My Literary Journey

For this post, I have decided to post my visual essay on the topic of my literary journey from since the time I was little. The first picture is a representation of my eternal love for literature. I have been an avid reader since I was young and hope to never loose my love for books and stories.

The second picture is of the cover of the book Old Yeller. This book brings back many good memories of elementary school for me. It was during this time that my teachers really were able to get me to foster my need to read. They continually put new books in my hands, and Old Yeller was the book that I checked out most frequently from the library. This was my go-to book when I couldn't think of anything else to check-out. Also during this time, I had teachers who stressed the importance of writing down a list of everything my classmates and I read, and to keep track of the books over the year. I can remember the pride that I felt every time I was able to add a new book to the list, and see how it compared to my friends' lists (mine were always much longer).

The third is of my favorite book series while growing up. The Babysitters Club books could be seen overflowing from my shelves. My grandmother has volunteered at the library ever since she retired, and was always able to bring me new books from the series every time there was a used-book fair. I would read these books over and over again, and helped me with adolescent issues that the characters in the books deal with. As I became a more proficient reader, I set the goal that I would try to read a whole novel from the series in only one or two sittings. This caused me to get into trouble a lot during third and fourth grade when my parents would get upset with me for staying up half the night reading, but this became a habit that followed me into junior high and high school.

The fourth photo is of one of the local libraries that I was taken to while growing up. Here, I spent a lot of my time finding new books, studying for tests, and working on school projects. Having three younger sisters in my house made it difficult for me to get homework done at home, so the library became my hideout. Even today, I feel a sense of calm and feel completely at home every time I enter a library. There is something comforting about all of the books on the shelves that can keep me there for hours!

The fifth photograph is one that could definitely represent my adolescent bookshelf while in junior high and early high school. Harry Potter and His Dark Materials series were at the top of my reading lists, and reminded me while getting bogged down with homework that literature can still be fun. Even today, I have a shelf dedicated to Young Adult literature as a reminder to take time to read what I want every now and then, and to keep up with what my future students will be reading.

The sixth photo represents what people expect for me to rattle off as my favorite pieces of literature as an English major. While I will always love to read the classics, sometimes it is more work than I actually want to put into reading. I believe that these books should most definitely be taught in schools, and I want my students to be enthused to read these, and excited to discuss them.
***************************
Reflection:
It took me quite awhile to actually figure out where to start on this visual essay. I felt a little overwhelmed by all of the options that I had, but once I finally figured out to take a quick trip down memory lane, and post what in the world of literature was important in molding who I am now. I found flickr to be very useful for this project, because when I would type in a keyword, other related photos would come up and it gave me even more to think about. It was a good exercise for me to sit and think about what texts were really the most influential during my adolescence. To be honest, I had completely forgotten about my obsession with checking out Old Yeller until I was picturing myself in my elementary school library. At that point, all of these random memories related to novels and Scholastic Book Fairs came flooding back into my mind and I had a lot of fun sifting through them all, and figuring out which ones were the most pertinent to my literary journey. It is amazing how much photos can enhance this type of essay, because if I were to just have listed the reasons for why I like to read, it could be pretty dull. Since I started out the post with the photos, it gets my audience to wonder why these particular pictures had a big effect on my life, and they will be intrigued enough to read on.

IDK my bff Jill?

Even though we have spent a lot of time learning about new digital literacies throughout this program, the articles (especially Beach) continue to remind me that it is important to keep thinking about how to use these new literacies in the classroom effectively, and aren't used just for the sake of using them. I can definitely see how using some new digital literacies (such as blogs, iMovie, Voicethread, ect.) can be super exciting when us future teachers think about how we can use them in out classrooms, but it is always important for us to take a step back, and look at the overall picture that we want our students to understand. Yes, it's a nice break from the typical Language Arts classroom, but to make these new digital literacies useful, we need to make sure that it enhances our lessons instead of just giving the kids something to do that isn't really at all related to the content (remember RAT from 5007??).

In the classroom that I will be student teaching in, my cooperating teacher (Ms. M-L) has set up the 9th grade curriculum to include independent reading alongside a new digital literacy. Students are expected to continue reading throughout the semester, and the only assessment that they will ever have on it is more of a participation grade. They get points for writing about what they are experiencing while reading, or make recommendations to their classmates by posting it onto their blogs. While Ms. M-L could have just had students get into discussion groups once a week to report on what they have read, she is aware and sensitive to the fact that students today are from a more media enriched culture that we were in while growing up. Nearly everything revolves around some sort of media form, and Ms. M-L realizes that it is best to use these digital literacies to her (and her students') advantage. Even though students are able to go about posting on their blogs and finding their individual voices in nearly any way they want, Ms. M-L makes sure to remind them that this should be semi-academic writing and that what they post can be seen by anyone and the materials should be appropriate. They are allowed to find their own style of writing, but it should still be comprehensible, and not include texting lingo (i.e., IDK, lol, ect.). This is the English department's first year using the blogs in the class, and so far there has only been one problem resulting in a student getting into trouble about what he posted.

