My thoughts on Elbow...albeit a little late

To begin, I'd like to say that I believe that the "Teacherless Writing Class" is a good idea. I say this, because, if nothing else, it facilitates the sharing of opinions and ideas among a small band of writers, and, I would argue that this process could only be helpful. After all, I don't think any writer can get an honest assessment of their writing until someone else reads it. So, it makes sense that Elbow recommends that 7 to 12 people read it. The more, the merrier.

Here is something interesting that I picked out of the reading: Elbow says, "Whenever people work in only one genre, they gradually become blind to certain excrescences" (79). He makes a good point. I think that good readers are those individuals who possess an ability to negotiate a wide range of texts. The same thing goes for good writers, I would imagine. It seems to me that the more diversified someone can be in respect to their writing abilities, the better the writer they will become.

Something else struck me: Elbow says, "Hearing your own words out loud gives you the vicarious experience of being someone else" (82). This is a unique way to look at this experience; one that I have never considered before. But, I guess he's right, because I often find that while I am writing at home, I routinely speak aloud during the process. This is my way of finding my own voice while I am actively engaged in the writing process. And, more often than not, this technique seems to work -- at least until I make alterations in the next draft.

I like that Elbow stresses not to make apologies for one's writing. In doing this, he seems to be saying that it's okay to produce writing that doesn't always come out the way you planned, or that, once in awhile, it might not even make sense. This things are expected, especially from writers who are new to the process. Moreover, I think that, in saying that it's okay to make mistakes, he tries to lessen some of the impending doom, or fear, that many writers feel toward the writing process itself. Bravo to Elbow for saying this. I get the feeling that he just wants to implore writers to pull up their sleeves and get into the muck and mud of this arduous task known as writing. Sure, it's going to be hard sometimes, but why should that hinder us as writers (I feel like I am spilling my own thoughts out on paper right now; this thoughts really aren't Elbow's, but that's okay).

Anyway, the best thing that writers can do is simply write, and then share their stuff. That seems like the best way to learn -- or, at least, that's what I got after reading the last third of Elbow. Sorry this is late. Enjoy, and thanks.

I apologize for publishing the wrong blog a few weeks ago. I should have checked the schedule.

Jason

Unjournaling

For any writers looking to step out of their comfort zones and really tap into their creative side, Unjournaling is the perfect tool to spark the imagination. The introduction of this text reiterates an important point about the matter of a writer’s attachment to his/her work. Too often we (writers) become possessive and obsessive about our creations; we don’t care to take anyone else’s critiques or suggestions for improving the final product into consideration. We fear criticism and the fact that the words we’ve stressed over in our struggle to convey our particular meanings may be discarded. Unjournaling says that writing doesn’t have to be formal or stuffy and it doesn’t always have to be a matter of personal integrity. Instead the book reminds and encourages us to let loose every once in a while in our writing and to truly enjoy the process of putting our ideas on paper.

Writing can be a pleasurable experience, it can even be silly. Sometimes writers just need to let go of their inhibitions. The exercises presented in the book certainly help to do this and to get the juices flowing in our mind. These drills are tailored to fit the skill levels of middle-schoolers and adults, so anyone who wants to expand his/her creative horizons can take advantage of Thurston and DiPrince’s book. For myself, I liked that these exercises offer instruction and guidance. Sometimes it’s nice being told what to write. When I know that I have a certain task to fulfill, I attack it more readily and immediately begin developing avenues which will lead me to the final goal. These prompts provide some direction (like, write a paragraph about a girl named Dot without using the letters 'i' and 'j'-which to me seems impossible), but that’s it; the author controls the overall development of his/her writing. Some of these prompts are challenging and some appear to be quite ridiculous-but that’s the beauty of each one. In the future, I hope to have the time to use these whacky prompts to improve my own creative writing abilities.

restrictions reveal to us a deeper level of freedom

The thing I like most about this book is the fact that it encourages the writing assignments to be “not personal” and “not introspective.” As I’ve mentioned before, I love personal writing assignments and I do think that a lot of good writing tends to be very personalized. However, this kind of writing also tends to be very limiting. Sometimes students need to think outside of themselves. This book of prompts could help students with just this.

I had a creative writing teacher praise pieces of writing that were “disconnected” from the student. I was always quite baffled by his notion. It went against everything I was taught previously. His explanation was that it shows true creativity to expose a piece of writing that has nothing to do with the writer. He felt that it showed discipline and commitment. I also had a poetry teacher who personally experimented with restrictions within her writing process. This teacher published different books of poems and essays. One book of her poems excluded the letter “e.” She often experimented with no punctuation. Like my other teacher, she sometimes encouraged her students to be “distant” from their pieces of writing. She felt that poetry did not have to be personal, and that some of the best poetry she ever read or wrote was detached from her personal emotions and feelings. I remember her telling my class that sometimes restrictions reveal to us a deeper level of freedom.

I believe that getting students to write outside of themselves is a challenging task. I struggle with this. Even within these blogs, all we ever do is talk about ourselves and our past experiences. “I had a bad experience in my 10th grade English class.” “I always liked to write poetry because it was such a personal experience.” “I think this assignment is stupid and I will never teach it in my classroom!” Even though I would not use all of the writing prompts within the book, I feel that there are some “awesome” ones (as Kaitlyn’s mommy would say). These non personal topics help students to write to a specific audience and create characters that have nothing to do with themselves. Students are going to face assignments that do not revolve around their personal feelings or experiences. Many struggle with research papers and analytical essays because of these issues. These prompts provide practice for students to write about something that is unusual to them. Hopefully, it could also be a fun experience. Maybe it can reveal to students that writing is not as restricting as they thought it to be.

Rachael brings up a great point in her blog. It might be disconcerting to students for a teacher to present writing as being restricting. I agree with her that writing is ultimately not restricting. Yet, not all students feel this way. I feel that by exaggerating restrictions, some writers will be surprised to find freedom, and might even realize that writing is not as restricting as they thought. This could build confidence.

Overall, I love being challenged by a creative prompt. Sometimes I am surprised by what my mind and hand can come up with. Two of my favorites from the book were “What would blue taste like if you could chew it” or “What if the sky were not blue but red.” These prompts could be a great way to introduce sensory/figurative language and images to a classroom. I do believe that some of these prompts are a bit childish and silly. Yet, isn’t that the point of this book? I think this book could be used for elementary school kids up through college level students. The main point of this book for me is that our writing should not be limited by limitations. Our creativity should surpass that of an initial prompt. Something phenomenal can surface from a pointless prompt. Writing does not have to be personal! Sometimes real freedom can be found within restrictions.

unjournaling

I thought the unjournaling exercises were great! It is a fun way to get you thinking about writing. There were so many prompt choices. I liked prompt number 162. It asked you to write a short story using the letters of the alphabet in order to start each sentence. It really made you think about what words you could use to start each sentence. I thought it would be hard to come up with words that start with v, x, and z. If I couldn’t think of something, I usually just used a person’s name. To my surprise, my story actually made sense.

I also wrote about someone being bored. This was prompt number 12. There were certain words that were not allowed to be used. After I was done writing, I looked in the back of the book to see the example for the prompts. The example in the back of the book was very similar to my description of someone being bored. I am not sure I like that there are examples in the back. I know they said the examples were there so we knew that each exercise was possible to complete, but I don’t think they were necessary.

Some of the prompts given might be good topics for free writing exercises. Other topics wouldn’t work so well. For example, the prompts that I wrote about might become difficult to keep writing. I had to stop and think about what word I was going to use to start the sentence. Free writing is all about not stopping. The first topic I wrote about would work for free writing. There were a few words that were not allowed to be used, but that didn’t stop me from free writing.

Unjournaling is probably appealing to most kids. I think it would make kids excited about writing. I don’t remember doing silly writing exercises in school. It would have made writing much more interesting if we would have had them. Writing should be fun. It shouldn’t be something that everyone dreads. These exercises show that writing isn’t always boring and tedious.

Great ideas

I did the same thing that Jen did, read this book out loud to my family. I as well as my children liked that idea of a book like this and I will surely use it within the classroom. I found so many prompts to be fun, but also could see the benefits of using them within the classroom setting.

I was unsure at first how I felt about the answer key or idea key in the back, but as I read the prompts and then the ideas in the back I could see how they would help in a younger classroom situation for starting the ideas flowing. I don't think in an older classroom setting I would use the hints at the back of the book.

I found it very hard to narrow down the ones that I liked better then others because they all were pretty good. I had to sit down and really look at them and actually tried to write a few of them before I determined what ones I like more. I found the ones that I like the most were the ones where you had to use your emotions to write, like in # 145 "What would blue taste like if you could chew it?" (45) I also like # 44 "In one sentence communicate fear" (18).

I think that both of these really made you think and compose your thoughts and emotions to put down on the paper. I will certainly hold onto this book as I think that it is a valuable tool to have as a teacher. This is one of those many things that a teacher can carry in their bag of tricks!

Thinking outside of the box and outside of the book

I LOVED this book! I think that a lot of student writing either has writing from a personal nature or writing that often doesn’t connect with a student. While the prompts in this book are often disconnected from students in terms of subject, they allow a more creative side to come out-- or at least a more relaxed side.

