Reader response for "Clearing the way" chapters 9-11 (Romano)

     

  I want to teach like Tom Romano.

He talks a lot about the age-old formal essay and how "such repeated, narrow engagement in composition prevents students from developing open, flexible attitudes about writing." Mr. Romano uses essay questions on his test, but is very careful about the wording of his prompts. He wants the students to know that this will not be evaluated in the same fashion that a multi-draft piece would be, and that there is likely not a correct answer, he just wants to hear what they have to say.

In teaching literature, Romano talks about how crucial it is to find out what the reading means to the student personally. Isn't literature about what it means to the reader, rather than what scholars and critics think it means? Having the students hash out questions, opinions, and additional thoughts on the readings in small groups - and then coming together as a whole class to discuss different reactions is a great technique. I have experienced this before as a student and it made the readings much more interesting and often clarified points that I was wondering about. It's always good to hear perspectives that are unlike yours, even as a teacher.

Another best practice is having students do informal, spontaneous writing about what they've read. This way they have a chance to hash out what didn't make sense, and sort out their thoughts on what they've just read, to get out their initial impressions, and to hopefully find a personal connection with at least a part of what they've read.
"They discover that this isn't alien territory they're moving into. This is literature, and literature is life. Students are living the very stuff that literature is made from. When they realize this, their interest heightens.

Reader response for "Responding, Evaluating, and Grading" (Zemelman and Daniels)

Much of this chapter was things we have already discussed in class; like keeping observation, response, and grading as separate steps in the writing evaluation process.
There were a couple of new key points I wanted to discuss:

1. As teachers, we need to always be aware that students pick up on our verbal AND our non-verbal communication. An important part of getting kids passionate about writing is letting them know that what they're writing matters and that you care about it- they will know if you're insincere.

2. Teachers have many roles like: Listener and learner, adult/protector, encourager and guide, coach, expert, copy editor, and judge. We have to find a way to find a balance between all of these things- our students need to know we will be there for them and our classroom is a safe place to share ideas and feelings.

3. Have the students pick their most polished pieces to go through the final grading phase. This chapter suggests that should be about 20% of what they write. This saves you work and also gives students the choice to own their work and be in charge of what happens with it (to some extent).

4. A point that I think deserves to be brought up again in evaluation is to "avoid being prescriptive. leave decisions to the writers, but encourage them to take some kind of action." Simply telling students what to do in their writing turns their piece into your piece, and they don't learn anything from it.

Reader resonse for "Papers, Papers, Papers" (Jago)

This article addresses one of my biggest fears in teaching a writing class: The sheer amount of time it takes to thoughtfully grade papers. As Jago says, "Teachers cannot work any harder. We have to be more effective in using time and resources."

As we have read in previous articles for this class, it is clear that although we might have to fight our urges to re-write and fix students' papers, it is much more effective to point out problem areas and have students come up with solutions to fix them on their own (as much as possible). 

In the section on Level 2: Rephrase for Clarity and Style; Jago provided an example of getting students into small groups in order to help each other be more effective in what they are trying to say. I have to think this would work better with certain ages of students, and in certain classes where the students feel more comfortable sharing. I do think this is a better strategy than just a total peer review of a paper however, as focusing on just one or two trouble sentences can really help the writer see ways to fix more issues in their writing overall. 

I personally love to get teacher feedback on my writing and find it disheartening when I receive a paper back with a few things circled and some teacher chicken-scratch in the margins that I cannot read. This does not help me improve my writing and I often just end up (for the most part) ignoring the marks the teacher has made on my paper- which is not teaching me anything. 

I will keep this article on hand and refer to some of Jago's best practices if I find myself bogged down  or hopeless in the grading of papers.