Beach describes at the beginning of his introduction to new digital literacies the story about Kathleen and her experience with student blogs. "Kathleen's students were much more engaged than they had been in their face-to-face discussions. For on, the discussion was not based on answering Kathleen's questions. The students' own questions were driving the discussions. They were also using their writing to formulate and extend their responses" (Beach). I can see many similarities between the advantages Kathleen's students have had in comparison to my cooperating teacher's students. The students love the fact that they have their own space to have their own works published for people to see. They have an audience that is more than just their instructor and they are allowed to find their own voice through their blogs. Even though I am definitely all for using these new digital literacies in my own classrooms, it is also important to remember that students need to have that face-to-face discussions, otherwise our students will not be prepared properly for when they leave high school.

RESOURCE LINK:

Spelling and grammar is important no matter what career field you go into! My link this week goes to my favorite blog E.V.E.R. (who doesn't love a good cake with spelling AND grammar mistakes piped on it in icing?) While it might not be a traditional way to show your students why it is important to be aware of your spelling and grammar, I think that they would understand how dumb you can look if you can't master the quotation mark or how simple spelling mistakes can affect more than the offender! The two links go to her "Mithspellings" and "Creative Grammar" categories on the site. Enjoy!

http://cakewrecks.blogspot.com/search/label/Mithspellings
http://cakewrecks.blogspot.com/search/label/Creative%20Grammar

Man or Machine?

Because my group is presenting Jago's Papers, Papers, Papers this week, the idea of grading papers has been on my mind for the last couple of weeks. In the two chapters we assigned the class, what I found to be particularly interesting rests with the idea of computerized scoring of essays. While at first, I was appalled by the idea that anyone would ever even consider using a computer program to grade their students' essays that they worked on so hard on. If my students are going to put in the effort to respond to a prompt that I have set out for them to answer, the least I can do is read it myself (even if I don't have time to write lengthy comments in the margins) rather than take the easy road and have a computer score the papers. Even after reading Jago, I am still pretty against machine scoring, and am still skeptical as to how a computer can even come close to grading at the same level as a living, breathing human.

Despite my concerns about using computer to grade papers, I can see how it would be beneficial to have some sort of program to assist with the mountains of papers that can accumulate for an English teacher. When we are trying to get our students to write as often as possible, it can be taxing on us teachers, because the more we assign, the more hours and personal time must be spent grading those papers. If we had computer programs to help assess the papers, we could assign more without having to add onto our already heavy load. According to the text, "e-raters and independent readers agree, on average, 87 to 94 percent of the time" (p.34). Since the computer programs wouldn't agree with the grader 100 percent of the time, it would be pertinant that teachers only use this type of program sparingly, and that they don't solely rely on the grades that the computers spit out. These papers should be used as more of a formative assessment, rather than summative because it can help the students get better at writing. "What nline scoring provides is more opportunities for students to write and receive feedback" (p. 41)

All thing considered, if I had the opportunity to teach in a school district that had scoring programs on the computers, I would most likely try it out for myself and see how its grading compared to my own. If I liked the results, I would be more inclined to use the computer grading system to allows students the chance to write more and continue to get feedback when I don't have the time to comment on papers that aren't being graded for more than completion. I can see the pros and cons, and although I am still leaning more towards not using these programs, I won't completely disregard it until I have tried it out at least once.

RESOURCE LINK:

This week's links contains cartoons that English teachers will appreciate!

http://www.cartoonstock.com/directory/e/english_teacher.asp
http://www.offthemark.com/search-results/key/grammar/

As I have been reading the assigned chapter in Mechanically Inclined, it has got me to thinking more about when it is appropriate to mark grammar mistakes and when to take points off for incorrect or lack of grammar. Back during my undergrad, I minored in TESL (Teaching English as a Second Language) because I had at one point considered becoming an ESL teacher if the whole English teacher thing didn't work out for me. During the classes I took to earn my minor, there was a lot of discussion on how grammar works (because many of use were uncertain about our own grammar skills, having a refresher was nice) so that we could teach our current tutees and future students the skills they would need to have to be successful with mastering the English language. Because of this, there were a lot of discussions that came up about how much we should actually mark and take points off for when grading student papers and assignments if grammar is not what is being tested. Originally, I felt that if I were grading a paper, the first thing I would need do is mark up all of the incorrect grammar and fragment sentences and have them re-do those parts to make sure that they actually understand grammar. I have since learned to limit how much I should correct and if grammar and mechanics are not the intended content to be assessed, and it doesn't hinder the writer's message, then I should just let it go. I know that this is always going to be an issue when it comes to grading papers in an English class, but at somepoint I hope to find a good balance!

