Another article I particularly enjoyed this week is Lad Tobin’s “O Brave New World.” I was moved by the passage from Murray about teacher-student conferences. I became a teacher to experience what he describes: that “good tired” feeling you get when your student’s writing speaks to you or when your lesson goes perfectly as planned. I also appreciate Tobin’s honesty in admitting that he wasn’t applauded and hoisted upon his students’ shoulders when he started his first class using process pedagogy. I think it’s sensible to follow his suggestion to use a combination of instructional techniques with process at the core.
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| What can we do as teachers to help students discover their own unique voice? (photo from www.postsecret.com) |
Forgetting that students are already writers when they come to us is one of the reasons why writing classrooms lack “quality instruction,” which Rohman and Wlecke assert in “Pre-Writing” is at the core of the problem. Although I don’t find the passages about the “Archetype of the Plant” very thrilling, I do enjoy this quote: “The mind is not simply a mirror; it is in addition a lamp.” I really enjoy thinking of pre-writing in the way Rohman and Wlecke describe it: the period of discovery when writers uncover “how they and their subject ‘go’ together.”
In the Lynn reading, I gathered from the section on plagiarism that it's best to find a middle ground on the issue. On one hand, it's not fair to hold students responsible for accidentally citing something incorrectly; yet, allowing students to cut and paste a paper together is not acceptable. I agree that what is at the heart of plagiarism is academic dishonesty. I think that all too often teachers get wrapped up in the power they hold over the student and forget to be reasonable.
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| Sometimes teachers should give students more credit, like when they say they didn't know something was plagiarism. |
I, too, enjoyed the readings this week. I am always trying to find new strategies to implement into my classroom. I wish I new some kind of secret to students finding their inner writer and their inner voice. My students claim their slang voice in formal papers is in fact appropriate because it is their personal voice. Although I discuss code-switching and formal writing practices on topics the students are passionate about, they still struggle with this concept. If you find any good lessons, sent them my way too!
ReplyDeleteMe three! I almost cried when I read about Murray's conferences in Tobin. I consider myself fortunate to get a FEW papers of the type Murray relates to us; I cannot even IMAGINE the sublime experience of getting many such papers!
ReplyDeleteThe problem for me lies in the fact that my curriculum and the postsecondary writing expectations and assignments my students will encounter rarely ask students for THEIR story. The assignments I mentioned ask for regurgitated information, neatly organized into a pre-determined structure and edited for errors (plagiarism, depending on your perception - thank you Lynn!). To wheedle out the time to do /teach what you believe is right AND what is required is quite impossible. I think I'm hearing my own voice finally calling for the culmination of the paradigm shift! :)
Murray's story about reading students' writing made me really miss being in the classroom. One of the reasons I really loved reading students' writing was because it gave me yet another glimpse into who they were as people. With over a hundred students, sometimes it's hard to get to know them . . . writing helps.
ReplyDeleteWe did journal writing at least once a week. They were freewrites, and the students could write about whatever they wanted as long as it was a page. Some could barely get the page; others hated to stop. I made it a point to write comments back to each student as to how their writing affected me.
I learned many different things . . . a lot about skateboarding and how oppressive parents are to 11 year olds ;). But more, I got to see a part of my students that I couldn't always see and I could get glimpses of their voices--which they sometimes had a hard time using in more formal writing assignments. But it reassured me to know that voice was in there somewhere. I also like to think that corresponding in writing encouraged mutual respect and trust.
Here's a suggestion for helping your students find their "voice" - take the word literally - in that, have them complete a writing prompt, but don't tell them to only write two paragraphs, otherwise they'll censor themselves. However, give them a short amount of time - for some odd reason, I like 8 minutes (I'm an even number fan!). 10 seems too long, 5 too short. When they are done, have them turn to a partner, and - here's the important step - have them read their writing WORD for WORD to their partner, without censoring. This does take some getting used to - because many want to edit as they go along. The partner has 2 jobs - to note something they'd like more information about (this gives the writer an expansion idea) - and to note something that reminds them of an experience they've had (this encourages the writer to write about something that connects with their reader - answering the "so what" question). The more you do this, the more comfortable I've seen students become with writing in a less stilted, stiff, "I'm trying too hard" manner. Their natural voice has a greater opportunity to shine.
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