Blog 8 or Grammer is Gud

Twenty one pages and not one mention of Frasier.

That was a very informative essay except I'm not sure what exactly he was saying except that grammar is something that we all inherently know how to do once we learn to read and so therefore it does not need to be taught except in the beginning of reading and writing like maybe in the first few grades and then as we proceed through our lessons the formal teaching of grammar is less important unless you happen to be learning English as a second language and then you may need more instruction in grammar until it becomes that which is second nature.

Did he address the run-on sentence?

I have always done well with grammar and more specifically with spelling and so, I am always aware of those aspects of my writing and in the writing of others. One of the things I have found most difficult in peer review is to not circle all the spelling errors. I have realized that the content of the writing is what is to be dealt with, the grammar can be cleaned up in the final draft. One of the most interesting aspects of the essay was the idea that we know "instinctually" how to do grammar once we are able to read and speak, and when presented with the rules we perform worse than without them. So, let the writer write and take care of the other stuff later.

I found Smith to be an "easier" read this time. Possibly with the chapter broken up into smaller chunks there was less to digest at one time. Yeah . . . that's about it.

screen

More and more, it seems like this semester's maxim is not a titillating magazine. It is the phrase "you get out what you put in." At least regarding writing, this seems true. Not so much with people in general, or bartenders in particular. But in reference to this I-search thing it seems dead on. I am a bit wary of the "FORM" suggestion at the end of the reading though. "What, why, how, what now," seems to sum it up; it's very close to formula though. I realize it's only a suggestion to help the I-searcher along, but it would be very easy just treat it as a preset outline. On the upside when Macroy points out that "In short papers, introductions and summaries are bulky and unnecessary" all I could think was "and clunky, junky, and really irritating to try to write." Every time I read something less than 8 or so pages that has an intoduction, all I can think is that the writer knew what his page count was and needed that extra half page. Time to check if the paper has been 2.1 spaced or if the period/comma trick is present as well. Figuring out what I'm gonna do mine on should be fun ride.

Scott rocks. I know three or four of him, and that's exactly who I want to help develop their ability to express themselves on the page.

The story of Diedre in 9R made me want to cry. The only reason I didn't was because I was sitting across from someone that I reeeeeeeally didn't want to explain to (She's seen me cry enough already this month). I know three or four of her also. Each 'Diedre' I know is great at burying her pain, believing she's strong, and just pushing forward. I'm no psychologist, but I think the release and control of writing that story would be cathartic and maybe grant some bit of release, but all they end up writing is 'research' or academic projects. I've done my own version of the emotion packed account, about the experience of walking in on a cheating incident. It hurt to write, but it let me work through some of it that got lost when the experience was immediate. No one ever read that, but it was still worth it.

Most of my experience in the classroom has been in special needs schools so I greatly enjoyed the Swoger article. For a long time I considered concentrating on special education but found that it would be too painful. The summer that I worked as a one-on-one aid with a boy who had downs syndrome I found myself growing extremely attached to the students but I found it heart breaking how little some of the parents seemed to care and how often they were moved from one school to another. However, most important lesson that I learned was to never give up on a student and this is an attitude that I believe that Swoger possesses. Often times parents, teachers and administrators set the bar too low for the learning disabled students. I am not saying that they do not need different accommodations, but don't we agree for the most part that every student learns different? Swoger never set the bar too low Scott, she had faith in his ability to learn and he accomplished a great deal in a short time. I think this story, and others like it, should be shared with all teachers, but especially those who feel burnt out.

As for Spandel, the more I read of her book then more I find myself saying "no duh!" So much of what she says is obvious but clearly there must be teachers out there not doing the things she describes or else she wouldn't have felt the need to write this book. I just hope those type of teachers are becoming the minority.

Blog Se7en

The story of Scott in WTL was heartwarming, to say the least. I adored the opening line of "The urge to communicate must be as basic a need for humans as hunger and sex." (49) Even the first example of the mute girl was an excellent supporting example. I like that Swoger refers to writing as a catalyst to learning, and that if approached the right way can do wonders for a student. I like that she also makes a point to stress an understanding of language, which the WTL text has a lot of and I find to be the most important thing when trying to improve your writing. If you have the time and care, you should look over what you write and make sure that each word counts and that the meaning or possible meanings the word or words you chose correct. Overall, I love that the underlying tone is that everyone has potential, and that the best thing you can do for a student is to guide them into tapping that potential and developing talent.

