The End of Composition and a bit on technology

Blog Prompt: What is the "End of Composition"? How do we get there? What are the principles of good writing instruction that will get us there?

Before I get to the above copy and pasted question for this week, put there for my old feeble mind and so I don't I have to look back and forth everytime I forget what I'm talking about, I'd like to talk a bit about Rickly's take on tech.

Well, I gotta say, I like it.
I'm an anti-technology person at heart. (I didn't know how to do an attachment to email until a publisher insisted. I was sure I would handwrite my novels in ms form. etc, etc. Oh, the list is long.) I'm pretty comfortable with that, honest even in inhospitable atmospheres, like this school. But, Rickly's position was new to me and appreciated. We should use technology, not let technology use us. We should use technology as a helpful tool. We should not change to meet technology. We should allow it to help us. I don't think I've allowed that. I think I've fought it at every step, every juncture.
I think this is at the heart of why I hate technology. I've always felt that I had to change to meet it, to use it, to "integrate" my classroom. I'm sure that stems from that fact that I've never (or very seldom), beforehand, planned an activity or assignment or anything that involved the use of technology as a helper, as a tool.
I guess I had it backwards. Thanks for the lightbulb, Rickly, I appreciate it. It's an important misunderstanding on my part. Hopefully, this'll change how I approach technology in the future.
Damn it, I know it will.
Well, that was my moment.
Let me just copy and paste that prompt again.
Blog Prompt: What is the "End of Composition"? How do we get there? What are the principles of good writing instruction that will get us there?
Alright.
Oh, one more sidenote. I hate blogging. I hate myspace. I hate facebook. I hate it all.
But, I've actually come to appreciate the less formal nature of this academic interation.
Anywho.
The end of composition, in a general sense, I guess, is to improve student's writing or perhaps to give them the foundation on which they can build their own ability to write.
I think we get their in a lot of different ways. Ways specific to the individual. We get to that end by formulating our own end, by implementing our personal philosophies of teaching and composition. I'm not going to go into the basic principles. It seems to me that the people who know a helluva lot more about this topic have done a good enough job of publishing those ideas that any one of us could find them. But, I will say that I think it's important that each of us come up with our own list of important fundamentals.
peace out,
brandy y

philosophies of teaching and composition

The philosophy of teaching and composition affect everything that happens in the classroom. The philosophy is the lense through which the teacher plans everything, sees everything. If the teacher believes strongly that writing is a process, the classroom activities and writing assignments reflect that. An in class activity might be to freewrite. An assignment may be made of up multiple parts: a predraft, a first draft, a second draft, a final draft. Class time might be spent on developing ideas and exploring the thought process behind editing and drafting. Grammar exercises would probably be worked in as problems in student writing arises. The emphasis of the class would be focused around the philosphy that writing is a process. And, only good writing can be arrived at after the process is completed. If a class's or teacher's emphasis were on grammar and writing "correctly", class time and asssignments would be geared towards the mechanics of writing. When does one use the five paragraph essay? How does one expand upon it, etc. Grammar exercises might be mandatory in this classroom. Grammar mistakes might carry a heavier grading weight.
I have a creative writing background. Because of this, I approach rhetorical writing in much the same way as creative writing, but I emphasize the differences between the two. I use exercises in class similar to those found in a creative writing classroom to help students open up and find confidence and voice in their writing. I also emphasize the process. I try to keep my classroom as open and supportive as possible. I encourage students to start writing from wherever they are in the maturation process. I want students to become better writers, beginning at whatever starting place they come from. I encourage an atmosphere of equality and supportiveness and try to maintain that atmosphere in conferences, class presentations, commenting on turned in assignments, etc.
It is important to me that students find their own way. I try to direct that as much as possible.

