Last But Certainly Not Least: The FInal Thought

Its the last blog of the year and it is time to reminisce. Over the course of the semester, I have learned so many different valuable points. Topics ranging from how to teach an effective lesson to how to teach a student that does not speak any English. Several points that really stood out to me were the importance of feedback, teaching a foreign student and more than ever preventing plagiarism in the classroom. Preventions of plagiarism are important because it was my research topic in which I focused on all semester. Learning that feedback played an important in students’ writing did not occur to me until there was a video clip played in class about it. This course has helped me to better understand the concept of teaching and how important it is to make connections with the students in the classroom that will last for a lifetime. As a future educator, I will definitely use the tools given to me in this class to use in my classroom. Composition Studies has given me so much knowledge on being an effective teacher. This class, I thought was very important for me, especially since I am so close to actually being in the classroom. My students will greatly appreciate what I will have to give them.

Commenting....

In response to teacher commenting, I have come to realize that some comments are useful and others are not. My fear of commenting is that students will not take me seriously. On a high school level, you have to motivate a students to write the actual paper, so commenting on their papers may not bother them, however for the students who are concern with their writing, the feedback will give them a chance to look over their papers, correct the errors and turn the paper back in for a better grade.
In previous reading journals and blog prompts, I discussed the importance of revision becuase of the research that I dealt with for plagiarism. Giving the student feedback about his or own her work reduces the act of plagiarism and increases the student's chances for recieving better grades. With the expansion of the internet, more and more students are turning in works of others. It is important that the teacher catchs these types errors as they review all of the students work. One thing I will point out in my classroom is the importance of reviewing the feedback presented to the students on his or her papers. It is important for them to understand the comments so that they can have a well-detailed paper.

"The Red Pen"

As a third year student here at USCA, I have written numerous papers as a Secondary Education-English major. Focusing on the proper way of writing and organizing so many different ideas has been a growing phrase for me. For all my papers that I have turned in, I have never received a perfect paper, one without any marks. I have always receive papers asking me to review grammar, integrate quotes, be more detailed, or rely more on self rather than sources. With the many comments that I have receive, it helps me to become a better writer.
I appreciate "the red pen." I have not came across a paper where the comments were not useful, every paper with a comment is useful. It helps me as a writer become a much better writer, because it helps me know what I have to work on. I just recently receive two rough drafts back from two different teachers. Both were English classes that I feel very comfortably in. One of the papers was a good draft and the other however now so good. I worried about this because I did equal work on both, I researched both information directly, inserted the information correctly, and added proper citation. I just came to the solution that every teacher graded differently.
Most comments that I come to appreciate are those that I know I need help on such as grammar. My grammar can get a little mixed up if I am not focusing on what I am doing. I always try to tell my professors to look for this particular element. I think being a "country" girl, effects my language which effects my writing. Besides grammar, focusing on how I use my sources is another comment I appreciate if a professor tells me about. Any comments I most in all appreciate, there are highly any that I come across that are unappreciative. A professor is not there to put you down, but to bring you up and teach you the correct way of writing.

You Don't Speak English???

WIth the increase of Native students, there will be many different languages spoken in the classroom. Honestly, I know that I would not be able to handle a student who is not familiar with the English language because that is initatily my first language and the one that I am learning to teach. I understand that there will be some cases where a student is transferred into the classroom and I will have no choice but to work with he or she, however under those circumstances, as a good teacher, I will attempt to learn that child's language so that he or she and I can work on require assignments for class.
In class, Professor Fornes asked would I grade a student who is not familiar with the English language differnt from one that is, I answered yes, because obivously he or she would not be as ahead as a student who learned English from birth. English is such a hard language to comprehend, grasp and retain especially for a Native student who is use to not worrying about grammar or style. Personally, it would be a difficult task for me to handle, especially if it was my first time dealing with such a case.

Muriel Harris "Composing Behaviors of One-and Multi Draft Writers-

Summary: Revision , Revision and more Revision is the topic of this article. The article points out how revision can improve students writing. The article states, " a belief shared by teachers of writing, one that we fervently to inculcate in our students, is that revision can improve writing" (174) With that thoughts Harris states, "a logical conclusion, then is to train students writers to re-see and the re-draft a piece of discourse" (174).