I read this book out loud in front of my family, while we were in the midst of finishing dinner, doing dishes, getting ready to go to a Girl Scout meeting, and preparing to pack for a business trip. Some of them intrigued us; others felt a bit more perplexing. But, I noticed that my 9-year-old daughter, who doesn’t always enjoy writing, was becoming more interested in each prompt. Perhaps I will use them with her already, and I am seriously considering using some with my Girl Scouts, connecting them to a writing badge we are working on.

I enjoyed the prompts that involved thinking more creatively about something that is common or ordinary. For example, Prompt 8,”How many ways can you say No? Write ten sentences that say no in various ways, but without using the word no.” Right away, I thought of five ways, and my daughter said, “Ooooh, Does that mean we could use how you always say ‘not right now’? Two little sentences got her thinking. Yea!! She’s thinking outside of the box.

My kindergartener liked the prompts relating to rhyming (ex. 3, 60,62). She even likes to make up words to add to the list. I notice that doing things like this spark her imagination or spark a conversation about a topic we wouldn’t normally talk about. (Why do bees live in trees?) (Why do we have geese, but not meese?)

I personally like the prompts that can have any answer possible, such as number 145: “What would blue taste like if you could chew it?” This could have any answer possible. I would hope that some students would think outside of the ordinary, and not pick things like blueberries, raspberries, etc. When I said that I thought blue would taste like creamy chocolate and cherries, my daughters stared at me. They first told me I was wrong, and when I asked how they knew I was wrong, they couldn’t answer. It let them know that there are not always right and wrong answers to every question.

There were a few prompts that I thought I would get frustrated doing myself. The first was to “write a paragraph consisting of only six-letter words” (#159). I would really have to think about all of the words I know, and I think I could find myself getting frustrated with that one. The other prompt that I was trying to write in my head over the last few days was #46 :”Write a sentence in which the first word is one letter long, the second word is two letters long, the third word is three letters long, etc.” So far I got to I am two days older.

Overall I think this book has great ideas to use to get students out of the writing doldrums. Some make little sense, but get thoughts from anywhere put on paper. Others make you think, but to have fun doing it. I can’t wait to try these out on my own kids, my Girl Scout troop, and my eventual class.

Note: Another good place to find some thinking/writing prompts is Highlights magazine. They have the “Brain Play” section that can get the wheels turning.

I really had fun with the Unjournaling book. I love the idea behind it.

Unjournaling would be a great book to use in a classroom. There are so many fun, interesting prompts. I think this book could get kids excited about writing and hopefully make them want to write on a regular basis. Hopefully the prompts could help students who struggle with writing. Not every student is a creative writer and not every student wants to write about personal things. This book can help with that.

I picked some of the prompts and tried writing myself and had a blast. Some of them were a little more out there than others. (Those were the ones I liked the best!). I really liked prompts like number 7, “Write a paragraph that includes twenty words with double vowels.” I like brainteasers like that, even though I’m not very good at them! Almost all the prompts will allow students to express their own creativity. The responses to a prompt like number 71, “Update the story of Cinderella” would probably be entertaining to read.

I’m not sure I like the idea of an answer key at the back of the book. The prompts are so varied that if a student gets stuck on one, there’s probably another one in the book they would have an easier time with. If I use the book in my classroom, I would let the students write using the prompts they want to.

Ways to use Unjournaling

I am very happy to have a book full of writing prompts like Unjournaling. As a fairly new writer, I will use this book myself because I agree with the authors that, “when students write frequently and about many different topics, they become more comfortable with writing.”

That has been the case for me. In addition to all the writing I do for school, I’ve mentioned before that writing a weekly blog about my son’s football games has helped me become more at ease with writing. However, I still freeze up and find it hard to write sometimes because I have to generate new ideas to write about each week. After all, there are only so many things to say about the x’s and o’s of a football game.

When I get really stuck for something to write, I have found my own prompts from reading what other people write about the game. I don’t write the same thing, but usually something that I read will click the light on in my head and I will come up with a fairly decent topic to write about.

That is what I liked about the prompts in this book and the answer key. The prompts were specific enough to help the writer get started, but they were general enough to allow the writer to be as creative as they can be. The answer key in the back of this book is like the sports pages I read. They unlock the door to my mind and let the ideas flow out.

I do agree with Rachael that some of these prompts seem pointless and also difficult. Number 86 for example says, “Write a three-sentence paragraph using only the first half of the alphabet, letters a-l. (You may not use t, m, s or any other letter that appears past l in the alphabet.) First of all, I would never choose this prompt because it would take me all day to come up with sentences that have only the first half of the alphabet in them. Prompts like this one seem more like busy work than something actually beneficial.

There were many prompts that could not only be used as a writing prompt, but also as an opportunity to teach a real life lesson. For example, number 122 prompts the writer to, “write a convincing ad but don’t spend over $200.00”. In real life if you have ever placed an ad in the newspaper, you know they are expensive and it can be difficult to word your ad well enough to get your point across without over spending your budget. This prompt would be a great opportunity for students to learn how to effectively write an ad.

Other prompts would be opportunities for teachers to talk about specific topics related to writing. Number 84 would make a good lesson about using analogies in writing to make it more interesting and clear. Number 104 would be a lesson on how to tighten up writing by getting rid of words that are not necessary to the main focus of the piece. Other prompts could lead to lessons about prepositions, euphemisms, allegories, and ideas like show don’t tell.

As a teacher and as an individual I can see the benefits of using this book to help writers become more relaxed and comfortable with writing. I also think there is value to this book as a teaching tool in the classroom. For the individual outside the classroom, this book provides a fun way to stay motivated to write frequently.

Mixed feelings

To begin, I'd like to say that I have mixed feelings about Unjournaling, specifically as it relates to getting writers of various abilities involved in the writing process. For struggling writers, I think it can be good, because it seems to minimize some of the impending pressure or frustration that they might feel when it comes to searching out a topic. But, for writers who enjoy the writing process -- and I am one of these -- I feel that it can also be somewhat limiting, because it places parameters on the writing process. I dealt with those when I worked for the newspaper, and I can honestly say that all that constraint eventually killed my motivation to write. It's only been since I returned to school that much of that creativity and passion has been reawakened (is that a word?). Anyway, I guess you guys get the idea that I am driving at.

Also, I find myself wondering when these prompts should be used. Possibly everyday? Or, maybe once in awhile? I don't know. What I can say is that I found the funnier ones to be the best, but maybe that's just because I generally enjoy humor, and I often try to infuse it into my writing. I like the fact that the prompts deal with commonalities, but again, I worry that some writers might be turned off by this approach because it places limitations of them. Although, I do feel that good, solid writers will find a way to make the writing their own -- to make it personal in whatever way -- regardless of this fact.

I would like to use some of this stuff in my own classroom next year (again, assuming that I can dupe some unknowing school district into adding me onto their payroll). I think that kids might like this stuff, mostly because it doesn't require them to come up with their own ideas. And, it can be fun.

Also, I do recommend that we, as teachers, write along with our students as they do their work. Later, in class, you might notice that I am writing along with you all during our group presentation.

So get your pencils sharpened, your thinking-caps on, and be ready to write when you step into the classroom later today. If you will, help me to prove that writing can, in fact, be fun, despite some of the limitations that the use of the Unjournaling method can, potentially, place on a seasoned writer. See you then.

Unjournaling the Journal

Earlier this year, many of us had to complete a writing portfolio as a requirement for the Secondary Ed. Program. I was one of the seemingly few who did not choose the research topic of whether or not grammar should be taught in the higher grades, and instead chose the topic of whether or not students should be allowed to choose their own writing topics. The position I took in my paper was that I thought students should be given the opportunity to choose what they write about simply because the assignment would be more meaningful to them. The problem we face in this situation is that the student, in all likelihood, would share personal details about themselves. If the student shares too much information, especially if the topic is a sensitive one, it could place the teacher in the difficult dilemma of what to do with that information. As I did my research, one of the questions that came up for me was, what about the student who doesn’t want to share personal information about themselves, or who just really can’t come up with a good topic on their own? It was in trying to answer these questions when I came across this book.
Now, I really do like this book, at least, the concept of this book. A book filled with nothing but writing prompts is a tool that I think will be invaluable in the classroom. I like the idea of having “safe” (non-personal) prompts to give students, because not all of them will want to divulge that kind of information, especially if the teacher is one who likes to have students read their writing aloud in class. So, as I said, I do like the concept of this book. One problem I have with it is just how juvenile some of the prompts seem to be. According to the authors, these prompts are suitable for both kids and adults but I’m not so sure. Take prompt #7 for example; it asks the student to write a paragraph that contains 20 words with double vowels. Now, this might fly in an 8th grade classroom, but if you tried to have an 11th or 12th grade class do the same assignment you’re going to have a group of bored teenagers rolling their eyes at you! Another problem I found is that some of the prompts are actually rather difficult. Prompt # 86 asks students to write a 3 sentence paragraph using only letters from the first half of the alphabet. Yes, this is trying to get students to be creative in their word choices, but if you have struggling writers in the class, this assignment is going to be nearly impossible to complete.
Having said that, I did find some great prompts that I’m sure I will use in my classroom. Prompt #170, for example, asks the student to write a message for the answering machine of Carlos the poet. This is a fun creative way to introduce a poetry unit to your class. So, yes, I do think I will use this book in my classroom; however, I will also be picking the prompts I use carefully, according to the grade level I’m teaching.

