Identify where you think students may fail in an assignment in your syllabus, and how you will use that at a teachable moment by design.

Identify where you think students may fail in an assignment in your syllabus, and how you will use that at a teachable moment by design. 

I don't want to think that any of my students will fail at any of my assignments; but I will admit that I think my students might struggle with the podcast assignment on Monday February 15. I would expect my students to write out their response to the critical questions in essay form, and then they would have to adapt it to speech. This would require students to be able to fluidly shift between the written word and the spoken word.

I think with the assignment, I would require my students to turn in their essays with the podcast, and if I wanted to make it even higher level thinking and more challenging for my students, I would require that their essays and their podcast are not the same. What I mean is, I would require my students to write a formal essay to turn in, and then produce the podcast without simply reading off the paper.

I think this assignment will force students to learn the difference, and have hands on experience with, using different modalities, shifting between written and spoken words.

As for using a teachable moment, I would acknowledge the fact that students may struggle with alternating between writing and speaking, as well as formal and informal writing.

I also think that having the podcasts available for all students to listen can create a larger discussion of the texts on Blackboard and in class. I also think using podcasts will help students learn the rhetorical power of voice both in writing and speaking. 

This idea stems from our conversation in class regarding using "I" in essays. Our students can easily convey their voice and opinion when speaking, so I want them to learn how to use "I" correctly in their writing, and take notice of how "I" is a flexible term.

List 5 terms you don't quite know yet how to define from our final keywords list.

List 5 terms you don't quite know yet how to define from our final keywords list. Next identify three in other students' blog you do know how to define, and comment on them there in those blogs.


Obviously I know definitions of some of these keywords, but I'm having a hard time putting them into 140 characters.

1.Stephen North
2. Dialectic vs. rhetoric
3. Intertextuality
4. Making of Knowledge
5. Genre Theory 

What is one assignment you will include in your syllabus assignment that uses collaboration and/or technology and/or other things Yancey, Selfe, Breuch, Bruffee, or Shaughnessey have discussed?

I was really inspired by Selfe's article for two reasons: the first being that it was written in the early 90's and how it so easily transfers to today's culture, and the ideas she puts forth for technology use and integration.

I am drawn to Selfe's comment about linguistic utopias (Pratt), and how "students [can] speak without interruption, and marginalized students can acquire more central voice" when using technology (2). This reminds me of our blogs for this class, and the forum section in blackboard that I use for Research Methods. This is a place where I can hide behind my computer screen and ultimately write whatever I want to without fear of being interrupted, where I can edit and revise my words to make them come across exactly how I want them to, a place where I can write and think freely without the judgmental looks and comments from my peers. Now, obviously, I'm still aware that what I say here is attached to my name, my face, my body; but in other spheres of the Internet, it doesn't have to be. I can create an entirely new persona on Twitter and say whatever I want to, where no one knows it's Meghan Self. The only way it could be traced to me is through my IP address on my computer.

I think the awareness of the speaker and the anonymity of the speaker and vital, especially in a classroom full of young FYC students. I remember in some of my undergrad courses where I would have these great ideas that I really wanted to add to the discussion, but would sit silently instead and not share my thoughts and ideas for fear of rejection by my peers. Even now, I somewhat censor what I say on this blog, you don't see me dropping F words every third word as I sometimes do when I'm speaking out loud to my friends (it's just diction mom; some ladies do have the mouth of a sailor and I use it for rhetorical purposes. :) )

I am going to integrate the use of Blackboard forums in my syllabus. I like the way Blackboard is one place where all the students come together to write and respond. While I think blogs are a great idea because this is my "personal space" that reflects only ME, I have to go to a separate webpage if I want to go look at everyone elses blogs, as opposed to Blackboard where everyone elses comments are unavoidable.