I like that Spandel reinforced the need for a personally important topic. The chapter fit in well with the i-search project. Spandel hit the nail on the head in saying "Writers who discover their own topics write with voice and commitment" and "When the voice is strong, the writing literally becomes and extension of self." (18) When you write on something you have a strong opinion about, or maybe even a passion for, your work is unparalleled. The chance to have the work be strong, even for a person that you don't know and wouldn't recognize the voice as yours, is quite an opportunity. And the choice to chose what you write is where the empowerment lies. Having done an i-search for Julie before, I can say as a college freshman I didn't like the option of finding my own topic to passionately research. If I remember correctly, I bombed it because I got hung up on the "interview" aspect of it. I got scared and flummoxed, and I didn't know what I wanted to research. And I really hate interviewing. Not to scare any of you away, but as a freshman that's how I felt, and now I'm actually excited to give this a better college try. This time I hope to be working off of stronger grounding in the subject I'm researching. And I hope to approach the first hand research more positively. And I hope to get a better grade.

In reading Spandel & Swoger I enjoyed thinking about the contrast between the two teachers. Mr. Graphite approaches learning in a very different way than Swoger. One can only imagine a series of Mr. Graphite's in Scott's education before Swoger took the time to work with him. All it took was to give him the latitude to write about what was most important in his life--passion. I thought that when she mentioned that he was involved in football he might have picked a sports subject, but no, it was his pets that he cared about enough to express himself.
At least the changes in Mr. Graphite's opened up his teaching style a little. I hope that after seeing positive results, he continued along this direction.
Tom Newkirk's reflection on censorship is interesting. This shows that there is no rhyme or reason to why certain books are targeted. All it takes it seems like is one outraged parent, and before long it is an emotional issue. I'll just put in my vote to ban MTV reality shows, not Catcher in the Rye.

Blog 7

The ideas behind the I-Search paper are certainly ones that deserve their place in a classroom. The tasks such as interviewing and defining a topic are one's that I've encountered throughout various classrooms. The I-Search handout really coincided with our discussion on Monday about Ethos, Pathos, and Logos in the way that it really seemed like the basis for what I've been asked to do in a lot of speech classes. Funny that speech and writing are quite similar, I mean it is a very closely related subject.
My problem with some of the posts this go around is the research paper bashing. While this has never been my pick of the litter when it comes down to crunch time, having to produce these works has inevitably helped my writing...perhaps not in the traditional sense, but in being able to structure my arguments and framing a complete paper. While many students will tend not to say what they feel, but rather what others have already said, I think that being able to structure your own views and ideas is something that can only be made concretely valid (especially in the high school classroom) when it is influenced by those who have already established credibility (also coinciding w/ our Pathos, Logos, Ethos).

Blog 7

I like the idea of an i-search paper because when we're actually interested in a topic, that's what we naturally do. It doesn't feel like work because, well, it's not. I like that it can be informal, which would make it feel more someone is sitting down with you to tell you about a topic of interest instead of you reading an impersonal report. I also like that it encourages interviews, which puts the writer in touch with actual people instead of just books, articles, etc. I started to run into trouble, though, in the sketch of i-searching. Is there really just one way to do it in order for it to count as i-searching, or are those just guidelines? Does the topic really have to fulfill a practical need in your life, like something you're shopping for, a future career or a vacation spot? Or, can it just be something you're really interested in, just for the sake of finding out more about it? What if you're just curious? The other issue I had was with form. I'm not sure that organizing an i-search paper in chronological order makes the most sense. If you're presenting the story of your search rather than the information itself, that story will be personal, especially since the topic is one that is interesting to you. The focus should be telling a good story, and good stories aren't always in chronological order.

In reading the Spandel chapter, I was struck by how subtle, yet powerful, making a connection with your reader can be. I found myself grinning at the description of Sam, who sounded like Bob Dylan off-key (more off-key). I'm so used to people worshipping Bob Dylan just because he's Bob Dylan that as soon as I found out this person was on my side, I was hooked. I suppose the same sentiment could just as easily have turned someone else completely off.

Favorite quote: "Assigning writing is like picking out and wrapping our own gifts. We get what we think we want, but we also give up the chance for a wonderful surprise from someone who might know us better than we know ourselves."

