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Week 5 |
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Response 1 I know that when I am writing a paper for a class the only thing in my mind is, "what grade can I get on this?" I remember writing a paper in college and when I finished my first draft I realized that I could get a C on this paper and still get an A in the class, so my effort in revising my paper was gone; there was no purpose to do so. I don't want students to take my attitude of writing. I have grown very fond of writing and but my best effort forward... now at least. When I was 18 if you would have told me that I would be writing more and longer essays in 4 years I would have laughed. Maybe it would work to convince students that the skills of writing well they learn in English will carry over to their careers and that even though they may not write a 10 page essay they will engage in the process? I don't know. I would like to think that every one sees the importance of writing but I know that is not the case. Would it be effective to bring in examples of writing that professionals do in career fields that writing does not seem prominent? Response 2
The major theme I took from the Martin packet was purpose and meaning. The students need to have purpose in their writing for them to fully engage in the assignment. The students in Martin's class rose to the challenge of difficult texts because of the meaningful messages in the texts. I want to use Martin's idea of critical responses to readings. I know that many teachers do the same here in the form of a writing journal. I do not want the students to just read the assigned reading but have to think and form opinions on it before class. Hopefully the journal will take care of this.
Coldiron's activity seemed to encompass many different aspects of writing. He worked with claims, audience and argument. The students were able to almost play a game of 'devils advocate' and still learn important concepts when writing. Taking Coldiron's activity and pairing it with the theme from Martin's packet would, I think, develop an engaging classroom for students to participate in.
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