What good have i done today

My goal today was to start my section on the students of ESL classes, try to explain who and what they are. I think a good picture of the many different kinds of ELL's will better support my argument that there is not one overruling tactic of teaching that applies to all students. ESL to me is a field of adaption, more so than another field.
Today i wrote two paragraphs on ELL's describing the differences and similarities. For example some students are almost fluent in speaking English but cant read or write in English or their native language, some on the other hand can read and write but have no speaking capabilities.
I think i made a good start on this section, but i need more.

What i wrote today in class

Well i did about one and a half paragraphs. The purpose was to set up my topics on the two different schools of thought regarding ESL theories. I explained why both feel they way they do. I will now have to go more indepth about what both are saying and exaplain some theories, with some examples of real ESL teachers.

revising plan based on peer review

What I would need to do to revise my bibliography according to my peer reviews would be to better describe how I will utilize my sources in my paper. I have to agree with this assessment and will try to comply, also will add some teacher interviews. But overall it got good reviews. Brett liked mine how it is.

Stephen Swisher

Comp.4

Annotated Bibliography

11.15.07

Annotated Bibliography: ESL Theories and Pedagogies and how they relate to Truman College’s ESL programs

My query that I wish to answer with this research paper is how to ESL theories and pedagogical ideas hold up in real life. My goal is to speak to actual ESL teachers at Truman, this was proving to be hard, but as soon as I donned my private eye hat I was able to line up some interviews. So what I wish to see is how helpful are ESL theories in a department where there are more differences than similarities in the student body. How can you have a successful teaching pedagogy in a classroom more almost as many different languages are spoken than there are people in the class. Also most teaching pedagogies rely on simple facts like all the students are the same age, have similar amounts of schooling or share same goals but ESL does not have that luxury.

The research I have come across has not been astounding or unexpected but it has raised some questions that hopefully will be answered by further reading and ESL Teachers. It seems to me there are two schools of thought on ESL theories, the one that think ESL pedagogy could be universal and the ones that believe that each ESL class is different and therefore demands different methods. Pretty much all of the articles I have read agree that ESL students are very diverse, but only some try to incorporate aspects of different ethnicities and cultural tendencies in the classroom. Shonde Nero argues in her article

“Language, Identities, and ESL Pedagogy” that teaching ESL can also force American morals on students, so she advices to teach other types of English as well like different dialects. But overall ESL is very broad topics which have many factors which need to be considered and I think my research has covered some of them and I am looking forward to writing a coherent research paper.

Do it yourself ESL: ESL that Evolves with the students

The Changing Role of ESL in Bilingual Education

Milk, Robert D. University of Texas at San Antonio, TESOL Quarterly, Vol.19, no.4 December 1989

http://www.jstor.org/jstor/gifcvtdir/ap005054/00398322/ap060076/06q00040_1.1gif?jstor

Milks’ article talks about the differences of teaching ESL, foreign languages and a bilingual classroom. He talks about how you can’t compare learning a foreign to ESL. The main factor states Milk is that one is taught in the speakers’ native country by a teacher who speaks the same language at the students and learning is part of a grade not life. ESL on the other hand is not taught in the students’ language or country and is a matter of survival. Whereas a foreign language student comes home to his native environment and is able to speak his mother tongue, the ESL student is always at odds with his environment and is focused on assimilation. Bilingualism comes into the equation from either schooling in the students native country or from being second or third generation but still not fluent in English, speaking a mish-mush of English and the native language. Milk adds that some cultures have mix language of English and Spanish because they feel alienated from both cultures.

This is a reliable source because it is written by a teacher of ESL who obviously has experience in both the teaching and the pedagogical sides of ESL. The only thing that would give me pause about this source is that it was written in 1989, but I think the topics and solutions talked about by Milk are still prevalent today and have also been touched on by Nero in her writings. I will use this source to make my argument stronger about needing a new approach to ESL and how this rings true at Truman.

Language, Identities, and ESL Pedagogy

Nero, Shonde J. School of Education, St. Johns University, 8000 Utopia Parkway, Queens, NY, 11439, USA, 2005

This academic paper argues that English Language Learners (ELL’s) are changing in both identity and in linguistics. Nero argues that ELL’s can no longer be put into simple categories like: native and non-native speaker, monolingual and bilingual, “which do not adequately capture the full range of students’ linguistic identities and repertoire.” Because of the huge numbers of immigrants coming to America each year, ESL pedagogy has to properly accommodate this. Nero tells the reader how the many differences in schooling and background can affect the ELL’s learning capability and “calls for pedagogical practices that recognize and respond to the similarities and differences in the backgrounds and needs of this diverse population.” This is an extremely helpful source in that in backs up facts I have gathered from Truman College. Facts like that 120 countries and over 50 languages are represented in Truman’s ESL courses.