In Mechanically Inclined, I love the idea of having my students keep a writing notebook. Ever since being in Maggie's classroom at Crosswinds, I have been trying to figure out a way to have my future students keep a writing notebook, and how to get the project started. This book has definitely given me more ideas than I could have ever asked for concerning how to have my students maintain their writing notebook, and how to use it effectively. The step-by-step instructions will definitely help me get on the write track with having my students keep a writing notebook!


RESOURCE LINK:

This is a great resource for finding all sorts of lesson plans!

http://www.readwritethink.org/lessons/index.asp?grade=0&strand=0&engagement=0

Insert Witty Title Here:

This week, after reading the rest of Romano's Blending Genre text, I have definitely decided that at some point in my teacher career (hopefully earlier than later) I have to try assigning a multigenre paper to my class. Ideally, I would be able to try a couple different multigenre assignments ranging from a creative writing piece to a sort of research paper. I have also been thinking about trying to write my own multigenre paper for the end of the semester assignment for this class, but we'll see how it goes and how much time I have between all of the readings we have assigned for each class.

One part that really stuck out to me while reading Romano was when he was explaining poetry for two voices. It made me think back to last semester in Beth (Brendler)'s class when we read Joyful Noise and how originally I thought that the some students might find the difficulty level (or lack there of) almost insulting to their intelligence. After seeing in what other ways this type of poetry can be used to express in ways that do not relate to bugs and their human-like lives. I think that the examples in the book could definitely be used to show students how the poems for two voices can be used to enhance a historical project, just as Mary Millard's poem on pages 105-106 showed the similar experiences of two different holocaust survivors. I will be assisting with a poetry unit during my student teaching, and I think that this would be a great concept to bring up to my 9th grade honors class and let them try to create their own two voice poems based on either personal or historical experiences and then have those who want to perform it for the class with the help of one of their peers.

Another thing that got me thinking while reading this text was the idea of risk taking. I guess I didn't really know what risk taking meant in terms of writing papers until recently as I have never taken creative writing past the required introductory class that I took during freshman year. After reading the several multigenre paper examples Romano provides in Blending Genres, I have a better understanding of what it means to take risks when writing, and how difficult it can be to write on such personal topics knowing that someone is going to be reading it and possibly even grading you on it. Seeing it from this point of view may help me in the long run, and will advise my students to not be afraid of taking those risks that might turn a good paper into a great paper.

RESOURCE LINK:

I had planned on trying to find some more helpful resources for using multigenre papers in the classroom, and while I was searching on google, I came across Candance Doerr's (she came in to talk to us about the writing project that some of our classmates are participating in at the Weisman) blog! She has some great resources for writing multigenre papers (including a research paper assignment). I would definitely check it out. If you click on the links, you can download the files into Microsoft word.

http://blog.lib.umn.edu/doer0026/cyborgs/2007/01/multigenre_writing.html

First post

As I have been reading the chapters for this class, the one text that I can't seem to get off my mind is the Blending Genre, Altering Style by Tom Romano. When Jessie first said that this book is a quick read, I didn't really know if I believed her, but when I picked it up for the first time, I ended up staying up until 2 am reading it! Now all I can think about when considering writing is how I will incorporate a multigenre paper into my future lessons. For this post, I'm sure I am supposed to lean more towards the Writing Process book rather than Romano's text, I want/need to discuss it now. While I think that this type of paper is an awesome option that English teachers can offer to their students, I still am a bit hesitant as to how I would introduce this type of paper to my classes.

I was discussing the idea of multigenre papers with my fiance, and I was trying to describe to him what exactly goes into this type of writing. What I got back was the most confused look that I had ever seen on his face. Romano first tries to describe the multigenre paper as "composed of many genres and subgenres, each piece self-contained, making a point of its own, yet connected by theme or topic and sometimes by language, images, and content" (p. xi). When I first opened the book, I was really confused by this description, but after reading the first example paper I fully understood what Romano meant. I really liked how before Romano went into great depth discussing multigenre papers, he didn't assume that his audience had a great understanding of what this type of paper is. This way of introducing the mulitgenre paper is a great way to do it in a class. While my future students may know how to write in all of the differnt genres separately, putting them together as one collective piece may be a bit mind boggling for them. Next week I'll probably touch a bit more on the idea of using this type of paper in the classroom after I have completed the text book.

RESOURCE LINK

http://thereflectiveteacher.wordpress.com/2006/12/07/the-multi-genre-paper/

Since I am on the topic of multigenre papers, I googled it and found a blog post from a teacher who used multigenre writing in her own classroom. She provides a worksheet to help students understand how to use the different writing style to write about the same theme/topic.