Dans la vie, nous apprenons faire bien par les autres, donc que nous pouvons recevoir bon karma en retourner. Nous partageons avec les autres, nous aidons les autres et nous faisons bien par les autres. Cependant, il y a des personnes qui n’est pas d’accord avec cette idée. Par exemple, nos parents nous apprennent l’idée de bon karma quand nous sommes très jeunes. Ils nous apprennent être bonne personnes si nous faisons des bonnes choses. Donc, quand nous sommes très jeunes, nous avons une bonne moralité parce que de cette idée. Mais, beaucoup des gens ne réalisent pas que le monde est difficile et que parfois nous perdons notre moralité. Dans la fable, Le Salaire, par Birago Diop, nous voyons les deux côtés de cette situation. Nous voyons comment certaines personnes toujours font bien par les autres, mais aussi, nous voyons comment certaines personnes peuvent perdre leur moralité et faire des mauvaises choses par autres.

Dans la fable, nous rencontrons cinq personnages. Les deux principaux personnages sont Diassigue-le-Caïman et Goné. Les autres personnages sont Leuk-le-Lièvre, Fass-le-Cheval et Nagg-la-Vache. Les noms décrivent quel type d’animaux chaque des personnages sont, et Goné est un jeune garçon. Dans l’histoire, malheureusement, il y a une sécheresse dans la rivière et Goné aide Diassigue et il met Diassigue dans l’eau donc il peut survivre. Quand Goné lui met dans l’eau, Diassigue essaie à lui manger et dit que “une bonne action se paie par une méchanceté et non par une bonne action.” Depuis Goné lui aidé, il mérite être mangé. Mais, Goné n’est pas d’accord donc ils demandent trois animaux qui passer, Leuk-le-Lièvre, Fass-le-Cheval et Nagg-la-Vache. 

 Ici est où l’histoire est très intéressante. C’est quand nous voyons les deux points de vue différents sur l’idée du prix d’une bonne action. Quand Diassigue demande Fass-le-Cheval et Nagg-la-Vache s’il doit manger l’enfant ou non, ils sont d’accord avec Diassigue. Les deux sont d’accord qu’une bonne action se paie par une méchanceté. Mais, quand Diassigue demande Leuk-le-Lièvre s’il doit manger l’enfant, il répond par faisant Diassigue libérer Goné et dit qu’une bonne action devrait toujours être payée.

Il est intéressant de voir comment Fass-le-Cheval et Nagg-la-Vache répondent à la question de Diassigue depuis ils ne connaissent Diassigue et Goné. Cependant, ça prouver quoi j’ai dit au début. Fass et Nagg sont les exemples parfaits des personnes qui ont les moments difficiles dans le monde et qui ne croient pas dans bon karma, et leur moralité est mauvaise. Par exemple, Fass et Nagg ont fait bonnes actions pour les autres, comme produire du lait et aider leurs maîtres, cependant, quand ils ne pouvaient pas faire ça, ils ont étaient rencontrer avec la méchanceté. Donc, ils croient qu’une bonne action est toujours payée avec méchanceté parce que c’est qu’ils ont étaient donner.

Je pense qu’une partie de quoi Birago Diop essayait dire dans sa fable est que quand vous êtes traité avec la méchanceté dans la vie, vous pouvez devenir ça, ou vous pouvez devenir le contraire. Par exemple, Fass et Nagg avoir l’expérience avec méchanceté, et malheureusement, ils sont devenus la méchanceté et maintenant ils le partagent à les autres. Diassigue a la même situation, aussi. Tous les caïmans sont morts, et c’était la méchanceté qu’il avait, et maintenant, il est devenu ça depuis il a essayé manger Goné pour lui aider. Cependant, il est mauvais à faire ça, et Birago prouve ça à la fin.

À la fin de la fable, Diassigue demande Leuk-le-Lièvre s’il devrait manger Goné. Ensuite, Leuk trompe Diassigue de quitter l’eau avec Goné et dit Goné à prendre Diassigue à sa maison et lui manger. Nous ne connaissons pas l’histoire de Leuk-le-Lièvre, cependant, il est la boussole morale de l’histoire. Je pense que Diop a utilisé Leuk pour guider la moralité des autres personnages dans l’histoire, parce qu’il montre comment il est mauvais pour répandre la méchanceté aux autres. Il montre comment la méchanceté des autres animaux, en particulier Diassigue, est payée avec plus méchanceté, parce que c’est juste. Leuk pense qu’une bonne action devrait être payée avec un bon karma, et c’est pourquoi il aide Goné.