By having read this article I can compare data from other states to that of Truman see if there are any similarities. This seems like a very authoritative journal because it was written by a professor who did a private study and survey of her ESL students compiling data on their backgrounds, ESL comprehension and ethnicities. I would say this paper has no biases and its goal is to start the ball rolling on updating ESL courses. The only thing that could hinder its relevance is that it was published in California and not Illinois but since her data agrees with that I have learned about Truman I am confident this is a reliable source.

Teaching ESL: A Note Against the Authorities

Pierstorff, Don K. The Language Game, Long State City College, California

http:/www.jstor.org/jstor/gifcvtdir/ap001814/00138274/ap030671/03a00300_1.3gif?jstor

Pierstorff is a City College teacher of ESL and writes in his essay about having just been to an ESL conference and how absolutely useless it was. He talks about how in the 60’s there was supposed to be this groundbreaking new way of teaching grammar to ELL’s called TG Grammar. But says Pierstorff it had one major flaw, its theories were conducted toward “ideal speakers and ideal listeners.” Having been a teacher for over four decades Pierstorff was pretty confident in saying that ESL has anything but “ideal” speakers. He gives examples of the many differences his students have and then ends his essay or rant by saying we can all learn from other ESL theories and pedagogies but in the end we’re the only ones that actually teach the class, so we do what’s best. “we may all listen to advice on how to carve up the whale, but it is, after all our whale.”

Once again I think this is a very helpful source to my paper because it is from a City College teacher which Truman is also and it gives the teachers perspective on ESL pedagogy which is what I’m hoping to ask ESL teachers at Truman. Although this essay reads like a rant, the author also has some examples of his students and teaching techniques that back them up.

Teaching Techniques and Updates

ESL Composition Tales: Reflections on Teaching

Lonon, Linda and Kroll, Barabara, Eds, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, Pp.vii+179, 2002

This is a book that reflects on the “short” history of ESL and how many of its pioneers of theory and pedagogy are still alive and teaching today. This collection of essays written in the early days of ESL is compared to the new ideas of ESL and many of the old ideas are revised by the original authors. The book tells how in the early days there was not real instruction for the teachers, so they put their students through “tedious exercises” and being overall too structured. This book tells how the teachers did not adapt like they do today.

This is probably the most reliable source that can be found on this topic because it is a composite of ten ESL theorists’ ideas and how they have revised them. This will be used in my paper as a background of ESL and the different theories in ESL and how they are used.

Teaching Adult ESL Learners

Yang, Yi Massachusetts Department of Education, The internet TESL Journal

http://itselj.org/techniques/yang-Adultlearners.html

This is a teaching tool for ESL teachers. This article was written by Yang who is a ESL teacher and has had experience teaching immigrants and wants to help other teachers by giving them some of her techniques. Yang starts her article out by telling the reader some of her and her student’s backgrounds, she stresses the fact that most of her ELL’s have had little to no schooling in their home country. Yang also talks about that most of her students were under finical and family stress that “prevented them from fully concentrating” on their work. Because of the varying degrees of schooling and home lives, her students had had, Yang wanted to develop a curriculum that attempted to envelop all of her students. In her article she gives tips on how to teach listening, reading and overall help and promoting higher expectations and language development.

This will prove to be very helpful when I get a chance to talk to actual ESL teachers and I can ask them if the tips given in this article would be helpful or not. This also could go with Pierstorff’s article who said it was ok to take advice but in the end it’s your whale.

Truman College (this will have more sources)

Darnton, Ann, Personal interview, November, 7^th

Ann Darnton, is the assistant dean of Adult Education at Truman College.

In my interview with her I got some good background on the ESL program at Truman Colleges, I also found out that Truman has the biggest ESL department in the State. WE disgust such issues as how the classes work (there are 9 levels), why enrollment has suddenly slowed down in the last couple of years, if there are payment plans for the students, the diversity of the student body and many more questions.

Mrs. Darnton was a very great source to get and she helped me get a better understanding for how the actual system works, how ESL looks like in practice and from an administrators point of view. Although she did not allow me to talk to her teachers I did find a way of contacting some Truman ESL teachers and am currently waiting for a response. Mrs. Darnton’s interview will be used to give a background of Truman and to give some answers as to why some students may choose to learn ESL else where.

Contract Proposal

Stephen Swisher
Comp. 4
Contract Proposal
11/5/07



ESL Teaching Theories:
How theory is practiced at Chicago’s Truman College

This topic struck me because my father is a teacher at Truman College and he alerted me to the fact that the enrollment for ESL courses have grammatically decreased in recent years. This got me thinking, many Americans and politicians say (complain) that if you are going to live in America than you should speak English. If we agree with policy makers, that this is an important problem, who is responsible for the cause? Is it up to the national or state government to provide this service of teaching English to immigrants or up to the immigrants to learn English where they can. Mulling this question around in my head, I wanted to know how the whole process works, the theories of ESL and how it is put its put to practice.

I already have some experience in ESL because both of my parents have taught English overseas, my mother in China and my father in Germany and Austria. I lived in Vienna, Austria in my sophomore year of high school saw how English was being taught. So I was curious to see how the topic is taught differently to different groups of people.

