Take a look into the ENGL388V Classroom
Read Samantha's discussion posts from her UTA seminar. Gain insight into the life of a UTA. These discussion board posts are prompted by ENGL388v professor, Lyra Hillard, or ENGL388V students. Discussion posts encourage UTAs to think critically about ways to achieve the goals of this course.
Discussion Post Two
I found universal truth number nine to be exemplified in Sommer's piece. Sommer explains how some teachers tend to over-edit their students' papers. For example, a teacher may correct all the grammatical and idea-related issues at once. This can easily overwhelm a student, as it gives them the idea that must edit and develop. Editing and developing at once can seem like a very troublesome task. The advice, also seems to contradict itself. On one hand the teacher is giving advice to perfect what is already written, but at the same time, telling the student to change the main idea of everything he/she wrote. I believe this issue that Sommers describes relates to truth nine, because it is likely that if a teacher did not struggle with writing, he/she may be unfamiliar with how daunting mixed comments like these are.
I recognized truth number 8 (most teachers only vaguely know how to help their students) in Murray's piece. Murray mentions that far too many teachers examine a paper and provide useless advice on how to fix it. Teachers should not just be responding to finished papers, but they should be educating students on the process of writing. Successful teachers focus on improving their students' writing process, rather than simply their final product. I believe this is a little know fact, and may be why so many teachers do not truly know how to help students.
The New York Times piece from the supplemental readings related to truth number two (most students value writing). The article states that while not every student a teacher has may be a writing prodigy, it is still taught. This proves that writing still has value in students' eyes. If no students valued writing, teachers would not teach it, and students would not even attempt it.
Links to Pieces Mentioned:
http://composingthoughts.qwriting.qc.cuny.edu/files/2011/01/Murray.pdf
http://muwriting.wdfiles.com/local--files/annotated-readings/sommers.pdf
https://www.nytimes.com/2014/08/24/books/review/can-writing-be-taught.html?_r=2#story-continues-7
I recognized truth number 8 (most teachers only vaguely know how to help their students) in Murray's piece. Murray mentions that far too many teachers examine a paper and provide useless advice on how to fix it. Teachers should not just be responding to finished papers, but they should be educating students on the process of writing. Successful teachers focus on improving their students' writing process, rather than simply their final product. I believe this is a little know fact, and may be why so many teachers do not truly know how to help students.
The New York Times piece from the supplemental readings related to truth number two (most students value writing). The article states that while not every student a teacher has may be a writing prodigy, it is still taught. This proves that writing still has value in students' eyes. If no students valued writing, teachers would not teach it, and students would not even attempt it.
Links to Pieces Mentioned:
http://composingthoughts.qwriting.qc.cuny.edu/files/2011/01/Murray.pdf
http://muwriting.wdfiles.com/local--files/annotated-readings/sommers.pdf
https://www.nytimes.com/2014/08/24/books/review/can-writing-be-taught.html?_r=2#story-continues-7
Reflection on Discussion Post Two
This post resonated with me because it brought my attention to some common errors writing instructors tend to make. I realized that I, as a UTA, was also susceptible to these mistakes. I was selected to be an English TA because my performance in English101 was above average. In one aspect this is good thing. I have mastery of the course. On the other hand, this also means I never experienced as much academic struggle as some of my students did. This realization encouraged me to be more empathetic of my student's experience in this course. Additionally, I loved how Murray called attention to the fact that fixing a finished student's paper is practically useless. This highlighted the importance of teaching writing to me. It is not enough for teachers to examine only the final product of their students' work. They must monitor them throughout their academic writing journey. I aimed to be a guide for my students in this way throughout the course. I implemented this by holding regular office hours, messaging students, and doing my best to build comfortable relationships with each of them.
Discussion Post Five
I learned that it is very important for educators to be consistently incorporating long-term goals into their short-term goals. I have not thought of this before, but when I reflect on my previous encounter with teachers that I was particularly fond of, I remember their classes had an overarching message or theme that was incorporated into our daily encounters. For example, one of my world religion teachers made it very clear that we were to learn the "How, When, and Why" of each religion we studied. I want to help my students by being consistent with the messages I share with them, so they get a sense of long-term goals within each encounter. I believe this will give them a sense of purpose in my course. I want my long-term goal to be to instill inspiration in my students, so they can be given future direction, as Grant Wiggins spoke about in his lecture, "Understanding Design" (the supplemental section).