Blog 7

Spandel summed it all up this week with her statement that " writers who discover their own topics write with voice and commitment (18)." Okay, I buy that. I know that writing always moves along much more smoothly when I have something personal vested in the basic ideas behind the piece. Isn't it funny though, that Spandel basically accuses the teacher who opened her eyes to this idea of losing interest in the class? She claims that "love mellowed Mr. Graphite to the point of oblivious nonchalance"(15) and the class began writing powerful, personal essays. Am I supposed to believe that Spandel went back and checked her story? How am I supposed to know that her tenth grade version is correct? How do we know that the teacher didn't plan the school year this way? Maybe Mr. Graphite wanted his class to learn the academically excepted way of writing first (to please the school board, maybe?) then, when he was confident his class could do so, he gave them freedom. After all, a true tyrant out to suppress creativity would never allow lyric writing in high school English, right?

My point is that writing about a "personally important topic" is nice, but not always feasible. Yes, I have been tortured as much as everyone else with incredibly boring topics. Sometimes it has been excruciating, and sometimes I have found something beneath it all that sparked my interest. Some of my favorite essays have started this way. It is important to learn that there is a time and place to write about basketball, and a time and place to write about "life inside a pencil" (Spandel, 15).

For example, next time your boss asks you to write a memo about the importance of paper towel conservation in the office, tell him you would rather write about your next vacation spot. Sometimes, we have write because someone else said so, and that is a fact of life. Should students be sheltered from this reality? What if the administration of your school doesn't support this type of writing activity?

I like the idea of the I-search. I think it is a great alternative to research, especially for high school kids. It will be interesting to try.

Textbook Reading Blog

My last blog, the i-search paper, was a great start to this weeks textbook readings.I agree that picking our own topics can definitely lead to just as much confusion as when we're constantly being told what to write. As Spandel states "We don't want to push our student's off a cliff."(19). However, she also illustrates how we must allow our students the freedom of choice; we just have to guide them in making the better one. Although many students wish to have a more creative and free approach to their writing, they may not have the immediate ability to make a transition between writing from a prompt or writing completely on their own. A blank page or blinking cursor can become as much of a hinderance to writing as a teacher who wishes that all work be in conformity with their own darkened (or enlightened) perceptions of reality.

In addition, students need the challenge of being able to study themselves and realize that somewhere, there is an appreciative audience willing to listen when that "self" is expressed. These concepts are key in the development of student writing because they need to believe that they have something interesting to say and that others would want to hear it. It just takes a little guidance and ambition (on behalf of the student and teacher) to get it heard. There have been many times when a teacher would prompt me, spur-of-the-moment, to write something I knew nothing about or that I could care less about. It would seem as if I had no voice at all. It is during these times that we have to summons our creativity and find our own voice. However, this is exactly what Spandel meant when she said that "when we suggest a topic that doesn't push the right button, student's may think 'If you find that so interesting, why don't you write about it?'" (25) Again I agree...as teachers, "Maybe we should." (26)I am an advocate of teachers sharing their writing with students--especially when the topic was not something the teacher wanted to write about either.

In WTL, Swoger makes the comment that in his class, "there were no assignments, no tests, no homework, nothing that the students had to see my way." (53) I think that what he was able to do with Scott was nothing short of a miracle. Even other teachers had remarked on Scott's progress as an effective writer and communicator, when they had already possessed the preconceived notion that "there is no cure for disability; the kids just learns to live with it." (53). Scott was able to read and write so much better through the process of writing. Once allowed to formulate his own ideas, he opened his own mind and acquired the freedom to choose his own topics and work at mastering the communication process.

So far, this class has taught me a valuable lesson; one which I had already believed, but had not quite contemplated to this extent: My belief in the freedom of writing and the mastery of skill through process is without a doubt, the only way to effectively teach writing. All my years of schooling and writing for the teacher had given me doubt as to my own personal teaching methods and desire to include freedom as part of the process. After all, why would I teach differently if I was always taught that my teachers' opinions were the only right ones? I had always felt that I had a better idea, (although maybe not worked out in the minute detail necessary for teaching) and that it would somehow prevent me from effectively teaching writing and literature. My ideas were too "abstract", as I've been told, and that there are set systems, which have been taught for years by the more experienced educators that would surely expose my methods of teaching as dramatic and "far-fetched" for an 8th grade classroom (or any classroom for that matter). In other words, I would fail--especially if my ideas were too outlandish for the mainstream. We were bound by the laws of the old school, and they would not consider revision.

