11/5/08

So I thought that since I didn't have class today, I should take some time to reflect on how English 1000 is going beyond just the actual class time.

One thing that I have really been thinking a lot about is grading. I have realized that grading is much more complex than I previously thought. Knowing your students well can affect the way that you look at their work....I'm definitely guilty of thinking about what a student wrote and what they're capable of, instead of just looking at the work. Plus I don't really want to fail anyone if I don't have to, so I think I'm too nice quite a bit.

I've also realized taht grading is about way more than giving a grade. It's about finding the best ways to let students know how they're doing and where they need to be headed in order for their work to be acceptable in their college career. I know my first rubric was too broad and my second wasn't tailored enough for my students.

Another thing I realized is that I have been too easy on my students with late work and I think that has affected their process work. I don't think that I am harsh enough and have a good enough policy to keep them on track. I should be more brutal about taking away points and not counting work that wasn't turned in on time. This, however, should have been something that I started at the beginning of the semester. I think the worst part about grading for English 1000 is that the students only pass or fail. In my attempt to start taking away the focus on grades, I think I lost many students because they don't understand the grades they're getting right now nor do they see the importance of making their work better.

One thing that I have realized I am not as prepared to teach is grammar. I wasn't able to take the teaching grammar class and I struggle to find ways to teach grammar mini-lessons that are effective and implement Best Practices. I know that I've seen the importance of teaching grammar, because I am a grammar guru of sorts, but I don't think I passed on to my students just how important grammar is in their work, especially when they are turning in a final draft that needs to be polished and professional. One idea that I've had, thinking about taking English 479, is how important it is for students work to be published. It has made me wonder how I can or the program could foster this more. I love the current project we're working on in which the students write a letter to someone on campus about an issue that they have. I hope that it encourages them to work really hard.

One final thing that I really wish I would have worked on is genre. I've given my students tons of style guides and sample pieces of the genres that we've done and because of their laziness, they haven't read them, nor have they followed them. They just do what they think will pass and leave it at that. I think that I could have worked more on reading to them what they genre sounds like and also reading with them so they can actually hear themselves reading something in the genre that we're working on.

If only laziness weren't such an issue.....