This is our last blog entry! :( I've truly enjoyed reading your comments. You will have two weeks to edit or catch up on your postings. Please e-mail one document to me with all your dated postings by Wed. July 18. (You should have nine entries in total.)
***Reminder: Our third assignment is due next week, Wed., July 11. Please have a look at our updated class website for choices for the third assignment and the notes from today's class. (Scroll down until you find Class Nine: 473 CLASS NOTES )
Lastly, we will be in the same room, EDB 8651, for July 11 & 18. Hopefully we can take advantage of the deck again.
Enjoy the summer weather!
16 comments:
THE WRITING PROCESS
There is a soft spot in my heart for the wisdom and knowledge of doctor Carolyn Mamchur. Above all, I enjoyed her “casual” drop in visits to our 401/402 classes. She ran her lectures with lots of unhindered humour, feminine perspective on life, well-camouflaged feisty personality and poetic sweetness. In today’s class I have paid particular attention to some of her research connected to four teachable steps in writing process. My goal has been to identify them in my attempts in pursuing writing. Later on during our reading class we have spread out around the school trying to find the perfect spot to read the stories of our peers. Clearly, the hot summer day has got in our way. It has been difficult to concentrate on the assigned work and that has made me think about the students, who also have a hard time to focus on studying as the first signs of summer arrive.
As my lazy thoughts have drifted away in all of the directions I have realized that I have been "Discovering the Subject" for an interesting creative composition that could be assigned to students as each new season arrives. By "Sensing the Audience" they could write a paragraph including their thoughts, feelings or associations with the particular time of the year. In order to search for the specifics they could go out to the nature “to select concrete details, which enables the audience to accept the writer’s voice of authority.” With the weather like today, I can not imagine any student who would refuse to go to a park to lie down on the grass, stare into the blue sky and dream in "Search for Specifics" and ideas dscribing the perfect summer. That way, students would be individually engaged in inquiry or research, which would enable them to plan the work and "Create a Design." The same activity could be repeated throughout the year with obviously different scenarios for different seasons. At the end of the year students could be asked to write an essay about their favourite season. They might decide to include all of the earlier created paragraphs or to expand on one of them only. These are my impressions about the different seasons.
My seasons
by Justyna Kobylecka
Of all the four seasons, there is none that I dislike. There is something unique about each of them, but one without the others is incomplete. Once I’ve experienced their charm and beauty I treasure them all.
A fall for me is like a life art gallery with all my favorite colures in it. Red peppers, orange pumpkins, and golden maple leaves fill up my house. This is also my time for hiking up the mountains or quiet walk through a park. Looking at the long shadows of the trees, warmly wrapped in the silky cobwebs, drifts my mind away and makes me ponder.
A frosty and snowy winter is the queen of all the seasons. It teaches me how to respect the powerful nature. As much as I like to bundle myself in the warm blanket in front of the fireplace, I am also anxious to check the ski slopes of the local mountains. A winter preserves my strength and shows the significance of survival.
A spring is just the beginning of everything all over again. I often grab my bike and take a run to watch the world waking up. The nature is just bursting with energy and so I am. All of my projects come to light and most of my plans crystallize then. I feel I live my life again in a spring.
A summer for me is like a hot and lazy Sunday’s afternoon. This is my time for rest. Being close to the ocean is the essence of the perfect holiday. I love sailing. Listening to the wind whispering with the sails and water splashing across the deck is like a cleanser for my mind and soul.
All of the seasons are like the tasty little sweats in a big bag with candies. As soon as I finish one, I think this has been my favorite treat. But after that I taste another one, which pleases me even more. I keep trying them all over and over again but I still cannot decide, which I enjoy the most.
Have a summer of your dreams!
Lecture #9 July 4, 2007
I am really quite saddened by the fact this is going to be our last blog entry. I have really enjoyed reading the responses and reflections of my peers. These blogs and the class in general has really deepened my understanding of reading and writing more than I ever thought! This course has tremendously exceeded my expectations of what I would gain out of a reading course. To be honest, I selected this course simply to fulfill the W requirement of BEd, I did not have high expectations, and did not expect it to be one of the moist useful courses I have taken during PDP. Thanks Sue! I must admit, I was quite apprehensive about this course when I went to the course outline and saw that our textbook was designed for “Reading K-4”. Being a high school Science teacher, I could not think of how this course would be able to expand my knowledge of education and help in my teaching. But it surely has! I really appreciated how Sue recognized that most of us come from varied teaching experiences and specialty areas, and allowed us the flexibility of adapting assignments and activities to our grade levels and subjects. This course presented with teaching ideas and reading strategies that could be used across all grade levels and a variety of subject areas. I have gained knowledge about reading that I can now apply to an issue of great concern for me which is scientific literacy.