So I would like to follow in the footsteps on Dr. Couch for this. I will have several different forum threads available. For example: I will have a "general questions, comments, concerns" section where students can post questions about the course that are not specific to any week's reading or assignment. I will have another thread for each week that will cover the week's reading and assignment. This is where students will post specific questions about that week's reading or assignment (perhaps I will require students to be weekly leaders and post questions about the reading for their classmates to respond to). Then I will have an "Ideas" thread. This is where students can continue conversations from class discussions, can post new ideas or questions, or look for clarification on theories, ideologies, etc. Sure it can pertain to a specific week, but it is designed more for "general ideas" in the sense of "I have to write a research paper and I'm struggling to formulate an idea for the "so what factor," so they will post it there and their peers can respond accordingly.

I find great value in this, particularly the "general ideas" thread because it allows students who are maybe too shy or too nervous to speak in class to have a voice. It also allows students the opportunity to think about, edit/revise their ideas. There's been plenty of times when I leave class still thinking about an idea that was discussed and while I didn't have an answer in class, I finally found one after class and I don't want to waste it, so this is where I could post it to the "general ideas" thread.

Having forum abilities creates this "linguistic utopia," a place where I can hide behind my computer screen to write and think freely, a place where "gender, race, and socioeconomic status are minimized" (2).

Engage in discussion about something that captured your attention over the past few weeks in the course. Relate it back to specific class discussions, readings, and your grading/teaching when possible

You're what's wrong with the education system, not me. Blaming, name-calling, pointing fingers, deflecting, what are we five years old? Apparently so, if we, as teachers, think that it's 100% the students fault who make the educational system fail, or inferior. I could go on a wild rant about how it's actually not the student nor teacher, but rather the politicians in office who rightfully deserve 99.8% of the blame for what's wrong with our education system, but I'll leave that for another time and another place.

Mina Shaughnessy's essay Diving In: An Introduction to Basic Writing really hit me hard this week. She says, "This system of exchange between teacher and student has so far yielded much more information about what is wrong with students than about what is wrong with teachers, reinforcing the notion that students, not teachers, are the people in education who must do the changing" (319). I reread this sentence a couple of times to really let it sink in; and she's right, absolutely right.

While I don't have college teaching experience, this easily transfers to high school students. The term "basic writer" is transparent across the board, the idea Shaughnessy suggests, that we need to STOP categorizing our students, "eighth-grade, fifth-grade, developmental, remedial, etc." as if they have some malady is crucial. How would you feel if at 18 years old if a teacher walked up to you and said, "your skills are about the same level as a fifth grader." I'm pretty sure you'd be like "what the...." and be even more discouraged than you maybe already were about the subject.

Shaughnessy provides four categories for teachers:
GUARDING THE TOWER- this is when we protect the academy, this is being more concerned about test scores, student feedback at the end of the semester, about making sure we hit all of the TEKS we need to in one lesson, and ensuring that the State, School, and Student is happy with our performance. Our performance, as if we are actors, we have a certain list of to-do tasks that we must accomplish each year, and if we don't accomplish them, because let's say we spent more than the two days the state alloted us on how to write thesis statements, then we fall behind on our to-do list and come the end of the year, we are told that we have failed our students and have not fully prepared them. So, we guard the tower, we stand at the front of the classroom as if we are Generals going into battle picking our front linesmen, singling out the weaker ones, the ones that might fall behind, the ones that we automatically think just by a pre-test performance that they need specialized learning, so we remove them from our classrooms, because God forbid we let one child make us lose the uphill battle against the State Standards.

But then, "Examined at a closer range, the class now appears to have at least some members in it who might, with hard work, eventually 'catch up'" (321). We've chosen the students we're willing to go to battle with, now it's training time. We've put our students through rigorous pre-testing examinations and lessons, to narrow down who goes in what position on the battle field, and after we have gotten rid of the obvious weaklings, the ones that we knew from the start would lead to our demise, we've chosen a few students who we think might actually be capable of holding their own on the battlefield, we're just hoping now that we can train them well enough to perform well and successfully when the time comes. This is CONVERTING THE NATIVES.

