This week I was most interested in Haswell’s idea that responding to student writing can be a conversation. In the Raiderwriter system, my students tend to separate grading from instruction and think because I don’t grade all of their papers I can’t help them interpret commentary on their writing. Despite encouraging my students to visit me in office hours if they need further explanation, they do not see grading as a potential conversation with me. However, with more effort on my part, this does not have to be the case. To make grading more of a conversation in my classroom next semester I plan to use class discussion and the class blog as spaces to continue the conversation about grading. By reviewing student work throughout the semester to find common problems specific to the class, I could create a focused discussion on writing improvement. This extended conversation would start in the classroom with review and continue through the blog. On the blog site I could post resources not only for common grammatical problems, but issues of genre, discourse, and critical thinking that are not represented in the 20 most common list. Students can refer back to the blog resources as they write and revise their work on a central site specific to their class. Furthering the conversation, I could assign groups to present to the class on some of the common issues in order to encourage students to take ownership of resources that will help them improve their writing.
It follows Haswell’s idea of economy by creating a way to reproduce the value of individual conferencing without the extended time it would take to meet with students individually. Though many of the same issues would probably crop up every semester, the idea of the continuous conversation about writing problems developed over the semester and in direct response to students’ actual work may add investment for students to understand writing commentary. This would develop writing as a process and community discourse. This method offers a shift from dictating a fixed value on a returned document to a multi-directional conversation about improvement and encourages students to see the value of a returned assignment as not just a grade, but as a roadmap for better writing.
Good work here, Megan. I like the idea, too, of grading being a conversation. Comments in blogs are a conversation. Everything is a story, basically, and the more interaction one gives as a teacher, oftentimes, the better, if it doesn't turn the student off. That can be done easily, unfortunately, with grading--over commenting. But, your ideas here about groups and blogs and comments are all part of the conversation. I like portfolios, too, as a form of conversation. Selected collections of work that tell a story as they present to you the process of the course--the multi-directional conversation, remembering the diagram I drew on the whiteboard.
ReplyDeleteI like the idea of the blog forum and all of the resources you can easily make available on a blog, but I do not think this is practicable for a 1301 course. I do not think these students care enough to use the resources available (until they fail an assignment, at least), nor do they care about the class at all for the most part. For an upper division course, I think this is a great idea; I do not know if it would be as necessary in an upper division course, however. Upper division English courses generally have students who are better writers, so the resources might be of limited help.
ReplyDeleteI like your ideas, Megan, and I really appreciate your desire to find new ways to foster communication with your students. Not all freshman comp instructors care that much. I know of several students in our FYC program who would love this kind of opportunity within 1301. I'd love to know how it goes next semester.
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