On the topic of the writing process: I am one of those writers that can sit down and vigorously write away regardless of topic. Once I get started I don’t stop and just let ideas flow (as you can probably tell from my verbal diarrhea presented in my blog entries). Ideas just flow easily to me once I get started. “Once I get started”, that is the key in the writing process for me. I often get ‘writers block’ at the beginning of the process. Simply getting motivated and starting with idea requires extensive thought. In the writing cycle chart presented Carolyn Mamchur, I guess I would have to be a writer that starts as the “discover a subject” stage. Once I am able to decide on a subject, the other steps (senses audience, specifics, and design) come easily to me. I generally write until I have established my point, and then I go back and revise as needed. Therefore, at points in my story it was hard for me to stop talking about certain aspects and move the story forward by developing the plot further. For example, I found myself writing several paragraphs just explaining the characteristics of the main character, but these descriptions did not contribute to the plot nor move the story forward so were later deleted. Again, for a writer like myself, I felt restricted by the structured story style. However, without a structured story, it would just be a bunch of rambling thoughts. The structured style suggested by the handout helped me produce a concrete story with an inviting plot.
Erin.M. Class 9
I too am a little sad that this is our last blog. It has been my first and I am sure not my last. Even so, I have enjoyed using this medium as a means to communicate my ideas while at the same time reading those of my classmates. In addition to ideas, many have offered advice and some alternative ways to teach many of the concepts that we have covered in class. Thanks all!
I have always gotten a lot of pleasure out of creative writing as I love the challenge of playing around with language and words to create the right mood or mental picture for my audience. One of my hobbies is photography, which is great way to record memories to reflect on for use in story writing. Therefore, when I am writing it is easy to conjure up a scene in my mind that I have spent time capturing in my lens. Describing the same scene in great detail with my pen also becomes less of a brain struggle.
Unlike Aki, long before I actually begin to write I need to think about my story. I dream up my characters and their details and how much information I want the reader to know about them. I create elaborate sentences which are later broken down into descriptive scenes. Once I can no longer imagine the story in my mind, I know its time to write it.
Over the course of my academic career, I have participated in many writers workshops. I have never found them boring. In fact, I believe each one has increased my knowledge in each step of the writing process in addition to strengthening my own writing. Each workshop has been conducted by a different expert and I have never peer reviewed with the same partner or group members. Therefore, I have learned a great deal of new techniques as well as what doesn’t work from so many good writers. This has been significant in achieving my own personal writing style and fluency.
Due to the above experiences, I believe that my students will benefit from my guidance when learning writing skills and methods. It is nice to know that your own personal writing fluency will be passed on to others in order for them to experience the same success as you have had and will continue to have.
Thank you Sue for a wonderful class. I have learned so much.
I really enjoyed the time we spent last class having a closer look at the writing of some of our peers. I think the passages selected were great at highlighting different aspects of writing and I couldn’t help but wonder how each story unfolded. Each one drew me in in its own way. It was also interesting to see the diversity you get from this kind of open ended assignment. The ideas are truly endless and I think the reasons behind the writings are as interesting as the stories themselves. I’m always amazed as to the power of language and how it can be used so effectively to convey an idea. Changing a few words can turn an ordinary sentence into one that’s well worth rereading. It can strengthen an argument or paint a more complete picture for the reader. Beyond words, I think this can also be done with the way sentences are put together to create a flowing and engaging passage.
I did some writers’ workshop in my 4/5 practicum and it was always so interesting to see the plethora of topics kids chose to write about. I liked having open ended writing because I was able to learn so much about the students, and it was such a great way for their personalities to shine through. It gave them complete freedom to explore their own interests and curiosities which I could then use to direct my teaching. I loved seeing the characters they come up with and, particularly, the personalities they would attach to these characters. I found it so interesting to read a child’s perception of adult feelings. The most challenging part for me was juggling the class full of students, all at different stages in their writing. There were the keen writers who just kept writing and writing, whining when I skipped writers’ workshop, and then there were the ones who could sit there completely uninspired for what seemed like hours. I found it particularly stressful when I had a line up of stalled students waiting for me to look over their work so they could move on to the good copy. The peer editing worked alright for some kids, but probably could have been set up better. I had a lot of kids who had to put their stories on hold to edit. For my own classroom, I can imagine I’ll spend quite a bit of time setting up peer editing and assessment because I think these efforts are so incredibly worthwhile.