My questions about this topic would be, how available are these courses being made to immigrants? are they affordable? What subjects or topics are stressed most in these classes? How is ESL theory different from practice? Do Truman teachers use the theories and practices I have read about? What techniques work best for them? It would interest me to hear some stories about some students and how they might have learned best to? To what do students respond best to? Writing, speaking, or listening? Do ESL students learn differently because most are adults learning a language? And lastly how does the US citizen test correlate with ESL?

Sources…so far. My main source is the head of the language department
at Truman College and anyone who he can get to talk with me. I would love
to talk to some teachers and students. I have just contacted an ESL teacher at Truman and hope to set up an interview.
Secondary sources are: essays written by
Paul Kei Matsuda, like, “Composition Studies and ESL Writings: A
Disciplinary Division of Labor”
“Composition and the Courses in English for Foreign Students” by
William Marqaurdt
Teaching English as a Second or Foreign Language by Marianne Celce-Muarica

The Changing Role of ESL in Bilingual Education by Robert D. Milk
Teaching ESL: A Note against Authorities by Don K. Pierstorff

Teaching English as a Second Language and many more…

factness

Whom could I talk to who could provide me with information that has factness about this question?Factness: Well I would first have to make a list of all the qualified people whom I could engage in lively conversation. I would assume that a few professors, students, theorist, administrative people would work just fine, but I would like if possible to talk to a politician who signed on the bill cutting ESL funding to get his side of the matter. My first goal would be to read some essays written by people both knowledgeable and passionate about ESL. With my new found knowledge I could ask the right questions to the people who are currently active in either learning or teaching ESL. The students would have valuable factness because they’re the reason ESL exists and the ones effected by the law. Teachers could give me factness on their thoughts on if the program was working, if they’re better now and how this law has impacted their ability to teach. The administrators could give me fact and factness on the economical side of matters. What measures were taken before to give students finical aid, how has it changed and how much does an ESL course at a CCC cost? Also someone that might shed light on how this impacts the bigger picture, maybe even talk to a person who no longer can afford ESL courses and therefore can’t find work…that might be good. A politician could give me the factness on why cutting scholarship funding is a good idea and how he sees it effecting (or not effecting) the migrant community. I would like to round up all of theses factness facts and compile them together and then see who has the most factual factness. There I said it.

contract proposal rough draft

Stephen SwisherComp.410/28/07Project proposal My Project Proposal for ESL in Chicago’s City Colleges specificallyFocusing on Truman College. 1. This topic struck me because my father is a professor at Truman Collegeand he alerted me to the fact that in the last few years there has been adecrease in ESL enrollment, but not a decrease in overall enrollment of“foreigners” So I was interested in way this would be happening. To thebest of my knowledge the decrease in enrollment has to do with a new lawthat was passed that cut funding, loans or scholarships to students in ESLclasses. But like I said I don’t know the details, I will have toinvestigate. So my motivation for this class would be to understand whysomeone would cut funding for ESL classes and how they are being utilizedin classes, especially the writing aspect. Are students taught to fill outapplications, loans or other vital documents?2. My thoughts on this topic are: How can we live in a country where wecomplain about the migrants not speaking English and then cut funding forESL? I think we should have more programs in more places, maybe even free,I think we do but I would like to find more out about them. I don’t knowtoo much about this subject but I am interested and have some goodsources.3. I want to understand who should be responsible for migrants learningEnglish, the state and its schools or the individual? Also how and whatis being taught in regards to composition? What is the exact definition ofESL? How does the citizen test and ESL relate and are the compatible?4. Sources…so far. My main source is the head of the language departmentat Truman College and anyone who he can get to talk with me. I would loveto talk to some teachers and students.5. Secondary sources are: essays written by6. Paul Kei Matsuda, like, “Composition Studies and ESL Writings: ADisciplinary Division of Labor”7. “Composition and the Courses in English for Foreign Students” byWilliam Marqaurdt8. Teaching English as a Second Language and many more…I still have a lotof research to do.



Responce to Blog questions for Monday








When the general public considers the subject I’m working with, what are the issues, questions or concerns that they think are important to discuss? Do these questions and concerns differ from those of the scholarly discourse community?
The general public would like to know how accessible these ESL classes were before the passing of the law and how it changed. Also in regards to writing what are the requirements for the class, what are they taught? I would personally like to know what the curriculum looks like. I just thought of something in order to write a comprehensive report I would probably have to specify what level of ESL I would focus on. Would it be people who could barely speak? People who can speak but not compose? I don’t know either I will have to see where this project takes me. To get back on track, the questions the public might have would be concerning: Accessibility of ESL courses, importance on writing, how many levels there are between beginner and graduated, also the colleges responsibility of making sure students get the proper ESL courses, making sure they are affordable and provided and convenient times. For the most part I think the scholarly discourse community would ask the same or similar questions, but they might focus more on the actual ESL classes and on composition theories for second language students.In discussions of my subject, what are some of the status quo assumptions that appear to go unsaid but nonetheless seem almost universally believed? For example, if I am exploring how writing should be taught in high school, what do most people tend to believe about the kinds and amount of writing that high school students should do? What do people believe writing teachers should do to prepare students for the world beyond high school? How do people believe that teachers should respond to students’ writing?
The status quo for ESL students would be the need to learn enough English as to get by in America. This would include the ability to fill out government forms, applications and be able to understand bills. I assume that there is not much essay writing going on in theses classes, the focus is on work related courses. The teachers goals would be for their students to integrate into American society smoothly with the necessary tools.

