Chapter 9 and 10 response

CHAPTER 9 “Concentration, listening, and writing go together” Benjamin says. I think that depends on the purpose of the lecture. Is the lecture just the teacher speaking to the students and in the next class they’ll readdress what was discussed or is the lecture supposed to ignite some type of conversation right at the end? If the conversation is saved for the next class, then I can agree with Benjamin’s idea of unity between concentration, listening and writing. If it’s supposed to lead to a conversation right at the end of a lecture, I don’t necessarily think that those three components go hand in hand. An issue I often encounter while note taking is that while listening and writing if a thought is sparked I have to either give into completing my thought (meaning I won’t be concentrating on the next thing the lecturer says) or I would concentrate on what the speaker says but completely lose out on my thought. To juggle listening, writing, concentration and thinking is truly a skill. Yes I can review my notes at the end and try to remember what I thought about but sometimes the first time you hear something it’s really the eureka moment.   I’m not exactly sure which grade is responsible for introducing note taking but my class has severe problems with it and they’re fifth graders. The other day I read them a book and they were supposed to take notes. When I walked around to review what they wrote some of them just had the 5 w’s in a column and then one word answering each (ex: who-Jack, what- climbed beanstalk, when- morning). THAT was their understanding of note taking -- I was mortified. I obviously tried to explain to them that they didn’t have to copy each and every single word I said but that they did have to write down the main events that happened in the story. Jack didn’t just climb up the beanstalk, he met someone there and something happened.   CHAPTER 10: As I was reviewing my final unit plan for this class I decided that I needed to reword my objectives. Benjamin makes a good point about teachers needing to communicate their expectations for assignments clearly. I most definitely think that applies to lesson plan objectives because each lesson plan should clearly illustrate what you want students to be able to do. For example, one of the objectives I used said “Notice the qualities of the poem” which is very ambiguous. I didn’t elaborate on whether they would be able to notice the qualities of one single poem or the qualities of each type of poem. I could have definitely sharpened it a bit more to “Notice the qualities of a haiku versus a sonnet.”

CHAPTER 7

I read chapter seven more as a student than I did a teacher. I’m in the process of writing my thesis research paper and this chapter definitely brushed up on some of the specs. It’s important to know the difference between different writing genres as that is the only way to be clear on what the expectations are. One semester I took a course called “History of the English Language” and at the end of the semester my professor asked us to write a ten page final paper on any topic relating to the class. I did my research, used MLA style, meet the page requirement, but nowhere in the paper was my voice present. Now I’m wondering if I did it wrong (I passed the class though and I think I remember getting a good grade on the paper). So as I read chapter seven, I’m assuming ‘term paper’ and ‘final paper’ are synonymous, I asked myself “What are the specifics for a final paper? Are there any?” I was hoping Benjamin would elaborate a little more on that since she was touching on research and term papers being different from each other.

Under the “Science Research vs. Humanities Research” section Benjamin provides a brief description of the writing process for each.   Her explanation makes sense; I’d expect a science research paper to be more factual and contain more data meanwhile a humanities research paper  would have more scholarly comments. My thesis research paper is due for a humanities class and as I envision what I want the final product to be, I notice that I’m fusing both the science and humanities process together. My topic is discussing how different countries cater to the academic needs of their special education student body. My research will include: data, graphs, analysis, drawing conclusions as well as “reviewing commentary that already exists in scholarly literature” and I’m basing my literature review off of that.  Something that I won’t be including is any type of experiment as Benjamin discusses is protocol for science research papers. I understand why each type of paper would have their own research process but I don’t necessarily see anything wrong merging the two.

I can’t apply much of chapter seven to my students now because it would be very overwhelming and advanced for them. I like the break down on pages 114 and 115 which are grade specific in sequence.  It’s all a learning process and every year they continue to build upon skills they learned the previous year in order to produce efficient research papers by the time they leave high school.

Chapter 6

I made chapter 6 into a little game for myself. I tried to read the paragraphs first and then try to figure out the sentence stems. I got most of it correct.

Sometimes writing paragraphs gets a little complicated when there’s too little or too much to say about a topic. When there’s not a lot to say the main points are made in the beginning and the following sentences are usually not relevant to the main idea of the paragraph. Consequently, when there’s too much to say, the paragraph lacks some sort of order—it’s not a smooth flow of thoughts. More of the emphasis is placed on the order of the essay as a whole. I liked that this chapter focused on really breaking apart each paragraph and discussing what the role each sentence serves i.e. subcategory, example, justification etc.

An exercise to have with students would be to have them read some paragraphs and identify the purpose of each sentence. They can pin point key words that help communicate the main idea of the paragraph. Students need to also understand that different types of writing assignments have different structures. Therefore a paragraph discussing classifications will differ in structure from one that discusses characteristics or comparisons. I think the key is to show them examples and then have them practice writing sentences and then joining them together as a whole.

Chapter 5: Vocabulary-- Word for Word

Sometimes I get scared to use certain vocabulary words in sentences because I fear someone might ask me to define it. Now of course I wouldn’t use a word I don’t know the meaning to, but my definitions tend to be a little under developed. I know I should already be familiar with the word infrastructure but that was one word I looked up within the last two weeks. After hurricane Sandy struck NYC, I came across an article that had the word infrastructure in it. “I know this” I kept rolling my eyes “I just looked this word up the other day, ugh lord.” When I FINALLY remembered what the word meant, my exact definition to myself was “infrastructure is like the bridges and tunnels and schools and stuff that make a community.” Defining words can be extremely difficult if you don’t already have a word bank of general categories to begin with. I think chapter five gives effective and detailed steps towards constructing clear definitions.  Students would need to practice doing this of course because this does require multiple steps; it’s not a simplistic process.