I can hardly believe that this is our final reading blog contribution. It is interesting to note that we have been able to share such an extensive amount of insights and musings during our experiences with this course. I have enjoyed the positive feedback and mood of acceptance that has pervaded throughout our blogging efforts. Sue has provided us with a unique opportunity to use technology to increase our understandings, share, and also to publish our individual perceptions for peer perusal and comment. This is a very good way to inspire creative thinking, and motivate people to participate. It was engaging to have a choice in what we were writing, and how we presented our ideas.
In terms of the writing process, I now have a greater appreciation for the “Four-Step Teachable Writing Process Strategies”(Mamchur). I believe that the linking of the strategies helps the writer connect their ideas to create a story that is cohesive and focused. It helps to avoid too many topics because the writer must find a subject and focus on it. I found that I was better prepared for my initial draft because I was made aware of the importance of being consistent and focused. In sensing the audience, the writer can find a voice and be honest about what they want to communicate. I had some difficulty with this because I think this requires many attempts. Searching for specifics ensures that the details, style, and creativity are substantive enough to engage the reader’s respect and interest. The value of creating a design that follows the appropriate structure, with a denouement that is truly the unraveling of the story content requires much editing, practice, and revision.
I can appreciate the pro’s and con’s of rubrics, and peer editing. It makes sense that the discovery stages are not the time to peer edit. During our experience the peer editing was successful for me because we had clear modeling of the expected criteria, and the judgments were not negative, and asked specific questions for clarification. I also enjoyed the fact that we could explain our ideas, and the overall learning experience was about understanding the process, and not if our product was publishing material.
I was reading chapter 9 in the text today, and I was really happy to see that the authors attributed significant weight in assessment to anecdotal notes and observation. Personally, during my practicum, I found this to be the most useful type of assessment. As the teacher, I could take far more into consideration than a test, quiz, or homework assignment. Of course, assessment must include more “hard evidence” as well, particularly to prevent any teacher biases. However, I really do believe that anecdotal notes are some of the most helpful tools for assessing student learning. They help me to evaluate my students’ progress throughout a lesson or unit, informing me of what to focus on. They also are key resources for writing report cards or meeting with parents during interviews. The authors also made a great suggestion to keep sticky labels on a clipboard throughout the day, making brief notes here and there as you notice something a child does in class. Then at the end of the day, you can sort them out and perhaps analyze them in greater depth. This is an idea I think I will try!
Just like everyone else, I can’t believe this is the last blog. I have become very used to blogging now, whereas before this course, I had never blogged before. I knew that people did it, but I had no inclination to do so. But blogging is a good way to express your thoughts if you are an introverted person (as I am). It is a way for me to contribute to the discussion without the pressure of speaking aloud to the entire room. Thank you Sue for incorporating a blog within a classroom. Hmm…maybe this idea could work in the teaching classroom as well. Students could blog about their thoughts on stories and questions they have regarding upcoming assignments, quizzes, or tests.
It was helpful to do a peer feedback response with partners for our short story assignment. When I write, it is hard to see when I am repeating myself or not communicating the thoughts as I intended it to be. I believe peer-evaluation is a great way to have students look for ‘corrections’ in other students work, as it brings more awareness to their own style of writing. For younger students, it would be a good idea to model what peer editing looks like, so the students have an example of what to find within other student’s work. I am considering using peer-editing with my grade one class that I will be teaching in September. If shown how, I believe they can edit work according to criteria listed.
I feel a bit left out today as last class was talked about and the beginnings of the writing process. I wish that I had been there to see and work on the beginnings of my short story. I also wish that I had a short story prepared for class so that I could have participated in the peer editing. I can remember though at times doing peer editing in school and the benefit that this was to me as a writer. It really helped to see where what I had written on the page made sense in my biased mind because I knew the background ideas and how it did not make sense to a student who didn’t have that knowledge. I really think that peer editing helps to illuminate the weaknesses and strengths that a writer has. This is best accomplished in my mind in a class that is mutually respectful of one another because the students need to be able to accept constructive criticisms and also be able to read and separate the story from the author and comment on the merits of the story while not attacking the writer.
