters help too, but each year that we do this I have a dilemma with whether or not we should be helping them this much. These tools help them some and provide an essential scaffold for my English language learners or my students that struggle with reading/writing disabilities. In a few years, at the college-level, they will most likely not be given this much assistance. But then again, how many of them are realistically going to attend college? And shouldn't they all be given this opportunity anyway?

In “Writing as a Mode of Learning”, I found the differences between writing and talking to be particularly helpful reminders when it comes to teaching a task that is quite unnatural for many. It seems that many English teachers are more “natural” writers than the average person would be, and I am definitely guilty of forgetting that the overwhelming feeling of permanence in an essay must be challenging for students. To the untrained writer, it “tends to be a more responsible and committed act than talking” (Emig 7). Additionally, Vygotsky’s research about learning and writing clarifies the intense connections and duality of the essay-composing and learning processes. For example, if I provide my students with a formulaic word for word template, they are technically writing and simply “plugging in” the right answers rather than metacognitively drawing their own conclusions and compiling their thoughts, even if it doesn’t look very pretty.

When I teach rhetoric to AP juniors, we start with the rhetorical triangle: audience, speaker, and purpose. We look at speeches and letters and identify these three things in writing. We rhetorically analyze throughout the semester and the second semester, they are typically able to formulate fairly well thought out arguments. When analyzing MLK’s Letter from Birmingham Jail, we note the differences in rhetorical strategies used in comparison to his “I Have a Dream” speech. As CT stated, “speaking and writing are, after all, rhetorical acts” and there are “important differences” between the two (Ede and Lunsford 84). Even though we study this extensively, it is difficult for me to help the bright and articulate “untrained” writer to compose an essay reflective of his or her ideas.

Revising is also difficult to teach, mostly because of resistance from the student. It has definitely not proven to be a “powerful stimulus” in the case of most students because they refuse to “accede to the expectations of the audience” (Ede and Lunsford 90). The only way I can consistently get them to rewrite a completed draft is to grade it and hand it back as a chance to revise for a better grade, noting my commentary (as the audience) as a way to improve. Teacher trickery at its finest.

Officially, my first blog entry EVER.

I currently work as a high school English teacher in San Antonio and have about 160 students each year. My first year teaching, six years ago, I taught entirely junior English. The following four years, I taught English 3 AP, a course heavy in writing rhetorical analyses and argument essays. Last year I was asked to teach English 4 AP, a course with a focus on writing literary analysis. So far, I entirely prefer the rhetoric course. I have to try very hard to get excited about literature that I have not learned to love myself, but I do always appreciate honing the skill of essay-writing.

For the past few months I have been struggling with what I want my future career to be. I never planned on being a high school teacher in the first place, but I absolutely positively love my job. When it starts to feel like work or if I want a greater challenge, I have considered working in an administrative position, either in curriculum and instruction or as an assistant principal. I don't feel that I am skilled enough (yet) in the language arts realm to venture into the specialist territory. I really enjoy teaching writing to my upper level students. It has been a great challenge for me to get my students on-level to articulately compose an essay without holding their hands through every single step; this is part of the reason for me enrolling in this course. The senior English class offers students dual credit through San Antonio College, but I would need nine additional hours to teach through a community college. I am considered a non-degree seeking student at Texas Tech, though I will eventually pursue my PhD in the next five years. Maybe at Tech!

The simplest definition of composition to me is parts that make a whole. The word "compose" initially invokes an association with the arts, either a piece of music or a painting. In regards to this course, and to my English classroom, it is an accumulation of thoughts and ideas, focused on a specific subject. Hopefully.