Thanks for a good summer!

I just wanted to thank everyone for making this year's class an enjoyable and enlightening experience. I feel like I personally learned a lot from the discussion of the articles, but I learned even more from the comments made by all of you during our three weeks.
Scot: Thanks for allowing us the freedom to openly discuss the topics and go off on various tangents. Good luck with your dissertation!
Don: As always, you never disappoint us with an absence of commentary. Thanks for all of your insight this year; I always find it useful.
Amy: Again, I am always interested in the comments that your diverse experience in education and business brings to the discussion. Thanks for the helpful information.
Joyce: Your wealth of experience in writing instruction is always helpful in guiding me when I have a question. Thanks for being such a great wealth of knowledge and keeping the humor going.
Jeff: Your insight is awesome, and the angles that you take with the articles are quite interesting to me. You allow me to look at the articles in a new light.
Alex: It was awesome to see you again and have the addition your comments to the class that have been shaped by your international experience. Have fun in el caribe and Panama, and good luck in the fall.
Amylia: Thanks for adding your commentary that has been shaped by your international experience. It is always insightful!
Janet: Thanks for keeping it real and sharing your wealth of knowledge from your many years of teaching.
Everyone: Have a great summer! Thanks!

Student-Centric Lesson

The following is a lesson that could work for one 90 minute block, or split between two days with minor modifications. Additional class periods will be necessary to complete the steps of the Writing Process.

Engagement: Students will begin writing in "Free-Write" format for five minutes on a current news event chosen by either the teacher or the students. This will be followed by a class discussion of the event. In addition to engagement of all students, this activity allows all students to feel that their knowledge and opinion of the event are valuable and promote for a more student-centered opening to the class.

Lesson: Students will be working on a persuasive essay on a social issue. The class will be brainstorming topics for the essay that they feel could be possible choices to use for their papers. The teacher will model the formulation of a plan utilizing one of the student-generated topics on the whiteboard or overhead. The students will be allowed 30 minutes to access the Internet and library materials for information that they may need to assist them in the composition of their essay. The students will then be working on organizing their information and formulating a plan for their essay. Over the next two days(three if needed), the students will go through the steps of the Writing Process ultimately leading to a published draft. Each student will have a scheduled time to conference with the teacher after they have self and peer edited their essay. In addition to allowing for student choice (false empowerment), I believe that the students are made to feel that their knowledge and personal opinion of the topics chosen are valuable and important, and they are encouraged to let their personal voice to be heard. This allows for students to take ownership of their assignment and the classroom in general. The individual conference sessions allow for a one-on-one discussion about the student's essay and can be a quite successful method in the instruction of conventions that is tailored to the individual student's needs.

Closure: Students will have the opportunity to share one important event that is going on in their life, but of course have the right to pass. This activity aids in bell-to-bell engagement/learning and allows the students the opportunity to orally express something that is of particular interest in their lives. I have found that this decreases off-task behavior during student work-time when utilized as a reward for on-task behavior.

Architectural Composition

Okay. This article was a lot to take in. I just want to comment on three interesting points before class today.
First of all, I really enjoyed the comparison of writing to architecture. On pg. 187, Bataille is quoted: "Architecture captures society in the trap of the image it offers, fixing it in the specular image it reflects back...Architecture does not express the soul of societies but rather smothers it." From this quote, I can see the old buildings (academic discourse) smothering the new architecture (personal discourse). People should be free to change the architecture however they feel. As an addict of HGTV, I see this constant change of the old into the personal expression of the new owner. It's quite exciting to see the drastic overhauls of the dwellings. I feel that writing should be as expressive as these remodels.
Next, I really enjoyed the definition of the problem: narrow notions of form and function. In this paragraph on pg. 200, he goes on to comment on how Faigley emphasizes that the kind of writing that is accepted as "good" is strikingly similar. Obviously this limits the extent that one feels open to express oneself freely and inherently discredits writing of varying levels of "eccentricness".
Lastly, I really enjoyed the comment from Irmsher: "In many colleges and universities, Freshman English serves its traditional role: to get rid of the ill-prepared, not to help them become better writers." How true is this comment? Many students feel threatened by these courses because it makes them feel inept and ill-suited for the university. These classes should be helping students, and other added to this, to aid students in writing in multiple disciplines.

Safe House II

After our discussion on Monday, I realized the type of environment that the "Safe House" was and have some concerns. I do not believe that the face-to-face contact was present to enable the feeling of comfort to discuss freely in one's own discourse in an unthreatening manner. I feel that the sterile electronic environment of the day was quiet unstructured and not understood, putting the comments in danger of exploitation and possibly giving the students a false sense of anonymity.
I realize that the students can value greatly from the "Safe House" environment, and many do so in the schools of today. Students need to be able to express themselves freely without having to worry about expression within the confines of academic discourse.
I truly feel that the students also need to know how to play the game, and the knowledge of where and when to utilize academic discourse is a must. Through continued exposure to such discourse and personal experience in the world of academia, students have the opportunity to learn how to play the game. For some, it may take longer than others. The starting line is not the same for every student; as we know, the line depends on socio-economics, learning styles, personal experiences, etc.
Lastly, students who feel threatened by such discourse, either culturally or otherwise, have the choice to not partake in such a lifestyle where said discourse is observed. They have the freedom and choice to utilize the discourse to play the game. That said, they also have the freedom and choice to utilize whichever discourse they should choose, depending on the audience and circumstances, when the academic discourse is not appropriate.

