How My Students Helped Me Look For Grammar Clues During The Fall Semester

A rather successful endeavor in the fall semester was looking to add a "look for clues" slide to my grammar slide sets for Composition I. Some of my slide sets had a slide like this already, but others did not so I decided to make it a point of emphasis for the fall semester. With the help of my two sections of Composition I, I was able to add a list of clues for the remaining sets that did not have them. Sometimes this came directly from a student question during group work or discussion and sometimes it came directly from me. I am grateful for my students and their assistance in getting this done.

Engaging Learners In The 21st Century: Service Learning In The Classroom-Integrating Community Service Into Existing Curriculum

My colleagues Erica Franklin and Erika Baldt gave an excellent presentation at Engaging Learners In The 21st Century which rounded out our day at the conference. I took some notes that day, but a lot of this comes from Erica's slide set which she graciously sent me.

• Service learning combines community service with course material and/or interests
• It develops academic skills and a commitment to working with the community
• Service should have correlation to course content, outcomes, etc
• Flexibility
• Hands on experience
• Resume building and networking
• Examples of service learning at BCC include Civility Week, Sleep Out For Homelessness, and efforts after Superstorm Sandy
• Many benefits for an institution including partnerships, resource sharing, public relations, and strengthening alumni ties
• Grammar discussion with middle school
  • Build posters with them about grammar errors in a program
• Teaches graphic design and hireable skills for non teaching English majors

Crowdsourcing My Grammar Exam

A recent  Profhacker  post  about reliance on test banks for exam questions prompted a lot of discussion in the adjunct office at my school. My, rather negative, thoughts on test banks are for another post, but this situation in Florida has made me even more proud of my crowdsourcing effort for the grammar exam in eng101.

Here’s what I do: At the beginning of the semester, I give my students in Composition I (eng101 ) a brief (too brief…it needs to be revised during break to be clearer about my expectations) handout asking them to create a sentence for each of the six sections of grammar we study during the first two months of the semester. Later in the semester, after we finish our final discussion of grammar, students must submit one sentence for each section of grammar. I take those, grade them for participation, and then copy/paste the best, or worst, sentences into each section of the exam. If I run short of good, or bad, sentences, I add them myself or bring back questions from quizzes that a lot of students had trouble with during the semester. This becomes the grammar exam.

My students have found this a very interesting way to engage with grammar. Many express excitement, and will comment as such in the margins, at their sentence, or some version of it, being used on the exam. Others have commented that writing your own questions offers supplemental practice that is absolute necessary for many of them. Some just think it’s cool having agency over what goes into the exam. Finally, I get to see what is, and is not, important to that particular set of students that particular semester.

This kind of participatory education is something I believe very strongly in. I am working on other ways to incorporate my students in the decision-making process in my classroom. I strongly prefer democratic participation over mindless regurgitation of facts and ideas from a textbook.

Summer Courses

This summer, I am teaching two sections of Composition I at Burlington’s campus next to the McGuire Air Force Base. I am enjoying these classes; the smaller groups have been wonderful for teaching Comp I. We can slow down and really deconstruct whatever we are discussing. This has been especially helpful during the grammar portion of the class. Both sets of students have been excellent.

End Of Semester Roundup

Prof Hacker’s end of semester checklist post suggested writing some sort of “End of the Semester Roundup” post so I thought I would write one up. This semester was one of great advancements for me. I taught my first college level courses and had a great time doing so. Originally, my schedule involved teaching two sections of Composition I but during the first week of the semester I ended up adding a section of Composition II as well.

Comp I was a lot of work, but well worth it. I saw a lot of advancement in my student’s work as the semester went on. I also saw a lot if disappointing efforts from others. Teaching writing and grammar also allowed me to sharpen my own skills and talk about some of the adventures I have had over the years as a student and academic. Check out the class weblog for more information.

Composition II was a great joy to teach. I got to teach a lot of my favourite canonical authors like Chopin, Gilman, and Ibsen. An unconscious theme of discussing gender and women’s liberation became a focus of our close readings as the semester advanced through short stories to plays (A Doll House, Othello) and then to poets like Plath and Dickinson. Immediately, a handful of students stood apart from the rest of the class but I also saw many others slowly begin to contribute more and more as they became more comfortable with their own close reading skills. My focus in class was on what my students wanted to discuss. Of course, I would bring lecture notes with ideas I wanted to highlight. However, after our daily, randomly selected, journal readers I would ask the class where they wanted to begin, what they wanted to discuss, and that is where we would start. I could talk for hours about most of the texts we read, but I am more concerned with what my students wish to discuss.

One student in particular started the semester off very slowly only to eventually be the first to raise their hand almost every class. Another only contributed on Fridays, somehow, but always blew our minds with their ideas. Almost every student in class had a day where they stood out and shone brighter than anyone else.

The week of my classroom observation by Dr. Alexander coincided with my favorite week of the semester: the week we discussed (post)modern authors like Borges, Coover, and Auster. I was very impressed with my students and their ability to tackle these difficult texts. I can’t wait to teach 102 again and hope I get a chance to pick up a section in the spring. Check out our course weblog.

This semester I ran our course weblogs on WordPress and am thrilled with the results. I have run WP on a number of websites, including this one, for the past four years and couldn’t be happier with the results. In the spring I think I am going to try the dreaded Blackboard for my classes. As an offsite alternative, I believe I am going to wade my toes into the world of Drupal as well. I am going to spend some time over break considering my options.

I also guest lectured for two classes in Dr. McCadden’s upper level class ENG203 The Origins of Literature. I presented two lectures: “Telemachus & The Search For the Ideal Son in Classical Greek Literature” and “The Odyssey & Nonlinear Reading.”

Another project I am going to finish over break is the long-awaited draft of my article on Shelley Jackson for The Quarterly Conversation. I was supposed to have this completed for the winter issue, but the hectic nature of the fall semester got in the way. Veronica Esposito was gracious enough to give me an extension. I’m hoping to have something to him early in the new year.

I have a handful of journal article proposals that I need to send over break as well. A few of them are spinoff projects from my MA thesis and others are ideas that I have brewed for a period of time. Hopefully some of them will be publishable.

in the spring, currently, I am teaching two sections of Comp I. One is MWF, the other TT. This isn’t the most ideal schedule, but hopefully I will pick another Comp I, a Comp II, or another class. I am very happy to have a few weeks off to get some of my work done and prep for the spring. However, I am also excited to get back to Burlington and begin teaching again.