Uncreative Cop-Out.

Firstly, I don’t feel that a lot of creativity was put into these prompts. In reality, there are only 195 topics, seeing as how some prompts are just continuations of the one before it. Hello, DiPrince and Thurston, that’s cheating.

But seriously, some of these exercises are just dull. Unjournaling claims to be challenging, but the prompts that could be labeled as such are just plain irrelevant, annoying and pointless. For example, we are encouraged to “write a three-sentence paragraph about a dog, using no letters of the alphabet that appear before ‘m’” (16). Hm. Are all of these letters disappearing from the English alphabet sometime soon? If I were stranded on a deserted island, I wouldn’t even resort to doing this activity. I understand that the point is to strengthen our vocabulary and thinking skills, but come on. There are better ways of doing this. I saw exercises such as these as colossal brain cell wasters.

I blame my high expectations- I was imagining something of depth and imagination. The prompts within are something for elementary students, such as, “Yankee Doodle went to town, A-riding on a pony. Stuck a feather in his cap and called it ‘macaroni.’ Why on earth would Yankee Doodle call his feather ‘macaroni’? Write a plausible explanation” (17). Sigh. Do I care? I could just explain my theory on the whole matter aloud. This isn’t writing. It’s just stupidity or general ramblings put on the page. It doesn’t encourage me to pick up a pen and start going.

However, I could see struggling writers benefiting from the material DiPrince and Thurston present. Unjournaling focuses on creating characters, and writing to an audience, along with training writers to show and not tell. I can see teachers being able to easily adapt this book to the classroom. Perhaps students who aren’t critical will enjoy it, but in all honesty, if I were given some of these prompts in even middle school, I wouldn’t have done them. To me, there is nothing fun or appealing about writing conundrums in which I am not permitted to use certain letters. Writing is anything but restrictive, and I don’t feel it should be presented as such.

Loosen up

This book is why I love writing. Unjournaling is a friendly reminder that writing is fun and that anyone can do it. A student does not have to be a strong writer to creatively respond to the majority of these prompts, but they do have to think outside the box. Using intriguing prompts would be a helpful approach to provide writers’ with more confidence and to serve as a distraction to major stressors in life. Also, this would be a pleasant reminder to high school students that writing can be silly, especially after they write a difficult research paper. For me, this is a great way to unwind after reading Williams, and I have a feeling it was placed intentionally after a more challenging selection.

According to Diprince and Thurston, “Writing can be an intimidating process for many people, no matter what their age” (5). Writing can definitely be daunting for individuals of all ages and all ability levels. Even if a student is a remarkable writer, that does not mean he or she is aware of the fact. I truly believe most students simply lack confidence when it comes to their writing, which is why Unjournaling is a necessary tool to help writers loosen up.

As a future teacher, I will definitely use this book. I think some of these prompts can segue into a lesson. For example #84 would be an excellent introduction into similes, metaphors, and other types of figurative language. I want to try this activity myself, so I’m sure my students would enjoy it, as well. Who wouldn’t want to compare a person to food? The whole idea simply makes me laugh. Also, #120 would be an effective way to begin to teach writers how to show, rather than tell. It is much more difficult to show that a rooms smells, than it is to say that a room smells bad. This would even be a creative way to start a poetry unit. Clearly, the prompts in this book would help liven up classrooms and stimulate creativity.

This book really gets me excited to teach writing! I would actually write my own prompt while the students are writing theirs. I especially want to try prompt #136. Writing a letter to an animal would be so cool! Plus, if the teacher is having fun, then nine out of ten times the students are having positive experience. Overall, I think Unjournaling is a phenomenal resource, and I’m truly eager to use it with my students.

Unjournaling

I wasn’t sure what to expect out of this book. I was like, “Unjournaling? What in the world could that be?” I was surprised that it was a book full of writing prompts, and I loved it. There are many students and people of all ages who do not like writing, but I think anyone would enjoy responding to a lot of these prompts. The introduction states, “When students write frequently, and about many different topics, they become more comfortable with writing.” I would definitely agree with that statement. When I was given the opportunity to free write in school, I did become more comfortable with my writing because I was able to be creative. The teacher in high school that gave her students the opportunity to free write at the beginning of class always chose personal prompts, and she would collect the journals after a certain number of entries and actually give the journal a grade. Although it was considered “free writing,” it still made students feel uncomfortable because they knew their journals would be read and graded. Although I appreciated the teacher’s efforts in implementing free writing, I wouldn’t necessarily take her approach in my own classroom. I wasn’t sure how I would implement free writing until reading “Unjournaling.” Like the teacher in high school, I thought of starting every class giving the students an opportunity to free write. I knew I didn’t want to give prompts to the students that were personal, but I couldn’t really think of any prompts that weren’t personal. I don’t have to worry about that now since I have this book, and I definitely plan on using it in my classroom. It gives students the opportunity to write about many different topics, and I would only have them share their responses to their peers and me if they wanted to. I don’t agree with grading free writing either. I especially liked the prompts in “Unjournaling” that could go along with certain lessons such as prepositions, adjectives, descriptive verbs, alliteration, and hyperbole. For example, the prompt about descriptive verbs is #48—“King Kong stomped along the street. He crushed cars with his toes. He ripped people from their cars. In five sentences, what else did he do? Use descriptive verbs.” This type of prompt would be a great activity included with lessons on the aforementioned. In addition, I also liked the prompts where you have to create a character in your mind and describe it, like a super hero (#149) or a fairy godmother (#82)…dictionary diving (#189) sounds fun, too! So, most of the prompts would be helpful AND fun to students.

When I bought my book home from the bookstore, I opened it up and read some of the exercises. I have taken a few creative writing classes and I always like seeing new ways to get people loosened up and writing freely. Sometimes I know exactly what I want to write about when I have an assigned topic or paper due, but sometimes I need some inspiration to get me going. I think that by doing these prompts, creativity can be encouraged and given an outlet. It also would have guidelines to follow which could increase comfort and confidence with writing.
I know that students don't seem to be very eager writers these days. These prompts can break them out of their shell and let them have some fun and be silly with writing. I would like to give them prompts to write about on a regular basis. I think that by doing these prompts the students would become more comfortable with writing and it would let them practice doing it in a creative way. It would still be an assignment, but it would have more freedom than most school writing assignments. A lot of the prompts really make students think about what words they should include in thier writing or how to develop ideas. This could encourage them to focus on their word choice when they write for other assignments.
I like the idea that the prompts are impersonal also. Many writers do not like to share their work because it is too personal. They feel too exposed and vulnerable about it and would rather keep it private. These writing prompts should lesson the anxiety for these students. The prompts are mostly silly and none of them ask for personal revelations or reactions. They all ask for creativity in writing the prompt, but the topics are general and impersonal. Anyone could write on these prompts whether it is students or adults. The topics are basic and easy to understand for everyone.
Some of the prompts may not appeal to everyone though, so I would probably give students the option to write about 2 or 3 so that they could choose one that works for them. I woudn't want the students to become discouraged and frustrated if they couldn't think of a response to one of the prompts. (The idea of unjournaling is to take away this kind of pressure.) The key in the back would be good to present to students who are struggling, but I would discourage students from using it because it could influence their own ideas or possibly stifle their own writing by limiting thier ideas.
Maybe when I introduce the topic of unjournaling I woud let them hear an example response first if they seemed confused. It also might help to show them a model of it so that they understand that they can be more creative and free. I know sometimes students can be uncomfortable with an unfamiliar assignment and they might not be prepared to be "silly" in school with their writing. Reading a few samples might help put them at ease and start their creative juices flowing. I would have them write about different prompts than the ones that were modeled, but I would try to pick ones that resembled each other in their focus. Hopefully, after doing it once or twice, the students would be comfortable with the idea and doing them independently.

Unjournaling

When I visited the bookstore way back at the beginning of the semester, one book really caught my eye, “Unjournaling.” When I got home I immediately flipped through the book, skimming through the crazy exercises. I am ecstatic that I am finally going to get to touch on some of this silliness.

There are times when I want to write deep, introspective pieces. Writing is so often a release for me but I know that this isn’t the case for everyone. Some writers really don’t want to let readers into their heads. I think that these prompts would be great ways to allow writers more diverse options for writing. I know that when I was in school I would have been thrilled to be doing exercises such as the ones in this book. They really could get students excited about writing.

I had mixed feelings about the answer key in the back. I think it could be helpful, as the book says, for those writers who are struggling with one particular exercise and just want to see how it is done. I know I personally wouldn’t want to read it before attempting an exercise because it would interfere with my creativity. My group and I have discussed how we don’t like reading the blog entries until after we have written our own. I guess it is the same concept. If you read what someone else wrote, sometimes you can’t help but base your ideas on theirs.

I am excited for tomorrow!

What fun!

Like JamieMarie, I would definitely want to use this in a classroom. In fact, I think these exercises would be a great icebreaker for the first week of class -- and a great way to show students that writing can actually be fun. For many students, writing is anything but fun because they associate it with laborious research papers or personal journals that force them to reveal more about themselves than they feel comfortable doing. "Unjournaling" would give students an unusual chance to be as silly as they want. And I would hope that producing a funny piece of writing would help build students' confidence and break down some of their inhibitions.

