i am terrible at posting on the blog

Assessment reminds me of those annoying 12 people at my high school who were vying for valedictorian-ship, as if that was the most important thing they were ever going to accomplish in their entire lives. It made me angry, because I never thought grades were very important. My records from high school and my bachelor's degree are appalling. I really genuinely liked school, though, and I thought most of my subjects were really interesting, and somehow it didn't ever occur to me to worry if I had an A or not, and slavishly study away accordingly. Besides, in the words of my father, "Of course you can get an A if you study. The hard thing is to get an A without studying." Thanks, Bill.

Assessment really scares me, and I'm not really sure how to use it. I always hated testing in English classes, because tests were so frequently multiple choice and true/false, followed by a short answer section. Any idiot could look up the names of the cast of A Streetcar Named Desire and memorize them -- the tests really rewarded the 12 valedictorian wackadoos and didn't do much for people who were awful with names but who genuinely "got" something out of the reading. I feel like most assessment is just a way for the 12 v.w.'s of the school to prove how obsessive they are about their studies and for the kids who don't care to just slide by. However, I don't really want to become one of those "everyone's special" teachers who has no standards. I realize we can't really get by -- the way the system is set up -- without grades. But there must be some medium.

When I was in high school, I thought making a portfolio was really satisfying. I wonder if everyone else just thought it was stupid? It motivated me to not write garbage, becaues when I was a sophomore, I looked back at my crappy freshman work and thought, wow, I can do better than this.

I really think that there must be some way to motivate students to do their best work besides traditional assessment, and I think part of the answer is the quote one of the other poster's used, about making what students learn relevant to their own lives. If you don't feel like what you're learning is important, worth your while, and has something to offer you, then what's the point?

B&B Chapters 6 & 7: Making Assessment Count

A summary of good instruction and assessment comes from a quote in Chapter 6 from B&B:

“ ‘…students become enthusiastic about learning when they feel the subject is relevant to their lives, when they can do real and challenging work, when they have control over what they do, when they feel connected to their schools, and when they do not feel compelled to compete against classmates for A’s and high scores’” (100).

 This passage sums up the ideal environment of a high school classroom. This may not be a reality in most classrooms across the country but I hope it is the goal in all of them. To make information relevant and valuable to students means giving them responsibility. This chapter discusses how portfolios are one example of an assessment that can achieve this. Not only is it an authentic form of assessment, but learners get the opportunity to compile a collection of their writing. This allows for reflection, revision, and creativity. It can also be a personal form of expression, eliminating feelings of competition; each student has created his or her personal best for no one but him or her. Assessments like portfolios are also conducive to creating a cohesive classroom. Before student are willing to open up and share their final product, they must understand and respect one another. I think the writer’s reflection questions in Chapter Six would be helpful in guiding students. They may help them recognize the importance of their own progress.

 In Chapter Seven, I expected to read an outline of how to apply the Six-Trait Model into student writing and that was all. But this chapter also explains how to incorporate it into instruction. I think the first step (Introduce Each Trait by Reading and Discussing Age-Appropriate Literature) is so important. This goes back to establishing relevance in the curriculum—students can see that these are elements that real authors use and they are just standards by which they are being graded. This gives the mini-lessons and assessments some credibility; we’re not doing this for nothing. 

Maybe it's just me....

I always seem to struggle with the actual application of the material we read.  I agree with the main ideas it offers but remain skeptical of the success of it's actual application.  I think that at future English teachers our material offers for more practical forms of assessment.  It's kind of hard to make a multiple choice test out of writing styles.  And in theory, portfolios do seem like a good way to show progression of students.  But I also wonder if it's much different than students turning in multiple drafts of a paper.  Maybe it was just me, but when I had to do portfolios, i picked the work i got the lowest grades on, adapted it to the teacher's the corrections/suggestions and turned it back in.  I didn't take any time to consider my progress, i only wanted a better grade.  Even if my teacher noticed an improvement in my work, i didn't know or even care.  So i guess the problem i always struggle with is, how do you make your students care about the work? Especially with students who don't want to be there in the first place?