L’argument dans cette histoire est comment une bonne action devrait être payée, et je pense que Diop a essayé à dire à ses lecteurs qu’une bonne action devrait être payée avec une autre bonne action. J’aime beaucoup la façon que la fable c’était écrite, et il signifie beaucoup parce que j’essaie toujours à aider les autres, et parfois je ne reçois pas une bonne action en retourner, mais je ne retourner pas avec méchanceté. C’est une bonne morale à avoir.

Over the course of the past few months, I have found that many of the questions I had about teaching writing have been answered. Although I have learned and discussed various methods about how to teach writing effectively and all the aspects that go with it, I am still curious about a few things. The one question that still sticks out to me is the concept of feedback given within the classroom on student writing. Recently I had a discussion with my peers about how to give feedback to a student to improve their writing. However, I still wonder which type of feedback students respond better to, praise or criticism.

Given the fact that no one truly responds well to criticism, especially students when it comes to their writing, I am sure that many appreciate praise rather than criticism. With that being said, how could I “deliver praise that is effective” instead of “using phrases such as, ‘Great work!’ or ‘Nice job, students!’”

I would like to know how students respond to both types of feedback. For example, if a student hands in an essay that needs improvement, would their writing improve more if you gave them praise, or criticism? Which types of feedback helps them improve more as writers?

I am led to assume that a healthy dosage of both is the way teachers usually go about reviewing student writing. But would it be better to use one method more than the other? I would like to ask teachers about the specific type of feedback they give their students, if they have tried one method more than the other, and which method seemed to result in the best writing from the student.

I would value a teacher’s answers to these questions because then I will be able to better assess the way I teach writing and give feedback on assignments in the future. I want to ensure that I am giving the best possible feedback to help my students achieve greatness without crushing their spirits.

Writing is a powerful tool that as teachers, both future and present, we must learn to encourage. The skill of writing goes unacknowledged and unappreciated as a tool that we can use in all aspects of our lives. As an aspiring English teacher, I hope to demonstrate to all my students how writing is a creative and useful tool that we use and continue to use each and every day, often without even realizing it. As an English teacher, I will have to teach writing. However, I do not wish to be compared to many of the teachers who nowadays have lost sight of their passion for teaching, specifically writing. My philosophy of teaching writing will continuously inspire young minds and demonstrate to the students just how important writing is. It is my belief that writing is one of the most important tools a student can take away from their education. This is because writing is everywhere. Everyone writes in some way, shape or form, practically on a daily basis. Writing is a skill that is absolutely necessary in order to be successful in any field of work, even when writing is not the primary facet of the job. One of the main focuses of my philosophy of teaching writing can be found in Continuing the Journey 2, written by Ken Lindblom and Leila Christenbury. In the text it states that as teachers, “we want to engage our students in powerful, real writing that engages with the world beyond school.”

            In my philosophy of teaching writing, my primary method in teaching writing to students is a Constructivist approach. In this method of teaching the students will be able to fully grasp and develop a better understanding of a topic in depth as opposed to trying to memorize a plethora of information thrown at them. My goal in teaching writing is to serve as a mentor for life-long learning, and to teach for understanding. Too often teachers teach to simply prepare students to pass an exam, which is in no way beneficial to the students in the long-run and in “the world beyond school” as previously quoted. However, a Constructivist approach to teaching writing in the classroom is student-centered, therefore creating a positive environment where the student can thrive, by thinking and creating freely.

            In a student-centered approach to teaching writing, I will simply serve as a facilitator whose objective is to guide and prompt the students in order to fulfill a specific objective that will be reflected in their writing. In doing this, I will be accomplishing what I need to in a way that seems as though I am putting it in the hands of the students to figure out. Through Constructivism, students can form an understanding of a set topic on their own. In other words, by making the topic their own they are able to truly internalize the information and in turn understand the information presented to them on a deeper level.  In order to do this, I will help them to brainstorm given questions or prompts as a class. When beginning a lesson, I can present questions they may have never thought about before. These questions may have to do with ethics, morals, etc, that will eventually lead back to their writing task. I will present these questions as personalized prompts, given the fact that I am familiar with my class. Although I may not give direct answers, I can help carry them along in the conversation. It is important to have conversations and prompts such as this in order to give the students something to think about on a personal level and have something in mind to start with when going to write about said topic of discussion. Through this class conversation we are giving the students ideas to base their writing off of.