Response:Revision is very important in the classroom and will definitely be an essential tool in my classroom. If a student is given an assignment, creating a rough draft should be his or her own priority. This gives the teacher a chance to make sure that the student is on the right track and a chance for the student to receive feedback. The article points out a good statements in that "... it is equally important to help students move beyond their limited approaches and limiting tendency to settle for whatever rolls out on paper the first time around" (174). For a student to be able to recognize his or her owns mistake shows progress in their writing.

"Can you help me look over my Paper?"

It is time to revise and I need your help. I go about many ways in revising my paper. First and foremost, I write a rough draft or something that I can at least get some feedback about. I was so excited when I first came to USCA because there of the writing room where I can get more assistance. The writing room is like another teacher to me. This place helps me alot in revising my papers. After writing papers for a while now, sometimes I find myself getting out of context or slacking, so I need that extra feedback so that I can bounce back into the just of things. Revising is so important because it shows the professor how effective my writing is. I have a rough draft that is due tomorrow in my English 288 class that will count for 20% of my class just for being done. Of course I will be focus on making sure that I get it in, however, I am going to be more focus on what she puts on that paper so that the final can be perfect. Revision is very important and should be taken very seriously.

Teaching About Words

Chapter eleven discusses writing in stages towards writing. The first sentence states that "writing, the second stage of composing, requires considerable concentration" (175). Having to teach writing on the secondary level will be quite difficult, especially for those students who are not motivated to write. The chapter suggests several ways to approach a student about writing in the classroom. The chapter also points out parts of speech, active and passive voice, derivational and inflectional affixes, style and suggestions on teaching students about languages. This chapter can be very effective beause it also focuses on grammar.
The chapter points out a good quotation from Donald Murrary, which states "the writer toys with language, knowing that out of his most irresponsible word play may come his most responsible writing" (175). Creative writing has alot to do with this. I want my class to focus on this type of writing, being able to create their own ideas and then be able to realize that they do not need other people's thoughts to make theirs.

It's Time to Revise

Professor Fornes asked the class to create an assignment that will give the teacher knowledge of how the class sits as a whole on writing. I wanted my class to do something easy that did not require to much research but introduce them to the internet and how to use it effectively. The assignment requires the students to develop a memoir. Try to remember a memorable moment in their lives and tell about, then answer the question "Is it important to document past events, why or why not?" This assignment gave the the students an opportunity to reflect on their past and be able to tell about it.
Once they have done this, they will turn the assignment into me for revision, which will be given back to them to look over and turn in again for a final draft. As I was looking back over my assignment I noticed that I had a few erros myself. The below paragraph is an excerpt from my paper:
BEFORE:It is the start of school and it is time to get back into the groove of writing. As a future English teacher, my students will be required to turn in several assignments over the course of the semester. One assignment in particular is a memoir. This assignment will give the students time to reflect on their pass. Giving numerous students exact times when certain parts of the assignment are due, allows the students to gain time management while developing their thoughts for the paper. Many teachers feel that issuing writing assignments will not access students’ writing, while others feel that writing is an essential part of a student’s progress and is an important element for learning the correct way to writing.
AFTER: It is the start of school and it is time to get back into the groove of writing. As a future English teacher, my students will be required to turn in several assignments over the course of the semester. One assignment in particular is a memoir. This assignment will give the students time to reflect on their pass. Giving students exact times when certain parts of the assignment are due, allows the students to gain time management while developing their thoughts for the paper. Many teachers feel that issuing writing assignments will not assess students’ writing, while others feel that writing is an essential part of a student’s progress and is an important element for learning the correct way to writing. It will reinforce writing and also reduce the acts of plagiarism.
So tell me what you think, which sounds better??

"THE THOUGHT OF REVISION"

The thought of revison really scares me. It is nearing towards the end of the semeter and teachers are beginning to return drafts back to students with "the red pen" comments describing what students should do differently so the paper could be better. Some students to not even have to deal with this, because their paper may just need a few words added or taken away. The idea of turning a paper in scares me. I had to turn in a paper for one of my professor with no clue of what he expected. He told the class what he wanted in the paper, how he wanted it set up and the due date. There was no rough draft to be turn in, no annotated bibilography, nor how he was going to grade it, just what he wanted in it. It was stressful because he not know how I orginially wrote made me think that he would not look at the paper with the thought that "this young lady normally has difficult to writing, so let me see what I can help her with now." Revision is so important for me because it lets me know my mistakes and it five me the oppotunity to build off of them.
I know in the previous blog prompt, the class was asked to dicuss the assignment rationale and what would I change about it. After looking over the assignment various times, I actually felt relief because I was able to go in and change the errors that Fornes had pointed out to me.
Revision is very important in writing because students are able to enhance their writing skills

