Gilmore Chapter 5

Gilmore presented severall great ideas to choose from in this chapter. The one that stuck out for me is one that I really wish I had followed through more with in high school. The revision checklist was something I really wish I had used. Organization in any way that involves school usually benefits the quality of work overall.

For some reason, I just refused to get organized in this way in high school and it really came back to hurt me grade wise. My backpack was my folder, and this led to less spectacular grades all around sometimes. However, checklists are really great for organization in writing and help me to make sure I get everything I need to.

Organization and revison checklists are tools I'll really try to hammer in for my students to make some of the smaller problemsm they are facing with their school work go smoother to affect the larger aspects.

Christensen Chapter 7

English portfolios can be extremely beneficial to students who are trying to see how they have developed. There are a great deal of elements students can observe when they are forced to look back upon their previous work. Of course this all is relative to how much a student does learn within a class and how much they have incorporated new skills and ideas into their writing. If a student does a great deal to change thier writing, the development will be obvious and this will enable them to compare and contrast their writing style.

I think this is what happens in English 1050 in some cases. I had a roommate once that had to save all of their work and hand it in later with a paper on how they felt their writing had developed. I feel like there have been some English classes, where upon completion I didn't feel like I learned much. However, I always feel I've learned after a class with Jon Adams and work there definitely reflects growth. A portfolio would definitely benefit from me in that class.

Gilmore Chapter 4

Student workshops for writin are a great idea. This takes the writing/revision process a step further beyond peer review and establishes a time and place where students can bounce ideas off of each other in a positive way. I think these workshops are definitely in the way of peer revision but they do more to help students get a deeper focus on their writing in a more comfortable but professional environment. The term workshop really helps to drive home the idea that students should be acting in a professional manner.

Alone, the tone of the environment can really help students when they are looking at how to go about giving feedback and collectively construciting papers for their peers. This can especialy be difficult when dealing with students who know each other fairly well and have worked together for a long time in an extremely casual environment. Making them take peer revision to the next level can really change this.

Gilmore Chapter 3

Wow, I really liked this chapter. One of my biggest priorities as a teacher is to give students the greatest ammount of information that I can in order to make sure they can do as well as possible. Everyone knows that differnet teachers have different writing styles, expectations, pet peeves, ect. So, to give students a better idea of what is expected of them right off the bat is a great idea.

Too often I think teachers forget that there are guidelines that should really be used in order to instruct students as to what they should be doing in their writing. The rubric should come before the assignment is turned in, not after, and you should decide whether your students are going to be more motivated by broad or specific requirements. Either way, giving students a look at the grading criteria will really boost moral and the quality of the papers.

Gilmore Chapter 1

Revision should definitely be hit upon as a critical part of writing and the entire process. Often when students get done with their writing they are extremely reluctant to go through it again. Even a final read through can be daunting when the paper is exceptionally large or time is being crunched before class time. So! I really enjoyed Gilmore's discussion on the importance of revision because I felt like the points it made were calling me out on my own bad habits with writing. There were a number of good points on the principles of revision and there was a great point made in students being able to know how to probably revise. Like I said, revision is not my thing, but it's certainly something I always look at after I've turned in my paper where I think "man I wish I had more time to revise"!

Christensen Chapter 5

Poetry is one of the most interesting elements of writing and English to teach because of the reluctance that students in middle and high school often have. Poetry is definitely stigmatized as a subject by many at that age and it can be difficult to get the students involved. But I agree with Christensen that poetry can be one of the most greatest things when teaching English. I think it can really help to get people who think they are not good with subject to feel they can maybe put out a poem that is only a few lines long even if they feel they can't write a fantastic essay. Likewsei, they'll feel like they can deal with some of the poems that are shorter in length than reading material that is longer. Poetry is a great gateway into other forms of writing and expression and can help students develop more of who they are by giving them a medium that is in some ways less intimidating.

Jago Chapter 6

Subject and topic usage is somethings students really struggle with. While subject topics should leave room for a student to inject their own opinion and ideas, they often struggle with were to begin if they are not given any direction.Therefore, I feel it's completely useful to give students some idea of what they should be attempting to do with their subject. Extremly open-ended topics can be useful in higher level writing classes, but they are tough on students who are just learning how to write with a constructed argument. There's always that fear from students that goes something like: "I want to know what the teacher wants me to write". This is somethings that's dangerous, but understandable at the younger writer level and should be given some mercy on. For this reason, students should be given questions that help tolead rather than one's that are ambiguous.