The desired results of my lesson plan are to clarify exactly what Professor Pleydell wants form the argument of inquiry. Professor Pleydell mentions the argument of inquiry rather frequently in class, but has not fully explained it to the students yet. I plan to take the students paragraph by paragraph through the assignment. I will try to be enthusiastic about my experience with this assignment so my students feel inspired and prepared to produce the final product.
The evidence and assessment of my lesson is going to be established through my own experience with the argument of inquiry. I will use examples from my paper as evidence that this is what the students should evidence of what Prof. Pleydell is looking for.
I know that Professor Pleydell wants to incorporate some technological element into my lesson plan, so I intend on using prezi.I want to use examples from my own experience and paper. I want the students to listen to me and maybe at the end I can quiz them and hand out prizes, like candy, as rewards for correct answers (I know that always keeps me motivated).
The desired results of my lesson plan are to clarify exactly what Professor Pleydell wants form the argument of inquiry. Professor Pleydell mentions the argument of inquiry rather frequently in class, but has not fully explained it to the students yet. I plan to take the students paragraph by paragraph through the assignment. I will try to be enthusiastic about my experience with this assignment so my students feel inspired and prepared to produce the final product.
The evidence and assessment of my lesson is going to be established through my own experience with the argument of inquiry. I will use examples from my paper as evidence that this is what the students should evidence of what Prof. Pleydell is looking for.
I know that Professor Pleydell wants to incorporate some technological element into my lesson plan, so I intend on using prezi.I want to use examples from my own experience and paper. I want the students to listen to me and maybe at the end I can quiz them and hand out prizes, like candy, as rewards for correct answers (I know that always keeps me motivated).
Reflection on Discussion Post Five
The things I learned from this discussion post still ring true. It is so crucial to share an overarching theme of ENGL101 with your students. Professor Pleydel and I were constantly conveying the message that students must create exigence in their pieces. Throughout every assignment we emphasized the importance of students identifying reasons why we should care about their topics at all. We also reinforced the themes of identifying ethos, logos, and pathos into every assignment. In hind-sight I am not so sure if my long-term gal was achieved. I wanted each student to leave the classroom more inspired than when they entered. I received many positive comments throughout this semester. However, I realized you can lead a horse to water but you can't make it drink! In other words, some students simply do not have their heart in English101, and that is OK. Those students tend to excel in and prefer other courses. Professor Pleydel and I still did our best to work with students no matter how interested they were in the course. We also continued with the theme of technology throughout by sharing all lesson plans with prezi.
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Discussion Post Eight
I meet with my students every Thursday to review their papers. The meetings are usually very short, and so far I haven't encountered anything too unusual. Typically students ask me to glance over their papers and I tell them where they need to add in a paragraph or take out a paragraph. I refer a lot of people to the writing center for grammatical help. I never felt that uncomfortable giving feedback, because I consider it my job.I think I have improved still though because I have realized many students find it helpful if you give them a "formula" for a successful paper. This means walking them through the special "ingredients" needed to turn out a strong paper. The ingredients for a successful paper always include organization and no grammatical errors. For each paper, I tell students what paragraphs are necessary and how to create them. I still struggle with my more creative students. I have many students who like to add their own personal flare to their papers, and while it is very fascinating to read, it just isn't necessary. It can be kind of heart-breaking telling students they need to completely take their voice out of their papers.I never thought to tell my more creative students to explain the connection. This could help us think of ways to revise the really nice things they're saying into more relative content. I also like the idea of the highlighters to help some of my students stay on track. I do not think of myself as a type of person who "highlights" because I am not very type-A, but I want my students to be more organized than I am.
Reflection on Discussion Post Eight
I mention that sometimes the most creative students are the hardest to work with. Unfortunately, this only remained true throughout the entirity of the semester. As a TA, you are a guide and mentor, which is fantastic, but sometimes you also have to be the bearer of bad news. For my creative students, that meant I usually had to tell them to eliminate large chunks of their work because it simply stepped too far outside the parameters of the assignment. Professor Pleydel and I collaborated on this issue a bit and were able to work with a few students to shave down their work. I found I encountered the need to do this with mainly the beginning papers of the semester. As time went on, the assignments became more flexible, and my students began to understand what was expected of them for academic writing. As for the organization tips, I followed through with them. I was always recommending that my students highlight, underline, etc. and I think it made a big difference, as grades began to improve throughout the semester.