Besides being able to provide clear definitions students need to integrate these words into their speech as much as possible. Chapter five’s suggestion on writing two types of sentences, one being a metaphorical sentence is a creative way to develop full understanding of the word. Once there’s a clear understanding on what the word means and how it can be used, it naturally finds its way into daily conversation.  A good exercise would be to have students write out sentences utilizing the vocabulary words then give it to their peers to try and figure out what it means. The sentences though would provide a synonym or defining phrase somewhere in the sentence like the reading suggests.  Something else I think is a good idea to help with learning vocabulary words is learning the Latin and Greek root of words in the English language. When I was in high school the student teacher assigned to my class would review some roots with us for 10-15 minutes in the morning. I ended up buying the Merriam-Webster’s Vocabulary Builder which concentrates on root words and it has been of great help to me. 

Chapter 4: In Fifty Words or Less

Knowing how to write concise statements on a particular subject matter is key in reflecting a students understanding. Often time’s students take up too much writing space to write out dates, emphasize unimportant events, or repeat the same idea in different ways. Students may be knowledgeable in certain areas but if they cannot effectively express their understanding,  because their writing consists of all the cons listed above, then their writing does their knowledge no justice.  I think an effective way to tackle this problem would be to model exemplary brief bios like the reading suggests. If students compare an exemplary bio versus an unideal bio they can see how each sentence is transformed into an important concentrated fact. On page 62, “The task of the brief bio” covers five points that are essential to brevity.  These five tasks should be explained to students and then ensemble review the task that each sentence is serving.  Students can then individually practice writing their own bios covering all parts of the tasks required.  

I found the section on connotations to be of much interest. Once again through most of my schooling career I always thought that giving my opinion on something meant starting off with “I think” or “I feel.” My students are all notorious for writing this at the end of any paper they are asked to write. What stood out to me is that a lot of the materials I’ve read, which have molded my perception on things, don’t always start with I think/feel but they still managed to steer my beliefs. Perfect example would be the one they gave in the book about Christopher Columbus discovering America versus invading America. My textbooks wanted me to believe that Columbus was a hero of some sort for discovering this continent and I absorbed this information as if it was fact instead of realizing that it’s just an opinion. The only fact that exists is that he landed in America but whether it was discovered or invaded is a matter of opinion. It’s just since the textbook writers didn’t phrase it “I think or feel” I automatically figured it was fact especially since it was in a textbook. If I was a more detailed reader I would have read between the lines. For this very reason I think it’s important for students to learn how to read avidly into connotations and also learn how to utilize it within their own writing.

The chart on page 67 is also an effective tool in spatially organizing information before writing. I think it would be a helpful graphic organizer to hand out to students to layout what they know on whatever the topic is. Lastly, all of the model words provided in each section should be accessible to students so they can familiarize themselves with words that can help mold their writing style. Hanging these words up conspicuously would be beneficial.

Chapter 3 Blog Response

I really wish I would have read this during my fresh man year in college or even in high school.  If there’s one comment that I can remember resurfacing essay after essay after essay is “please be more specific.”  

I think it would be simple to show two pieces of writing to my fifth graders and have them see the difference between a paper that is specific and one that is vague. It would be easy for them to notice how specificity changes the entire delivery of a piece. Students may encounter issues though when it comes time to address their own writing. The plan would then be to focus on one aspect of specificity at a time. I think the first part should be to identify vague words, discuss why that word is ambiguous, and how can we narrow it down? After that, students should revise and edit the same piece a couple of times, each time focusing on a different strategy to narrow their writing.

 I think generalities are one of the main issues with student writing, besides repetition. The example given under “Generalities and Specifics” (ex: Hudson/Rivers/bodies of water/geographical features) would be a great homework assignment. This way the kids can get practice in narrowing and expanding concepts.  Chapter three also suggests that students should become mindful of using the word “it.” Students should refrain from using “IT” when they speak too because the reason they use it so much in their writing is because it’s dominant in their everyday speech. 

Writing vs. Reading

As I was reading, I started to reflect on my own writing experiences in school. Reading was always promoted more than writing. It was important for us to understand where the author was coming from and what the authors’ purpose for writing was. The times when writing was practiced, it was usually expository, argumentative or persuasive in reference to whatever we were reading. There went many times when we would practice creative writing or narrative writing. I did have one college professor through when I attended York College (freshman year) that did enforce writing alot. Her classes were so much fun because of the way she conducted it. We would come in in the morning and do a small free writing. After that, we would usually discuss the reading from the night before which was only about 5-7 pages in length, not long at all. Along with the reading with would also have to do some writing. The writing usually consisted of us expressing our ideas on the subject and detailing why we felt the way we did.  There were also a couple of short answer questions that we had to complete. The fun really came in the next day in the morning when we got to discuss what we wrote and verbally debate our opinions on the piece. Till this day I could still remember some of the tings we read in that class.

I say that, to really say I see where Elbow is coming from and I completely agree with his logic. If the class, in my above example would have just consisted of reading and then writing what I think the authors’ purpose was, I’m sure I wouldn’t have been as passionate about the class. The passion arose when my own ideas and thoughts became valuable to class discussion; it kept me awake and involved. Like Elbow says, writing asks ‘What do you have to say’ versus reading to understand what someone else said.  I haven’t always been a fan of writing because usually the writing I did in school wasn’t always creative, it was usually expository. The only other time when I did enjoy writing was when I wrote poems on my own time about things I found to be interesting. Elbow makes a good point when he said “Talking is a crime and writing the punishment.” More often than not, teachers will assign writing tasks as punishment for bad behavior. When I was in the fifth grade, our punishment for misconduct was writing during out lunch period. I’ve actually just recently developed an interest for writing, besides poetry I’ve always liked that.