Lu's style

This was an article that made sense to me and i could also relate to. Lu wants to "invite a multicultural approach to style, particularly those styles of students writings which appear to be ridden with "errors" Lu is asking the question what about the students that get the content of the question and can formulate a good answer, but that have basic grammatical problems?
Lu notes that there are typically two ways of dealing with such a roblem in a compositions class. 1) the teacher takes a couple classes aside and goes over "usage" and copy editing" and then spending the rest of the term helping the students revise. 2) would be to send students to a writing center and hope they can catch up. he says that teachers look at beginners writings differently than that of an "expert"
She gives to examples of authors who were to told they had errors in their text. Stein did not except this criticism because she was educated and therefore had the freedom to do so. This goes off the believe that only when a writer is "error free" can she write in a different style. Its like you have to prove your doing it on purpose to be taken seriously. The other writer was Dreiser who excepted that his work should be edited and his style abandoned because he felt he had not earned the write to do so because for one English was his second language and he was not as educated as the rest of the people who would be editing his work.
As Lu puts it, "ethnic and educational backgrounds were two common denmoninators for determining whether style represented self-conscious innovated experimentation or blundering errors." Lu is pointing out we should not be so quick to judge.
So Lu wants to have a teaching style that does not overlook the students potential lack of knowledge and experience but also does not dismiss the writers potential. So basically if a student has some grammatical errors due to lack of experience or being new to English it should not take away from their work if they comprehend the subjects and can add to the discussion.
lu
For my personal experience i definitively agree with Lu in that we should focus more on what the person is trying to say or if they understand the issue rather what tense they put a verb in. this is what do for myself i would rather understand an idea and be able to contribute to the discussion than not understand but be able to formulate that in perfect English. I try to give this attitude to my tutee, tell him that idea is more important than the structure, which ironically is what the so called "experienced writers do.

ESL-Whats the deal with cutting founding for it?

Stephen SwisherPart I: Exploration1. Identify the issue or problem that you plan to focus on in your Inquiry Project. English as a second language, my father teaches at a Chicago Community College and he told me that the enrollment for ESL classes has dropped dramatically due to a new law holding back loans and founds for those specific classes. I guess I would find out what that law is and how it affects the people.
2. What is your personal connection to and interest in this topic? Both my parents have taught English in foreign countries and I am also multi lingual.
3. What opinions do you already hold about this topic? Besides the fact that every citizen of America should speak or learn English, I don’t think the government should pass bills that make it harder for migrants to learn English; on the contrary they should encourage it.
4. What knowledge do you already have about this topic. What are your main questions about this topic? What are you most curious about? I don’t have much, to any knowledge on this topic, besides techniques my parents have told me on how to teach English as a second language. I would like to find out what kind of programs due schools and the government have that help people learn English in the USA and how they go about it? Also what is the wished for outcome? To be fluent or just manageable?
6. How might composition theorists and researchers approach or study this topic? Does this approach differ from those of other related disciplines (such as communication studies)? Well the philosophy would be different, because I imagine in most cases the students would be adults, which calls for a different teaching method. Also the fact that you have to start from scratch and then in a relatively short time are expected to produce results calls for a more hurried approach.
7. How could you research this topic outside the library (for example, through interviews and/or observations)? Talk to people in the ESL field and to administrators, also try to contact some ESL theorists. Part II: FocusingWrite an initial claim, or an open-ended question, to guide your research on this topic. Make it specific but exploratory. Remember that a good claim opens up an area of inquiry about a topic; a claim should invite evidence, support, and debate. Should it be required by academic establishments or the government to teach future American citizens the English langue or should it be up to the individual?

I

Speaking for others…………..

I have lived both in America and Austria for an extended period; I lived in Vienna for a year last year, so I have come across many generalizations about each country from the other. But I do not know if this would be an acceptable example of academic discourse? I think this just plays off of stereotypes and is obviously not given by an expert. But I did attend the University of Vienna were I can be pretty sure it was academic discourse and were the professor would use America and its citizens as examples but who never really been there longer than a vacations worth. Of course Bush and American politics were often the topic of choice and I felt I was being bombarded by misconceptions and stereotypes. It seemed like to me anything that made the U.S look bad was an acceptable piece of evidence, but I actually agreed with most of what was being said, I guess I just did not like the arrogance of how it was being said. This trip down memory lane does not really seem to getting to the point that I was trying to make or answer the posed question.

Take 2: I can’t think right now. Can you have writers block on an in class writing exercise?