For example, if my class was reading Julius Caesar, I would prompt the class by starting off a discussion about their own friendships and if they would sacrifice that friendship for the greater good. Which then leads me to transition the class discussion to the reading. In that example, the students are internalizing the material by putting it into terms they understand, such as comparing Julius’ friendship to their own, and putting themselves in a similar position. These conversations are essential in teaching writing because it gives the students something to think about on that deeper level, instead of just going off the surface level information they collect from skimming the text.

            In addition to class discussions, it is important to incorporate cooperative learning into the teaching of writing as well. Cooperative learning “is the instructional use of small groups so that students work together to maximize their own and each other’s learning.” This will be a more focused discussion between the students and their peers within the class. These group discussions prompt further thinking for a number of reasons. Within the groups, students are able to speak more freely in a relaxed environment of their peers in which they can dive further into what we have previously discussed as a class. Through these conversations, the students are bringing the real world into their writing. The students will internalize and draw on what they have discussed in order to recall all that information in their writing.  Additionally, within these groups the students are able to learn from one another. In this, it is a form of peer review so if there is any misunderstanding, they will most likely correct each other for clarification.

Group discussions among the students and their peers also allows me to asses the students as well as myself. As they have discussions within their groups, I will be monitoring the groups to see if there are any major errors of understanding. This will also serve to self-monitor my teaching so that I can reflect on myself in order to better approach the students. If I see that the students are struggling or misunderstanding a topic, I know I will have adjust and clarify my teaching methods to ensure that the students do not go on to writing with incorrect information. In this, I will once again be guiding them in the right direction, as opposed to telling them what is right or wrong. Discussion between students as well as with the class as a whole help students with the planning stage of the writing process as explained in the video, WWC Recommendation: Teach students to use the writing process for a variety of purposes. Prior to writing, these discussions help the students to “develop goals, generate ideas, gather information and organize their ideas.“

            In order to further facilitate a student’s writing journey, I have a few examples of materials and methods I would use in order to guide them when they actually begin to write. The following examples can be found in Jim Burke’s, The 6 Academic Writing Assignments. I found these examples to be the most beneficial because not only does he prove their effectiveness, but they are also styles of teaching writing that I have experienced personally and felt as though they had a positive impact on my own writing as a student. One of the examples Burke discusses is the importance of journaling within the classroom. Journaling can be a cathartic writing exercise for students, as well as a useful way to help them begin their creative flow into a topic they plan to write about. As I have stated in a previous blog, I think that “the best part about this exercise is how Burke connects their activity to the topic they will be discussing in class.” All of these connections that bring a verbal discussion onto paper are excellent ways to facilitate writing for the students.

            Another aspect of teaching writing to students is how to go about organizing a piece of writing. Many a time students become frustrated and discouraged due to the fact that they do not know where to begin. In teaching writing I would have students use a graphic organizer in order to help them organize their thoughts in a coherent manner. Burke also uses an organizer called the Topic Target which I have described in a previous blog as well. “With this, not only will the students be able to organize their ideas, but they would be able to use this organizer when they start writing, therefore allowing the ideas to flow more easily and create a thorough and organized final product.”

            All in all, I would love to be able to preach a solid, and perfect philosophy on teaching writing, but in all honesty I cannot. Not because I am incapable, but simply because I do not have the experience of teaching writing yet and I can only base my philosophy on what I hope to encounter and execute when I eventually become a teacher. In reality, teaching as a whole is ever changing and my personal philosophy is still developing. The only way I will truly develop a concrete philosophy for teaching writing is through trial and error. But until then, I can continue to gather and retain information and eventually see how that works in my own classroom one day.  

Personally, I have always believed and have now more than ever realized the importance of making a student feel like a real writer. There are five points in particular that I plan to use with my students in the future, and I chose them because I feel that since they have helped me feel better about writing and benefited me in more ways than one, I hope it will do the same for my students one day.  