Like my fellow classmates, I too am a little disappointed that this is our last blog entry. One of the most important things I have learned from doing this blog is how easy it is and how valuable it can be for a class. I would love to have this kind of technology being used in my classrooms in the future. Being a secondary science teacher, this blog idea would be a perfect way for my classmates to see what assignments they have missed, what a certain day’s lesson was about, and most importantly, so the class members can all communicate with each other in a comfortable manner to share their ideas about homework, assignments, or tests.
As for the peer editing done last class, I would have liked to exchange my paper with at least one more person. I found it so much fun reading other people’s stories and giving them ideas and found it so rewarding to have the same thing done to my own paper. After Gareth peer edited my story, I saw all of the changes that should have been made but that I had missed on my own. I noticed all of the areas that caused confusion for him because I was assuming the readers would have my exact sense of humor. I was assuming that the reader was going to be me and not the children that it was intended for and thus I had to include a lot more details and explanations to make the story flow that much better. However, like I already mentioned, I wish we had the opportunity to pass our papers once more so that a new person could have taken a look at it as well. This would have hopefully taken out all of the kinks in the story and made it that much easier to understand and follow.
I think peer editing can work in any classroom, elementary or secondary no matter what the subject is. In science, students can use it to edit each other’s lab reports, research papers, or written assignments. Basically anything that requires writing can be edited by a peer before it reaches the teacher and in many cases, it never even has to reach the teacher. By having peers assign marks as well as just the editing, it allows them to recall the criteria and information that was required and this causes them to be learning as well. Not only are they helping their fellow classmates, but they’re becoming masters of the information in order to accurately and fairly assign a mark.
I was a bit nervous when Sue asked if she could share part of my story with the class, especially after all the other great stories that she shared. I found myself feeling critical of my story when it was read aloud and it also seemed strange having another voice read the story as it sounds different to me in my head. Doing the peer editing was interesting and I was a bit worried about what my partner would think about my story. Although my partner thought my story was great, I found myself still feeling like maybe she was just saying that so she wouldn’t hurt my feelings. My partner gave me feedback on a few parts of the story that she thought could use a bit more description so that she could picture the scene better. This was interesting and helpful because I think while I was writing the story I already had the pictures in my head and perhaps assumed that the reader would already had the same picture in theirs. I think peer editing is really important in the classroom and used it a lot in my practicum. The class comments on peer editing were great and there was some excellent points brought up about the importance of modeling how to do it and to be sure students are be sensitive to others in their feedback.
JULY 4th, 2007
Yippee! Last blog entry! I see that a lot of you are disappointed that this is our last entry; however this means that we are only getting closer to completing 404 and PDP!!! As for the last class on peer editing…at first I was a little resistant. I didn’t really want other people reading my story – especially after listening to all of the great stories and ideas presented at the beginning of class. After realizing that everyone was in the same boat: we all had to share our stories and the feedback we were about to receive could only make our stories better - then I was onboard. After this process, I understand some of the benefits of peer-editing. I was able to pick and choose through the suggestions offered by my peer-editors and make my own modifications. Not only did my story improve from others editing my work, but I also learned from editing other’s stories. By highlighting strengths and weaknesses in another person’s work, I was able to improve my story and my overall writing. One thing that I found difficult was finding areas for improvement in other people’s work. As an editor you don’t want to just give all positive feedback, since negative/constructive feedback can sometimes be more helpful – it’s a hard balance since you want to help them. I think that it is more valuable to do peer-editing with another student who has the same assignment rather than with someone else; a classmate has more insight and understanding of what is expected. So once again…yippee!!!
July 11, 2007
The writing process for me was an opportunity to tell a story. If I had more time (or made time for myself) to write, I think I would spend a lot of it telling stories and being creative. All the upper level credits I had in University were for creative writing, advanced creative writing and poetry as well as a course on Personal Meaning. I started out being a clichéd writer with some momentary creative sparks. In one of my Advanced Creative Writing course, we had to keep a journal for the whole course, and I used mine to practice stream of consciousness writing. I would sit with my pen and jot down anything and everything that came to my mind. Eventually I saw the instructors purpose in getting us to keep a journal, I could see a cohesive story forming between the lines of chaos.
The story took on a mind of its own, and I gave freedom to the main character – I tried to see what it would be like to give him free will. This sounds strange (I know!) but it worked in a strange sort of way. The story I wrote was about a boy who was at the beginning of his existence, figuring out what life is about as a character, extending this life into experience and eventually reaching out into what he felt. It took a long time to gather my thoughts from the stream I had written in my journal, but the whole process was extremely rewarding.