Was there ever a time were I witnessed a lecture given by someone about a culture or group of people that the lecturer was not a part of? Or were my people or community ever the subject? I just don’t know. I know I have but I can’t think of one at the moment. The only thing I can think of right now is when politicians talk for poor people, or students or any community there are not a part of. How can a white male who has grown up in an upper middle class environment talk about or think for a lower class family, but then again that is there job. So I give up.

Don't talk about me, you're no Austrian

"my appeal is to urge us all to awake, awake and listening, awake and operating deliberately on codes of better conduct in the interest of keeping our boundaries fluid, our discourse invigorated with multiple perspectives, and our policies and practices well tuned toward a clearer respect for human potential and achievement from whatever their source and a clearer understanding that voicing at its best is not just well-spoken but also well-heard." (622)
wow, she went to long sentence school. I would like to know if this is considered a well structured sentence, if so why? But jokes aside it makes some good points and kinda sums up the paper, does it not? She is telling us that people should be more sympathetic when writing about different communities, also not to write in an authoritative voice when writing about other races you are not apart of. i agree.
anywho, what is this about? Well in her article she says a writing is not just reading and or seeing but also listening. Her other main point would be how can a writer talk about 099deeeeerwwwwww3788888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888.......that was my cat by the way, adorable. As i was trying to say before i was so rudely interrupted her other main topic is cross boundary discourse and how more often than not is does not work. or should not work. I see her point, I mean i could write about the native Americans and their struggles but not in an authoritative voice telling my reader what they thought and felt. So i guess she kinda exlpains how to remedy this problem through listening. But i most be honest i did not understand this article as well as i would like to and Im really tired, its snowing and i have to walk six miles uphill in that snow. I am looking forward to reading my peers responses and hopefully they will enlighten me.

Bi to the Izzle:

The articles main purpose was to describe two different ways of how a person might write, Inner and outer directed. Bizzel described both very thoroughly using diagrams and then proceeded to theorize which one might be the better. Her solution was to synthesize the two. She also discussed Flowers and Hays, with whom she did not agree.
She began the article by tell her dear readers that she has noticed that some teachers feel they not only have to teach students to write, but also to think. I would agree with that assumption, I don’t know if we mean it the same way, her article being a bit older. I feel this statement rings true in that the average modern student is bombarded with so many distractions and devices designed to make life easier; we don’t have to think as much. Spell check is one example, it’s a great tool that everyone enjoys, but because if it many students will never fully have a grasp of the language. But I digress.
Inner –directed writing, is the group of people that are more interested in the structure and rules of the language, the learning process. This group believes that there basic processes of language that can be taught. There are few ideas which every student can benefit from.
Outer-directed is the group which is more concerned with discourse community itself. This means that different discourse communities have a different language and way of thinking.
In the end Bizzel leans more on the side of outer rather than inner, but she stresses using a mixture of both. Using both methods is the way to go because not every classroom or student is the same, synthesize. Inner blames the students for their lack of knoweldge and outer focues more on the audience, the discourse make the meaning.

A cognitive Theory of writing, we've all heard before

flowers and hays tell us that the "act of writing" has three major elements: the task environment, the writers long term memory and the writing process, and all of these have sub elements and the sub elements have littler subs. This theory is Way different than Summers, because it is NOT linear, and it has SUB categories. Summers theory compared to Hays and Flowers is way off course, she only has pre-writing, writing, and rewriting, which as you can tell is different than the sophisticated three elements of writing task enviroment, the writers process and long term memory. what im trying to say here is they ain't the different, I agree one is more complex and has fancy sub categories, but the only difference seems to be that Hays and Flowers say their theory units all three steps into one....with sub categories. They argue that a "skilled" writer is constantly going through all three stages, which means there is no separation between the steps as Summers argues. It is a dynamic system that keeps happening through-out the writing process.
Anywho, the Writing task process is the topic, knowing your audience and all of the pre-writing activities that are involved, such as rough drafts and any ideas, thoughts or scribbles on the topic. The long term memory process is what we might call the out-lines of the paper, the knowledge one has one the given topic and the knowledge of the audience. The final process and the with the most subs in it, is the writing process, which includes: planing, translating and reviewing, or pre-writing, writing and re-writing. Planing would mean the organizing of the text and the "goal" the writer wants to set. Translating is simply translating everything in the first two steps and the planing process into paper, in laymen s terms, writing. The reviewing process is simply evaluating the text and revising the text.
Oh I forgot an important part, "the Monitor" which is process which "determines when the writer moves from one process to the next" (283) this is determined by our own personal writing habits and the topic on hand.
So basically the ideas are the same but now with a little Grey pou pon on it. We are learning something which i think comes naturally with being an experienced writer. I understand the want to explain writing in a simple to use diagram or theory, but what the authors are missing is the practice and experience needed to become a "skilled writer" comes with....well practise and experience and a liitle of talent and smarts.....run on sentence.

