Final Reflection

This was by far the coolest writing class I have ever taken. I loved how technology was incorporated into the class and I loved how new ways of doing papers was experimented with (if I could make a video instead of writing a paper for every class in the future, I would do it in an instant). Even though it started out as a struggle, I am so glad that I had the opportunity to learn how to use Windows Movie Maker; I think that it is definitely something I will use again for various purposes. I also really liked the idea of reading four articles and collaborating with our peers to discuss what we read and pull out the most important elements. I thought that this was very similar to something we will do as future teachers.
Now for the dislikes...there is only one. I really didn't care too much for Gee's book. I thought that the ideas that were presented in the book were great and insightful, I just found the book to be very dry and unmotivating to read.
In terms of my teaching, this class has increased my confidence in teaching writing. I know that I have no problem teaching math, science, history, and language arts, but teaching writing scares the heck out of me. I feel that after reading the texts we did in the class I am much more prepared. To be specific, I felt that Harvey's book was extremely helpful and it was put together in a very inviting way. The ideas that were presented in her book were definitely things that I want to take with me into my career as a teacher. There were many ideas that she discussed that were also reiterated over and over again in the articles, and I think those are the things that will have the most value when teaching.

Digital Documentary Review (extra credit)

This is Tracee's roommate and I viewed the digital documentary she made for this class. I really liked the whole idea of creating a video instead of turning in a typical paper. I have never had a teacher willing to explore such a new way to write a piece.
I hear Tracee practicing guitar all the time in her room since it is just down the hall, and occationally when she is not too shy she will play for me. I was actually the one that videotaped her playing for the documentary so I got to see how she has improved over the past few months. I think that the way the video was put together to show how she learned something was very creative. The thing I really liked was that it had a very personal touch to it. If I was a teacher who only knew Tracee from seeing her twice a week in class, I would feel like after watching this video I knew her on a much deeper level. Overall I think both the video produced and the whole idea of allowing this type of writing to be turned in in this format were both really great.

Memorandum Reflection

The memorandum I recently submitted turned out to be a very doable project. At first, it seemed like it was going to be extremely overwhelming, but I soon realized that when taken step by step, it wasn't too bad at all. It really helped to have the inquiry group for assistance. I cannot imagine having to read all of those articles on my own, so knowing that the members in my group were extracting the key elements out of each article really helped.
I began by trying to find the main points in each article I read, then read the annotations from my group members to find their main ideas as well. From there, everything went really smoothly. My information fell right into place, and with a little proofreading I was basically set. What I found to be very helpful as well, was the day in class where we had to read our papers aloud and let our group members discuss. The group's feedback wasn't the most important thing I got out of it, however hearing my paper read out loud was very beneficial. I made a lot of changes in my paper just due to that simple task and I have made a decision to read all of my papers out loud from here on out. Overall, I think this memorandum went very well, and not only that, but I learned a great deal also.

Correctness

The part I found most interesting was the section about writers being afraid to just write because they are so hung up on writing incorrectly. This makes me think of a teacher I had in high school who would turn her student's papers back with red corrections everywhere, and that was soley what her grading was based on. I think that there is a lot more to a piece than just the grammar. I think about the article I read on migrant workers' children in schools and how they struggle with this same problem, which makes them not enjoy writing. I think that enjoyment with a piece is so important in making it meaninful and purposeful to both the reader and the writer. I think as a future teacher, it is important that we look at the content of a paper, and not just spelling and verb tenses. I am definitely not saying that I feel these errors should go untreated, I just feel that when grading a paper, teachers should look at what the writer is actually saying, as well as the grammar, but the content is what should hold the most weight. Mini lessons and things of that sort can be done to grade soley on grammar, punctionation, etc. An essay is not the time for that. Students need to feel comfortable when they are writing and this can inhibit them from doing that. A good solution I always liked was having students do quick writes, also known as free writes. This gives them opportunities to focus only on what they are trying to say and not worry about being graded on spelling and things of that sort.

**Learning~From~Research**

So far I have read three articles...the first one was a little difficult to read, but the next two made much more sense. What I have gained from these articles thus far is that teachers are currently moving away from the "old way" of teaching writing. Before it was very cut and dry: brainstorm, draft, edit, revise, and finalize. Research is now showing that this is an okay method for some students, but not everyone is going to learn best that way. Teachers are now trying to incorporate different styles of teaching that may be better for the students who don't learn best using the traditional method that was taught. These new curriculum include strategies such as combining process with product. Teachers are focusing more on letting students have the opportunity to draw on their own experiences. Research has found that students often write better, and with more substance, when they are able to write about things they know. These are just a few key concepts that are being looked at right now, and may change the way teachers will be teaching in the future.

Reflection

So far I have some pictures, a narrative, and an idea in mind. I am doing mine on learning how to play the guitar, so I found a bunch of images relating to that. My next step was to decide how to put it all together. I was not sure where to even start with that. I knew that I could throw some images into moviemaker, but that would not be the best way to go about doing it. I then realized that I needed to write a narrative to help with the process. As I was writing, a lot of different ideas came to mind...all of a sudden I had images I knew I was going to ask my parents back home to send me and where they were going to correspond to my narrative. I found that writing the narrative first was the best way, for me, to get started on this process and get something accomplished. My next difficulty is becoming friendly with the technical aspect of moviemaker, and once I get that done I will be on my way.

Learning and Action

I thought it was very interesting when Gee says, "For efficacious learning, humans need overt information, but they have a hard time handling it. They also need immersion in actual contexts of practice, but they can find such contexts confusing without overt information and guidance." At first my reaction to this was Huh? but after I reread it, it started to make sense (sometimes I feel like Gee has a weird way of wording things that just confuse me, instead of just saying what he means in plain English). Basically what this means is that if learning is to be effective, we need information that is open to everyone and makes sense, but sometimes this is a problem for people. Then it goes on to say that we need to be immersed in, or thrown into, actual situations of learning, but sometimes this is a problem without the information and help. I can relate this to many times in school. I had teachers who would teach teach teach, but nothing they said really clicked until we got some hands on experience. Then there were the teachers who would just throw us into the learning activity without really telling us what to do, and that wasn't very effective either. I think a good teacher really has to find the balance between the two and it will create much more success in students' learning.