As preparations for battle and rigorous training begins, we stop and look at our students and say, " I dont understand what you dont understand about this? it's easy." As Shaughnessy says, it actually "only appear[s] simple to those who already know them" (322). So we stop and take a step back and try to see what it is that we know, and what our students don't know, and we must now approach a difficult concept from a different angle. This is called SOUNDING THE DEPTHS. We must figure out what and how to teach something that seems so easy to us, in a new way so that our students can grasp the concept. This might be the most difficult task for the teacher because we have to take what is natural to us and turn it into something else, something that may seem foreign to us but that might actually help our students learn the concept. "The experience of student hood is the experience of being just so far over one’s head that it is both realistic and essential to work at surviving" (325). As teachers, we must figure out and do whatever it takes for our students to succeed, to survive the uphill battle of learning, because with out student success, we, as teachers, fail.

Lastly, DIVING IN, this is when as a teacher we must become a student to ourselves, we must become one with our students. We must "become a student of new disciplines and of his students themselves in order to perceive both their difficulties and their incipient excellence"(325). How are we to succeed in the battle if we don't fight ourselves? If we don't be come a student, and learn too? We aren't learning what the student's are learning, but rather we are learning how the student learns. This is essential, if we can't view the world through the eyes of our students, then how are we to teach our students successfully? We must dive in, head first, into our students' learning.

The difference that Shaughnessy points out at the end of her essay, the crucial difference between high school and college, is the the very first notion of Guarding the Tower. As a high school teacher, we are allowed to move students to different classes, we can ask our administrators to remove to students and place them in remedial courses. But in college, we cant, we get what we get and we have to work with all of the students. We must make choices in our teaching and learning styles to help ALL students succeed.

As far as this essay relating to our class discussions, we've spent hours discussing how to help the struggling students who just might not be "up to par" with their peers. While I don't think there's a universal answer that will work for all, I think it depends solely on the students and the teacher. We must make a choice, do we spend an extra class day reviewing grammar rules for the five basic writers in our class and watch the other 25 student sigh and roll their eyes, or do we skip the extra grammar and push onward and focus on the 25 students who will succeed and just hope and pray the five other students will one day, "catch up"? I think the answer is obvious, at least it is for me, but I've had teachers in the past who have chosen differently and in the end, the 25 students helped win the uphill battle, while I and the other four students struggled measly along behind the crowd just praying for a C in the course, so I could just move on to the next required course.

Responding to Nancy's Extended Anaylsis Project

Nancy, 

I particularly enjoyed your last paragraph when you say, " Research has shown that students who identify as readers are more empathetic, and have a larger referential knowledge base.  Reading is certainly a way to experience many lives that do not belong to us, and is thus enriching beyond measure."

I  think this is crucial as a part of defining your teaching philosophy. I would like to have read something similar to this at the start of your philosophy. While I haven't read hundreds of teaching philosophies, I've never come across one that references another source the way you did. I think this really makes your philosophy stand out among the hundreds of others that a school would receive when looking for a candidate. 

But as Dr. Rice stated in class last week, schools read hundreds of philosophies in a matter of minutes, and will typically read the first and the last paragraphs and maybe skim the rest. This is why I'd like to see you add the sentences I mention to the beginning of your paper too.

It's difficult to comment on your values, because, well, they're YOUR values. I don't disagree by any means, and I would say that your values align with mine, but if I had to choose just three major values, I can't say if I would use the exact ones you do, not because they're good or bad, just different. But that's really the point of a teaching philosophy, to tell others what YOUR values are, not what they want to hear. 

I want to focus on your second value:  Writing and reading as a way to connect, both to the internal (self) and to the external (the outside world).    

