Comments for The Practice of Teaching Composition

Comment on Response #10 by zaira arvelo

zaira arvelo — Fri, 30 Nov 2007 02:10:09 +0000

Personally, I prefer to write a blog entry than a traditional paper based journal. First of all, you save paper and ink. Second, you do not run the risk of leaving the paper home, at the office, the car, among many other places where I tend to misplace my belongings. Third, it provides the option for you to submit it at any time before the deadline. It provides a freeedom that paper based works do not have you can submit it practically from any place on Earth that has Internet access.Fourth, you are able to share your writing with a broader audience, and read your peers entries as well.It was a good experience.

Comment on Response #6 by Cristina Rodriguez

Cristina Rodriguez — Mon, 26 Nov 2007 20:55:32 +0000

As a teacher I always felt conflicted about the way that I should correct essays. I always felt there should be a compromise about grading grammar and content. Now it is very difficult to put a balance between the two, my opinion is that it should be at least 85% to 90% content and 15% or less grammar. This is specifically if I am teaching a writing course. And putting into consideration the fact that I may be teaching students that are learning English as a second language. It is a very touchy subject because I always want to give my students the benefit of the doubt because based on content the students can express their ideas in some way that the teacher can understand them and not necessarily be based on the grammar which is something that takes other levels of understanding to learn. A person can have great things to say and not be grammatically perfect but that is something that the professor should take under consideration when grading a paper.

Comment on Response #8 by Cristina Rodriguez

Cristina Rodriguez — Mon, 26 Nov 2007 20:54:29 +0000

My favorite invention activity has to be maybe free writing or journal writing because that is the way that I can see the way my students feel about the topic. When a student starts writing an essay he/she knows that it is intended for the teacher, which means that he/she will think that the teacher will grade based on technicalities or grammar and so on. Based on the experience that I have had with journals and free writing the students feel like they can write whatever they feel and then there will be an opportunity for them to organize their ideas into a more comprehensive work. This is how I felt whenever I was free writing or even writing a journal. The pressure of writing for a professor is not the same as to writing a journal that is in a personal matter and what will be evaluated are your opinions about the topic. For me it is also a good way to evaluate the skills and what the students really know about writing.

Comment on Reading Response #9 by Cristina Rodriguez

Cristina Rodriguez — Mon, 26 Nov 2007 18:14:22 +0000

I can say that I do not agree with the imitation method that is being described in the book because the students do not get an opportunity to try for themselves the process of writing. I can see the point in them trying to give an example to the students on how to specifically do the work, but I see that the way they can correct their mistakes is not by copying something that is done correctly, where is the teaching in that? They will never know why they made the mistakes they did and they will correct knowing that it was written wrong but will not know what to make of it the next time that the same mistake appears in one of their papers. In my personal experience the only way that I would allow imitation is by letting the students see an example of how things should be done and then they could write their own interpretation of what I showed them.

Comment on Response #10 by Cristina Rodriguez

Cristina Rodriguez — Mon, 26 Nov 2007 18:12:43 +0000

At the beginning of the semester the idea of blogging sounded great. I was really interested but as time progressed during the semester it seemed like there was no way of me being interested in getting in the computer and posting something. The discussions in class were very interesting so for me there was no point in going to the computer and talking about it. It was hard for me to keep track of the postings for example I think that by doing a journal writing assignment in class that there was more control of when the students would write. For me it was never about what was being written if not about keeping up with the deadlines, which sometimes was hard. Sometimes I would go on the web to see what was on the blog and know that I had to do a posting but I just couldn’t get around to do it on time. I feel that by doing them in class like 15 min. before or after the class there is more control of knowing that at least everybody that went to class did a posting and talked about the writings.