Just fake it, no one will know

David Bartholomaes’ essay describes the problem beginning writers have, they don’t know in what voice to speak in. Bartholomae tells us that beginning writers have to write act like experienced writers but most can’t pull it off. They have to copy a certain style or tone of discourse that they are not experienced in, this makes for uneasy writing. For example when a inexperienced writer writes an argumentative paper, she does not feel comfortable lecturing the reader (the teacher) about something the reader knows ten times more about, so the writer will teach instead. This means the essay will take on the tone of a “life listen” rather then telling you how it is. Students don’t feel qualified telling the teacher something the teacher already knows. Bartholomae says that these young writers are too afraid to take on the authoritative and intellectual tone, because they feel like they don’t derisive it. He argues in order for them to speak to this audience, which I’ll call academia; they have to speak in their language. But how can you speak in a language your leaning? Bartholomae says, fake it. Act like you have read ten books on composition theory and tell the teacher your opinion, find common ground, spark their interests. Bartholomae tell us of the many problems a young writers has, not knowing how to express yourself, not know the subject and discourse or what voice to write in. But his answer is something we all can do, act like we know what we are doing.

I must say, when Bartholomae said when young writers try to imitate a certain style of writing it is almost a parody. I can relate to this, in 12 grade our class went to Main to study marine biology, which was very enjoyable. We still had to have are regular classes, so in our English class we were asked to sit alone on a rock and listen to the ocean and let a poem come to us. Being the young rebellious and sarcastic teenager I was, I napped for the allotted time. When I realized I had five minutes to get 12 lines of poetry done, I dawned my must sardonic and cocky hat and wrote a poem, which in my mind was a mockery of the assignment. But as it turned out, in my efforts to make the assignment and the art of poetry look foolish, I wrote a pretty damn good poem. A poem which was award the highest grade of the class and got published in two magazine, much to the chagrin of the females in my class, who knew my true intentions and felt me unworthy of such accolades. Now I don’t now what this means, but I do feel I write in a style I do not fully grasp to better speak to my reader. Practice makes perfect.

I forgot what our blog is supposed to be on.

My blood agrees

Readers eveywhere, you are needed!!

Audience addressed and Audience evoked the role if the audience:

This article addresses the audience and claims that there are two ideas of what that could be; according to their esteemed educated colleagues. But the writers of the piece think there is a third way of picturing who writers are and should be writing to/for.
The first is the addressed audience, which means the writer is writing to a specific person or group, i.e. teacher. The idea being the writer writes his product, the reader reads it and then gives feedback and the writer continues the process. The writers of this article claim this technique does not always work because, “No matter how much feedback writers may receive after they have written something, as the compose writers must rely in large part upon their vision of the reader, which they create, as readers do their visions of the writers, according to their own experiences and expectations.” Another apparent downside to addressed audiences is that the reader may “pander” to his readers, which is not the responsibility of the writer. “The central task of the writer then is not to analyze an audience and adapt discourse.” The writer is to give cues as to define the roll of the reader.
The second form of audience is one that is evoked by the writer; this is from Ongs’ theory. His main theory was that speaking and writing are very different and therefore need a different audience. Where a speaker talks he gets immediate response from the audience, a writers does not and therefore has to evoke an audience. The authors of this article have this to say on that subject, “…speaking and writing are, after all, both rhetorical acts.” Simply saying, yes they are different, but not as much as Ong claims. Ong claims the writers invent an audience and then give it a defined roll to play. But some of the hang ups of this theory, the writer has no knowledge of how much knowledge his imaginary readers have. This the authors claim puts a constraint on the reader, not only is the writer expecting a certain amount of knowledge, he may not have imagined enough knowledge for his audience. “Who does not consider the needs and interests of his audience risks loosing them.”
So their solution is to mix the two…in a way. The writer must, “establish the range of potential roles an audience may play.” They must also meet the expectations of their readers. So to explain in a nut shell, the writer must address the needs and expectations of his readers but also evoke needs, interests and knowledge at the risk of loosing them. The writer establishes the range of potential roles an audience can play, but can never forget the needs and expectations.
Life is a balancing game. With any two opposing theories, there is a middle ground which probably makes the most sense. I would have to agree with this article. I only have one thing to add. I this theory of there I feel is still a subconscious one, when we write we write for the skeptics of our essay, but also the teach someone who is not knowledgeable about or issue.

Who am I writing this too?

The topic of this essay was the relationships between writers and their readers ( audience) and how they differ from that of an orator and his audience. Ong tell us that there is a big difference between the two, for one the writer has no immediate reaction from his audience like an orator would, and secondly, to who is the writer really talking? This second question is Ongs main point, he say that the writer is writing to a "readership" that is far away in space and also in time. So in many cases the writer has to invent a reader to write to. But this does not mean imagine everyone that might read your story, what is meant is what is the relationship of writer and reader. Homer had his audience, but his was not the same as Faulkners or Hemmingways readership. One also writes different when writing to different people, this case was proven when Ong went through some of the other possible genres beside fiction, like history, letters and dairy's. I especially liked his example of the student asked to write about his summer in class, who is the student supposed to write the essay to? Normally the student would not tell the teacher what he did in the summer. This is way Ong argues a writer should fictionalize his audience.