The Research Presentation

After working on this research project for some time now, I have come across several solutions to preventing plagiarism in the classroom. If you read my blog, "plagiarism: is it a victimless crime," you may have notice that I was focused on whether students should be at fault for plagiarizing. With extensive research, I have rephrase my topic and now it deals with Preventions for Plagiarism In the Classroom: who participates in it and why, and what should be done about it. For my presentation, I plan to show a clipping of a student who felt overwhelmed with school, work and his personal life that he did not have time to complete his work for school. This resulted in plagiarism. The clip will be effective because it will demonstrate who participates in it and why.

In class about two weeks ago now, Professor Fornes presented a paper that had several pieces of writing on it. The class was responsible for identifying whether or not the student plagiarize or not. This was an activity that I was interesting in because it definitely related to my topic. I plan to do a similar activity,however ask questions instead of handing out a paper. I know that you have not seen the clip yet, but these are the type of questions that will be asked after showing the clip:
1. If a student came to you with this excuse, how would you react?
2. What type of suggestions would you offer to prevent this from happening.
3. Would your response be different if this was a high school student.
As far as the annotated bib., most of those sources will be included in the final paper. There are six sources that I listed in my bib., however I came across several others that were quite interesting to also use. So give me some feedback, what would you be interesting in looking forward to in my presentation? What do you want to hear about? How can I make sure that this presentation is useful?
Hoping for some good feedback....

Creative Writing

Summary: Chapter Six focuses on teachers and their ability to prepare students for writing using several different concepts. The chapter introduces several main points. Creativity, perception and conception. The chapter further discusses theorist and their thoughts on writing. According to the chapter, "not only does prewriting encourage students to see their subject and envision an audience, percptual problems all writers must solve, it also aids thinking' (93). While much of this is important, the chapter main focus was cognition and what most teachers should know about it. According to the chapter, "we should avoid overgeneralizing what researchers tell us about how people learn and allow for differences among indivduals, research on cognitive development offers useful principles for writing teachers to consider" (106). Writing is essential to each individual student and should be taken very seriously.
Response: Creativity is a good way to get the mind working and to get students engage in their writing. It helps them understand writing a lot more when they are able to insert their own ideas. As a future educator, I hope that by the end of the first four weeks of school, I will know where each of my students stand with writing, so that I can enhance their writing skills more and more each time. Writing can be so difficult for some students. I know this, because it was hard for me and still is at times, especially when I cannot get my thoughts together. Writing is an essential part of today's society and should not be taken lightly.

"I know what I know and I write it" - Octavio Paz

The chapter focuses on teachers and their understanding of cognition. Cognition is defined as knowing (87). The chapter points out two ways of gaining knowledge, one through awareness, seeing or perception, secondly through judgment, think, or conception. The chapter also focused on the creativity students put into their work and how they go about generating their ideas. The question asks how do we think students' work differs from discipline discipline, both formally and a mode of inquiry.
Personally, when writing, it takes a lot for me to get my ideas together, organize them, and them have them making sense of one another. Writing has not been my favorite task, however it has become something that I quite enjoy without the many errors. As for the discipline of the writing, it varies on what you are particularly writing about. If I am writing a paragraph about my dog, surely I would not be so precise as for when I am writing an entire research paper. The research paper would be more developed, and include several important details to explain my thesis.
Typical writings for students may or may not help them. Depending on what a student may be writing about can determine whether or not it will or will not help them. Students need feedback in general to understand if their writing is getting better or not. In other fields, writing can definitely help out, if the student has an understanding of how to write. For example if a student is focusing on a communication project, the way they write has nothing to do with the way they speak about their project. This is the same in mathematics, the way a student print their notes, has nothing to do with the way they solve it. Writing may only be a big thing if the student is focusing on research papers for those particular classes.
Relating back to the chapter about knowledge, students must have some sort of knowledge about their writing. Writing is a process that takes time and effect. I can honestly say that it has been a process for myself.

