Comments for Summer Institute, 2008

Comment on Planning for Upcoming School Year by heather

heather — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 16:48:17 +0000

I want to focus on making my English 119 (pre-college writing focusing on paragraph and short essay development) less formulaic and more relevant to students. This fall however, I am not teaching a section of English 119. So it will all be theoretical until at least spring. (This is the new piece I am most excited about, though).

In English 2 (college composition and critical thinking) I am scrapping the TWO argument papers in favor of one research paper that’s actually, um, readable. I want to introduce a unit on doing primary research in the form of interviews of “credible” people in the subject matter. Then, I’m going to encourage students to produce a short film on their research as a capstone project.

Comment on Author Blurb by avery

avery — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 15:55:53 +0000

Avery Brown is a high school teacher at Lindhurst High School. She teaches A.V.I.D, Spanish and ELD. She loves her daughter more than anything in the world. She likes to listen to loud music, make jewelry and to organize parties. On her free time she enjoys making to do lists, visiting the local watering hole and “mac”ing out.

Comment on Editing, Polishing, Preparing for Publication by avery

avery — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 15:38:53 +0000

When I finish a piece of writing I do very little grammatical corrections, not because they don’t exist but because I fix errors as I see them during the revision process. I hate seeing those red and green lines on my computer screen and no matter how hard I try I can’t let them sit there un-attended. I quickly figure out how I can make those nasty little lines disappear forever. By the time I finish my eyes are immune to the errors. For this reason I ask someone to look over the finished product because they can see errors that I miss.

Comment on Drafting by avery

avery — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 15:37:55 +0000

I love the feel of a pencil moving across a piece of paper. I often start my drafting process with pencil and paper. I need to emphasize the importance of the pencil. I hate writing with pen and avoid it at all costs. Sometimes I start with an empty computer screen. I write as much as I can, then I print it out and make notes to myself as to where I need to add more detail. I indicate the places where I need to change the wording and mark the paper all up with my pencil and then I return to the computer. I love how my paper looks when the margins are filled with additions to my paper. It makes me feel like I have accomplished something and that I am going to have so much information will enrich my paper. All I need to write is a quiet place to write and the will to buckle down and write.

Comment on Prewriting by avery

avery — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 15:35:37 +0000

When I am preparing to write I try to think about the topic. Sometimes an idea pops into my mind and I write based on that idea. It is quite common that as I write my focus changes and the paper will take a new direction. I think the most important prewriting habit is just starting to write even if I am not sure what I want to say I just write and different ideas come to me. Sometimes I have too many ideas and have a hard time getting them all onto paper. When this happens I write as long as I can with one idea and as soon as that idea runs dry I move on to the next one.

Comment on Revising by avery

avery — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 15:34:36 +0000

I revise as I write. I will write as much as I can before coming to a stopping point and then I read what I have written aloud to myself. I always find places where the words don’t flow or I didn’t get my ideas expressed correctly. I work with the text until I have something that represents my ideas and reads smoothly. When I finish a piece of writing I read it one more time before asking for somebody with a fresh eye to look it over. I listen to their suggestions and make the changes that they suggest. The thing that I really look for when I revise is that the paper reads easily, there are vivid examples and the paper reflects my thoughts. The process of revision is very labor intensive because each time you read it there are changes to make.

Comment on Planning for Upcoming School Year by avery

avery — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 22:01:44 +0000

Kyra and I are going to create a blog where both of our students collaborate and respond to quotes placed on the blog. We want to incorporate a multi-model document about a social injustice that we can share with each others class. We have a lot of planning to do but I am excited to see the results.

Comment on Author Blurb by kyra

kyra — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 21:43:35 +0000

Kyra Mello teaches English at a northern California community college.

Comment on Author Blurb by heather

heather — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 21:39:08 +0000

Heather Springer teaches critical thinking and writing to native and non-native speakers of English at both Butte and Shasta Community Colleges. A lover of travel and travel writing and a lifelong student of Anthropology, Heather has taught adults in Arizona, New York, and California and English as a Foreign Language in China, Greece, and the Czech Republic. She has recently gotten good at growing edible things in dirt and that’s where she can be found whenever possible!

Comment on Planning for Upcoming School Year by linda

linda — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 21:32:17 +0000

I’ve heard so many good ideas in the institute. I’ll be borrowing from so many people. I’ll use the method that Janeen showed to help my students remember key elements that they will need for certain types of writing. It’s such a great kinisthetic organizer. And I’ll definitely be adapting Michael’s ideas about teaching figurative language. And I have other ideas floating around my fried brain about ideas that I’ve received from others in the group. The institute has really helped me to understand–and believe–that my instincts about how to teach writing are sound, that I should teach many of the practices that I use as a writer to my little writers. I will also finish reading Wondrous Words and then will reread certain chapters, especially the ones Janeen talked about in our presentation and Chapter Nine. I am excited about teaching my students to learn to read like writers. And like Alicia, I’m looking forward to doing Writer’s Workshop.