Safe Houses work in Urban Environments

Canagarajah's study on the effects of safe houses in the contact zone reveals some interesting findings. However, some of the findings I feel are already accepted as common knowledge in the circle of educators.

Many students in today's urban classrooms find safe houses within the schools that they attend. Their current English, Language Arts, etc. class may already be a safe house allowing them to share and express viewpoints in a non-threatening manner. This is something that I have experienced in my short career as a teacher of "urban youth", and my own experiences were similar to those of Canagarajah's. I feel that whenever students are allowed to interact with students of a similar background (not necessarily race), they feel less threatened and are more willing to express their opinions and share with the group.

The students comments on "History" and that it is of "White America" was great! I have read "Lies my Teacher Told Me" and discussed in depth the "History" of America with colleagues and students alike. It was terrific that the students understood that the history was of a narrow viewpoint and not a true account of what always happened.

"Silenced Dialogue" then, but not always the case now

Delpit really brings up some very good points regarding power, process versus skill approach and the need for code instruction. Having read and debated this article a few years ago, I appreciate again most of what she has to say. I agree that students need to be empowered and made to feel that they have expert knowledge. I agree that the skill and/or process approaches may not be the best manner of instruction for black, white, blue or purple students at any given time (depending, or course, on where they hang their hats at night). I agree that many students need to be taught the codes of our mainstream, middle class society to be "successful" in life (taking care not to impose "traditional",middle class values on them while doing so).

She makes some great points, but I do feel that the animal that is education has evolved greatly over the past 20 years. So many of the situations that she describes still exist, but so do many new situations. Children now, more than ever, are put at the center of the educational process. More teachers are empowering their students and acknowledging the expertise of their knowledge. Many are teaching the codes that students need to be successful; many are teaching them to play the game.

I feel that Delpit really focuses on the Black/White issue, when in actuality, it is a "class issue". Students of a lower class are almost always lesser-equipped than students of a higher class. Students realize this as well. Just yesterday my students and I were talking about social issues for our final persuasive pieces when one brought up racism. We talked about it as a class, and they recognized that being a product of poverty often has more of an effect on one's success than does the color of one's skin.

I look forward to our conversation this afternoon on this article as it always strikes up some great conversation!

The Error of who, quien, which, cual, what, que?

Williams does a great job in this piece discussing the errors of written and spoken language.  I found it quite comical at times, namely when he was analyzing sample errors.  I could not stop thinking of many of the errors that my ELL students commit on a daily basis.  It is not that they don't care or are ignorant of the "Rules of English", it's that they haven't learned all (or many) of the rules and idiosyncrasies of English (or their first language).  They are simply trying to express their ideas, opinions and what they feel is the "right answer".  Their inability to write in "Perfect English" does not signify that they are ignorant of the rules or just don't care, they simply aren't as proficient in their second language as they could/will be someday.

The same can be said for many of our English-dominants students who may want to do well, but cannot articulate it as clearly as, say, Bartholomae or Elbow.  Their opinions, ideas and answers (wrong or right) need to be expressed. They deserve to have their voices heard regardless of their ability to speak "Proper English".

Wednesday's Discussion showed Relevance of Debate

I am happy to have put the articles from last week behind me. I'm sure that they are interesting to Bartholomae and Elbow, but I really had great difficulty in embracing what they had to say.

Even after reading their arguments again, I don't feel that I appreciated their points as much as I should have. Though I felt that some of their points were valid in certain areas, I for once was at a loss for words and felt quite disinterested in the seemingly endless circular debate.

However....I was interested in the comments that were made on Wednesday during the discussion and was better able to see the relevance of their debate. The articles for this week seem to be much more interesting and relevant, and I am looking forward to our discussion tomorrow.

Elbow makes sense (sort of)

After reading both arguments from Bartholomae and Elbow, as well as the responses, all in one setting, I needed some time to process what I had read. I felt at times I had trouble comprehending what each really meant as they talked in circles, covering different sides of their points and seemingly agreeing and disagreeing with each other and themselves at the same time, wanting to cover all of the points and making their arguments weaker in the process. Not having background knowledge on either, I had to go with what was in the articles. In the end, I sided more with the points of Elbow, by having a class that is student-centered. I believe that the students need to be empowered, or at least made to feel that they are empowered, to become the academic, the writer, or the academic writer that they can be.

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