As a teacher, the first way I would make my students feel like real writers is to be aware of the criticism I give them all personally. We all have received feedback on an essay at some point in time where there is just a short note on your paper from the teacher saying what they did not like, or what you did wrong. That type of criticism is not beneficial to the student and negatively effects a student’s self-esteem as a writer. As a teacher, I would be sure to give positive feedback on each student’s paper alongside constructive criticism. Giving both positive and constructive feedback makes the students feel good about what they have written and shows them everything they did well so that they continue to do those things.

Another idea I would use as a teacher to make my students feel like real writers is offering to publish their work. Whether it be the school newspaper, literary magazine, or an official publishing site, I think having a student see their own work printed in black and white really does wonders to a student’s self-esteem. This will make the student feel like a real writer because of the fact that it was written well enough to be published.

I also think it would be a great idea to write in front of my students. I believe that if I write in front of my students, whether it be editing something or revising a piece of writing, it will teach the students to think like a writer. They could share constructive criticism aloud as a class. According to the article, How to teach students to be real writers – Tips and tools, by Brenda Berg, it further supported this theory in saying that this method “will show them that no one is perfect and it teaches them to think critically.”

Workshops within the classroom are yet another great way to get students to think like real writers. I think it would be effective to have workshops with their peers as well as one on one workshops with the teacher. As the teacher, you know your class best and would be able to pair the less skilled writers with the more advanced students in the class so that they can work and learn from each other. These students will learn to think and talk like real writers because they will see ways in which they can improve by taking advice from one another, as well as learning how to critique each other’s writing in a more constructive manner.

Lastly, I would incorporate weekly vocabulary into my class’s curriculum in order to help them talk like real writers. Often students are not confident because of the vocabulary or lack thereof. This being said, if we were to expand a student’s vocabulary, they would feel more confident in not only their writing, but in discussions in general. The vocabulary could pertain to that week’s lesson plan or a book they are reading. In this the students would have the proper terminology needed to discuss their thoughts like a writer.

All in all, I can definitely see myself implementing these five methods in my classroom in order to help my students feel, think and talk like a real writer, as I feel they are encouraging ways to ensure self-esteem and confidence in the students, which will in turn allow them to become better writers in every aspect.

As an aspiring English Teacher, I was extremely interested in Jim Burke’s many methods of teaching within the first three chapters of his book, The 6 Academic Writing Assignments: Designing the User’s Journey. I felt that these specific examples were beneficial to both the students, and the teacher. Burke calls them Writing To Learn (WTL) assignments. The exercises Burke used include the Digital Daybooks, the Topic Target style organizers, and the Short Answer Assignment style he demonstrated.

Digital Daybooks

The Digital Daybook Burkes discusses in his book, is much like a journaling book that many teachers recently incorporate into their daily classroom activities. The teacher generally assigns a specific WTL task; many of which Burke lists within the text. Some of these assignments include asking the students to “reflect on their progress,… demonstrate their understanding through informational assignments such as exit tickets; or write in their notebooks… [relating] to what we are reading, discussing, or learning.” (Burke 14-15)

One assignment that Burke had his own students do stuck out to me. He brought his students outside to their football field and had each student stand on a yard line according to their age; so basically, everyone was around the 17-18 yard line. He then asked them to write for twenty minutes “about what it feels like to be the age they are.” (Burke 15) Once the time is up, he brings everyone back inside and works off what the students have written to segway into a discussion about Into the Wild, by Jon Krakauer. Additionally, in Figure 1-1a, we see two students on the field; one writing in a notebook and the other on his phone. Burke mentions that the student had forgotten his notebook yet could write the entry on his phone.

I think changing the student’s surroundings is a great idea, especially bringing them outdoors. It helps the students write freely when they are outside compared to a small classroom desk. I also liked how Burke allowed the student to use his phone to write his entry. Many teachers develop such a hatred for technology due to their student’s use of cell phones, which is understandable to some extent. But I would handle the situation like Burke, and allow the student to make good use of his cell phone instead by writing his entry in it. The best part about this exercise is how Burke connects their activity to the topic they will be discussing in class. I think it is very important, if not essential, to be able to relate an activity such as that one to a topic inside of the classroom, which in this case was Into The Wild.