The Tight Rope That is Assessment

As of right now, I'm undecided as to how I want to use assessment in my classroom. Ideally, I would want to be able to trust that my students want to do their work and that they put a sincere effort into whatever they are currently working on. Obviously, this will be difficult to judge. I know for a fact that some of my high school teachers though that I had put hours of work in to a project, when in fact, I "borrowed" ideas from her examples and put it together the night before. I mean, there's no way for a teacher to truly be able to tell.

From my field, I've become pretty disappointed as to how much motivation is present in local students. It seems like assessment is different for every student because teachers assume that each student needs to be able to bend certain expectations. Now don't get me wrong, I agree that no two students are the same and that certain students require special needs, but there is a fine line between those two students. I have little doubt in my mind that students know what they can get away with at Hickman and take advantage of their teachers' expectations. It's as if the bar is constantly being lowered and the tight rope is gradually getting wider. With this being said, students are not being properly prepared for the real world. Alright, now I feel like I'm ranting so I'm going to knock that gibber jabber off.

One idea that stuck with me from these chapters was the idea of creating a student portfolio. I had to do this for a creative writing class my senior year and I really enjoyed it. I still look at it every so often and find new ideas. It's nice to be able to look back on how far you've come as a student. As for assessing these student portfolios....that's tricky. I would grade them based off whether or not the student completed the assignments that were supposed to be included and how much time on revision was spent on each piece. Along with that, I would ask the students what grade they felt and why they felt that way. The "why" would be the key part to that question.

I just hope I can have an optimistic, creative, and comfortable relationship with my students. To know that they aren't taking advantage of me and that there is a mutual respect between my students and I. I'm going to put my butt on the line for them so I will expect the same out of them. word.

Assessment

I find assessment really interesting. In math, science, and social studies it is so objective, but in the English classroom that is not the case. I do not think we are, as future teachers, aware yet of the intense amount of grading we are going to be going through every night. It is not simply going to be right or wrong, but we are going to have to justify to the student's why they achieved the grades they did. This is intimidating! And what if we have two students of completely different levels in our classroom? Do we grade one harder than the other? What if they compare papers? After reading these two chapters I still do not have an answer. I like the idea of the Six- Trait Model because it gives students very descriptive guidelines in which they should follow and also give the teacher the same guidelines on which to score. I almost feel like students should be evaluated by their writing before going into high school and put into a classroom with students who are at the same level they are. But, of course, that idea is completely unrealistic. Most schools do not have the room, funding, or teachers to support a program like that. However, I do think the idea of a portfolio is a great one and should be used as a final grade in the classroom. The teacher can evaluate the improvement of the students and then give them a final grade based upon the effort they made to improve. In this way, students who do struggle with English can be rewarded even if their writing is poor.

B&B 6-7

I had never heard of the six trait model before reading this chapter but it seems like a really good way for students to learn what makes a good paper. Chapter 7 also had some good ideas for hands on activities that are non-tradtional and fun for the students as well as instructive, such as making a brocure of their hometown or analyzing greeting cards. On Wednesday in my class at Hickman everyone brought in song lyrics to analyze using critical approaches, such as feminist, Marxist, historical, etc. and the activity was a huge success. It was fun both for us as teachers and for the students and a good change of pace, and also prepared them to apply those critical approaches to more literary works, which they will be doing in the near future. I always enjoyed activities like this when I was in high school and hope I am creative and forward thinking enough to come up with fun activities like this when I teach. Another nice thing about the six trait model is it provides is it provides a uniform way for grading student's work, so that everyone understands why they got the grade they got and eliminates the issue of fairness or inequality. It would be nice, even, if all English teachers could get on board using the same rubric for writing workshop so students are not confused from class to class. It gives students all the specific elements they need for a good paper and all they have to do is apply them.

Keeping all of your work in a folder...BRILLIANT!!!