Comment on Reading Response #1 by Jessica

Jessica — Mon, 26 Nov 2007 15:01:02 +0000

In regard to the CCCC article, “Part Two: Guidelines for Writing Programs, I found much of the information to be true…but also obvious. For Placement, they state that, “Decisions regarding the placement of second-language writers into writing courses should be based on students’ writing proficiency rather than their race, native-language background, nationality, or immigration status”. Of course I agree with this, but what alternative methods are used instead of this? To place students based on ability is common sense. Also, under “Class Size”, they mention smaller classrooms are more efficient, which again, I wonder who would disagree with this. Of course smaller classes are better, not just in ESL context, but for any class.
However, despite the obvious, the guidelines seem to rarely be implemented (colegio being the first example), for economic, business, or other reasons that limit resources.
In the General Statement portion, I did find it interesting that acknowledged that second-language writers “include international visa students, refugees, and permanent residents as well as naturalized AND native-born citizens of the United States and Canada”. This is something I never considered, but it is so true today — just because you are born in the US does not mean it is your first language! This does not only apply to families who live in the US, and only speak (usually) Spanish at home, but also in another instance I came across not long ago: I had a roommate who was born in the US, and when she was only 3 months old, her parents and her moved back to Italy. However, this made her eligible to carry a U.S. passport — she is a U.S. citizen, but hasn’t lived in the U.S. for more than 6 months of her entire life. Yet, the process for her to apply to universities in the U.S. was much easier because of her citizenship.
The article also mentions that “Some are even native speakers of languages without a written form”, which I think is more prevalent in the U.S. than we think about because of the process immigrants go through with assimilation. They learn to speak to survive, but they lack academic training in reading or writing, or just general morphological knowledge of the language — though they can speak it almost perfectly.

Comment on Reading Response #1 by Fabiola Barrera

Fabiola Barrera — Mon, 26 Nov 2007 14:29:22 +0000

In the CCC article many important aspects of teaching second language were discussed. Some of them were class size, placement and teaching preparation. From all of these points that were discussed the one that I found more relevant to my teaching experience was teaching preparation. In the article is presented the problem that many native speakers of English are not aware of the foreign context of their students when they are developing their lesson. Now if we change this statement a little bit and we adjust it to our context in which second language learners are teaching second language learner we might realize the importance of preparation. One of the questions that might come up are how we the teachers are going to make sure not transfer our own language deficit to our students. Even when this problem can also occur with native speakers there is a higher possibility that a second language learner will interrupt or misguide their student’s learning experience. Therefore before entering a classroom the teacher has to be aware of the context that him/her is teaching and their own proficiency level.
Another important theme that is discussed in the article is placement. I personally have encountered this semester students that have been placed wrongly. Some of them have been promoted to a level that is not beneficial for them and there are others that have been degraded. In my pre-basic course I have students that very well could be integrated to my basic course and vice-versa. When I encountered these misplacements I started thinking about whom decided the course that each of my students were going to take. Currently the College Board is the one that decides the placements of our students, with a paper based standard test. From my own experience with the test I can say that it has three flaws. The first one is that it is too long and it overloads the student. I personally believe that the board should divide the exam into two days and English should be granted a whole day. Most of the students begin the exam reflecting on the questions and at the end they are just randomly choosing answers.

The second deficit of the exam is that it does not include a part for oral or listening comprehension. If the government invested a considerable amount to education they might be able to acquire a test that integrates both of these parts. Finally the third flaw to the test is that it makes you pay an additional amount of money for advanced placement tests. I personally think that there are a lot of students that do not have the money to pay for these tests or that are afraid to take them because they do not want to fail. Therefore I would suggest that in the exam there are questions that test advanced skills and by the students performance in those they are placed. There are also other cases in which students intentionally do poorly in the exams to be placed in easy courses. This is why I believe that the less aware the student is of the evaluating criteria for this specific exam he/she might improve their performance.

Comment on Reading Response #3 by Jessica

Jessica — Mon, 26 Nov 2007 14:09:03 +0000

This was definitely one of the most interesting readings for me this semester (I’m posting this really late…). I can’t speak about identity and it’s relationship to learning English in Puerto Rico, but BESL is very intriguing because up to this point in my life, that is what I have actually been in contact with the most.