The Game is On...But There is No One Paying Attention!

Summary: McClure refers to collaborative learning in many ways that other teachers would do so. It is hard to get students to help one another out in group work, because once they are together they are more than likely going to talk about something that does not have anything to do with the topic at hand. McClure mentions teacher who attempt to play that "rough" role to get students to pay attention to what they are doing, but what good would being "tough" or "rough" if the student isn't learning anything. Collaborative learning is not an easy task and many educators can relate to that.

Response: From past experiences to present time, I had to participate in groups that are not as focused as I am about the assignment. Most of the time, the group and I end up discussing several other things that are totally not on topic. As a future educator, I believe that collaborative learning will be one of my more difficult tasks to deal with, especially when working with high school student. There are several technique that would be of good use, I just have to figure out which one would be best.

The Writing Room: "How can I help you improve your paper?"

The Writing is such an essential unit here at USCA. As a Education major with a concentration in English, the writing room has helped me a great deal in developing well-detailed paper. According to Lunsford, who introduces several different writing centers, points out several characteristics of a good writing room. She refers to the writing center as "The Center as Storehouse." Personally, I believe that the writing should be a center where student at any university should go and receive reliable help with their papers. With both the tutors and the teachers working to help each student here at USCA, the writing room should be, according to Lunsford, "a collaboration in learning abstractions, learning higher achievement, problem finding as well as problem solving. The Garrett Writing Center is an example that exemplified our writing room here at USCA, because it had all the characteristics listed above and more.

Peek-a-Boo: I see you looking....!

Response: The Turnitin Debate that I read was quite interesting. The article argued that not all professors agree with the website. Some professors thought that the website was taking away their ability to teach students the correct way of writing and citing information. According to the text, "Turnitin is not designed to replace instruction. As any educator knows,teaching students how to read thoughtfully, write fluently, and cite properly is an inherently complex and difficult task. There is no software,book, or automated process that can ever replace a dedicated teacher." Turninit.com is only a website that will prevent or even allow plagiarism.

Summary: Personally, I think that turnitin.com has its disadvantages and advantages. As a future educator, I will always try to accept outside help that will enhance a student's writing. Preventing plagiarism in the classroom will definitely be one of my goals. As Button stated, "Turnitin was created to help make the internet a safer place for research and collaborative learning. Like other educational tools such as course management systems, films, and even textbooks, its successful application in the classroom is to a great part dependent on the skill and motivation of those educators who use it," and I totally agree wit him.

Oh Man!! "Who has Copied Now?"

Plagiarism had become such a common "technique" that both high school and college students have been participating in. According to my own definition, plagiarism is taking someone else's work and identifying it as your own. Through research, I have come to find that many students do not mean to plagiarize because many of them to not know that they are doing it until a teacher or a fellow classmate points it out to them. In both the high school and college classroom, a teacher should be able to make a distinction between both intentional and unintentional plagiarism. More teachers are moving towards technology to help them guide the way they grade papers. Turn It In. com has become a well-known website that some teachers are using to identify if students have plagiarized or not. In my opinion, this type of detection can be effective for teachers, especially for me as a future educator. Teachers should do their best to teach students the correct way of writing and the proper way to cite, which brings me to my next point. Students should be familiar with the common knowledge, referring to known facts such as when the country was set set free, or who was our first president. In my own definition, students should know the babies. Many would then question, does stating the common knowledge, a way of plagiarism? Well that is when your own answer comes into play...

Does the Audience Matter?

Summary: The article by Lisa Ede and Aundrea Lunsford entitled "Audience Addressed/Audience Invoked: The Role of Audience in Composition Theory and Pedagogy," emphasized on the idea of whether the focus of a student's work should worry about what the readers may think about it. According to the article, the question was "to be for or against an emphasis on audience in composition studies." There were several authors that inserted their thought about what the readers should focus on, especially when dealing with the audience. The article further stated that "Those who envision audience as addressed emphasize the concrete reality of the writer's audience; they also share the assumption that knowledge of this audience's attitudes, beliefs and expectations is not only possible, but essential." This article reflected well-detailed information about the audience and its effect on composition studies.