I guess what I'm trying to say is that I'm grateful for having learned that my "differences" are not quite so different.

Blog 7

I was kind of left wondering about the practicality of the I-search paper. It seems like a great idea as far as getting students into writing and familiarizing them with their own voice and writing style, but an I-search paper can not replace a research paper. Writing in depth research papers has helped me immensely in my development as a writer because I really have to know my stuff. Not only do I have to know it, I have to make sure that everything in there is valid so that anyone who wants to check my sources can see that I knew what I was doing. The I-search paper reminded me a lot of journalistic writing. In the hand out when the girl is investigating becoming a firefighter, it felt like I was reading an incredibly well written newspaper article. This is an important style of writing because it has a very personal feel. You feel as if you are there with the author, or having a conversation with an author that you can trust. I just wonder how this type of paper could work in the classroom other than a starting point for understanding one's own writing. It seems as if a teacher could build off of this exponentially, but the actual way to do this is escaping me at the moment.

I also liked Swoger's article and how she chronicled the progression of the learning disabled student. I think that once you get a kid writing, a great strategy would be to save copies of all his or her work so that they can physically see the progress that they made as a writer. This is because someone's personal writing is much more important to them than anyone else’s and being able to see the results of your efforts works as an incredible motivator.

Don't Get Me Started

The I-search paper is compelling but also a little frightening. Compelling because it is essentially reflects Spandel’s proposed right of every writer to choose a personally important topic. Frightening because most of the rules are gone and so are the crutches.
Macrorie pointed out that “School term papers that are written from the directions in English composition textbooks or study aids are the most unoriginal writings the world has ever seen.” (pg 54) I know I have mentioned here before the research paper I had to “write” in tenth grade in which every sentence had to be a paraphrase or direct quote of a previously published work. While that was incredibly frustrating to me, it was also in a way comforting because I did not have to have an original thought. But don’t get me started on how frustrating and insulting that is… again.
I am not sure how the Swoger piece fit with the other readings, but let me try to figure it out. It could be that Scott was given the opportunity to find his own topic. Swoger mentions that for the first time Scott was able to express emotion. None of his teachers had seen such an expression from him before. Scott experienced freedom and it allowed him to open up and to grow.
Again, I’m ticked at the establishment. I haven’t had any teacher’s quite as frustrating as Spandel’s Mr. Graphite, but many of them operate under the same principles and philosophies. Those of you going into teaching, please do not forget the lessons we are learning here.

Blog 7 I-Search

I'm not going to lie. When I first read about the I-Search article, I freaked out a little bit. Not so much for fear of the work, but I believe Christina said it best when she said that time was going to be an issue to set up interviews and finding the time to travel. 17 credits and working close to full time as well does not leave me much time or flexibility to do an interview. Also like Christina, I feel myself compelled to do something with teaching. Approaching my semester of student teaching, it would be in my best interest if I gathered as much information as possible that would make me more knowledgeable than my competition.

As for our texts, I agree with everyone else that I really enjoyed the readings this week. They seemed to be very uplifting and very motivational. (I think Smith just brings me down.) As I was reading Spandel, I realized that I had already read this chapter and found it very useful for my writing portfolio. I used this quote for my paper and find it extremely important:

When students say they have nothing to write about, they are really saying in effect, ‘I’m not a very interesting person. My life is dull. I’m dull.’ It isn’t true, but if they think it’s true, the result is the same. Students often think we read their writing only to see how good it is. The notion that we might read it to learn something or to appreciate the voice or the language never occurs to many of them. Our sincere interest in students’ lives and their opinions is one of the strongest motivators we have. Nothing on earth is so irresistible to a writer as the knowledge that her writing might actually influence someone else’s thoughts or feelings (Spandel 21).

Unfortunately, there are still many teachers out there who have students do papers so they can see how good their writing truly is. I would like to think that I have a more open approach to students' writings.

Finally, a research paper without all painful side effects!!

