My Learning Artifact.
Inspired by the teachings of Doug Kern, I took this space to share my opinions on language and voice in student writing, to express my opinion on this heavily debated topic. The Clash Room is a short script, depicting exactly what we see in English classes around the country, that explains why all voices should be heard, and none counted out.
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Reflection:
This assignment got me thinking immediately about what I want to do differently and how I want to show off what I learned and what I can do using all the resources available to me. For my artifact, I developed my own script to be used as a guide for students when approaching the English language. This hopefully will inspire them to write and this leads to the Collaborative exercise. I have noticed over these past two semesters now that the students have a lot of resources for independent writing but we do not have built in class time for collaboration and group writing. This will in turn help them with their final projects to see how to build a scene and have it performed in front of them. With the consent and support of my instructor, I would allow them to perform some of their writing in class to amplify the meaning behind our class's lecture.
This assignment got me thinking immediately about what I want to do differently and how I want to show off what I learned and what I can do using all the resources available to me. For my artifact, I developed my own script to be used as a guide for students when approaching the English language. This hopefully will inspire them to write and this leads to the Collaborative exercise. I have noticed over these past two semesters now that the students have a lot of resources for independent writing but we do not have built in class time for collaboration and group writing. This will in turn help them with their final projects to see how to build a scene and have it performed in front of them. With the consent and support of my instructor, I would allow them to perform some of their writing in class to amplify the meaning behind our class's lecture.
Observation
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I sat in to listen and observe Legal Writing (ENGL392) taught by William Schatz, and I was observing Victoria Glover, the UTA of the class. Immediately walking in, I felt the room’s cramped atmosphere which seemed to make the students feel uncomfortable, especially since some had to find chairs with no desks in the back of the room. The instructor arrived first, 5 minutes before the class started and the UTA, a minute after. The professor began to write an entire quote on the chalkboard in the back of the classroom while the students watched. At the start of class, he used the quote to explain that all writing needs revision and with other perspectives, this can be accomplished easier. The UTA and professor did not engage in any dialogue before the class started. The professor began to hover around the classroom, self-analyzing the works he could read and began to give advice to the students. The UTA followed suit and very comfortably, walked around and talked with a majority of the students on their work. She would make sure to note grammar and spelling mistakes first and then move on to structure and formatting pieces she recommended. Out of the 18 students in the class, she walked up to 15 of them individually to answer questions and help revise their drafts. The professor and UTA did provide individual assistance to every student by the end. This peer review went on for the majority of the class, taking up almost 70 minutes of the 75-minute class. Turning my attention to the students, it seemed to me the students were very comfortable sharing each other’s work and receiving constructive feedback. I heard a lot of positive remarks going around from the students around me about how the second draft was much better than the first. The students also were easy going about the professor and the UTA going around and helping and most of them took the advice and agreed it would do better for their statement. Because they had been working on it for a while, most of them were ready to go and focused on the task at hand and there was little preparation to do. It was just, pull out your papers and peer edit. All of the students came in with drafts so it shows they care just as much about the class as the instructor and TA did. It seemed everything that was said by this student I was already seeing before in class because from the moment they began to peer review, Victoria was out of her seat at the front and walked right around with her red pen, ready to correct and revise. She seemed to never sit still and just like the professor, wander and weave through the tiny classroom to look over the students’ work. Overall, the UTA’s effort was clearly displayed by her active role in the classroom, her quick thinking abilities during peer review, and her willingness to help students outside of the classroom. She pairs with the professor nicely as they seem to telepathically communicate and are always on the same wavelength. Great demonstration of quality teaching habits by both sides and I think the students support that by having 100% attendance on that day. Watching someone doing what I do is very fascinating as I immediately begin to compare her actions with those of my own. I would love to mimic her ability to get to every student in one day with all of their questions and at the same time, I see my relationship with my professor is quite different where we talk a lot to each other before and after class. I enjoyed this experience and will try to employ some of my new knowledge into my classroom. |
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Reviewing Lesson Plans of New UTA's
I was given the privilege of looking over two fellow students' lesson plans over the semester. Surprisingly, they had thought about almost every component of teaching when making their lesson plans. They were both for ENGL101 classes and sought to bring the class together in a discussion to review the material. I especially enjoyed reading their assessment and reflection because I could already see how this would play out had it been in my classroom. Their reflections were thorough and strong and it showed off their potential as new incoming TA's. I believe they would make excellent TA's in the future and have great potential for the future. I would recommend for the both of them to look over their timing because as I have experienced, your lesson plans do not work out as planned due to limitations of time and space. They should seek alternative methods to present their ideas in case time runs out.
Final Reflection
Here is the culmination of my year's worth of work. It has graced me with opportunities beyond belief and I say the students are the ones to thank. I will never forget them.
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