10-second review: Types of concerns about language, how to begin working with the student’s paper and how to approach ESL students.
Title: “Tutoring ESL Students: Issues and Opinions.” M Harris and T Silva. College Composition and Communication (December 1993), 525 -537. A publication of the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE).
Quote. Types of ESL Mistakes: “Tutors can be rendered to stunned silence when they try to explain why ‘I have many homeworks to completed’ is wrong or why we say ‘on Monday’ but ‘in June.’ ”
Quote. How to Begin Working with ESL Papers: “When tutors ask how to prioritize among errors, they should be encouraged to begin by looking for what has been done well in the paper, acknowledge that and go from there.”
Quote. How to Approach ESL Students: “There is a tendency to think about ESL students as if they’re all alike when obviously they’re not.”
Comment: The latter two pieces of advice are helpful: acknowledge what’s well done and treat ESL students as individuals. The first problem has happened to me. The ESL student asks “Why?” when their expression does not conform to standard English or to American idioms.
At least as a starting point, I write out the correction so the ESL students can compare what they wrote with what I wrote. Explaining it? That’s another problem. I was too used to the pattern to think about why I used it. Having the ESL student keep a record of the student’s expressions followed by the teacher’s actual correction might help the ESL student to become more familiar with the correct pattern. RayS.
Tuesday, November 11, 2008
Monday, November 10, 2008
Topic: Change
10-second review: Change in the writing program at Syracuse University brought with it unintended consequences.
Title: “Portfolio Evaluation, Collaboration, and Writing Centers.” Irene L. Clark. College Composition and Communication (December 1993), 515-524. A publication of the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE).
Summary: Changing to portfolio assessment led to unintended and unexpected outcomes, some of which were difficult to deal with: “…we have discovered that ‘the implementation of such assessment represents more sweeping change than may be apparent at the outset!” p. 524. Issues and confusion occurred. One of the issues was whether improved grades resulted from improved writing ability.
Comment: The mantra for Mr. Obama was “change.” One of the problems I had to deal with when I was a language arts supervisor, K-12, was the unintended and unexpected effects of our changes. I held that position for twenty years and, now that I am retired, I believe evaluation of the effects of changes was the most important lesson I have learned and the most important step I did not take. I hope Mr. Obama is aware that, like medications, change comes with side effects that might not be good for American society. From his speeches, I do not expect Mr. Obama to be ready for the inevitable negative side-effects of his changes. Youth never learns from the experience of the elderly. RayS.
Title: “Portfolio Evaluation, Collaboration, and Writing Centers.” Irene L. Clark. College Composition and Communication (December 1993), 515-524. A publication of the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE).
Summary: Changing to portfolio assessment led to unintended and unexpected outcomes, some of which were difficult to deal with: “…we have discovered that ‘the implementation of such assessment represents more sweeping change than may be apparent at the outset!” p. 524. Issues and confusion occurred. One of the issues was whether improved grades resulted from improved writing ability.
Comment: The mantra for Mr. Obama was “change.” One of the problems I had to deal with when I was a language arts supervisor, K-12, was the unintended and unexpected effects of our changes. I held that position for twenty years and, now that I am retired, I believe evaluation of the effects of changes was the most important lesson I have learned and the most important step I did not take. I hope Mr. Obama is aware that, like medications, change comes with side effects that might not be good for American society. From his speeches, I do not expect Mr. Obama to be ready for the inevitable negative side-effects of his changes. Youth never learns from the experience of the elderly. RayS.
Friday, November 7, 2008
Topic: Reading and Writing Autobiographies
10-second review: Students write their own reading and writing autobiographies, but they also analyze their own language.
Title: "The Interaction of Public and Private Literacies.” R Courage. College Composition and Communication (December 1993), 484-496. A publication of the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE).