I must confess that I quite taken aback by the logic involved with the i-search paper. Throughout my schooling I have written quite a few research papers and to be honest, most if not all close to a complete waste of time. It was not by a lack of effort but rather we are expected to present this stuffy, academic bore fest for consumption. I wouldn’t go as far to say that I learned nothing from the experiences but I can say with certainty that I was not emotionally attached to the projects. It would be a refreshing exercise to be guided by our own instinct and efforts and likes and dislikes in lieu of researching long-winded academic journals for just the right author that we can at least tolerate to read. I have generated no ideas just yet, however I am already assuming that the i-search paper will be a project that I will look back on and remember.

It must have be a worthwhile experience to notice a child’s intellectual growth firsthand as described in WTL. The boy, Scott, arrived to the teacher from special education class and was tentative about discovery, but with some guidance he was like a bird flying for the first time. Scott wanted to learn and it showed in his significantly increased levels of learning and interesting despite his learning disabilities. Scott is a memorable example as to why writing workshops can be a valuable tool/experience for young, developing students.

Chapter 2 in 9R was funny the way that the uptight, wound too tight teacher found love and instantly became a more alternatively guided instructor and permitted more freedom in subject matter. The author remembers this teacher as a child was able to make the connection the stern, no-nonsense teacher existed only in”the world of school” and it was much different in the real world. And as the author finds out later in life, it can be difficult to not have guidelines and just write, and also be interesting as well. Although it wasn’t too provocative, I enjoyed the Andy Rooney paragraph with his thoughts of learned knowledge and experience. I have always enjoyed the way Rooney can just dissect what ever topic and make something seem ridiculous, comical, or thought provoking, Seinfeld has a similar gift with more of an emphasis on the humor than intellectual analysis.

Blog 7

I love the idea of I-Searching. It finally puts a name to what I and a number of other people do whenever we run into a roadblock- hit the internet or the streets to find an answer. It's an investigative report like you'd see on the news- except on paper. I think the hardest part of the assignment for me is going to be carving out the time to interview people; and I think that would be an issue for students as well. They'd also have the added complication of finding transportation to different places to speak to people about their topic. Another problem? Choosing a topic! Part of me wants to do something related to teaching, since there's plenty I don't know about it at this point. But on the other hand, why not learn more about something I'm interested in on a purely personal level? Decisions, decisions.

And that directly relates to this week's readings, doesn't it? The right to choosing a topic. Letting students pick their own topics, though they may find it hard to decide which one to do, could end up with some interesting papers that could teach all of us something as well. If we write what we know, the words flow more freely and are organized more easily than when we just regurgitate something that we could care less about. It allows us to dig deeper into a subject or even into ourselves, and pull out words we didn't even know we were there.

I enjoyed the essay "Scott's Gift." When I was in middle school, I'd spend my study halls in the learning-disabled classroom, working with the students there. I guess you could call that my very first field experience. :) (Gasp, an emoticon!) My mom and the teacher had worked together at some point, and that's why I was allowed to be in there. I think I learned more from her students than they ever learned from me, much like Scott's teacher. It was amazing, watching his writing and reading skills blossom in the essay, to see him become more than what people expected him to be.

Blog 7

I found the article by Peggy A. Swoger to be really inspiring. I had this reaction because I am currently observing 8th grade English students who are either learning-disabled or in the lower percentage of their class. Over the past two weeks, I have been continually frustrated seeing the students’ low performance levels in reading and writing in all of the classes I am observing. It has made me start to consider reasons why these students’ writing skills are so poor. Is there a way to help them make positive progress or are such efforts simply a lost cause?

In examining my students’ in-class writing assignments, I note that all have been in the form of answers to simple writing prompts assigned to assess how well they are comprehending their reading. After reading Scott’s Gift, I can see that perhaps the answer lies in allowing students to choose their own writing topics. As Swoger states, everyone has an urge to communicate. I have a feeling that all of my students have stories to tell. I would love to have the opportunity to see how they would develop as writers when given more freedom. However, since I am mostly observing, I don’t think I will have the chance to implement my ideas until my Student Teaching semester.

Similarly, Vicki Spandel focused in Chapter 2 on the benefits of allowing students to choose their own writing topics. I can certainly understand her point that “finding personally important topics is not as simple as it may sound.” Because it was so rare in school to be given freedom as a writer, I always found it difficult to choose a topic to write about. Even this year, when assigned our first paper to “introduce yourself” it took me days of deliberation to decide what on earth I was going to say about myself. However, once I got started on my paper, the words seemed to flow onto the page, and I felt as though I really had something important to say. I hope as a future teacher to allow my students more freedom in their writing because we all have something important to say about our lives or the world around us.