I was amazed at the variety of the exercises. If I were a teacher, I would give students several choices of assignments -- because some of the exercises left me cold, some I couldn't wait to do and some I have actually done on my own over the years because I am a mildly creative person.

For example, my son and I spent several days doing a version of #154 -- thinking of ingruous combos of people and making them interact -- like a bratty neighbor kid and Albert Einstein. I also sometimes write song parodies when the mood hits me, and that's #185. However, I wouldn't have any ideas for creating my own fairy godmother (#82), but presumably there must be some people out there who would.

The exercises I'm most eager to try are #34 and #179. The Number 34 is an ad that tells the absolute truth about a product. Having spent several years writing ad copy that extoled the often nonexistent virtues of obscure, worthless or boring products, #34 would be a great non-violent way for me to release anger. To be fair, though, real-life ad writers are often legally compelled to do "disclosure" -- the way drug ads have to reveal all the possible disgusting and dangerous side effects.

#179 asks you to describe a stereotypical character doing stereotypical things -- and then change one sentence so you show that character doing something weird or unexpected. I immediately thought of my middled-aged, across-the-street neighbor whom I've talked to exactly once in six years. He's a handsome, clean-cut fellow with a good corporate job who's always out taking wonderful care of his yard. But he has a very punky looking 20-something daughter. She seems to have several even more punky-looking boyfriends, and they're constantly hanging out in the garage with the door half pulled down, so we wonder if they have a drug or murder ring.

Unwinding with Unjournaling

From the moment I read the introduction, I realized that unjournaling will be a huge asset for my classroom. Everything we’ve been learning this semester from Elbow, and yes, I’ll even throw Williams in there, has opened my eyes to a different world of teaching English. Now, I have fond memories of my English classroom experiences, but I have to admit that not many of them include writing beyond that of formal papers and answering questions related to literature we had read. I never had a journal in school. There was never time for “freewriting.” The concept of doing these activities in my own classroom hadn’t really entered my mind.

But the discussions and activities I have completed in this class and others have introduced me to the wonderful opportunity of allowing students to “just write.” If these activities can help them relax in their writing as much as testing them out has helped me relax when I’m doing my own writing then I think that this approach will really have an impact on some students. As the first sentence in the introduction of unjournaling states, “Writing can be an intimidating process for many people.” To correspond with this, I like how the cover art depicts all different kinds of “characters.” To me, it is representative of the fact that any person out there may have a writer inside of them that they simply have not discovered yet.

I tried out some of the activities in this book for myself and found them to be challenging, but the challenge wasn’t so much of a frustration as a fun challenge. I knew that there was no pressure or “failure” involved if I couldn’t really complete the activity as desired, but if I did and produced something unexpected, it really brought a smile to my face.

I am very excited to use this book in my classroom, and I like the idea of using it in that “no pressure” scenario. I think these activities would make a great prompt for journal entries in cases where students were struggling with having nothing to write. I think they would make great Monday brainteasers, a little kick off to the new week where students could ease themselves back into the academic world. I can also see many of them working as great supplements to teaching lessons about style, usage, etc. Of course, I don’t plan to rely entirely on this book for unique activities. I’d like to think I still have some creativity in my own system. But I do think it will be a wonderful tool.

Does anyone else intend on using this in a classroom? How so? And what do you think of the “sample answers” in the back and the introduction’s reason for their inclusion? Do you agree with it?

#107. Never...

...say writing isn't fun!

“Unjournaling” is a really creative and entertaining book, I enjoyed it a lot. I would definitely use this in my classroom because it allows for students to be creative with their writing (and their imagination as well). It’s something different than the standard writing prompts most students do today, it’s unique and it’s FUN. I believe this is something students will enjoy and actually allow them to enjoy writing as well. Also, as a teacher, it will be fun reading the prompts students write – reading research papers I’m sure gets boring after awhile.

It was difficult for me to pick two prompts for my blog because they all seemed fun. However, I came to a conclusion and chose #59 and #44. So, enjoy!

#59: People often say, “If we can send a man to the mood, surely we can figure out how to…” Complete the sentence five different ways.

1. If we can send a man to the moon, surely we can figure out how to… make flying cars.
2. If we can send a man to the moon, surely we can figure out how to…create underwater cities.
3. If we can send a man to the moon, surely we can figure out how to…cure the common cold.
4. If we can send a man to the moon, surely we can figure out how to…create robots like Rosie from the Jetsons.
5. If we can send a man to the moon, surely we can figure out how to…make full meals in pill form.


#44: In one sentence, communicate “fear.”

As I froze in the piercing cold hallway, my heart sank into the pit of my stomach and I could feel the presence of the unknown creature standing close behind me, glaring with its black eyes and maliciously humming the tunes of death.

Debates Continue

The debates continue. In his book, Preparing to Teach Writing, Williams presents us with a lot of information about the strength and weakness of everything dealing with how to teach writing. He first informs us of the many controversies about which rhetorical theory is the most effective approach to teach writing. From there he discusses what the best practices are to use to foster better writing. Next, he deliberates the phonics-whole-language debate and how this is important with respect to writing. Then he stirs up controversy about why teaching grammar does not lead to improved writing. Finally he provides us with the debate over whether holistic scoring or portfolio grading is the most effective way to assess and evaluate writing. After analyzing all this, I appreciate that Williams has equipped future teachers with all the different methods for teaching, assessing and evaluating writing but hopefully it will be easier to incorporate some of this into practice than it is to read about it.

I have always thought that holistic approaches to most things work better than one approach. In the medical field for example, most doctors treat their patient’s illnesses with medicine or surgery. They often don’t see the patient as a whole person they just see illness and treat its symptoms. Holistic medicine emphasizes the need to look at the whole person including analysis of physical, nutritional, environmental, emotional, social, spiritual, and lifestyle values. In medicine by looking at all the parts that make up the whole person a more effective treatment can be implemented to enhance the patients recovery. This makes sense to me in assessing and evaluating writing. Writing should be examined as a whole and not broken into parts where it gets measured as a set of subskills rather than as “a unit of expression”(318).

The most important aspect of holistic medicine is that it focuses on education and responsibility for personal efforts to achieve balance and well - being. This statement sounded like what Williams was saying about using holistic scoring in the classroom. It provides a way for students to gain an increased sense of control over their own writing by taking part in assessing it (318). However, training students to evaluate each other’s writing is a bit risky for the various reasons mentioned i.e. that students aren’t as mature or experienced as teachers (329). Even in grad school I have had a hard time evaluating the writing of my peers due to my lack of knowledge and experience doing it.

I do like the idea of scoring with some kind of rubric because I think this allows the student to know how close they came to the goals of the writing assignment, and it provides those assessing and evaluating the work (students or teachers) to know what they should be looking for in the writing that they are evaluating. This helps both the writer and evaluator to be thinking along the same lines. Setting up the rubrics and teaching students what good writing is are the problems as well as the amount of time needed to do this properly.

The holistic approach is time consuming for the teacher at the beginning when all the ‘socialization’ is occurring but according to Williams, it is critical for the entire procedure to be successful (320). So while I do like this approach I think it has some critical flaws that would make it hard to use. It seems hard enough to be a teacher trying to figure out how to assess and evaluate writing, let alone be a teacher teaching students how to do it. Also the teacher must be able to evaluate how well her students are evaluating other student’s work. It seems like this type of approach might work better for upper grades and college.

Portfolio grading also allows students to be responsible for their personal efforts in writing by allowing them to choose their best work to be evaluated. In this approach other teachers evaluate the writing. The advantage this has is that it forces the student to focus on an audience outside of their own teacher and their own peers (330). I like that this approach also uses rubrics to assess writing. This approach seems like it would work well in most situations as long as the teachers are trained properly and follow protocol.

One thing about both of these approaches to assessing and evaluating writing is that they are not entirely objective. It would be great if all of this were as easy and objective as teaching, assessing and evaluating athletes in a running sport like track or cross-country. It is true there are many methods that coaches can use to train runners to become better, but the assessing and evaluation process is so much easier. Time over a certain distance is what is measured. A stop- watch is the tool used for assessment. The coach times the run from point a to point b and then collects that information for evaluation. The evaluation process usually is determined by the standards set to qualify for some race. There is very little about this process that is subjective.Unfortuanetly the same isn't true for assessing and evaluating writing.

Errors of Assessment and Evaluation

The first thought that popped into my mind after reading this final chapter of Williams was “Thank goodness I decided the first weekend of freshmen year not to pursue education.” Everything we’ve read and discussed this semester has left me with the impression that teaching is a much more challenging profession than I ever could have imagined. The topic of assessments and evaluations, I think, confirms this. At the start of the reading, Williams brings up the issue of teacher “accountability,” which is something that I had not really contemplated previously (301). School districts place a great deal of pressure on their educators to make sure that students can pass federally mandated standardized tests. The consequence, as I’ve seen with my two younger brothers in a public high school, is that students and teachers become overwhelmed by these assessments and the emphasis on rich academic experiences gets misplaced; keeping scores up and maintaining federal funding are the bottom line.