In my senior English class in high school we kept a portfolio with a lot of work from the year. Like most things in that class though we did a mediocre job of pursuing it. We didn't keep all of our work and it was very unorganized. I don't think the portfolio was assessed all that thoroughly either. In my class I would like to use portfolios and really stress their importance. I want students to be proud of what is in there. What I like about portfolios is that the student as well as the teacher can map their progression. As said in the chapter, portfolios show the process as well as a product, they create a collection of work, are useful to review instruction, and show student growth. It's really great how something so simple could be so helpful to both the student and the teacher. When assessing the student, portfolios are a great way to answer the question of how to grade students of different ability levels. It will be easy to see how hard a student has been working and be able to grade on their individual progress instead of comparing them to others. Another great thing about portfolios is it gives the teacher a great resource when parents want to know what is going on.

Reflection and Self-Awareness

I can remember creating portfolios from first grade to senior year of high school. Portfolios always made me excited not only to track my progress, but also to have a finished product, a personal artifact, from that year in my life. The reflection at the end, however, always was a drag. I just wanted to be done with it already! I guess I was just struggling with the idea of critiquing my own work, especially the poorer-quality work from the beginning of the year. Now being students in the College of Ed, we get bombarded with reflection assignments. I realize the importance of self-awareness and progress today, but perhaps I can use my previous frustrations to connect with my future students. I can explain to them how difficult it can be to grade our own work or point out the flaws. At the same time, I can help them understand the PURPOSE of reflection, and that I want them to decide their grade based on effort and growth.

Portfolios

After the discussion from Katie's lesson and then reading the section on portfolios in chapter 6, I can see myself using that type of assessment in my classroom. I think the students would benefit A LOT more if they could do an English, Math, etc portfolio (a portfolio for each subject or even just a few subjects) through their entire hs career! It probably would be hard for the entire English department at a school to go for that, but hopefully once I start doing portfolios for my students then other teachers would want to follow along!

When I first heard about the portfolio idea from Rebecca in class I just thought it would be a good idea for students and parents to keep student's hs work-almost like a good memorable token or something. Then, as I read chapter 6 I realized that it could be used as an actual assessment of the students learning AS WELL AS how the teacher is teaching-the effectiveness of their methods. I believe the best way to asses a students learning is by using authentic assessment and a portfolio does that-students have to reflect on their own work (share what they have done, how they have done it, how they think they did on it). Don't get me wrong, some traditional assessment is totally fine, but then again, are you assessing a student's knowledge or did the student just guess the correct multiple choice?!

Assessing Individuals

I've been thinking a lot about assessment lately, even before we started talking about it in class, and I think one of the best things for me has been to see how my field teacher grades and assesses the students in his class. It's a career communications class, so it's geared towards students who probably aren't going to go to college. Currently, the students are working on position papers on a controversial issue--one that they care about and hopefully will want to write about (that is the goal, at least). Every time I get to work one-on-one with the students, I'm amazed at how many different levels they are at. Some of the students are writing pretty decent papers, while some of them still don't know how to come up with a topic sentence. Their teacher is grading them mostly on an individual basis--he told me which students he wanted to be at certain places in their essay and which students he just wanted to have an outline of their points by the end of class. As teachers, we are going to have to have different standards for different students, because all of the them are going to be at different places as writers. But I know that there still has to be a balance in the grading between what is expected of everyone corporately instead of individually, and I don't feel like I know what that balance is. How do we recognize the needs of individual students and their abilities while still basing grades on some sort of rubric or spectrum??

What is the real world?

Ok, after reading these 2 chapters and after our couple discussions in class, I am left with one burning question, WHAT IS THE REAL WORLD?