An approach that I hope to use to help accomplish this is the idea of an I-Search paper as described by Ken Macrorie. Looking back, I can recall only one time in high school where I wrote a research paper that made me feel really invested in what I was doing. It was for the regional History Day competition, and I chose to center my research and subsequent paper on Stanislavski and his influence on acting and theater. Wouldn’t you know, I won first place at the regional level and went on to place third at the state competition. Perhaps this result occurred partially because the readers could tell I was deeply interested in the topic I was addressing.

I really enjoyed reading the sample paper regarding firefighting. It was much more interesting to read than the typical research paper, and I felt like I was traveling alongside Kathy as she discovered the reason behind the strict firefighting vision guidelines. Not only does an I-Search approach make the writing process more stimulating for students, but the resulting papers are much more absorbing to read. I also think this is a great approach for a teacher to employ to learn more about his or her students’ interests.

Blog 7

I'm just not feeling the readings this week. Again, Spandel had to talk about stuff that I did care about in the beginning of the chapter like Mr. Graphite. The only thing that I thought that was interesting was when she said, "Students look to us for writing ideas not because we inspire them, but because it is easier to follow an assignment than to think on your own what you will write." That is definitely the truth, but it makes for boring papers. I mean really who wants to read the 75 versions of "what I did on summer vacation". I did like the section the end by Tom Newkirk about banning books and also banning student stories. I don't want to get on a tangent, but banning books is one of my biggest pet peeves.

I really enjoyed the essay Scott's Gift, but I have no need to talk about it further.

The reading about the I search paper was helpful, because I knew a little bit about it but not a lot. It seems that it would make for more exciting research and reading as well. I'm not really sure if the I search paper is going to help students before the "accepted" research paper that they're probably going to encounter at some point.

blog 7

I enjoyed all the readings for this week. First, I really liked Macrorie's handout and the idea behind the I-search paper. While I was reading about the process that goes into this paper I realized that this is automatically what I do anytime I want to learn more aboout a subject. For example, when I read The Poisonwood Bible, I wanted to learn more about King Leopold and his colonization efforts in Africa. So I took out books and looked up articles on the computer to learn more. Had I been assigned this topic in a history class I probably would not have been so enthusiastic about it, but because I had a personal desire to learn more in relation to the book I had just finished, I was eager to find anything I could to learn more about the topic. This is what I usually do anytime I finish a book or a movie, or maybe hear something on the news, and I want to find out more about it. I think the I-search paper is a smart idea because a person's natural curiosity is the best motivator in any research situation. And of course, as we learned before, when a writer is interested in the topic the paper is usually easier to write and turns out better in the end.

This goes right into Spandel's chapter on the right to choose a personally important topic. As a person who has always had (and still does) trouble choosing a topic for papers, I found it interesting that Spandel says it is a teacher's responsibility to help their students learn how to select topics for writing. I wish that is one of the things my teachers would have taught me in school. If we ever had the opportunity to choose our own topic, I was always baffled as to what to choose. Instead of helping me find a topic, the teacher just assigned me something. At the time I thought they had made my problem go away, but now I realize they made the problem worse. Spandel wrote that students who have not had practice selecting a topic may feel abandoned and adrift when asked to do so, and this is certainly the reaction I have every time I am asked to choose a topic. Before reading this chapter I also never realized how important it is to the writer to learn how to choose topics. I never considered what an essential part of the writing process topic selection is. I only wish someone would have taught me this sooner.

I am looking forward to the I-search paper because I think I've been doing this all my life without even knowing I was I-searching. Besides, it's much more fun to research something you actually want to know about as opposed to something you are forced to question.

The i-Search can be--Fun?

I think we were supposed to blog on this subject, right? Either way, here it is:

I must apologize to Dr. Kearney for having (secretly) thought that this paper was going to be a real bore. As she mentioned that we would have to start thinking about it, the only thought that came to my mind was oh, here we go again. Do you blame me? I mean, haven't we all felt that research papers can be burdensome and trying at some point in our lives? Let's face it; As a student and potential teacher, I have a a hard time reading/writing these darned things--especially when the vernacular gets too heavy.