Like some people have already commented, I, too, feel that standardized tests (like the SAT) are not the best measurement of one’s academic abilities. I always did well in school, but I felt that my successes in class weren’t reflected in the scores I received from such tests. In addition, they hardly ever had a beneficial effect on my psyche as a student. So I find it hard to understand why the U.S. educational system persists on distributing them when they clearly aren’t doing much to improve students’ educational experience (especially when compared to other nations who do not waste the time/money on similar assessments, yet still exceed the achievement levels of American students).

The other major focus of the chapter, on holistic grading, did not sit well with me either. The whole idea of letting students grade one another’s work based on their practice with sample works and the construction of rubrics seems unfeasible. I do not personally have much experience with this method of grading, but from what I’ve seen over my years in school, most students just don’t care about a classmate’s work. And when they are forced to assign a grade to someone else’s paper, they are likely to inflate it. Part of a teacher’s job is to assess and evaluate his/her students’ work; I don’t feel this responsibility should be passed on to students. Out of all the options for grading mentioned, I liked the idea of portfolios best. Having two/three teachers come together to collaborate their courses would be a great way to reduce paper loads, combine and increase the caliber of experience with grading, and give students more control over their grades (as long as teachers follow the standards of their portfolio assessment training). Still, it’s fairly obvious that no foolproof method of how to conduct evaluations and assessments exists. Subjectivity will always prevent any absolute, “fair,” and straightforward assessment of writing.

Looks like I'm a Perfect Fit for Teaching...

Initially, I wasn’t sure how I wanted to attack this blog. That is, until I came across something interesting (at least to me) that Williams brought up in our reading. He mentions a scholar by the name of Ed White, who argues that “many teachers know almost nothing about writing assessment and that large numbers of them are arrogant about their ignorance. The tendency is to give little thought to what is being measured when putting grades on papers.”

Then I thought to myself, “Gee, that sounds a lot like me.” Not that I’m arrogant, that’s not what I’m trying to say here at all (although there are some who might disagree with that statement). The thing is, I worry that as I get closer and closer to student teaching and beyond, I feel as though I am not yet prepared to handle some – but, not all – of the responsibilities associated with the teaching profession.

While I feel that most of what we’ve read and discussed in this class has been valuable to some degree, I don’t feel confident in my ability to step up and do the job. And this worries me, because I am on pace to begin student teaching somewhere next semester. For instance, not until today (when I read this chapter) can I recall learning how to assess and grade a piece of student writing. To be honest, I still don’t have the foggiest idea how to effectively look at a piece of writing (as in something that is not my own) and tell someone how they can improve it. Whenever I read something, I know that bells and whistles seem to go off in my head when I read something that doesn’t seem to make sense. Basically, I can tell if the writing is good, or if it needs work. That’s the easy part. But, what seems to give me trouble is that next step, the one that involves providing feedback or offering suggestions that would help someone else improve whatever it is that I’ve just read. Having to articulate these thoughts and ideas is tough, and it’s only made tougher by the fact that I don’t feel like I am qualified to do the job.

I guess what I am getting at here is that I can be an effective reader, but I not so sure I can teach someone else how to write – at least not yet. I have been at Penn State for almost two years now, and I believe this is the first time that I’ve actually come across a rubric before (not counting those that professors include in their syllabi, of course).

Needless to say, this worries me quite a bit. I’ve found the whole teaching process to be an exceedingly difficult job – something that leaves me physically and emotionally drained on the days when I take part in my teaching observations. Right now, that only takes up two days out of my week; how on earth am I going to survive an entire semester of student-teaching come January?

Either I am going to learn fast (which I what I think, or hope, will occur), or all of my hair will turn completely white (e.g. Anderson Cooper) and I will have to check myself into a psychiatric hospital (so I exaggerate a little, but who doesn’t?). But, seriously, I am very apprehensive about the entire process. I really don’t feel that I am ready to teach yet, and I am starting to wonder if anyone is ever really prepared to do so when they leave college. If my observation experience has taught me anything, it’s this: I know nothing…about teaching.

On the bright side, I have discovered that I am capable of learning new things. And, I am not afraid to fail, which, for someone like myself, has its advantages. Every time I step into the classroom I feel like I am steadily gaining more knowledge of it – plus, I seem to add a few more embarrassing stories to my “Things to Discuss among Friends” file that I keep stashed away in the nether region of my mind. That’s always a bonus.

However, I don’t want to be among that “large number” of teachers who are either ill-equipped or too arrogant to realize that they cannot effectively assess their students’ writing or teach them how to write. I love writing, and the last thing that I want to do as a teacher is scare some poor student away from it because I couldn’t handle my own responsibilities.

I do what I can by trying to learn as much as possible while I’m here at Penn State, but I feel that my “real” education is out there waiting for me at some yet-to-be-determined school district – assuming of course, that I can find a job again.

Assessing writing

What makes good writing? How can teachers determine what good writing is? Teachers have to assess writing on a student’s writing ability. They should be making their assessments on what they taught their students. Williams says that growth in writing is a slow process. I agree with this statement. Every class will have good, average, and poor writers. Hopefully the average and poor writers will improve throughout the school year. I think the subject matter plays a major role in whether or not the student writes a good paper. If the student is interested in the subject, they will have better papers. If they are not interested in the topic, they will most likely not do as well.

I think rough drafts are important in the writing process. The teacher can make comments on the rough drafts. This will hopefully give the student ideas on how to make improvements to their papers. Peer editing is also a good idea.

Teachers should get together and make come up with a standard grading rubric. They all should grade similarly. One teacher might give a paper an A, while another teacher might give it a C. That is unfair to the student. They think they are doing well because one of their teachers gives them A’s, while another teacher constantly gives them C’s.

An assessment should be measured on what was taught in the class. This means teachers should teach to the test. It isn’t entirely the teacher’s fault when their students don’t do well on the standardized tests. The bigger problem is the social issues. Yes, there are some lazy teachers, but what about the good ones? Some teachers care about their students, and some just do their job.

I am not so sure I agree with holistic scoring. I don’t believe students should grade each other’s papers. This is not fair to the good writers. I will take the advice from other students, but I want my teacher to have the final say in my grade. I always read the comments that my teachers would leave on my papers. I kept them in mind for future papers. An issue that comes up is the paper load. It takes a long time to grade papers that are more than three pages. Teachers should assign shorter papers more often rather than lengthy papers once in a while.

In over my head....

I have to say at the beginning of this chapter I really felt like finally someone understood me. I am not going to say that I am a perfect writer that always gets perfect grades, but I am a good student that gets good grades, that is until ENGL200W. For the first time ever I was given an assignment that I am completely stuck on. It is so bad that I knew the paper was crap before I even turned it in, not surprised to get it back with the words “revise and resubmit” written on it. Williams writes “Nevertheless, students of all ability levels may display performances that differs from assignment to assignment or from task to task. Students that have been writing C papers for weeks will get excited about an idea or a project, will work away at it for days, and will produce B work or better. Then the next assignment finds them struggling to put together something meaningful.” (299) I totally understand this statement and now wonder what makes a paper a C or a B in each person’s standards?
I can say that in high school I actually argued a teacher into a higher grade because I was able to show evidence on why their grade was not accurate. If I was able to do this in high school, what does that have to say about that teacher grading standards? Obviously she even questioned her grading system if I was able to show her how debunked it was!
This point makes me somewhat nervous when it comes down to my turn to be on the other end of that graded paper. All of this information that Williams included in this chapter is very important to me as a soon to be teacher, but I feel it was so overwhelming that I am not sure where to start. I think that Wendy had a very good point about having some sort of class or maybe a workshop for Secondary Ed majors on assessment. All of these tools for a new teacher are great, but I think we need to truly know how to use them before we are set out with the wolves, so to speak.
As far as rubrics go, I like them. When writing a paper I actually go through the rubric given and check off for myself the things that were supposed to be addressed within the paper, that way I know what I am turning in before I even see a grade on it.

holistic BS

This whole chapter makes me want to drop out of school and become a vagabond. Teaching English is hard work. Assessing and evaluating papers just seems impossible. I feel completely baffled by the many different approaches to grading students’ papers. Many of the ideas seem cute and ideological. Yet, I highly doubt that they would realistically work.

As a side note, I do not think that the SAT and other standardized tests are predictable measures. Yes, there will always be those genius students who obtain perfect scores on the tests and there will be students who can barely answer any questions correctly. These two types of students are predictable. However, every student in between the two categories cannot have one’s level of skill predicted from some dumb test. There are so many different types of learners out there. This test is structured for the learners that feel comfortable with and perform well on tests. I always performed better on the math section of the SAT and other such tests than the verbal section. Yet, I was always a much better writer than a geometrical proof solver. I consistently received A grades in my English college classes, whereas I received Bs in the two college math classes I was required to take. I realize that letter grades are not the point, but my SAT scores did not accurately predict my college performance. Are the math questions easier than the verbal ones on tests like this? Is math easier to assess? Is math easier to teach? Do schools across the country have better math teachers than English teachers?

