Portfolio

Throughout the year in English 333 we have read a number of books/articles pertaining to the teaching of writing. Often times, the reading contained similar information and teaching suggestions. It was nice to see that important aspects were stated in various ways throughout multiple different texts.

One of the aspects that I felt was particularly important for me to take away with this class was allowing my future students to choose their own topics for writing assignments. This aspect of writing showed up in all of my assigned articles as well as the Harvey book. As I look back on my own student experiences, the writing assignments in which I wrote about something I care about are the ones that I still remember. By allowing my future students to choose topics, I feel that the writing element I am trying to teach will stay with them for the long run, rather than simple produce a work and forget it the moment they walk out the door.

Another aspect that was continually intertwined within both Harvey’s book and the articles was being a model for your students. However I do feel that you have to act as a model very carefully. As a teacher, you need to do assignments with your students so they can see the process. In doing the assignment you will have a chance to experience the same struggles and triumphs your students go through. As Alli and I sat down to do our Writing Sequence we started discussing the element of modeling. We feel that it is important to do the assignments WITH your students but you have to be careful when actually showing them a model of work. There is a large difference between these two. As we created our own model of the Sequence Assignment (our nugget) we talked about how often times when teachers show a model of the assignment, you end up getting 25 very similar copies. I feel that often times when showing a model of an assignment beforehand, it hinders the student’s creativity. For this reason I feel that it is important to do it ALONG with your students. And in cases where a model needs to be shown beforehand, perhaps showing multiple ideas, will allow the students to remain creative.

I reading the books and articles I have accumulated numerous ideas for future assignments as well as new ideas in my own reading and writing. Also, today while listening to other students Sequence Assignments I jotted down some ideas that I would like the chance to use with my future students.

Reflection of Memorandum

I feel that this assignment was particularly useful as a future teacher. Not only are we going to be put in the position of teaching our students how to become efficient writers but most likely, throughout our teaching career, we will be put in a similar position as an active faculty member. I always was under the notion that a memorandum was a short “FYI” notice and did not realize the depth of it.

As for the actual assignment, I ran into difficulties along the way. I felt that my memorandum was fairly short and was worried that I didn’t cover the topic or get my point across. However, after talking to both groups on Tuesday and Thursday, they relived my worries. They told me that it was straight and to the point but still fully covered all that I needed to cover. I also wasn’t sure if there was a right or wrong way to go about writing the summary. I learned that the format of a memo is similar to writing styles; they are all different but can still be correct at the same time.

Some of the recommendations I discussed in my paper were ones that I experiences (or didn’t experience) as a student myself. Others were new to me. For instance, “Teachers need to be a role model.” Of course this isn’t a new idea for me however the way to go about doing it is. Such as, teachers should do assignments with their students in order to understand the struggles they are experiencing.

In researching this topic I also was able to grasp the understanding of letting children choose their own topics a little bit better. You can point your students in a particular subject matter and let them take it from there.

When it came to using references, I mainly used my own. I wanted to use others but I felt like I had to read the entire article to make sure that I got the same thing out of it that my classmate did. It also was hard because not everyone in our group did their article summary.

The Importance of Correctness

I feel that there isn’t a necessity to write “correctly” all the time. And by correctly, I’m talking about correct grammar, punctuation, spelling, thesis, transitions, ect. Often times, being able to just write freely, gives your more leeway to write what you want to write instead of getting mixed up with the correctness of the writing. Whenever I begin a paper, I just write. I don’t care about the spelling, or if the sentences flow, or if the paragraphs compliment each other. While more and more ideas flood my brain, I try to write them down as quickly as possible, not caring if everything is correct. Rules of Thumb goes over many aspects of writing such as spelling, grammar, punctuation, how to put a paper together, and the style in which you use. And, yes this is all important information to use when writing. However if you get tangled up in all of this “correctness” you will never reach the actual writing part. It is like I told my ELL college student I was paired up with for ENGL 470; just write and get your ideas down on paper. Then we will go through and work on the correctness as an entirety of the paper, next work on individual sentences, and lastly spelling, grammar, and punctuation.

With this said, I definitely feel that correctness is important for published work or what students usually call “Final Draft.” When you write a piece you want your selected audience to be able to read it. Generally in the U.S., the selected audience is that of English speakers therefore your paper should take use of Standard English. You don’t want your audience to be distracted by errors of correctness. You want them to be engaged in your writing instead.

The Teaching of Writing

After reading all four of my articles, I can see a lot of overlap within the context of the articles. One suggestion that keeps reoccurring in my given articles is to let the children write about what they want. I feel this is so important. Even today in college I am asking myself why some of my professors aren't implicating this idea. I have been asked to write multiple papers where there is a specific topic that you HAVE to write about. They give you the way they want it written and exactly the format. I understand for the learning of class material that when given a topic there does need to be some general topic. However, professors should give a general topic and allow students to choose how to narrow down that topic into something that they want to talk about. The outcome would be a lot more successful.

In a couple of my articles, the authors suggested that the topics of writing be something that matters. I remember one example of how the students were asked to write about problems they were facing such as bullying. This is another way to get a more successful finished product.

In looking at the overall reading of my articles, I found that I often would relate the suggestions or examples to my own career in writing. I find myself saying, "oh i remember when my teacher did that too and it was such a great experience" or "if only my teachers did this..."

Extra Credit- Digital Document

Hi,

This is Jenna's mom and she just showed me her digital document video on skate boarding. It's nice to actually see some of her work she does at school. It looks like she's learning more skills on the computer that she can use as a future teacher. I really enjoyed watching this video of her leaning how to skate!

Reification of Digital Doc.

