Today, I really enjoyed exploring the connections between revision and creative writing activities. I think that allowing students to discover their identity as a writer is an important part of the writing process. Younger writers frequently do not understand when and why they produce a successful piece of writing and why it doesn't work out at other moments. The inconsistency appears to frustrate them and me! I think if I ask some of the questions from Mary Ellen's presentation about where you like to write and follow it up with questions about sources of inspiration that it will help students create a writer's identity. Helping them to create their identity as a writer should give them the ability to quickly tap into successful writing mode when they are presented with different assignments. I think this will give them a go to process for starting a project instead of having no idea where to begin.
The concept of using infographics appealed to me as a teacher in two ways. Initially, I believed the use of an infographic would be a good assessment tool for understanding if a student comprehends a difficult piece of writing like a historical text. With the full-scale implementation of Common Core we are required to up the level of students' reading because of the now higher lexile levels. After working with the new higher lexiles and discussing with social studies teachers their struggles with using more difficult primary sources and historical documents, I wondered how we can simplify the text in a way for students to remember what they read. I mean, yes we technically read that piece aloud, but did students retain anything from the reading and could they use this text to study for a test? More often than not, the answer was no. They read without understanding and definitely didn't see how the text applied to what we were studying. I think if we used the infographic as a type of graphic organizer, students could refer to it as a notes for studying or referencing for a paper or project without having to re-read a complicated piece.
Additionally, I liked Cindy's comment about using the infographic as a method for revision. I think the infographic could help us to map out and compare different drafts of writing. It would be a good way to quickly see if our piece of writing had the same focus as the original, and if not, we could quickly consider whether we liked the revision or wanted to throw it out. An infographic would also help us to pull out the important points of our writing, and compare that to our draft. Did we include everything in the draft that we wanted to include? Did the piece come across to readers like I saw it in my head?
Monday, July 8, 2013
Sunday, July 7, 2013
Geeking Out
Today was the day for answers! I enjoyed reading the articles on responding to student writing. I felt like the discussion and three-column chart helped me to sort out how to make these suggestions a reality in my classroom. I thought it was interesting that I wondered how asking questions and writing letters back to students would work for the revision process and immediately received a response from my partner. I did not have to attempt the trial and error process in the classroom. Now I feel like I can apply this strategy directly to my lessons for this year!
Additionally, the geeking out lunch provided me with the opportunity to discuss with partners the best way to present my ideas for the digital project. Sarah mentioned combing weebly and a meme for a more comedic approach to my topic. Steve sent out a tweet to other participants in the Summer Institute about the best way to create a meme and received an immediate response! It was pretty exciting to see that we could collaborate online and in the classroom simultaneously.
I am fairly confident that if Sarah had not recommended I take this approach to my ideas for the digital project that it would not have turned out well at all. I found that weebly challenged my previous technology experience because I had not created a multi-page website before. However, I did not know that such an easy-to-use format was available. I felt like weebly provided simple instructions with enough detail in the layouts that I was able to include everything I wanted. I did create a "meme," but actually decided against using a meme generator. I discovered that I could write on a picture before I took it with my webcam. This allowed me to create a dramatic slideshow based on the concept of a meme without using the generator. I tried to be as dramatic as possible in the pictures, so hopefully the humor came across. Please feel free to check out my website at
http://writingwars.weebly.com
Tuesday, July 2, 2013
Day 2: Genre or Academic Writing
In a collegiate setting, the concept of
writing genre fiction seems absurd. That is something that you shouldn't do
if you want to be taken seriously as someone contributing to the academic
welfare of a university. Back when I was in college, I had an up close experience with this very concept. Mary Bly, who rights under the pen name of Eloisa James, was coming to East Carolina University to share her expertise as a both a NYT bestselling romance author and as a Shakespearean authority. Mary Bly shared with me that it was difficult to politically balance the opinions of her English colleagues with her more private life as a bestselling author. Even though she was successful in both the academic and popular world, she has to keep these two worlds separate for fear public scrutiny by her English colleagues. I assumed that if a person's writing was successful in any atmosphere that the success would be beneficial for you as writer. Dr. Bly explained to me that this simply was not the case. English scholars did not and should not be associated with popular fiction. In a way, Dr. Bly has to hide this alternate identity.
When I contacted her about coming to East Carolina to speak as a genre
author and Shakespeare authority, she had been surprised. Why would we care to
hear about both her worlds? And once again, for us to receive funding from the
English Department, we had to have an "academic" reason for her to come.
Apparently, learning how to write genre fiction and getting it published was not
important in the eyes of the university.