I want to address my feelings about holistic scoring. I am a big fan of holistic medicinal, healing and nutritional practices. Yet, I think holistic scoring sucks. I hate about 80% of idea. I can see how students grading other students’ papers can teach them a lot about writing. This is the only positive thing that could come from this method. I feel as though it could be a good activity to practice in the class. Yet, I do not think that students should grade other students’ papers. What qualifies them for this position? There are so many factors that leave room for error. Even though the papers will be anonymous, there are ways for students to realize which papers are written by friends or students that they dislike. I would use an assessment/evaluation technique like this for only a handful of topics including creative writing pieces and in class assignments. Yet, I would monitor the process carefully and would look over the evaluations before I give the students their final grades. In this sense, the process would take longer than if I graded the papers by myself. I feel as though it should be the teacher’s job to grade more intensive assignments. It is unreasonable to expect students to grade research papers and analytical essays. This is a hard enough task for teachers who have had many years of post-secondary education.

I think I feel passionately about this subject because I took a college class in the past where the teacher left most of the class’ responsibility up to the students. I did not have positive experiences with it. The students were responsible for grading each other’s work. In many ways, it did not seem as though the teacher had any say in the grading process. I was pissed. The class was pointless for me and I did not grow as a student. The teacher came across as lazy and unmotivated. In that sense, I became lazy and unmotivated as well. The teacher knew nothing about my style or vision as a writer or a person. In many ways, I felt like I was invisible in this class and I felt cheated. Overall, I feel as though teachers should have the well being of their students in mind at all times. Finding a time efficient way to grade papers by using students to do the job of the teacher is not always a positive measure for the students.

Still searching...

Wow…..Williams never fails to overwhelm me. By the time I finished this chapter, I wondered if you can take off points from a writing assignment for information overload. I think that there was a lot in this chapter that I’ll need to know for teaching; I just wish it wasn’t so long and drawn out.

I have been contemplating my feelings on rubrics and holistic scoring for years-- not months, days, or hours. I do not know how I feel about them. I think that they work better for other subjects, but yet how do you give a numerical grade (87/100) to a written assignment. For me, the problem lies in this—Every time I have used a rubric with my peers to assess a writing assignment, I tend to score differently than they do. And I don’t know why that is. Sometimes I am higher in my scoring, other times I am lower. When I ask why my scores differ, I am just told, “Because you aren’t doing it right.” Yet, how to do it “right” has yet to be taught to me.

I think this is why I question whether students can be effective evaluators of other students’ work. There are differences in how I see things and how another person see things, so how do we learn to reach the same conclusion? For example, in another class a group chose to explore the Batman graphic novels to illustrate a critical theory. That group felt that their chosen text was appropriate for the assignment. While I feel that graphic novels are excellent examples of writing and have their place among literature, I felt that their choice was completely inappropriate for the assignment. If I had to simply evaluate their choice of text, based on appropriateness, I would have given them a 1 out of 6, the group would have given themselves a 6/6, and other people in the class may have assigned a 3, 4, or 5 (based on their reactions to what we read). Who’s right?

Rubrics are a touchy subject with my mom. She’s been a teacher for over 30 years, and within the last 10 years, she has had to start using them in her classroom. She often refers back to a workshop she took on how to use them to evaluate student work, and how, within the workshop of elementary educators, scoring ranged for each example. Every time she uses the rubric for grading I can tell—and I don’t live with her or near her. I can hear frustration and exhaustion in her voice because, for her, rubrics are frustrating.

On the other hand, without rubrics, how do you score a paper? What really is the difference between a paper that gets an 87 and one that gets an 83? Where is the difference in the points? I am down to my last education class, and I don’t know how to do this….When will this be taught?

To me it is hard to define what makes good writing, because there is still a great deal of subjectiveness to it. While I may agree with you about the components that are present, I may still disagree with you about whether a paper is a 6 or a 5.

My search for “how to do it right” will continue.

Grading papers=scary

For the most part, I found this chapter of Williams to be quite insightful. All of the stuff about standardized testing sounded like a bunch of “mumble jumble,” but I enjoyed reading the parts about holistic scoring and portfolio grading. I think English teachers really do have a hard job when it comes to grading papers. There is no right or wrong response like math; it is much more in depth than that. Grading papers is a big fear of mine as a future English teacher. What if I’m too lenient or too strict? What sets apart an excellent paper from a good paper? How do I ensure that each paper is being graded on the same standards? Fortunately, some of these questions were touched upon in this chapter, but I think I will always have that fear until I get some practice with it. I did have one experience during my field placement last Fall grading papers. It was very overwhelming because it was my first time actually grading a set of papers. I didn’t have time to create a rubric or come up with some sort of plan for grading them, so I was going off of what I considered to be a well written paper. The previous questions were constantly lingering in my head. I was so glad when I had the papers graded, but I didn’t feel confident with it at all, so I found myself giving the students “grace” points because I felt bad. I didn’t beat myself up for it too much though because after all, it was my first time grading papers, and I guess it feels awkward to everyone at first (at least I hope so). But, I don't feel as though I have received adequate instruction in college on how to assess and evaluate as a teacher, so I'm still quite fearful.

While reading the part about teacher comments on papers, I found myself thinking back to my secondary schooling years. I recall every teacher having the same strategy: mark the paper up in ink when correcting grammar and mechanics, made a side note here and there, and then writing a summative comment at the end right next to the grade. The comment at the end would always start positive, then go negative, and end on a positive note once again. Exactly how Williams explained it. I found that strategy to be quite annoying, and I stopped paying much attention to the comments because I thought teachers had the same comments pre-programmed or something—whatever!! It got a little better in college, but on most papers, it’s still a similar format. Personally, I like when teachers and professors comment on specific things about my paper and write comments in the margin, so I know exactly what they are referring to. I like the summative comment at the end as long as it’s helpful. For example, tell me what my paper is lacking and how I might fix it, but also tell me what you like about my paper, so I don’t want to crinkle it up and throw it in the trash. I think the bullets at the end of the section on teacher comments are very helpful, and I will probably keep most of them in mind for the future. I really like the idea of reading each paper over at least two times. The first should just be a skim, and the second time is when you start making comments and such. I think that seems effective.

When I first started reading about holistic scoring, I really had my doubts. These are the questions I asked myself at the start of reading the holistic scoring section: How do you know the students are grading the papers effectively? Does holistic scoring mean the teacher doesn’t look at the assignments at all? What instruction do you give a class participating in holistic scoring? How exactly do you translate rubric scores into grades? At the start of this section, Williams made it seem as though the teacher would have a hands-off approach, so I think I panicked a little. Some of these questions were answered later in the section. After I read through much of the holistic scoring section, I began to warm up to the idea of it. I was relieved to find that the teacher still went through the assignments to make sure they were graded fairly and also settled any grading discrepancies. That is so important! I think it would be very effective to make a rubric with the whole class, so the students have a say on how they are being evaluated. Having the authority to grade their classmates’ papers is having a HUGE say, but it seems like it would be successful for the most part. At the same time, it puts a lot of pressure on the students to grade the papers (It’s even stressful for the teachers!). I don’t know if I would have cared for this type of holistic grading when I was a student in middle and high school because I didn’t really like having to grade my peers. I enjoyed peer editing, but when it came to having to score someone’s work, I got anxious. Holistic grading seems beneficial for the teacher and the students. The teacher wouldn’t spend so much time going through the papers him or herself because the students have done a large portion of the grading already. Granted, the teacher must still go through the papers to make sure the process was done correctly, but mostly, it does not require as much time from the teacher. As mentioned before, the students have a say in how they are evaluated. In addition, they are exposed to all different sorts of writing, so in the future, it will be easy for them to identify between good and bad papers (of their own). I do have one question about this type of grading, though. The one part of the chapter mentioned using student examples during this process, and it discussed how a teacher could use paper of a current student doing the assignment as an example for the class. I think this is a very bad idea. I know that only the student would know which paper is his and that all of the students’ papers are anonymous and given numbers for identification, but wouldn’t this student potentially lose confidence or perhaps be scarred for life if he saw his paper getting slammed by the whole class and being pegged as “needing more work?” But I guess, now that I think of it, even if the student’s work isn’t being used as a sample, he still knows what scores his group members are giving him in the regular process. I don’t know, maybe I just over-analyzed that section of the chapter, which I tend to do a lot of times with Williams.

Lastly, I liked the idea of portfolio grading even more. Giving the students the opportunity to pick which essays they want graded seems like an effective form of evaluation. I would love this as a student! I also liked the idea of periodically throughout the year, having a portfolio grading session, so the students write about five essays before each session; that way, the students don’t have a lot of papers to choose from all at once, and the teacher does not have so much to read at one time. It’s a shame that you have to have a group of teachers to participate in this type of grading. What if no one else wants to grade like this and you really like this form of grading? Is there a way to do it with just one teacher?