It seems that all this talk about assessment, testing, (even teaching really!), is to "prepare students for the real world". But, it seems that in English classes particularly, the goal is to produce good writers, good readers, and add a little creativity to all of that, with not much mention for the "real world". If the real world is AFTER college, then we need to expand our territory. We need to incorporate a wide variety of things that familiarize students with many careers. And the after-college-real-world would require students to give presentations, speeches, oral reports, advertisements, etc. However, if the real world IS college, (or if the goal of teaching high school is to prepare students for college), then the assessment and testing would look much different. For the great majority of my college courses, assessment and testing has looked much like what we sort of "shunned" the other day in class. Things like multiple choice tests, long, drawn out papers, 10-questions quizzes to prove if we read a book or not, and true/false where you have a 50% chance of getting the answer right. I guess I'm confused as to what we are supposed to do. Or what "real world" we are supposed to prepare our students for.

If it were up to me, I think a combination of everything would be best. Preparing students for careers, preparing them with college-type work, and helping them produce in themselves the best and most creative readers and writers they can be...

-Lacy

Assessment in AP Lit

Reading these chapters on assessment made me think a lot about my field class. I am in Mr. Stover's Senior AP Literature class, and it is intense. He is preparing the students to take the AP Exam in May, and they have been working hard all year. Mr. Stover has graded the AP Exams before, so he has first hand experience on what the testers are looking for. He definitely teaches to the test as well. However, this is not a completely horrible thing. Every student has a AP scoring guide, which ranges from 1-9, one low, nine high. Every time they do an essay, it has to be written as if they are taking the AP Exam. On their homework, he even wants them to time themselves and make sure they don't go over 40 minutes! It's amazing. However, what I find most interesting is that he doesn't assign grades according to their essays. Instead, he has them rate their essays and write justifications for their ratings. He then rates their essays and looks over their justifications. Their grade on the assignment depends upon how close their ratings lined up with his. He is always using the same language found on the scoring guide and essay prompts to describe the pieces of work they analyze, a suggestion B&B make with regards to the six-trait model. It is very interesting...

Devil's Advocate

5 points: The topic is narrow (what is narrow?). 5 points: The writer seems to be writing from experience (at what point do we consider someone "experienced?"). 5 points: An inviting introduction draws the reader in (all introductions need to be warm, fuzzy and pleasant?). 5 points: Striking words and phrases (is there a list of striking and not-so-striking words somewhere?).

There is no doubt that we can identify quality writing, whether it's in the form of a Faulknerian novel or a critical essay, a New York Times headline story or an experimental short story. We take classes, we study, we write. And somewhere in between all that good writing emerges. Writing that we can look at and say "yeah." But I think it's dangerous for us to try to quantify the standards of good literature. In number-crunching American, where research is god, anything backed up with quantitative assessment must be true. Right? Maybe so when determining wind patterns, consumer habits, or any other scientific stuff, but we're treading on thin ice when we do it with an art form. You wouldn't go to an art museum and give Whistler's Mother a D- because it doesn't adhere to some research-based rubric. You have to judge something on it's own standards. You wouldn't say the Beatles are bad because their songs are too short. Or that Beethoven is bad because his pieces are too long. You judge them on different standards. Though they are both music they both are trying to achieve different things. A rubric like the one in chapter 7 may be appropriate for argumentative essays (big emphasis on may be) but I would be wary of using these standards anything less formal. Take into consideration who the research is based on, "Paul Diederich, John French and Sydell Carlton asked (in 1974) 60 professionals, including 30 college professors, 10 writers and editors, 10 lawyers, and 10 businessmen to read 300 papers . . . "(pg. 122) i.e. old fat white guys. I'm willing to bet that that group would've scored a book like Mango Street poorly. Don't get me wrong. I think it's necessary to distinguish good literature from crap. The fact that Kite Runner sits on the same shelf as Paris Hilton's "autobiography" makes me want to puke. But I still think we need to rely on ourselves to determine what is good literature rather than some arbitrary list of numbers.

This doesn't solve any problems when considering how to establish consistent grading standards when addressing student papers. I'm just playing devil's advocate. The devil of a non-numbered world. I just don't want my assessment of students to be as white-upper-class biased as standardized testing.

Assessment - slowly becoming clearer

Assessment is a topic I know so little about and is so important that I worry about starting as a teacher and just not knowing what all of my options are or what to expect. I am a little disappointed that these two chapters only gave two pages to authentic assessment and then the rest is on portfolio assessment and the 6 Trait Model. I'm understanding that a lot of assessment my first few years will be trial and error to figure out what tells me the most about what my students are learning.