On a personal note, I really enjoyed this article, because it did bring up some questions I had been mussing over. And it also stressed some points which were also mentioned in some prior essay's. I don't remember which essay it was, but I recall one arguing the student should never write his paper for the teacher or for oneself, which i agree to.

how do i teach my studnets, wait i dont have any.

Well how does one teach the writing process? Does one use the three writing steps most commonly associated with teaching, pre-writing, writing and revision, or does the teacher use dialogue with the student to get the wanted outcome. There are many compelling cases: some argue that there is a scientific formula to writing, whereas some say that writing can not be taught, but then some argue that the teacher should get out to of the way and the student will learn by doing. Some stressed the pre-writing, but some said that the revision is the most important process, and then there is Breuch. Breuch does not believe that any “process” is the correct way to teach her students how to write, she believes in listening, discussing ideas and trying to meet her students pedagogical needs what a weirdo. There was mention of a scapegoat. Each theory needs some other theory to blame for its problems or for an example of why it does not work. But here’s an idea, maybe all the theories have some real useful truth in them. I would like to argue the “little from column “A”, and a little from column “B”” theory. Here I will attempt to argue that it might be useful to pinch some ideas from each theory and try them out in your classroom. So in a way we can agree with Breuch, who believes in listening to her students and trying to meet her student’s pedagogical needs. If we want to do that, it makes sense to use some of the prewite, write and rewrite, but also to focus on different parts of the process or even let your students run wild and write what they want. I think its up to the teacher to decide which works best.

Crosstalk blog...............

I agree with Kent, I think writing is something that can not really be defined in set process. For example, the last couple of articles we have read have stated the prewriting is 85% of the process but then a scientific study was done that proved the opposite. Yes this was done with so called "unskilled" writers but science is involved and science is never wrong. I don't think there is one method of teaching writing, or revising for that matter. In school we learn there are at least three types of learning, seeing, feeling, sound, we have the cognitive and the connectionalism approaches to learning. So I think all of these past articles clue us in a bit closer to a form that fits us. Maybe the teachers should find a method that fits them rather then visa-versa.

free flow

Blog: on the composing process,

I found this essay really interesting and helpful in understand the writing process. The findings that every writer goes through three steps, is obvious but also helpful to understand. I thought that in constricted the theory of Murray that 85% of writing is prewriting, but the again it’s a study of “unskilled” writers. By the way the sample writer they had, John, I don’t think was a great choice; because unskilled writer would have been a complement for this guy. I understand this was a study of students who were not particularly, but couldn’t they have picked people who have an understanding of the language but have problems in essay writings? I liked the idea but was not too pleased with the selection of the study. But it did help give a clear scientific understanding what the writing process especially the revising process is. This brings us to the other article by Nancy Summers, who also put science in the English classroom. Her study was on revising, how inexperienced writers compared to experienced writers. She did a nice study on the differences of revision of the two groups. The younger writers seemed to be more focused on grimmer and deleting repeated words and phrases then the overall structure of the paper. And the overall structure of the paper is exactly what the more experienced writers focused on. They wanted to have the reader to fully understand their argument and then they focused on editing the grammar and spelling.

3 in 1

Well we had three readings to read for Monday’s class. The first was the introduction to Cross Talk, the second was Donald Murray’s article entitled Teach Writing as a Process Not Product and lastly we read Janet Emig’s Writing as a Mode of Learning. All three are obviously educational pieces and are meant to help fellow teachers in the art of teaching English.
The introduction simply stated why and how the book was complied and ordered. The intro stated that one must understand completely the theory of a subject to be able to use it freely, which is very true. Murray’s article argued that writing should be taught as an on going process rather then a product. Murray said that, “Instead of teaching a finished product, we should teach unfinished writing, and glory in its unfinishedness.” Meaning that the student is there to learn, he does not come to class already being a scholar; let the student work it out. Murray was for the idea of having his students use what ever form of writing and pick a topic of their choice to get across what they wanted to say. This articles’ thesis seems to be, that the teacher “should respond to his students, not for what they have done, but for what they may do…”
Janet Emig’s article states that Writing is the best mode of learning. I really agree with her theory here. Although Janet made some very compelling arguments about why her theory is correct, none was as effective as this. She said that there are three types of learning, (1) enactive-we learn by “doing”; (2) iconic- we learn “by depiction” in an image; and (3) symbolic- we learn “by restatement in words” If these three ways of learning are accepted, then Janet is right by saying that writing envelops all three.
I think all of these articles go very nice with Bruffee’s collaborative teaching theory. I also agree whole heartedly with Janet’s theory of writing being the best learning tool. For example I take notes in all of my classes if I need to or not. I do this because I know if I listen, write and then look over what I have written I will most likely remember what the teacher said.

