The purpose of this blog is to summarize articles on teaching English/language arts, from kindergarten through college, published in English education journals from the past.
Topic: Organization of Writing
Title: “Interacting with a Reader: Using the Strip Story to Develop Reciprocity.” Chris Hall. College Composition and Communication (October 1988), 353-356. A publication of the National Council of Teachers of English.
Summary: Duplicate a short essay and cut the paragraphs apart. In small groups, each student is given a paragraph and then together the group discusses how to reassemble the essay. They then try to explain why they put it together as they did.
Friday, June 13, 2008
Wednesday, June 11, 2008
Teachers' Comments on Compositions
The purpose of this blog is to summarize articles on teaching English/language arts, from kindergarten through college, published in English education journals from the past.
Topic: Teachers’ Comments on Compositions
Title: “Mr. V. and ‘A Saturday Morning in the Republic of One.’ ” Nancy L. Walker. College Composition and Communication (October 1988), 350-353. A publication of the National Council of Teachers of English.
Summary: Gives an example of how a student is first confused by her teacher’s comments and then infuriated by his lack of understanding of what she had written, including a number of allusions to Thoreau’s Walden. Summarizes the article by offering these questions to help teachers evaluate their comments:
1. “Is the tone of my comments clear?
2. “Am I trying to re-create the student in my own image?
3. “Do I distinguish between comments that are praise or criticism and those meant to prod the student’s thinking?
4. “Are my comments complete enough to be comprehended?
5. “Am I reading carefully enough to understand the student’s meaning?
6. ”Are my comments in the margins compatible with my summary comments?”
Comments: Might be a good idea to summarize the content of students compositions. Students can quickly see that you understood what was being said—which is a revealing comment in itself. RayS.
Topic: Teachers’ Comments on Compositions
Title: “Mr. V. and ‘A Saturday Morning in the Republic of One.’ ” Nancy L. Walker. College Composition and Communication (October 1988), 350-353. A publication of the National Council of Teachers of English.
Summary: Gives an example of how a student is first confused by her teacher’s comments and then infuriated by his lack of understanding of what she had written, including a number of allusions to Thoreau’s Walden. Summarizes the article by offering these questions to help teachers evaluate their comments:
1. “Is the tone of my comments clear?
2. “Am I trying to re-create the student in my own image?
3. “Do I distinguish between comments that are praise or criticism and those meant to prod the student’s thinking?
4. “Are my comments complete enough to be comprehended?
5. “Am I reading carefully enough to understand the student’s meaning?
6. ”Are my comments in the margins compatible with my summary comments?”
Comments: Might be a good idea to summarize the content of students compositions. Students can quickly see that you understood what was being said—which is a revealing comment in itself. RayS.
Monday, June 9, 2008
Archive. Writing: Process or Product?
The purpose of this blog is to summarize articles on teaching English/language arts, from kindergarten through college, published in English education journals from the past.
Topic: Writing: Process or Product?
Title: “Preparing Future Composition Teachers in the Writing Center.” Irene Lurkis Clark. College Composition and Communication (October 1988), 347-350. A publication of the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE).
Quote: “With reverence and devotion, these new disciples repeat the maxim that writing is a process, not a product.”
Comment: I beg to disagree. Writing is a process AND a product. Teaching students the process of writing should produce a better product. Try telling employers that the product doesn’t count. RayS.
Topic: Writing: Process or Product?
Title: “Preparing Future Composition Teachers in the Writing Center.” Irene Lurkis Clark. College Composition and Communication (October 1988), 347-350. A publication of the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE).
Quote: “With reverence and devotion, these new disciples repeat the maxim that writing is a process, not a product.”
Comment: I beg to disagree. Writing is a process AND a product. Teaching students the process of writing should produce a better product. Try telling employers that the product doesn’t count. RayS.
Friday, June 6, 2008
Archive: Writing by Pen, Typewriter and Computer
The purpose of this blog is to summarize articles on teaching English/language arts, from kindergarten through college, published in English education journals from the past.
Topic: Writing with Pen and Paper, Typewriter and Computer
Title: “The Effects of Word Processing on the Revision Strategies of College Freshmen.” Gail E. Hawisher. Research in the Teaching of English 21 (1987): 145-159. Reviewed in College Composition and Communication (October 1988), 336. A publication of the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE).
Summary: No improvement favors any of the three methods of composing. “Finds no support for the view that students will revise more, and in different ways, when using a computer than when using pen and typewriter, and finds that the quality of final drafts revised on pen and typewriter was as good as that of final drafts using the computer.”
Comments: I am prepared to accept that revising with pen and paper, typewriter and computer do not give advantage to any of these mediums so far as quality is concerned. However, my experience when teaching composition with pen and paper, primarily, and with a typewriter by students trained in typing, was that revision was confused with editing surface mistakes in grammar and was so tedious [the whole composition had to be revised by hand] that students did not revise.
On the other hand, when word processing programs were not too complicated and could focus on writing, the students’ attitude was positive and they were willing to revise and to be shown how to revise. Students loved word processing and, as a result, they enthusiastically embraced writing. Quality of writing might not have been better, but attitude toward writing was! RayS.
Topic: Writing with Pen and Paper, Typewriter and Computer
Title: “The Effects of Word Processing on the Revision Strategies of College Freshmen.” Gail E. Hawisher. Research in the Teaching of English 21 (1987): 145-159. Reviewed in College Composition and Communication (October 1988), 336. A publication of the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE).