mass tech chaos

I don't feel that I am a facilitator of anything besides mass technical chaos problems. Every email I've received from students, except for ONE singular email, have been about tech probs with either topic or the grammar diagnostic. I was so happy to deal with the one email, though. I knew how to handle it. I knew what the answers to his problems were. All I had to do was explain the difference in a summary and a paraprase and address some oraganization problems. I was so happy!
As for our second question, I see the argument that can be made- that graders are "tutors", but I've got to call bullshit on this.
I worked as a tutor in a writing center for a year. And, I can say that it's a hella different experience to sit across from a student who is struggling with an assignment than it is to sit at the topic interface and hope my wireless doesn't go out in the middle of grading a paper.
The conversation that happens when a student sits across from you, has saught you out because he/she would like to improve, even if they are only focused on their grade, is much more fulfilling to me as a teacher. I get to connect with them on a personal level. I'm not some nameless type at the front of the classroom that they feel they have nothing in common in. They become a real person to me, and I sometimes get to become a real person to them. I always end a session by asking something about their interests. Oh, you're a biology major or whatever. And, we have just a minute or two talk about what's going on in their lives. And, they leave with a smile, usually. Because I treat them like a person instead of a printed name on a list of assignments I have to grade.
I could go on about this for hours. Hopefully, we'll come back to this (all important) question in class.
brandy y

answer to this week's question

I think, for me, that the three most important keys are those which allow the atmosphere of the classroom to be that which is most productive for the most number of people. And, it should also be one, of course, that is successful for you as the teacher. These three things are important to all classes taught in the humanites; they may be even possibly important, in varying degrees, to classes taught outside of the humanities. At the top of the list is equality. A teacher who nurtures an atmosphere of equality within classroom also nurtures equality outside the classroom, in conferences, in groupwork, while grading papers, etc. Equality allows those students, who are often found in first year comp classes and freshman classes in general, that experience some discomfort in either the academic atmosphere or in a group setting a little extra unsaid push of support to verbally express their ideas to others. This initial verbal expression leads the way to a criticially analyzed thought and, possibly, a well written record of that thought. The teacher can create equality in the classroom in a number of ways. I have set students up in the humanities round for discussion. This disspells any hanging feelings that those students in the back of the classroom are somehow less intelligent or less hardworking than those in the front. I also give verbal support. I often reinforce with each student that I experience the sharing of their ideas. Or, I explain to them how their comment helped to move the discussion along. I think that an important to be remembered while trying to foster this equal atmosphere is that it is more important for some learning to be done than for the teacher to always feel that he/she is in complete control of the classroom. Some of my most satisfying teaching moments have come when the students took control of the conversation and bounced ideas off of each other with me as a mere spectator, but a content spectator. Flexibility is tied in closely with equality. The classroom is a place where big changes take place. Students and teachers come to realizations that are often life altering. I have often seen a workshop or a discussion be verred away from a lightbulb by a teacher who suddenly felt insecure about their position inside the discussion. I think, before we teach, it's important to combat our own feelings of inadaquecy, whatever they may be (writing, place in the academic hierarchy, place in the social hiearchy, etc., etc.). Before I entered the classroom as a teacher, I took a class similar to this in which I heard many voices saying that because of my sex, my color, my size, and other characteristics, that I would have a hard time "controlling" my classroom. I'm still dealing with those voices when I teach. Now, I wish I had never heard them. I say, be willing to go wherever class needs to go that day and worry about establishing that all important control later. The third concept I'd like to talk about is closely linked to flexibility which is closely linked to equality. I not sure of the best way to phrase it but, Don't be afraid to try new things. Teaching strategies you're not sure you'll be good at but you know Johnnie on the back row who hasn't said a word all semeser will respond well to. Often, I've done things I'm uncomfortable with, and I find that it's an activity I should have been practicing in a classroom more often. I try to remind myself that a single classroom is made up of individual human beings that learn best in their own unique ways. I try to schedule activities that invite different kinds of learners, not just verbal or hands on, but things outside those established boundaries.
allright, enough unorganized ranting, see you guys Tues.
brandy y