1917-1944

1917-1944







Economic, Political and Social Debates:
The time between 1917 and 1944, saw the end of WW1, the stock market crash of 1929, the great depression and the beginning of WW2; it goes without saying it was a time of unrest. This was a time of great national sorrow but also a time that saw a nation come into its own. Americans had little to no money, due to the stock market crash, and then the great depression and dust bowl. WW2 helped pull us out of this economical hole, by giving many Americans jobs. The jobs were not only for white males, America was in a crisis and she needed all her people to work together. Be it the men who went to fight over seas, the women who took the jobs the men had left behind or the elderly who got back to work and did anything they could to help. This was also a time of change, it had to be there was no other way, the women had to work because the men were overseas, and the African Americans were also called upon to either work or join the armed forces. Social prejudices were beginning to be knocked down, granted it took many years afterwards, but it was a beginning. But what really got America out of the depression were all the factories that opened up to manufacture planes, guns and other military equipment, which poured money back into the country.


Changes in Methods, Curriculum, and Students:
During this time of unrest and change, it is no surprise the American school system acted in much the same way. The teachers organized courses with patriotic themes and then focused more on the individual and creative potential of the student. The classroom was beginning to be a place, where students could start to “unlock” the creative forces, “providing a free uninhibited environment.” There were to schools of thought on how to teach English, one stated that English was an art and could be learned by all, and that the teacher’s job was to create en environment where this could happen. The other school said writing was more of a “…preparation for the more efficient uses of language.” But on the whole it is safe to sat, that in this time period creative writing really had a huge emergence. The main arguments for the teaching of writing in more of a creative context were: It would enhance the students’ enjoyment of literature; it would improve the mechanical elements of writing, and would enhance students’ pleasure in writing. In response to the freedom in the English room, came standardized testing, the argument being, “whatever exists, exists in some quantity and so could be measured.” The testing is students in English led to tracking. These tests were culturally biased and were put into place to test students but to also reinforce class, race and gender relations. Through these tests came the question of comparison and so national-normed models of “…varying degrees of excellence” were created.
In this time writing became more of a creative and social activity but also one that in its educational form expressed the prejudices and problems of the time.

how we can help

They Say this book will help and I Say, “I concur”

Basically a Tutor can just go through some of the main chapters such as “the art of summarizing”, “The Art of Quoting,” ways to respond, and especially “why it matters.” YOU can help a tutee by going through the exercises at the end of each chapter or by reading their essays and seeing if they have any of the qualities talked about in the book. I am sure I will be using some of these templates in my upcoming papers, so I will definitely stress this to my tutee. I really liked that they had their students make sure to bring at least one opposing point into their essays. I think that is a very important point to stress. The summarizing chapter was very good and helpful to all writers and gives you a few different ways to go about writing one. Also the list at the end of that chapter with words one can use for introducing summaries and quotations was very helpful. Would I use the templates? I think I would have a session were me and my tutee try out some of the templates from different chapters and see how they worked. Then we could talk about how they changed our views on writing and if the point was made clearer through the template. Who Cares was also a good one, I liked bringing in something that most people care about to force our reader to care about our paper. The templates allow you to just try some of theses things out, and that’s what I plan on doing with myself and my tutee!

hey there! hi there

Well first off I would like to congratulate myself on the blog, I never thought I would be here, but that goes to show you that life is unpredictable. So with the wording on the homework assignment, “Post to your blog a response to Exercise #2 on p. 14, They Say, I Say.” I am assuming that because it does not say DO exercise # 2 we do not do the exercise but share are views on the whole template idea and its method of teaching. The first thing that came to mind was I felt the author was kind of daring the reader to come up with a better form then their template. “…explain why you believe your own writing method is preferable.” I must say I agree with the books ideas because it does give students (myself included) a good start on writing a good argumentative paper and also challenges students to look at a given subject from more than one angle. Also you can’t go wrong with a structured paper when you are a student, because then you know you are fulfilling the teachers wishes. In addition to this it also helps students use rhetoric better and more structured allowing them to be freer in both thinking and writing. Some might object of course, on the grounds that it does stifle your creativity when you’re given a structure to write an essay on and told what to write. Yet I would argue that in all aspects of life you need to learn the basics before you can learn to dribble behind your back. Overall then, I believe that these templates will help students not only write more structured essay but to think better and more independently. So was that not a well structured and thought out response on a blog to an exercise in a text book due on Wednesday?

howdy there

this is me seeing how this works???
Armless, One-Legged Driver Leads Chase
Friday, May 11, 2007
(05-11) 14:20 PDT New Port Richey, Fla. (AP) --
Authorities were led on a high speed vehicle chase by an armless, one-legged man, and they said this wasn't the first time the 40-year-old eluded police.
Michael Francis Wiley taught himself to drive after losing both arms and a leg in an electrical accident when he was 13. He spent time in prison for kicking a Florida Highway Patrol trooper after an accident in 1996. He led police on a 120 mph chase in 1998.
On Tuesday, Wiley sped off in a Ford Explorer when police approached him at a convenience store, New Port Richey police Capt. Darryl Garman said. Officers pursued, but called off the chase after eight minutes because they did not want to put others in danger, Garman said.