One question I always had when thinking about grading papers was: Why don’t teachers just cover up the students’ names, so they don’t know whose paper they’re grading? It seems like this would get rid of any biases or negative attitudes teachers have toward particular students while grading their papers. Would this be more helpful or is it not such a good idea? Something to ponder…

Portfolio grading gets an "A"

When I did my field observations, I graded all the written work that the students turned in. For some of the assignments my mentor teacher had a rubric, but for many, she did not. The first assignment I graded took me hours to get through because I was new at it and I wanted to give each student some comments on their work. As a student myself, I am more interested in a teacher’s comments because it is through these comments that I learn what I am doing well as well as what I can do to improve my writing. I had no previous experience with grading, nor any formal instruction other than the instruction that my mentor teacher gave me as I began grading. Later, as my mentor teacher was checking my results, I watched her raise the grade on nearly every single paper. When I asked her to explain why, she said that she doesn’t grade in that strict a manner because otherwise it would dishearten the students. I was truly appalled by this notion! Again, speaking as a student, if I thought for one moment that any of my teachers were grading my work “loosely” so as not to dishearten me, it would demean the entire assignment for me, and the grade would have no value. While I do believe that some of the grades I gave needed to be raised,(because I graded for everything… content, relevance and even grammar!) there were many papers that I still believe should have retained their original grade. Eventually I got the hang of her grading style and graded accordingly … it was, after all, HER class. But I told myself that when I finally had my own class, I didn’t want to grade like that. I wanted the grades I give to actually have more of a connection to the work performed and the lessons taught. However, I didn’t, and still really don’t, know how to accomplish that goal.

After reading about holistic scoring, I find myself agreeing with Williams in that there is so much room for error here. In an ideal situation, holistic scoring may be the answer to the amount of time a teacher must spend on assessment, but given factors like following the protocol incorrectly, or having students who are not clear on the procedure, the reliability of this approach to assessment is suspect. I much prefer portfolio grading. In one of my first college composition classes, my professor used this approach. In this class we wrote a total of 6 essays, each of which was 4-6 pages in length. The professor had us turn in the first draft of each paper and gave us a few comments on each, but did not grade them. When it was time for midterms, we chose 2 of the 3 papers we had completed by then, and turned those in for grading. When it was time for finals, we chose 3 of the 6 papers completed, and that was the writing on which our final grade was based. Without the stress of assessment placed on each individual paper, the professor was free to comment on the writing and give insightful advice. Since the teacher comments increased, I learned more from these papers than if there had been a grade attached to it.

As a side note, I wish that a part of the undergrad education program here at PSU included a class on assessment. I will begin student teaching in a few short weeks having had no experience in writing a rubric or assessments of any kind. This is one of several things that make me feel less than ready.

Subjective & Objective

DISCLAIMER: After digesting this chapter, I am feeling like a grump. Please allow for general sarcasm, mockery, and all around moodiness.

Dear James D. Williams,

We don’t live in an objective world. Get over it.

Sincerely,

Me

But seriously, evaluation will never be free of subjectivity, no matter how one might try. Williams first writes that “the standard [of evaluation] may be one that individual teachers bring to their classrooms . . . The individual standard is not only the most common but also the most problematic because it naturally varies from teacher to teacher, creating uneven evaluation of students engaged in similar activities” (298). Later, Williams suggests that teachers collaborate with one another to make evaluation more reliable. Sure, instructors may agree on some of the factors of “good writing,” but what of their separate methodologies? If one teacher favors creativity, while another places high importance on clarity, should a merging of ideologies be forced? Personally, I don’t think so. Even as a student, I don’t want to conform to some bore of a standard rubric in every classroom. I like when different professors value opposing facets of writing. With a rubric, I’m just playing it safe and writing to it, much as an instructor “teaches to the test.” How uninspiring.

Still, when the reliability, validity, and funds all come together to create a standardized test, such as the SAT, I do not consider it flawless. Through my own experience, such tests have never fully measured my abilities accurately. I am an average math student, and have been known to fret over many an algebraic problem, but yet I consistently score higher on the math portion than the verbal. I have never been able to determine why. Doesn’t seem too accurate to me.

Additionally, I had a bit of a laugh when Williams discussed the lack of a correlation between federal funding and student and school performance. Leave it to us material Americans to focus on the monetary aspects of education, instead of what truly matters, such as student preparation for schooling. We are so quick to place the blame on something that is apparently lacking, such as funding, or teacher attentiveness, when the problems of the education system are really so much bigger than a dollar sign. I see a lot of the system’s problems as belonging to the wayward focus of society.

This chapter went over an issue that I was having this past week. In my student observation, I asked to read some of the rough drafts that the students wrote for a satire. Most of the students wanted me to read them and I wrote feedback on their papers for them to help them with their final copy. It took me the entire day to do these papers. Then when they turned in their final copies, I was given the opportunity to grade them. I really enjoyed it the first time so I enthusiastically said "yes".
However, it turned out to be much harder to grade their papers than to just offer feedback. I was given a rubric which graded them in three different areas. The entire assignment was worth 45. At first, when I started reading a lot of the students were way off topic and confused by the assignment. (based on their writing) I graded these papers, but didn't want to grade them too low since it seemed like no one was doing it correctly. However, then I began to read students' satires that were written very well. I gave these students higher scores and then I went back and changed some of the earlier scores because I had to make it more fair. Otherwise, the students with poor papers would have had grades that were only a little below the advanced students.
I graded 50 papers and I admit that I changed and reread so many of the satires that it was driving me crazy. Sometimes I would ask my mentor teach for suggestions and she would tell me a grade higher or lower than what I would have given. This made me feel unsure and I began to wish that I had never agreed to do it. I think it all worked out okay though. (I haven't recieved any feedback from my mentor teacher yet). I think this process will be easier for me when I get to create the rubric and I am the only one assessing the paper.
English is such a subjective subject when it comes to grading. There is a rubric to follow, but there is still so much room for your own opinion. It is a difficult process to complete when you are grading for another teacher. It took me 2 1/2 full school days to finish grading those papers and if I still had them on me I would probably still be checking to make sure that all the grades were appropriate for the quality of work that they did. It was a tough assignment for a 7th grade class, even though it was an honors class.
I have never heard of teachers using holistic scoring for major papers before. I wonder if anyone else has heard of it or used it before. It sounds like a good idea to give the teacher more time. I like the idea that the students are given identity numbers because otherwise this would never work. I think this is the only way to ensure that it stays objective. I would be interested to try it, but I probably wouldn't rely on it for all assignments. I want to read their work too.

Even before reading Williams’ chapter on evaluating and assessing writing, I already knew the task of grading student writing would be a difficult one.

Although I have no experience with grading papers yet, I think the hardest part is how not to be subjective when reading papers. With a writing assignment, there are no concrete right or wrong answers. It’s not like a mathematics problem where there is one definitive solution. On page 297, Williams states that writing evaluation “involves comparison on two levels: the standard set by other students in the class and by some preestablished standard of good writing.” A preestablished standard seems like a very vague concept to me. Who gets to decide what “good” writing is? Williams gives several different examples of how the standard could be set, but I still find it confusing. If you’re a teacher at one school who uses a certain set standard, and then you get a job somewhere else that uses a different standard, it must be difficult to adjust your grading style.

When I was in school, I’m pretty sure only teachers evaluated my writing. The papers I got back always had comments and then a letter grade assigned to them. I’m also pretty sure the letter grade was placed next to the final comments. Williams states in this chapter that teachers should avoid placing the comments and the grade next to each other. I wish he elaborated on this concept a little more in the chapter. He mentions that some students will ignore the comment and just focus on the grade. I wonder if there are any other reasons for this.

I know it increases the teachers’ workloads, but I am interested in the idea of evaluating rough drafts. Sure, the comments on students’ writing can help them on their next assignment, but I think the comments are more helpful if students can apply them to that same piece of writing.

I had never heard of the holistic grading method until I read this chapter. I’m not sure how I feel about. As a middle school and high school student, I don’t think I would have liked having that responsibility. However, I do think hearing different comments and point of views about your writing can be very helpful. I could also see the holistic method working better at the university level, where students have had more experience with writing. It would be interesting to hear from students and teachers in classes that use this holistic method.

Mr. Williams and I agree

Despite the fact that we are back to Williams, I actually enjoyed this chapter. I definitely feel that English teachers have a lot of work cut out for them when it comes to grading papers. In my observing my teacher was having me grade paragraphs on point-of-view. I was giving everyone really bad grades. I couldn’t help but wonder if it was because I was in a bad mood, or if the papers really were bad. My teacher said I was being fair, and that she would have graded them the same way. However, I really did feel like it was kind of subjective. This is where my friend Williams has been slightly helpful.

As much as I don’t want to read papers twice, I did like the logic behind it. Putting papers onto three piles based on strength is a smart idea. At least, then I know why each paper is in a particular pile. I’m not just going along writing grades on papers, so I can get them graded. Plus, sometimes it is really difficult to decide on a letter grade. If it is an 89, then I might feel obligated to give the student an A. I do always enjoy specific comments as a student, so I want to be sure that I give clear comments that provide some kind of constructive criticism. Also, I see the point in not correcting mechanical problems, because most students won’t learn from them. They are simply done with the paper. I do like the idea of finding common problems in papers, discussing them with the class, and then grading them on the next paper. I’m sad though. I always hated red ink as a student, but as a teacher I find red pens so empowering. However, I suppose I can write in pencil, since Williams thinks it is friendlier.

I do think holistic grading can be effective for most students. Yet, I don’t think it will be very beneficial for the students who are strong writers in the classroom. They will be assessing other papers, but they might not get helpful feedback to improve their own writing. Rubrics I think are an excellent way to grade papers. I always enjoyed rubrics, because then I knew exactly what I was being graded on. Having the students’ grade papers using a rubric is a neat idea, and I like that two students grade one paper. Also, the idea of a split score is nice. This way a paper can be evaluated one last time and be given the most appropriate score. Plus, I think the idea of a code number is necessary, so students don’t grade unfairly, and sample papers are a must!