Since then, I have been very conscious about how and what I write. I need other’s to edit what I write in order for cohesion and the subtler points to be refined. Hamid helped me by outlining what worked and what needed more explanation in the story for this class. My wife Arlee said the same things independently. I love writing surreal stories with messages of hope, and I am glad when I am given the opportunity to write and be creative.
The last blog entry…are we that near the end? First of all, I too would like to thank Sue for being such an amazing professor this semester. I have honestly learnt more about teaching math and science at the Secondary level in this course than I have in my methodologies courses. I really feel I understand how to promote scientific and mathematical literacy within my classroom now. In addition, I love how Sue always modeled how important it is to provide your students with choice within their assignments. This class could have been much less useful if Sue was less willing to alter the assignments to fit the secondary teachers needs. Thanks Sue!
Now, onto chapter 9 and assessment. I think this chapter may be even more useful for those of us who are secondary than elementary, as assessment is a cornerstone of teaching in high school. Assessment is one of the most important and most difficult parts of teaching secondary, as parents and students alike become fixated on grades rather than learning. Especially if as an educator you hope to have a less traditional classroom, you really need to think hard about valid and reliable assessment other than tests and quizzes. Another important factor is equity, how do you make sure that all students have a fair chance to be evaluated or assessed for their strengths. Variety is crucial in assessment of student work, just as it is essential in teaching. Especially in high school where standardized tests are unavoidable, the teacher needs to make sure they are using many other forms of assessment to create balance in evaluation.
It breaks down comfort barriers pretty quickly when you do an activity such as sharing stories for peer feedback. It is good to push each other to achieve a better grasp of the writing process, but it still feels a little vulnerable to just let someone pick your story apart.
One thing that I noticed about this "peer editing" process is the fact that there are many inconsistencies in how people have been taught how to present their work. This has always been a problem whenever I have done this activity with students. Who is right? When two students have had different teachers teach them the same techniques about narrative writing but in two different ways, what is correct to one student makes no sense at all to another. As teachers of reading and writing, we need to make sure that we are staying current with the trends of writing - what is correct in contemporary education? As in all areas of teaching, we need to make sure that we do not simply teach what we learned when we were growing up but that we are staying consistent and current for the betterment of our students. This would be the only negative remark to this writing activity -- it would be much easier to have every peer with the exact same education...in a perfect world, eh? However, the writing process and peer editing helps greatly to synthesize ideas and remain consistent with plot, character and structure. It is also fun to read each other's crazy ideas!
This was another lesson I was not completely fond of. As I am not very confident in my writing it is stressful enough having my teacher read my writing. Having a peer read it was very nerve wracking for me and I was happy I was able to pair up with someone I knew and felt somewhat comfortable with. I realize that most people would be kind in their offering of ideas. But there is still an anxiety involved because you never know what is really going on in their minds. This is another area where I ask the question of how do I teach this type of lesson when I myself would not want to do it. Even though I think this type of peer review is beneficial, I would feel almost hypocritical having students who are anxious about it participate in the exercise. I suppose one way to get around this fear is to have their friends review their work. Perhaps by easing them into it with their friends doing the review and being gentle in their suggestions would help. As I said above, this is what I tried to do. I consciously sought out someone I knew so that I would not feel as nervous about them reading my work. I would still feel bad having student who were not comfortable sharing their work do so, but I do think the best way to make us both feel better would be by pairing them with friends.
Taking a moment to just reflect on everything that happened during the last class as well as during the entire course, I definitely enjoyed the last couple of classes. Like many others, I was not sure what I was getting into as my other classes focused on math and science education. I felt as if I was walking into one of my dreaded English classes during my science degree. However, I quickly found that I should never have felt this way. Throughout this semester, I have heard about, read about and seen a number of ways about how to help students improve their literacy skills in many different grade levels and across classroom disciplines. I really enjoyed watching and learning from the presentations as well as learning from the experience of my own presentation. The creative writing assignment was definitely a highlight for me and peer editing was something I never really expected but found quite interesting and entertaining. Not only did my peers get to read and help critique my own paper, but I also got read other short stories. I believe this is the first time in my life that I thoroughly enjoyed a non science-based class. Not once did I feel extremely pressured about the assignments and the blogs were an excellent way to share ideas and get me reflecting on my classroom and reading/writing experiences. I sincerely hope that if I teach reading/ writing focused curriculum that it be as fun and as informative as this class has been.
Post a Comment