This article was surprisingly great. When Julie first handed it to us, I immediately thought about having to read another--ughh--term paper. I stuffed it into my notebook thinking, yeah, right, I'll get to this--like never. I pulled it out and perused the pages this morning over my coffee (because in my town, the Merchandiser is always late) and was really surprised by how well it was written. In fact, it motivated me to start writing my own. Mind you, this is definitely the first time I've ever jumped at the chance to write a research paper--it usually only succeeds in motivating me to procrastinate. I'm sick to death of researching topics that are thrown at me from other teachers. If it's not something I want to learn about, my paper is definitely going to reflect that--as they always have. Blah, Blah, Blah...You get the point.

Macrorie's personal descriptions of Mexico were excellent, as he laid out the foundations of how to write an informative paper. It kept my attention (having always thought of vacationing there myself) while helping me focus on my own topic choices and how to go about researching them. What really amazed me, was his inclusion of other students' writing and their equally interesting experiences researching topics that I'm not even the slightest bit interested in. I actually read the whole paper without breaking for a half an hour, or answering the phone. I was delighted at the propect of coming up with my own topic; and relieved to hear that I could. The motivation behind papers such as these lies in researching something we're interested in--exactly what I wanted from this education I will spend a fortune on. This has never been taught to me before. Thank you, Dr. Kearney!

Now, all I have to do is follow the steps given in the document (sorry, it makes it sound so boring). But the author did an excellent job at laying out the simple outline for us to possbily use (it's our choice) and giving us examples of how we might find the information. For perhaps the first time, I've been informed that informal methods and sources can be used. This is going to be so much fun! I can finally walk away from that long despised "Scholarship" that some of these teachers have pounded into our heads as the only sources that actully count. Blah! I understand that it's necessary, and I have need for it sometimes, but I can't honestly say it's my first choice, or that it's necessary all the time. Sometime's I would just like to find out my information from a real person, someone who may not have a doctorate degree, but from someone who can SHOW and TELL me what I need to know. We're not always interested in reading strategically scripted manuals filled with Doctorate colloquialisms (their vernacular). It's hard for me to understand and continue reading, let alone trying to write about it myself. If this was the case with our last paper, as I most definitely thought it would be, I never would have started it. After reading this paper, I can't wait.

Now, my only problem left is considering all of the many, many things I've always wanted to know about. I can only pick one...Ugh!

At least it's my choice this time.

Blog 7 or Choose Choice for Choosy Choices!

Choice is something that resonates with all of us. What to read or eat or wear or who our friends are, are fundamental ideas that we all can agree upon. No different is the choice of what to write or write about. When we know the subject the material flows that much easier. The old adage of "write what you know" is still valid and important. I like the idea of prompts for facilitating a writer's creativity but I can't imagine the boredom of 20 papers all on the subject of Genghis Khan or whoever. Each person will write it a different way but there will be more thought given to "what does the teacher want" then genuinely delving into the character of the piece. Most of the time.

The example of the student, Scott, by Peggy Swoger emphasized how important it is to have choice. No doubt in certain aspects of his life structure is/was needed but the chance to write his own works with his own choices and at his own pace helped to facilitate growth throughout his life. A simple thing to us, choice, can be the catalyst for major changes and major disagreements. Just think of how many wars are built upon the ideas of choice or the lack of choice.

Newkirk, writing at the end of Spandel's chapter, addresses if their inappropriate choices for the classroom. I imagine there are. That would be one of the things to discuss with the students as they consider their writing subject. Possibly through discussion some of the horrors recently visited upon schools could be avoided. Possibly.

Seven-11

When I first read WTL, I was at our local 7-11 convenience store. I was waiting for my friend to get done working at Guido's. It was taking a lot longer than usual so I cracked it open to our assignment and got done with it by the time he was done. It wasn't especially wordy however, I liked all of the one liners that punched and stood out at you. Like that writing is a catalyst to learning! and The urge to communicate must be as basic a need for humans as hunger and sex. It was definitely written in a successful way that it got the point across.

Spandel was also very good and I like that she re enforces my kind of ideal of a perfect I-Search paper. Letting the writer pick the topic has always helped me develop more dynamic with my writing.