Quote: “…assignments that challenge students to become researchers into their own patterns of language use. It has meant students observing and recording language use in different settings, constructing time lines of their lives as readers and writers, interviewing each other about the ways they currently use reading and writing outside and inside the classroom, comparing their own literacy histories…. Such a pedagogical approach invites students to begin discovering themselves as literate people….”
Comment: This activity is intended for basic writers. Seems to be valid for all writers, beginning with the teacher. RayS.
Title: "The Interaction of Public and Private Literacies.” R Courage. College Composition and Communication (December 1993), 484-496. A publication of the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE).
Quote: “…assignments that challenge students to become researchers into their own patterns of language use. It has meant students observing and recording language use in different settings, constructing time lines of their lives as readers and writers, interviewing each other about the ways they currently use reading and writing outside and inside the classroom, comparing their own literacy histories…. Such a pedagogical approach invites students to begin discovering themselves as literate people….”
Comment: This activity is intended for basic writers. Seems to be valid for all writers, beginning with the teacher. RayS.
Thursday, November 6, 2008
Topic: The "I" and "We" Point of View
10-second review: Writing from the “I” or “we” point of view is respectable in scholarly writing and should be used. Check commercial publications to discover the frequency with which the “I” or “we” point of view is used.
Title: “I-Dropping and Androgyny: The Authorial ‘I’ in Scholarly Writing.” JC Raymond. College Composition and Communication (December 1993), 478 – 483. A publication of the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE).
Summary: Author suggest that objectivity does not come from the opinions of the writer who uses the “I” and “we” point of view but from “…the paper as a whole [that] will hold a wide range of opinions.”
Comment: Whether one accepts the author’s contention that the “I” and “we point of view should be used in scholarly writing, from a practical point of view, using the “I” and “we” point of view is useful in starting to write, combating writer’s block, and completing the draft. Then as Zinsser (On Writing Well) suggests, the writer can rewrite, eliminating the “I” and “we” point of view if the third person point of view is required. RayS.
Title: “I-Dropping and Androgyny: The Authorial ‘I’ in Scholarly Writing.” JC Raymond. College Composition and Communication (December 1993), 478 – 483. A publication of the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE).
Summary: Author suggest that objectivity does not come from the opinions of the writer who uses the “I” and “we” point of view but from “…the paper as a whole [that] will hold a wide range of opinions.”
Comment: Whether one accepts the author’s contention that the “I” and “we point of view should be used in scholarly writing, from a practical point of view, using the “I” and “we” point of view is useful in starting to write, combating writer’s block, and completing the draft. Then as Zinsser (On Writing Well) suggests, the writer can rewrite, eliminating the “I” and “we” point of view if the third person point of view is required. RayS.
Wednesday, November 5, 2008
Topic: The Research Paper
10-second review: Suggests that teaching the research paper effectively means slowing down and teaching the many skills needed for research and writing the paper carefully and fully.
Title: Review of Writing From Sources. Brenda Spratt. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1983, 562 pages. Reviewed by RA Eden. College Composition and Communication (May 1986), 252-253. A publication of the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE).
Summary: We need to recognize the many skills required to complete a satisfactory research paper—formulating a thesis, revising an outline, using ellipses and brackets, underlining and annotating passages, summarizing and synthesizing sources, etc.—and teach them thoroughly. The research assignment is usually a waste of time because it is taught too hastily as the last assignment in a semester.
Comment: Well, my immediate response is that the author is absolutely right. Teaching all of the other types of writing usually meant to me that the research paper was last in the sequence and I always ran out of time in a semester’s writing course. I now think that the research paper should be a full course in itself, or at least, that a complete semester be devoted to it. RayS.
Title: Review of Writing From Sources. Brenda Spratt. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1983, 562 pages. Reviewed by RA Eden. College Composition and Communication (May 1986), 252-253. A publication of the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE).
Summary: We need to recognize the many skills required to complete a satisfactory research paper—formulating a thesis, revising an outline, using ellipses and brackets, underlining and annotating passages, summarizing and synthesizing sources, etc.—and teach them thoroughly. The research assignment is usually a waste of time because it is taught too hastily as the last assignment in a semester.