Since I am writing this response late, I would like to refer to the response (#8, I think) when we were debating the necessity (or lack of) in “structured” writing. As a group, we more or less we unanimous in saying that “free” writing is a fantastic thing, but that doesn’t mean we can overlook the students need to excel as “academic” writers. The fact is this: as far serving a functional purpose in their lives, the students will benefit the most from knowing how to write a good, well structured essay — not only during their time as academics, but also hopefully in their future careers at some point.

Language is similar. For strictly social reason, we can see today that a particular dialect of English is deemed “better” than others, thus it is “formal” English. Clearly, this came to be because hundreds of years of historical social factors, and if the standard were to ever change, it would probably take another hundred years. Aside from “black” dialects such as Ebonics, you also have dialects that all carry the same social stigmas: southern dialects, Jersey (i.e. Carmella Soprano) accent, Appalachian “hick” accent…the list could go on forever. The same rules apply in Spanish, I’m sure: there is ‘formal” Spanish that you speak when you want to sound intelligent and educated, and a dialect you speak with friends or in your community.

As a teacher, is it my goal to teach them the “accepted” or “formal” English (because that will probably serve a greater function), or one of the many dialects of English from one of many communities in the U.S.? Like writing, I think it’s more important to give them a structure first, and let them build onto that structure later.

Comment on Response #8 by Jessica

Jessica — Mon, 26 Nov 2007 13:23:54 +0000

I have never used journals in the classroom, but that is one change I plan on making for next semester for several reasons. First, I think it can be used as a tool to help with the students own organization. This semester I noticed some many students take notes and do free writes in random notebooks, and when I ask them for something from the last class, they never have it together. I also think it will be nice for the students to have something to reflect and look back on at the end of the semester — an entire book they have written, in English, which is a feat in itself!

Additionally, I have never formally introduced the concept of “brainstorming”. Brainstorming seems like it would be the easiest thing to teach, but for me it’s the most difficult. I think of my own writing process, and how I don’t want anyone to meddle with it. Everyone has their own unique process they take to writing, and I hate to impose a specific regime onto anyone. At the same time, I need to remember these are beginning students, and they probably have never even heard of the concept of “brainstorming” before, so it would be very beneficial to them as students if next semester I introduced many several different ways to brainstorm.

I agree with the reasoning Wi Hong mentioned on why he avoids topical invention, and also just because I personally think it’s boring. Crucially though, I have noticed that students are not used to discourse or analytical and critical thinking, and I consider that to be a problem. A writing course is not like a calculus or chemistry class — it’s not about banking information. On the contrary, sometimes I feel the more I talk in a class, the less successful the class becomes. A writing course is really about practice in action. Yet when I do use topical invention, I will give them only 1 word (king, shoe, grey) so it’s technically “topical”, but they have freedom to take it wherever they want. Sometimes topicals can kind of ’start their engines’, so to speak, especially at the beginning of the semester when they are getting used to the idea of “free writing”. However, my students have told me though that they like it when I tell them they can write about anything.

Comment on Reading Response #9 by Jessica

Jessica — Mon, 26 Nov 2007 12:43:52 +0000

I agree with Lidsay when she says students first need structure in order for them to them become “loose and free”. I strongly believe in giving students freedom in their writing, however, when you are conducting a class with a specific purpose (in my case 3201/02, composition writing), then you need to fulfill the requirements as such. I think one good aspect of teaching essay writing/5 paragraph structure to students first is that it helps them organize their writing, so the end result is more fluid. This is a skill they can transfer into any language, and any writing style.When students have no background whatsoever in writing, they don’t realize the differences in “academic” writing and “free” writing — to them, writing is writing. In a situation where the students are also ESL learning adds complexity to the task.
However, I don’t necessarily think the imitation exercises, like the ones presented in the book, are the most effective way to teaching structure, though as Fabiola mentioned, it sometimes inevitable with ESL students. I have said it before and I will say it again: I think having my 3201 student write ‘process’ papers really helped them grasp the idea of writing an essay, because they are defining paragraphs in “steps”, and I think this aids in helping them understand the concept of “separating your ideas” into paragraphs. But, I guess that is a form of imitation, in a way…