The Topic Target Organizer

This was a WTL form I was not familiar with, but I find it to be useful. When I tutor fellow peers and students, I often find that they do not know how to organize their thoughts in their essays. I think this Topic Target organizer could be useful to many, if not all students. According to the description, it helps “students generate and organize their ideas by writing about them in more structured ways.” (Burke 22) The structure of the organizer is somewhat self-explanatory. The student writes their topic in the middle of the target, which is surrounded by eight categories/ aspects that the student would like to expand upon. Then, for each category they write a description or notes. With this, not only will the students be able to organize their ideas, but they would be able to use this organizer when they start writing, therefore allowing the ideas to flow more easily and create a thorough and organized final product.

Short Answer Assignments

This assignment caught my attention because as a current student I know most people dread short answer responses, so I was curious as to how Burke would go about doing this. Burke uses varying levels when creating short answer questions. The levels are as follows: Before Beginning to Read, On the Surface, Below the Surface, and Above and Beyond the Surface. The levels gradually increase in difficulty and the student must progressively use more critical thinking. This is an incredible strategy that I plan to use to aid me in creating short answer questions for my students in the future.

Overall, I felt that these three WTL assignments would be most beneficial to both myself and my students in the future. The Digital Daybook, the Topic Target organizer, as well and the Short Answer format explained by Burke are all effective methods I could use to organize my future curriculum.

When I hopefully become a teacher, I hope to teach Authentic Writing to my students in an effective way, and to the best of my abilities. This being said, I am still just a student and do not know exactly how to do so. I only have a vague and general knowledge of the subject among the many suggestions thrown my direction as to how to teach Authentic Writing “in the best way”.

            However, as I go through my own teaching journey and educate myself on Authentic Writing and its many variables, I find myself leaning towards a few specific ideas that appeal to me. I found these ideas in the article, Keeping It Real: Valuing Authenticity in the Writing Classroom, written by Anne Elrod Whitney.

               The first idea that caught my attention in the article is when Whitney discusses ways to introduce the value of authenticity with respect to genre.  The author presents a great way to incorporate different types of authentic writing into the classroom through genre. The different types she presents gives students opportunities to be creative as well as expand their horizons in authentic writing. Whitney states, “Students shouldn’t be writing ‘papers.’ They should be writing travel essays, book reviews, advice columns… the layout of bookstores, magazines, and websites.” Personally, I believe that this is a great way to help students understand the genres of authentic writing in a fun way. Many, if not all students tend to hear “paper” and immediately run in the other direction which leads to minimum to no effort at all and a significant lack of interest. In this method, if the students have options and are able to use their creativity, they will be more inclined to do better and put in more effort.

            The second point made that I would like to remember is the example given about how to steer the “process in a more authentic direction.” The author discusses how both you and your students should keep a writing journal, or more of a “process log”. This can be beneficial to both you and your students in the long run. I would prefer to keep a composition notebook for each class I have, so I can keep track of each classes’ progress throughout the year. Additionally, I would have my students keep composition notebooks that they could leave in the classroom. Each day, you and the class would collectively write some notes down. Students would also be able to write down personal goals of theirs, as well as specifics they may struggle with. I thought this was a great idea to keep everyone, including yourself, on the same page as your students so you know what you’ve already done, and how to create your next lesson based off of the feedback you received.

            The last example given that I thought was an excellent idea was discussing rough drafts as a class. In this method, the students will bring their rough draft, edited, and go around to discuss what they may have taken out of their rough draft and why. Through this method I believe that a lot of positive feedback and input from peers as well as the teacher can help the students writing. Also, this is beneficial to students who may be struggling with editing because they will be able to see what was edited out of other students drafts, but more importantly, they will be able to see and listen to the explanation of why it was removed from the draft.

            Overall, I favored these three examples of incorporating authentic writing into the classroom because they reminded me of what I personally experienced when I was learning how to write and how much it helped me and my writing.

Before taking this course, I felt that I generally knew what teaching consisted of and felt that I would know what I was doing in the classroom; I was not worried about it. But, once this course began I learned that there is a lot more to teaching than just standing in front of a class for 40 minutes talking about a specific topic for the day. It takes a lot of planning, coordination and thinking. I have learned that there are so many different aspects to teaching that I never even thought about before, especially the writing part of it. 