I really like this idea, as well as the way you word it. I've thought about this idea myself, but I've been unable to put it into such concise and clear language as you do. -- I might have to steal this. :)

You say, "Writing and reading allow access to our most private selves, and much of the curriculum of creative nonfiction operates on the belief that we don’t truly know what we believe until we try to write these beliefs." This is so true. I can really appreciate this value and idea, because as you said later, writing can be therapeutic. I would however, liked to have seen a bit more on writing and reading as a way to connect to the external. You mention it in your last sentence:  " we connect to people we have never or will never meet in person" but I want to know MORE! Why does it matter if we connect to the external world? Long ago, I was taught that writing is personal, writing is for my eyes only, unless I want to share it with others. But in my creative writing class as an undergrad, I was told that no one would read what I wrote, so I opened myself up and poured my heart out. But then my professor duped the class and made us share. With no names on papers, he read aloud our writings. I felt violated. embarrassed. terrified. But I was the only one who knew that what was being read was mine. My professor didn't even know. While many students felt the same as I did, my professor explained to us that we first needed to learn to write freely and without constraints before we could write something that we knew others would read, because when we begin with the idea that others will read this, we consciously, or unconsciously censor our writing. 



We received feedback on our writing from our classmates and professor after he finished reading our work, and the comments my classmates made about the anonymous work presented to them, helped me become a better writer because I was able to hear what other people thought about my own ideas and thoughts. While still feeling violated, I also felt invigorated. I connected with the external world, and I didn't even know it until after I had finished writing. I heard comments such as "wow, I feel the same way," "I thought I was the only one who thought that," "it's like the writer knew me!" 

This is why I'd like to see you add a little bit more to emphasize how writing and reading help student connect to the external more. Sure I can see how reading helps us connect to the external, reading newspaper articles and such, but what about writing? How does my writing help me connect to the external? 

Anyway, I enjoyed reading your philosophy, and I am encouraged by it.

What is andragogy, and how might the approach help in teaching FYC?

What is andragogy, and how might the approach help in teaching FYC?

Andragogy- the education of adult learners.

According to our class, adult learners need to know the reason for what their learning, experience including their errors form the basic foundation for their education, adults feel the need to be responsible for decisions made in their learning (this is a BIG one!), and adults are more interested in learning topics that directly relate to their life/work experience. 

In regards to teaching FYC, I think the classroom as well as the teaching methods and pedagogy, is a bit of a mix of both adult learners and non-adults learners (I'm not talking legal definitions of adult, I mean in terms of maturity and experience). Obviously the students are all likely legal adults, but not all students would fall under the andragogy pedagogical category.

In the FYC classroom, we should incorporate several pedagogical strategies for our students. I think a scaffolding system is necessary here. For instance, you can start the beginning of the year with a more teacher and content center classroom, and then throughout the semester, shift toward an andragogy student centered classroom. I think as students mature and grow over the course of the semester, the students will begin to have more experience in life and in the classroom, and will likely become more wanting of making more of their decisions and be more involved with their learning than at the beginning of the semester. 

The way I see incorprating andragogy in the FYC is like teaching a kid to ride a bike. At first you hold on to the bike for the entire time the kid is on the bike, holding them steady, making sure they're understanding the basic concepts of riding a bike, and then after a few weeks of practice, you begin to slowly take one hand off the bike, then moving to just holding on to the seat, then briefly letting go for just a few seconds before you run up behind the kid and grab onto the bike before the kid falls. Then one day, the kid says, let go, I got this! and you do, and then the kid takes their knowledge, their ability, their skills to ride the bike on their own without falling off. 

This is how I see andragogy being used in the FYC classroom.  

Teaching Philosophy - Updated 11/8/15

Teaching Philosophy 

Good teaching is in a constant state of evolution. Adapting new pedagogical theories and reworking older theories allow teachers to incorporate highly effective tactics in their classroom. I believe that progressive pedagogical theories maintain a solid foundation for teachers at any experience level. Putting the controls of classroom learning back into the hands of the students, allows for better student involvement with the course material and a more interactive learning experience for students. The objective in my classroom is to educate and inspire, and my objective as a teacher is to provide the knowledge, desire for curiosity, and inspiration in any way possible. I believe student-centered learning is the most 

effective pedagogy for engaging students to be actively involved with their education and learning process.