Before this semester, I was unfamiliar with portfolios as a type of (authentic) assessment. I think it sounds like a really great idea and am looking forward to trying it in my classroom. I'm glad chapter six included surveys and rubrics. These are so helpful and many books will provide examples of student writing, but never how to assess student writing. I'm kind of curious how useful portfolios are to all students. Would they work in writing classrooms filled with students who did not plan on furthering their education? What do you do with kids who are extremely unorganized or often lose things?

I also had no idea what the Six-Trait Model was before this class. Chapter seven really sold the concept to me. It makes so much sense that providing students with the same terminology to discuss writing will help them learn to revise effectively. Some of the steps (like connecting writing to literature and providing time and resources) are similar to other advise we've received in the past. I like how this gives you a step by step guide to teaching students the correct way to revise. I think so many teachers assume that students know how to do this, when few do much more than proofreading. I feel like these two chapters were extremely helpful. I do wish they covered a broader range of assessment tools, however.

student writing

I agree with Jared... the problem students are not really addressed in this article. I think they should be! How do we inspire students who are not interested to write? Certainly marking their papers with red ink everywhere is not going to help anything, but I wonder if there is some way they could be inspired. I was thinking about what we were talking about the other day and maybe it would be a good idea to give students opportunities in writing where grammar is not relevant or necessary and they can write however they'd please; maybe it would inspire them to let loose a little! Of course, we would also need to assign formal papers that need to focus on grammar and the specifics. Would this be confusing to the students? I can see how it could be but I think it could also be beneficial. If students become more comforable with free writing and idea writing maybe they would be more receptive to trying something a little more formal? I mean as long as they know there is a time for personal writing and a time for formal writing could this technique be successful?

Responding to students writing

I really like the idea of writing workshop, but I think I'm going to be the kind of teacher that does a lot of reading and writing...together!!! Yes, some days I will have an official writing and reading workshop day, but mostly I want to incorporate both of them together! I think it is very important not only to set an example by writing when the students write but take that time and talk with the students about their writing. I want to let my students know that not everything that they write in my class will be graded and that they are free to write about what the want.

I still have burning questions and I would really like to get some feed back on how to grade students that are not at the 10th, 11th or whatever level they are suppose to be at in reading and writing?! I don't think it is right to hold every student accountable for the exact same thing because I know that I will get students that can barley write in the 8th grade level when they are suppose to be in hs. But how do I grade that student that just can't write, do I need a separate rubric to give them or what??? Then, if I do have a student that is very low in their writing skills what can I do to assist them without taking time away from my other students?

Nancie knows best...

As usual, i really enjoyed reading the Nancie Atwell chapter.  She always seems to have the perfect method for teaching workshops.  She makes it seem so simple.  Although i'm sure she's struggled along the way, she makes the concept of writing workshop really easy to understand.  I especially enjoyed the list of questions that can be used to guide students in their writing.  She makes sure that the work and the ideas come from the students instead of just telling them what to do. I think this is a great way to teach writing.  Especially after watching and seeing some of the middle schoolers at the Youth Writing Conference last week, it's become very clear that young writers have something to say.  Atwell does job showing future teachers how to set students in the right direction. 

However, my one difficulty with the chapter, and the idea of writing workshop as a whole is that i worry some students need technical help first.  I had the chance to read several pieces of student writing from my field class and there is such a huge variation in capability.  I do think writing workshop could be helpful in such a wide ranged class, but i felt that so many students needed grammatical and structural guidance first.  Some of the papers i read were composed of one or two giant run-ons or used incorrect verb tenses.  I know we discussed grammar last week and many people think that it shouldn't be taught but i seriously think some of these students need it.  Maybe no one has ever showed them how to form sentences or conjugate verbs.  I think these points are incredibly important to know.  To me it seemed that the problem was not creativity or ideas, it was grammar.  What instructional path would be best in this situation?