The digital document project is finally finished and turned in. And although a person watching the final product might not realize it, but the process took a lot of time and hard work. The first problem I encountered was picking a topic. I right away thought of doing the project on skating, however I was skeptical because of my lack of images and video footage. Since it had been raining nonstop, I didn't think I would be able to get enough pictures and video to create my digital document. That problem cleared up when the weather cleared up. I was able to get outside and do some filming. After starting my project, I ran into my first computer problem. My computer deleted the Windows Movie Maker program therefore deleting my project. I was on the phone with Dell for 2 hours trying to find a way to get the program back. Nothing worked. Finally I found a round about way to get the program back. And although I was excited to start working on the project, I was a little frustrated in having to start from scratch. After this ordeal, I went to the bookstore and bought a flash drive in order to keep from losing my project once again. The Windows Movie Maker program stopped working once again, and so i settled for finishing the project on campus. The next problem came when none of my pictures were showing up, and instead showing red X's. This was really frustrating because I had spent 5 hours in the library computer lab the day before finishing the entire assignment. After talking to others who were having the same problem, I learned a way to get the pictures back. Throughout much of the process I was stressed out. However, looking back on it, I learned a lot of valuable information, particularly about computers.
The process of creating this document was not all problematic. Surprisingly not everything went wrong. Throughout the process some of the Gee chapters became clearer. I tried to connect the book and my document together by adding slides stating important aspects of learning (great teacher, success, fun...). Some were similar to Gee's and some were my added own. Going through the process while reading Gee allowed me to relate it to my own learning experience. In doing this project I was also able to do what I love best: spending time with my friends. I didn't feel guilty putting off my homework to go skate with my boyfriend and friends. I just told myself "this is homework." :)
I complained a great deal throughout the make of this document. However, having the finished product is rewarding. In showing my boyfriend and friends the finished product I felt like I told them how much I like being apart of their affinity group and enjoy skating with them.

digital documentary

The assignment… This is something that has been on my mind for the past couple weeks. Throughout those weeks I have been excited about it, frustrated about it, and stressed about it. I am excited because in taking pictures and video, I get to do what I love best, hang out with my boyfriend and friends. And in hanging out with them, I have kept them up-to-date about the assignment. They are very excited and a little jealous that this is actually one of my assignments. They are stuck with boring essays and tests, and I get to create a fun project. And I agree, this project is fun. However, when I run into computer difficulties, the fun disappears. I have lost my project two times now because my computer is completely messed up (not to mention, my lack of computer knowledge to fix the problems). It seems as if each time I show progress, I have to take two steps back. This is a little frustrating and disappointing. I am also I little stressed out about the project because, 1) it is an assignment and we are graded and 2) stressing out is in my nature. This weekend I hope to come close to finishing the documentary. This however depends on my ability to get onto a computer that works.

Action and Learning

The main idea I reached while reading chapter 5 of Gee was that in order to thoroughly understand and learn something, one must actually engage in the action of doing it. I like Gees example of learning physics. You can be given the devices to do physics but without instruction and practice the concepts will not be understood. The thing I am learning to do is to skate. I could sit in a classroom and learn all the dynamics and techniques needed to skate efficiently but without the actual practice, I will not learn to successfully skate. Video games creators incorporate this learning principle thoroughly into their games. I feel it is also important to not just expect a high level of action right away but rather build up to it. Video games do a great job at this with including different levels of difficulty. As you get better and better, you are expected to do more. As for my skating…I would not expect myself to be a pro right away. And I think that is important to keep in mind. Otherwise I would give up due to failure.

Situated Learning

In Chapter 4 of What Video Games Have to Teach us about Learning and Literacy Gee discusses situated learning. He states that “meanings of signs (words, actions, objects, artifacts, symbols, texts, etc.) are situated in embodied experience” However these experiences that we hold are not just stored but rather evolve as life continues on. In everything we do, we are editing our experiences and the way we perceive them. Gee said that we “edit them according to their interests, values, goals, and sociocultural memberships.” As we face new experiences, old experiences are remembered and are used to think about the new situation. After reading this chapter, I felt as if I understood what Gee was trying to say but didn’t really relate it to my own life. However, now as I am sitting down typing this I feel I have a great example of this. Today I attended a funeral viewing. I had only attended one of these a while back when my grandpa pasted away. I was quite young and although I remember bits and pieces, I do not remember the entire experience. Today while attending this viewing, experiences from my past arose and I was able to understand more about both my past and present experience.

Video games

Chapter 1 of What Video Games have to Teach us about Learning and Literacy has left me with many questions, in which I hope the author will go in depth as we get further into the book. Today in class we raised the question of why children are motivated to play video games yet are not as motivated in the similar manner to learn. Gee mentioned that components that are in good video games can perhaps be applied to learning to get children motivated and engaged in learning. The leaves me with the question of what makes a video game good or bad? I have always had mixed emotions with this topic. I, personally, love to play video games and have a competitive side to me that likes to beat my boyfriend in anything (although he usually beats me). I have been guilty of sitting in front of a TV with controller in hand for hours playing games. However, the adult, future teacher, and future parents in me is saying video games are bad and children should not be glued to the TV playing them. This mixed emotion is the reason why I am so compelled to read some more…

Learning to Skate

I am currently trying to learn how to skate board. My boyfriend and all of his friends have long boards and go on rides all the time. I always wanted to go with them but didn’t have a board of my own. For my birthday my boyfriend built me a long board. So, now that I have my very own board, I need to master skating before I can go with all the boys. So far things are going fairly smooth. I just wish it would start warming up so I would actually want to go outside to skate.

My First Post

This is my first time using a blog.