This was not the first time I had encountered such extreme opinions on the prospect of writing academic or genre fiction. When I took a creative writing class in college, I also was subjected to the gross reality that genre fiction was considered below the academic standard. In the creative writing class, we could not write just anything. We could not entertain the possibility of writing anything outside the bounds of a realistic fiction piece where the main character experienced an epiphany, which contributed to a turning point in that person's life. So even in this supposed creative free space, we as writers were not free. We were constrained by a set of unspoken morals dictated by the English Department.
Today, these experiences came full circle for me as a writer. I wondered about this dichotomy between genre writing and academic writing. I spoke about my creative writing experiences in my oral history. Nicholas was my partner, and we discussed the concept that academic writing is safe for us at the university. We have set rules and expectations for a particular piece of writing. Yet, in genre writing we who are so confident in our skills as an academic writer only shyly and rarely offer up a piece of creative writing for criticism. We mistrust our years of writing because there are no hard and fast rules for genre writing. Somehow, genre writing is more personal. This led me to ask the question, "Is genre writing "beneath" us or is it that we as academics are scared and uncomfortable at the thought of a more personal criticism?"
writing genre fiction seems absurd. That is something that you shouldn't do
if you want to be taken seriously as someone contributing to the academic
welfare of a university. Back when I was in college, I had an up close experience with this very concept. Mary Bly, who rights under the pen name of Eloisa James, was coming to East Carolina University to share her expertise as a both a NYT bestselling romance author and as a Shakespearean authority. Mary Bly shared with me that it was difficult to politically balance the opinions of her English colleagues with her more private life as a bestselling author. Even though she was successful in both the academic and popular world, she has to keep these two worlds separate for fear public scrutiny by her English colleagues. I assumed that if a person's writing was successful in any atmosphere that the success would be beneficial for you as writer. Dr. Bly explained to me that this simply was not the case. English scholars did not and should not be associated with popular fiction. In a way, Dr. Bly has to hide this alternate identity.
When I contacted her about coming to East Carolina to speak as a genre
author and Shakespeare authority, she had been surprised. Why would we care to
hear about both her worlds? And once again, for us to receive funding from the
English Department, we had to have an "academic" reason for her to come.
Apparently, learning how to write genre fiction and getting it published was not
important in the eyes of the university.
This was not the first time I had encountered such extreme opinions on the prospect of writing academic or genre fiction. When I took a creative writing class in college, I also was subjected to the gross reality that genre fiction was considered below the academic standard. In the creative writing class, we could not write just anything. We could not entertain the possibility of writing anything outside the bounds of a realistic fiction piece where the main character experienced an epiphany, which contributed to a turning point in that person's life. So even in this supposed creative free space, we as writers were not free. We were constrained by a set of unspoken morals dictated by the English Department.
Today, these experiences came full circle for me as a writer. I wondered about this dichotomy between genre writing and academic writing. I spoke about my creative writing experiences in my oral history. Nicholas was my partner, and we discussed the concept that academic writing is safe for us at the university. We have set rules and expectations for a particular piece of writing. Yet, in genre writing we who are so confident in our skills as an academic writer only shyly and rarely offer up a piece of creative writing for criticism. We mistrust our years of writing because there are no hard and fast rules for genre writing. Somehow, genre writing is more personal. This led me to ask the question, "Is genre writing "beneath" us or is it that we as academics are scared and uncomfortable at the thought of a more personal criticism?"
Sunday, June 30, 2013
Orientation
Orientation for the Summer Institute provided me with some much needed technological information for surviving in the Institute! I would like to say that I am very "in the know" about the workings of technology and current on the latest trends, but alas, I always seem to find out how to work these new inventions last. Most people assume that because I am only twenty-six, I will be able to quickly and effortlessly use these new technological inventions.
However, I tend to be a little slow on the initial introduction to these technologies and was excited and grateful to Steve Fulton for providing us with the anatomy of a tweet handout. I have obviously heard of twitter, but had little knowledge of how to create an account, send a tweet, or research on twitter. This class helped me to really see the benefits of twitter. Thank you Steve Fulton!
I also really appreciated the modeling of a demonstration and demonstration guidelines handout. I felt both the different approaches to presentations and the visual handout helped prepare me for SI. Currently, I'm wobbling between two ideas that I would like to use for my demo this week. There will be more to come on this topic in my next post!
However, I tend to be a little slow on the initial introduction to these technologies and was excited and grateful to Steve Fulton for providing us with the anatomy of a tweet handout. I have obviously heard of twitter, but had little knowledge of how to create an account, send a tweet, or research on twitter. This class helped me to really see the benefits of twitter. Thank you Steve Fulton!
I also really appreciated the modeling of a demonstration and demonstration guidelines handout. I felt both the different approaches to presentations and the visual handout helped prepare me for SI. Currently, I'm wobbling between two ideas that I would like to use for my demo this week. There will be more to come on this topic in my next post!
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