Summary: No improvement favors any of the three methods of composing. “Finds no support for the view that students will revise more, and in different ways, when using a computer than when using pen and typewriter, and finds that the quality of final drafts revised on pen and typewriter was as good as that of final drafts using the computer.”
Comments: I am prepared to accept that revising with pen and paper, typewriter and computer do not give advantage to any of these mediums so far as quality is concerned. However, my experience when teaching composition with pen and paper, primarily, and with a typewriter by students trained in typing, was that revision was confused with editing surface mistakes in grammar and was so tedious [the whole composition had to be revised by hand] that students did not revise.
On the other hand, when word processing programs were not too complicated and could focus on writing, the students’ attitude was positive and they were willing to revise and to be shown how to revise. Students loved word processing and, as a result, they enthusiastically embraced writing. Quality of writing might not have been better, but attitude toward writing was! RayS.
Wednesday, June 4, 2008
Archive: Teachers' Comments on Compositions
The purpose of this blog is to summarize articles on teaching English/language arts, from kindergarten through college, published in English education journals from the past.
Topic: Teachers’ Comments on Compositions
Title: “A Good Girl Writes Like a Good Girl: Written Responses to Student Writing.” Melanie Sperling and Sara Warshauer Freedman. Written Composition 4 (1987): 343-369. Reviewed in College Composition and Communication (October 1988), 331. A publication of the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE).
Summary: “…explores the reasons why the written comments of even a conscientious teacher can be misread and misunderstood by the student writer, showing how the information, goals and values of teacher and student can differ enough to prevent their ‘matching their definitions of writing problems and solutions,’ and illustrating sources of difficulty in the written comments of the instructor.”
Comments: I said it before and I’ll say it again: ask students what they think your comments mean and how they will use them to correct problems. I was as big a sinner as any other teacher of writing in using cryptic and confusing comments that students probably did not understand—until I asked students what I meant by my comments and how they were going to use my comments. Did I get an earful! RayS.
Topic: Teachers’ Comments on Compositions
Title: “A Good Girl Writes Like a Good Girl: Written Responses to Student Writing.” Melanie Sperling and Sara Warshauer Freedman. Written Composition 4 (1987): 343-369. Reviewed in College Composition and Communication (October 1988), 331. A publication of the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE).
Summary: “…explores the reasons why the written comments of even a conscientious teacher can be misread and misunderstood by the student writer, showing how the information, goals and values of teacher and student can differ enough to prevent their ‘matching their definitions of writing problems and solutions,’ and illustrating sources of difficulty in the written comments of the instructor.”
Comments: I said it before and I’ll say it again: ask students what they think your comments mean and how they will use them to correct problems. I was as big a sinner as any other teacher of writing in using cryptic and confusing comments that students probably did not understand—until I asked students what I meant by my comments and how they were going to use my comments. Did I get an earful! RayS.
Tuesday, June 3, 2008
Archive: Expressive Writing
The purpose of this blog is to summarize articles on teaching English/language arts, from kindergarten through college, published in English education journals from the past.
Topic: Expressive (Narrative?) Writing
Title: “The Role of Expressive Discourse in the Teaching of writing: A Review of Current Composition Texts.” Jeanette Harris. Freshman English News 15. 3 (1986): 2-4. Reviewed in College Composition and Communication (October 1988), 330. A publication of the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE).
Summary: “Claims that expressive writing is unsatisfactorily defined in the literature and even questions the existence of such a category.”
Comments: I’m assuming that “expressive writing” is personal narrative writing. In my experience at a community college, having students write a personal narrative often resulted in their writing about experiences that embarrassed them, so I strictly controlled those topics to avoid embarrassment. Practicing narrative writing, however, has a practical value. Portions, sometimes major portions, of the writing in expository or academic formats is narrative. Rays.
Topic: Expressive (Narrative?) Writing
Title: “The Role of Expressive Discourse in the Teaching of writing: A Review of Current Composition Texts.” Jeanette Harris. Freshman English News 15. 3 (1986): 2-4. Reviewed in College Composition and Communication (October 1988), 330. A publication of the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE).
Summary: “Claims that expressive writing is unsatisfactorily defined in the literature and even questions the existence of such a category.”
Comments: I’m assuming that “expressive writing” is personal narrative writing. In my experience at a community college, having students write a personal narrative often resulted in their writing about experiences that embarrassed them, so I strictly controlled those topics to avoid embarrassment. Practicing narrative writing, however, has a practical value. Portions, sometimes major portions, of the writing in expository or academic formats is narrative. Rays.
Monday, June 2, 2008
Archive: Preparation for Argument
The purpose of this blog is to summarize articles on teaching English/language arts, from kindergarten through college, published in English education journals from the past.
Topic: Argument
Title: “Counter-Statement: Using Written dialogue to Develop Critical Thinking and Writing.” Stephen Hahn. College Composition and Communication 38: (1987): 97-100. Reviewed in College Composition and Communication (October 1988), 329. A publication of the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE).
Summary: Author teaches students to write dialogue to work out their ideas and counter opposing views in preparation for a debate or to write and argumentative paper.
Comment: Sounds like a good idea. RayS.
Topic: Argument
Title: “Counter-Statement: Using Written dialogue to Develop Critical Thinking and Writing.” Stephen Hahn. College Composition and Communication 38: (1987): 97-100. Reviewed in College Composition and Communication (October 1988), 329. A publication of the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE).
Summary: Author teaches students to write dialogue to work out their ideas and counter opposing views in preparation for a debate or to write and argumentative paper.
Comment: Sounds like a good idea. RayS.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)