Comment: Well, my immediate response is that the author is absolutely right. Teaching all of the other types of writing usually meant to me that the research paper was last in the sequence and I always ran out of time in a semester’s writing course. I now think that the research paper should be a full course in itself, or at least, that a complete semester be devoted to it. RayS.
Tuesday, November 4, 2008
Topic: What's Wrong with the Personal Essay?
10-second review: Doesn’t prepare students for the types of writing they will meet in other disciplines and in the real world.
Title: Review of What Makes Writing Good: A Multiperspective by WE Coles, Jr. and J Vopat. Lexington, MA: DC Heath and Company, 1985 (360 pages). Reviewed by P Bizzell and B Herzberg. College Composition and Communication (May 1986), 244-247. A publication of the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE).
Summary: “One could argue, then, that concentrating on the personal essay is pernicious because it does not prepare students to write in the variety of situations they will encounter elsewhere within and beyond school.”
Comment: Sounds like a good research paper for a class. Students interview teachers of all disciplines and learn what types of writing are required in each discipline. Expand that to people in professions in the real world. Then structure writing assignments on a variety of types of writing. Hmmmm! Why didn’t I think of that when I was teaching? RayS.
Title: Review of What Makes Writing Good: A Multiperspective by WE Coles, Jr. and J Vopat. Lexington, MA: DC Heath and Company, 1985 (360 pages). Reviewed by P Bizzell and B Herzberg. College Composition and Communication (May 1986), 244-247. A publication of the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE).
Summary: “One could argue, then, that concentrating on the personal essay is pernicious because it does not prepare students to write in the variety of situations they will encounter elsewhere within and beyond school.”
Comment: Sounds like a good research paper for a class. Students interview teachers of all disciplines and learn what types of writing are required in each discipline. Expand that to people in professions in the real world. Then structure writing assignments on a variety of types of writing. Hmmmm! Why didn’t I think of that when I was teaching? RayS.
Monday, November 3, 2008
Topic: Plagiarism
10-second review: Suggests that many students have not been taught how to avoid plagiarism.
Title: “Responding to Plagiarism.” A Drum. College Composition and Communication (May 1986), 241-243. A publication of the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE).
Summary: Defines plagiarism: “…both legally and morally wrong because it involves the appropriation of words or ideas that belong to someone else and the misrepresentation of them as one’s own.” We need to emphasize with students that to avoid plagiarism all they need to do is to credit the source. Sounds pretty basic, but students need to be reminded to do that. In the past, the complications of footnotes might have deterred the students from acknowledging the source, but with today’s methods of including the acknowledgment in the text, students should find the procedure easy for the writer and more intelligible and less distracting to the reader.
The author also suggests using preliminary assignments like abstracts, summaries and background papers in which students briefly describe their procedures in developing their research papers.
Comment: Ultimately, I believe that most students will not plagiarize if they engage in assignments in which they want to find the answers to real questions. RayS.
Title: “Responding to Plagiarism.” A Drum. College Composition and Communication (May 1986), 241-243. A publication of the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE).
Summary: Defines plagiarism: “…both legally and morally wrong because it involves the appropriation of words or ideas that belong to someone else and the misrepresentation of them as one’s own.” We need to emphasize with students that to avoid plagiarism all they need to do is to credit the source. Sounds pretty basic, but students need to be reminded to do that. In the past, the complications of footnotes might have deterred the students from acknowledging the source, but with today’s methods of including the acknowledgment in the text, students should find the procedure easy for the writer and more intelligible and less distracting to the reader.
The author also suggests using preliminary assignments like abstracts, summaries and background papers in which students briefly describe their procedures in developing their research papers.
Comment: Ultimately, I believe that most students will not plagiarize if they engage in assignments in which they want to find the answers to real questions. RayS.
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