Growing up, I always had my mom constantly influencing my writing and literature style and preference due to the fact that she was previously an English teacher herself. She would pass her methods onto me and through tutoring of peers and younger students as a side job, I taught people how to teach in one way or another. Although this may be true, my experience of teaching writing was very limited. There was no real “teaching”, there were more corrections and there was usually a goal of following a very specific rubric. This class has truly shown me how much more there is to teaching writing than what I thought teaching writing consisted of. 

One idea that struck me in class was the discussion on the “correct” way to go about writing an essay. I was always taught that writing an outline was the best way to create and start an effective, well written essay. I have written an outline for just about all, if not all, of the papers I have written in my academic career. I get a pen and paper and start scribbling down ideas, quotes, transitions and so much more. Then once all of my thoughts are organized, I would start typing the paper. This is also how I taught my students to go about writing papers. The students I tutored struggled a lot with writing and how to start writing in addition to expanding upon their writing to reach some kind of word count or page limit. In order to organize their thoughts and have some sort of “game plan” so to speak, I had them write an outline. And for the most part, it worked and positively impacted their writing. Coming to this class has shown me that that is not the only way to create an effective piece of writing, which was a bit of a shock to me and at first I did not really agree with that idea. But I soon realized that in college, there are so many different people with so many different minds and ways of thinking, that no one way is “correct”. It truly depends on what works for that particular student. 

The other point I would like to discuss that impacted my thinking was the part of the text in Chapter 2 where a school board member overheard two students speaking to one another, casually, and he found it atrocious. He then complained to the English teachers about it, questioning what the students were being taught if this was the way they were speaking. I found this part to be absurd. English teachers then agreed that “considering context, audience, and message, the blissfully unaware athletes were doing exactly what their English teachers would have understood: communicating clearly with each other in context, aware of audience and accomplishing a defined purpose.” (19)

As we are preparing ourselves to become future writing teachers, or become better writing teachers, we must learn how to make them not only great writers, but effective ones. This is a complicated task for of a number of different reasons. The first being that we do not know what career path our students will take, and therefore are unable to tailor their writing skills to that particular career path. In turn, although we may think we are doing our best at improving their writing skills, it may not benefit them at all in the future depending on what exactly they will be needing to write within their field.

In the article, “Writing in The Work World”, the author states that “Moving away from test-centered writing to world-centered writing better engages and prepares students for the worlds of college, work, and life.” I could not agree more. I strongly disagree with the way we, as students, are prepared for the world in terms of our writing. Throughout high school I did my best to ensure that my writing progressed in the terms that the school deemed correct. Although I did well, it did not thoroughly prepare me for the real world and especially did not prepare me for the various types of writing I would have to do in college. In high school, we were taught how to write to pass. But in reality, we need to be taught how to write to succeed. In this, I mean that we were always taught how to write in order to pass the tests we were given by teachers and the state, but we were never taught how to write reports, emails, speeches, even checks and letters. How is that possible? I know some of these may seem like a given that one should just know, but it amazes me to see just how many students my age cannot complete these essential tasks. In addition to the traditional teaching methods we use to improve out students writing, we should also teach them how to write more than just what passes in the eyes of standardized testing.  

how these gaps relate or do not relate to your own personal experience:

One of the gaps referred to in the article discussed the “Template Gap” which personally resonated with me more than the other gaps listed. This is because just about everyone who has ever had to write a paper on their own has been taught about the 5 paragraph “template” for our essays, and has continued to keep that idea of a paper in their minds through their college career. As stated in the blog, “Most college-level writing requires much more complex arguments than 5-paragraph writing and thinking.” This statement stood out to me because, as a tutor, I find that some of my peers that I help with writing are so stuck in this 5 paragraph essay format that they have been using their whole lives that they do not know how to write anything more or even expand upon their own papers. I believe that this 5 paragraph ideology puts up a wall in the minds of less skillful writers and sets the standard to do the bare minimum. I do not think this template is very beneficial as it also creates a problem for these students when having to write larger papers, in which they become lost and are once again unsure on how to expand on their writing. College level writing requires much more quantity and quality that cannot be found in this 5 paragraph template.