I can see how holistic grading is beneficial, but I have personally found portfolio writing beneficial, too. I think the writer feels really good when they are able to examine his/her own growth. Writing really is a process, and it takes a lot of good and bad writing to improve that process. As a teacher, I would somehow like to incorporate a lot of different grading approaches for my students’ writings.

Blog 9

After reading this section of the Williams text, the immediate thought that crossed my mind was, “I’m glad I’m not going to be an English teacher.” I do mean this with the utmost respect to my fellow classmates.

Of all of the various varieties of teachers, I do believe that the English teacher has the hardest and most significant job. First of all, grading is so subjective. There are no right and wrong answers. Figuring out grades is not simply a matter of comparing answers to an answer key. English teachers aren’t just teaching facts and numbers but are teaching critical thinking and synthesis of ideas.

Additionally, grading papers is no easy task. It is very time consuming. Yeah, Williams’s idea of scanning papers, putting them in piles, rereading and commenting (genuine comments not just surface comments) is a fabulous idea. I guess it would depend on the teacher, his/her commitment level, and how much work load is on that individual’s plate.

This is slightly off topic from the book but….the English teacher has far more responsibility than any other type of teacher. Learning to write well is so important for nearly every profession. My husband is a printing press mechanic. He started his own company and has to write bid proposals and various business emails to people who own multi-million dollar companies. Who would think that a mechanic would end up needing writing skills? Even if you don’t end up owning your own business, writing is so often used in everyday life. Once again, I’m glad I’m not going to be an English teacher. It is a lot of responsibility.

I think it is sad that cost and politics need to be added to what Williams considers key factors of assessment. It is sad but true. Because English teachers do have so much responsibility over the futures of their young writers, I would hope that anyone getting into the teaching profession, particularly in the English curriculum, would be more worried about finding effective ways to use assessment to reach students rather than worry about funding. Good for you Amanda! Unfortunately, the truth is that the “higher ups” have to worry about funding and very likely put pressure on their employees to produce superior results. I think it is interesting that Williams points out that “studies have shown little if any correlation between high academic performance and funding” (310). Kind of makes you think, doesn’t it?

The Holistic vs. Portfolio Debate

Because I have no teaching or even student teaching experience, and haven't read any Middle or High School papers other than my son's or the ones I wrote years ago, I feel a little leery of weighing in on methods of evaluating writing. I'm sure seasoned teachers would have very strong opinions based on their own successes and failures, and I'd be very curious to learn how they feel about Holistic vs. Portfolio Grading.

In general, however, I am somewhat suspicious of Holistic Grading because it gives students the task of grading other students at an age of extreme self-consciousness, gossipy-ness and heavily emotional social dyamics. I realize that students' names are removed -- so that David doesn't know he's grading Kate's paper or vice versa -- but I still know that as a teen I would have felt very awkward knowing my paper was going to be read by other kids. Teenage me probably also would have been distracted by constantly wondering "now, whose paper is this?"

I am much more comfortable with the idea of Portfolio Grading. I like the way it empowers students to select their best writings and discard the lesser ones. I think knowing they won't have to be graded on everything will help them become braver, more experimental writers rather than just grade-conscious, rule-following drones. I am not clear, however, why it's imperative that several teachers collaborate on Portfolio Grading, or that it's even a practical idea. The teaching loads and home responsibilities of individual teachers might make it very hard for them to arrange mutually convenient times to meet.

I also have some issues with Williams' rubrics for grading. I wish they had been presented as lists of criteria or bullet points, because in paragraph form they are hard to read and distinguish from each other. Also, I think any grade an English teacher gives, no matter how objective and rubric-based it purports to be, will always be something of a matter of opinion. The "Holistic" grades Williams gives to the sample essays seem reasonable, but I wonder if all real-life student essays are so easily pigeon-holed.

I teach for the students, not the money

William says, as one premise of the arguments of centralizing control of public schools, “teachers in the schools are slacker” (p. 309). He continues to say that “performance funding is labeled an incentive to get teachers to work (harder)…” (p. 309).

This is where I have a problem, not with the schools or with the government, but with the teachers. Teachers, I believe, shouldn’t be given an incentive to work hard, or work at all, by the government. It is my hope that those who become teachers do so for the pure benefit of knowing that they helped children progress and succeed in their schooling – no matter what the subject. They should want to teach and teach well, no matter what the pay (and coming into it, they should already know the pay isn’t equal of a surgeon’s). To teach is to help. It frustrates me to see teachers in schools, like my former high school for example, continue to battle about salary issues (since 2002, may I add about my alma mater). Yes, I understand the economic times are hard and yes teachers deserve more than what they are given, but one (hopefully) entered this position with the aspiration of helping students, not for the money. (As a side thought here: Teachers do deserve more pay in general for they are doing – teaching. Teachers are the people parents put their trust in to (help) make their children well-rounded, smart, decent individuals. The current salaries, obviously, do serve them justice.) In that, I hope more teachers, future teachers, will realized that what they are doing is for the betterment of the community, for the state, for the country… for humanity. And it’s not hard to tell apart the teachers who teach for a job and the teachers who teach to improve. Throughout my secondary education careers, only ONE teacher stands out in my mind that I believe was truly there to help his students. One. Sure, there were others that liked it time from time but none were as consistent as he. Of course, he was open with us (he had the “open door policy”, where he would always be there for us if we needed him), and he related to us: talked to us about current events and issues we may face at that age. (Anther side thought: He was my 8th grade English teacher. At the beginning of the school year, a 9th grader had committed suicide by hanging [9th grade was in the high school, 8th grade was in the middle school so most of us didn’t know who he was], and that following day he started by openingly telling the class of what happened and told he if any of us felt depressed about anything in our lives or upset, he would always be there to talk to [along with the school counselors as well]. Of course, those weren’t his exact words but the memory of him being so open and caring for his students still sticks with me to this day.) And it was those teachers that I learned better from (whether it was about life or the topic of the class). Those teachers, the ones that care about the betterment of their students, the teachers care about what they were teaching, are the ones I remember. They made me care about they were teaching, too. I learned most from those teachers, and their attitude towards teaching is the same I strive for when it is my turn to teach. I will be like them. I will make a change.

putting it into practice

Well done, everyone. it's good to see the connections you're making between Elbow's advice and your own expereinces with workshopping. Monday will be a good time to put some of these ideas into practice with our second peer review workshop. I also hope that you'll be able to see ways that the strategies you use (or the lack of strategy or of helpful feedback) will also help to shape ideas for your own future writing pedagogy.

Teacherless Writing Classes

I found Elbow’s exploration of the effectiveness of using a teacherless writing class to improve all writing an interesting topic. In my experience, peer review workshops have never been overly useful, as both a writer and a reader. It’s hard deal with criticism, whether that means giving feedback or taking everyone else’s comments in, swallowing them whole. As a reader, too often there exists an unspoken rule that you should tread lightly when you tell the writer what you thought about his/her piece. Nobody wants to rock the boat or create waves with truly constructive criticism because there is a fear that the writer may perceive it as negative criticism (the two are often confused). When I read a peer’s paper, I try to be honest, but I, too, tend to hold back. Additionally, time constraints and the idea that writing workshops are essentially free periods that should be rushed through never produce great peer editing.

From my perspective as a writer, I find it’s very rare that another student is actually able or willing to give feedback that I can use. Statements are vague, like “That was really good,” or “I wouldn’t change anything, except this minor thing.” When this happens, I always suppose it’s nice to hear that my paper was easy to read and comprehend, but I also feel like the other student copped out; I was robbed of an opportunity to improve my writing. Overall, I find that the prevailing passivity prevents progress.

The teacherless writing class would be a great way to be more proactive; I could put myself out there as a writer and open up myself to the views, opinions, writing styles, voices, and interests of others as a reader. One problem with the concept of such a class, however, is that it seems impractical. Gathering a group of at least 7 dedicated writers (whether they work in similar or different fields) who can spare two or two and half hours a week for ten weeks would be a difficult task for anyone to accomplish. Many people simply can’t make such a commitment when there are other pressing matters like work and home life to occupy the day. Nevertheless, and despite the infeasibility of the teacherless writing class, I still see the tips Elbow gives to his readers on giving and receiving criticisms as quite useful and I plan to apply them in future peer reading/writing workshops.

Too often I realize that I’m guilty of being a reviewer who “tells” but doesn’t “show.” To remedy this, I plan on creating, as Elbow suggests, metaphors to describe my experience of a piece of writing. At first, I’m sure this will be tricky since I’m not used to this method, but it will be a worthy technique to test out in class. I will also try to be more specific about my reactions. Normally I look for particular parts of a paper that I can discuss with the writer, but many times my response oversimplifies the work. This usually happens because of the time limits in school; there just isn’t enough class time to do a proper review of a two or more peers’ writing or improve one’s own skills as an editor. I genuinely believe that the teacherless writing class would be a useful tool for self-improvement, but because it’s not utilized in educational systems, young readers and writers miss out on this opportunity for growth.