Response: In my opinion, the audience matters maybe 92% of the time. The author/writer should focus on how the audience will take their writing because if it was something being sold, it must catch the audience's attention in order for it to be purchased. With college papers that are written day in and day out, most professors like students who write about interesting topics, more modern and less drawn out. Whether the audience is young or old, they all matter because their the one who are going to be responding to it. On the other hand, the other 8%, those are the expressive writers, those who write how they feel regardless of who the audience may be. This can sometimes be good, because the students is able to reflect one's feelings without being judged. However, on the hand, it may cause some controversy. The audience plays a big role in composition studies, because the audience is who we are writing for.

Writing Assignment...?

Thinking back to English 101 my freshman year, that class consisted of so many writing assignments. It helped my writing in so many ways because my teacher was behind me guiding me the entire way through all the papers. As a junior now, I am required to turn in a junior writing portfolio that will be judged on how much my writing has developed. When relating to the content, the junior portfolio asks each student to collect several papers that were well written and write about why there were chosen to be apart of the portfolio. As stated earlier, it works as a piece of writing that is judged according to how much my writing has grown in two years. As far as its meaning, the portfolio really is not that meaningful, except if someone fails it. the portfolio must receive a grade of C or better to pass. If not, then the 201 class, Writing to the University is to be taken. Over the two years there are several assignments that professor issue to help students gain writing skills. With these assignments, they can be used to build a very detailed portfolio, with the many papers that are written, it also helps students to gain reading skills because they read their papers to make sure that there are limited grammatical errors and spelling errors. English 101 and 102 are classes that help build more knowledge of the correct way of writing, with this knowledge a well, written portfolio will be produced.

Reading Journal: Designing Writing Courses

Summary: This chapter emphasizes how both the teacher and the studnets analyze writing. According to the text, "no two writing courses are exactly alike...just as writers confront unique possibilities in every act of composing, writing teachers discover with each group of students different ways to engage the process of teaching." The chapter acknowledges general principles of course which were the act of writing, the purposes of writing, the scenes of writing, the teachers of writing, and the mean of wriiting instruction. There were several authors who were pointed out in the chapter that explained their reasons for why writing is the way it is.

Response: I definitely agree with the chapter in that two classes are not alike. There is so much difference when dealing with two classes. As a junior in college, I am currently taking five classes, where any of them have anything to do with one another. They are all similar to one another as far as the standards, but are all based on different sources. Designing a writing course can be quite difficult but with extra help and special attention, it can actually be a rewarding experience.

Plagarism: Is it a Victimless Crime?

After listening to an online radio program last night by Donald McCabe, many ideas arose about why students plagarize. According to McCave, the internet provides such a vast resource that is so easily accessible. He further stated that students feel less guilty about plagarizing because the internet justifies why they do it. There are sources available to them to limit their research. So when would plagarizing be a victimless crime? Citing a sentence is one thing, but cuting and pasting an entire paragraph without citation is another thing.

John Barrie, the creator and CEO of "Turn It In.com" (a plagarism detection software program), noted three ways they identify whether or not a student has been plagarizing. He stated that "there is an entire copy of the internet, more than 6 million pages, connect to his site. Commerical content, news journal and every single student who turns in a paper are also connected to the site. When a student turns in a paper to the website, the computer then goes through those sources to see where the student recieve the information from. The computer highlights the source, which would then tell whether or not the student plagarized. He will definitely be a reliable source that will be used to help me explain my points in my paper and I will cite him...

Michael Williams, who is the director and associate professor of visual communications at Ohio University, stated that the internet make papers simplier for students to research information better. However, he stated that "he issues assignments where students do not necessarily need to use the internet as a reliable source, but rather perform their own work. Relating back the McCabe, who stated that the number one reason why students plagarize is because they did not know what they were doing was wrong.

Honestly, students know what they are doing when they plagarize. I mean come on, how hard is it to cite a source that does not belong to you. McCabe did mention, however, that foreign students may not understand because their teachers do not enforce plagarism, which places them in a great deal of danger when they come to school here in the US. I do not know how writing is operated over there, so with that issue, tutoring would be the best option for them. Plagarism is highly enforced here at USCA. It plays a big part in academic integrity. A student is given three times at the most to plagarize and on the final attempt is dismissed from the university. With this in mind, do you think plagarism is victimless crime, do you think students are becoming more lazy with the internet as a reliable source for information, or do you think students just need to work hard and do it the right way?