Point of View

For the very first assignment this semester in 110 I assigned my students an activity similar to what Dr. Weaver had us do in 620. I asked my students to make a collague from magazine clippings and words/visuals/drawings from anywhere describing their view of writing. What does it mean to them? I told them the inferences could be positive or negative, depending on their expierences. I wanted their own point of view of how they see themselves as writers. Then I had the students get into small groups and explain their ideas to their peers. Then everyone put their collague on the floor in a big clump where everyone could walk around and view all of them. I wanted the students to see that we had many different experiences and places of expertise relating to writing that we were bringing together into one classroom.
I then asked students to enlarge their view of themselves as writers. I asked them to consider their experience with journalling, facebook, my-space,email, etc. At the end of the excercise my goal was to give them an enlarged point of view regarding writing and the ways in which people view it and partake in it.

Absent

Listening to the complaints of my fellow GAs in Monday morning class I am at least relieved to find that I am not alone in my frustrations of the absent students. Yet, I still am on my own as to how I choose to deal with my students. What I want to tell them is that my students last semester struggled most, according to what they wrote on their own evaluation, with the textual analysis. Thus, I am trying to do a better job this semester preparing my students by giving more thorough examples and going over texts in great detail in class. However, if many students are absent, then they do not gain from my well-planned lectures and explanations. Also, when the classroom is half empty the students who did come to class appear to feel that class in going to be boring or a waste of their time since so many of their peers decided to not bother showing up.
I had a student email me explaining that she was not in class because she had the flu, and she would not be at the next class for the same reason. She then went on to ask me if we could meet and if I could catch her up on what she missed. I am glad that she is concerned about what she missed, however this student has missed class before without any explanation. Also, I do not have the time nor feel it is my responsibility to recreate two fifty minute lectures to one of my students during my office hours!
Lastly, I want to make it clear to my students that when they are in class and I can see they are working hard and trying I am more likely to reward their hard work through their paper grade. However, if they are frequently absent and do not seem to be exerting much effort, there will be no way for me to be able to reward hard work.
However, all of my ramblings are things I want to say to a full classroom of students. It will do no good to preach to the choir: the faithful bunch I know will be in class today. I can only hope the ones who need to hear the message will be present to hear it.

The Right Text

I believe that a new textbook would be a good idea for ENG 110. The new edition of Composing Ourselves does not contain many changes, as far as text is concerned. The largest change I noticed is the use of colored pictures.
However, I do feel that some of the readings in the book are useful. My proposition would be to copy the essays I want my students to read and make them available through course reserves on the library web page. The students could make the copies themselves and it would cost them less than buying a textbook they would read less than 1/4 of. This would also allow me to put other essays on line for them that came from other sources.
I think the textbook The Curious Writer by Bruce Ballenger would be a useful text for students to use next year. It contains many examples of a variety of kinds of student papers. It also provides extensive directions on how to write different kinds of papers, which is something the current book does not contain.
Giving students stories to read can be interesting, and it helps with class discussion. But I actually feel that giving students sample essays to read which relate to their assignment will be the most beneficial in the long run. The Curious Writer would be one such asset.

Something to Say

After having experienced two class periods teaching both sections of my 110 classes I have given the memoir assignment. In order to stir my students' minds to consider what they may write about I am giving many example essays and we are reading some short stories which possess memoir-like qualities. According to Young's article in 1978, the crisis in composition classrooms is that students have nothing to write about. Thus, my hope is that by giving them examples their own thoughts will be triggered to consider what they may write about.
However, I also take up issue with the idea that students have nothing to write about. Yet, I take a different position than Hairston, who, of course, also disagrees. Of course there are composition teachers who are not well-trained. But, in regards to a memoir I do not think that a person needs a Ph.D. professor in order to learn how to write about his or her own experiences. In fact, although I am providing ample readings and examples as food for thought I really do not believe that students need to see others work in order to have something to say.
Students simply need to realize that their own experiences are valid and worthwhile. I am trying to stress to my students that they have unique experiences worth writing about, even if they are not life-altering experiences. I am trying to empower my students to believe in themselves rather than relying on prompts or a phenomenal professor in order to have something to write about.