·       I believe in the value of language and its ability to affect students learning and writing capabilities.

·       I believe that teaching and learning involves constant action and reflection.

·       I believe that the most motivational factor for students to learn is being able to connect a new topic or concept to something they already know or value, particularly if this includes technology.

The value in a composition classroom is derived from understanding how to use and structure language appropriately. Composition is concerned with both process (thinking and drafting) and product (written output). Composition engages student’s minds to think critically about how they write, what the write, why it is important they write in a specific manner and arguably, the most important factor of Composition is learning to write for an audience. Learning the foundations for Composition is critical before students even begin to write.

Approaches to the Classroom and Assignments

My role as the teacher during the particular assignments is to offer support and suggestions to students. If a student does not understand the assignment directions or struggles with completing the assignment due to lack of understanding the material, I will provide open office hours for students to meet with me one-on-one to review the material or directions. I am aware that not every student learns the same way, which is why I assist students in any way possible. I envision the teacher’s role to be that of the mentor and mediator in the classroom. If a student requires extra help, the teacher should be willing to adapt the material to help the student as their mentor. While the teacher should maintain an authoritative role in the classroom hierarchy, the teacher should allow students the freedom of open discussion and encourage classroom participation, which would allow the teacher to play the role of mediator. Being the mediator will supply the teacher with a lax authoritative role, providing further explanations, examples and correct information during discussion. This allows students the opportunity to speak more freely and engage more with Composition. As a teacher, I believe outlining specific goals for the class and students is crucial:

Understanding the relationship between Composition and Chosen Field of Work

Ensuring students thoroughly understand the relationship between their chosen field and Composition is imperative. Many students do not believe they will be a significant amount of writing in their career, however, I would encourage students to interview professionals in their chosen field about how much writing they perform on a daily basis. I would also ensure that my students were aware of the multiple scholarly journals for their chosen field (if applicable). Providing students with the opportunity to be actively involved in their chosen field, using and exploring the opportunities for Composition will only motivate them further to continue learning the importance of Composition in their field.

The Importance of Writing Clearly and Effectively

Students must learn the importance of writing clearly, effectively, and appropriately in their careers and their daily life. Being an effective writer is vital for every student, it allows for open and clear communication inside and out of the workplace. There is no substitution for good writing skills.

Providing a Solid Foundation of Composition: Purpose and Function

Teaching students the solid foundations of Composition such as, appropriate formats and document designs, writing to the appropriate audience and most importantly for students, composing a proper resume, offers students the knowledge and ability to use these skills even after my class has ended. Knowing foundations of Composition will always provide students a step in the right direction in life.  Implementing technology based and teamwork assignments encourages students to adapt to situations they will encounter in their chosen career. With a hands-on and project-based learning approach, students will be able to move outside of the classroom to work with real-world examples of Composition. I plan and organize each day with my students to teach them multiple facets of Composition and always allow time for students to practice writing. I always encourage students each day to ask questions, seek answers, work with a team, be understanding of others and never belittle another for difference of opinions.

Motivation and Encouragement

Encouraging students to be open is vital in my classroom. Students who are open to others opinions and ideas, as well as being open to different situations, strategies and theories that they may not necessarily agree with encourages students to handle situations suitably and work as a team to find the right solution or answer.

Because teaching is in a constant state of evolution, teachers should always be aware of new pedagogical theories and methods to incorporate in their classroom. Effective teaching should be focused on the students learning the material, and the teacher should be flexible to adapt their teaching styles to promote extensive learning the best way possible. By learning and experimenting with pedagogical practices and with the foundations of Composition, students receive life-long skills they can and will likely use on a day-to-day basis. I practice every day to keep an open mind, open ears and open eyes to my students, their questions and their preferred learning styles. I do my best to adapt the course to fit my students, rather than requiring the students to mold to fit an outlined course.