Student writing...

...is really fun to read!

I liked all of the examples that Atwell used, especially the essay a boy wrote about the craziness of his family. Kids are funny, and I like being reminded of that.

"Every adult remembers at least one waking experience comparable to Chute's nightmare, when an English teacher's response took the form of an attack: red ink bled all over a piece of writing that represented the writer's level best" (45). I do NOT want to be this kind of a teacher, and this was a good chapter for that. It makes me realize that grammar alone does not matter as much as I might want it to, and not all grammar needs to be corrected as I might write something. Students have a mind of their own, and I think sometimes they are trained by teachers to try to get into the teacher;s mind instead of their own. They all have stories to tell, they all have their own experiences; who are we to tell someone that something they write isn't good enough? Sometimes I feel like this is easier said than done, though, because as teachers, we want everything to be written up to our standard. I think there is a fine line though, because at the same time we do need to hold students accountable for what they are writing.

For myself, though, I just want to be more aware of the effort that students put into their work; I don't want them to feel like anything they are doing isn't good enough simply because I say so. I think the questions and examples that Atwell provides do a good job of this--but I wonder, how are her classes so great?!

Helpful Advice

I really found this chapter by Atwell to be very helpful. I am often concerned about how to approach students' writing. This may stem from my personal occasional writer's block or revising issues. Nevertheless, I think Atwell presents some practical pointers for addressing students and their writing.

For one, I think she brings up the emotional/psychological side of writing that is important to consider. For many students, writing makes them vulnerable which can hinder them from sharing or even getting started in the first place. For others, their lack of confidence might keep them from trying. Creating a safe and encouraging community of writers (as we've talked about in the past) would probably help those apprehensive writers.

I have also wondered how writing conferences should be structured. They were often only an option in my high school English classes, so most students didn't go through the trouble--unless they were really stuck. Moving around the classroom shows that the teacher is more engaged in what the students are working on then having them come to him or her, I think. Atwell's suggested questions and thirteen content conference guidelines would be both helpful and practical. I am definitely going to be using some of her ideas for my own writing conferences. She also stresses the importance of students conferencing with one another. This would most likely help them to improve upon their writing independently by reading/revising other students' work.

TDP 4020 makes me Not want to teach:

Thankfully, this class does! Big time.

This is an area that I am really excited to participate in as a future teacher. I can't wait to hear what my students have to say in hopes that they feel comfortable enough to say whatever it is they want. The only problem is getting them to that point and then creating a mutual understanding with my students as to what is deemed appropriate and sufficient. I think its important as a teacher to understand that everyone wants to know how to improve and young writers generally want to be heard, it all boils down to how you handle a particular situation.

When I start teaching, I hope that I never forget what it was like to be a student. I always dreaded turning in my first paper because I never knew what to expect back from my teacher. I felt that every teacher graded differently and looked for different things. What I failed to realize is that many teachers are understanding and want students to grow as writers. I don't plan on holding all my students to the same level of expectations, but I do expect to see them put enough effort in their writing to help them become not only a better writer, but a more creative, risk taking, voice established writer. I want to be the teacher that allows his students to take their writing where they want it to go. I'll simply ask the question, "What could you do next?" Of course, I'll guide them if they are going in the wrong direction. Another point that I think is important is to communicate with your students while they are writing, not once they are done. I felt overwhelmed when I would get a rough draft back with all kinds of "suggestions". Instead, provide the students with ideas and tips while they write so they can incorporate those techniques into their "rough draft".

This article definitely helped me get an idea of what to expect as a future teacher. I sure I will learn a lot through trial and error, either way, I can't wait.

Oooh, I like this stuff!

I really enjoyed reading this article! I think the article gave many great ideas and insights into student writing, conferencing, and responding. What I liked most about her ideas, was the pages and pages of questions to use for editing a paper. From what I have seen in high school classrooms, is that many times when students are asked to revise their own papers or to peer-edit a friend's, they are either given no guidelines at all, or are given just a handful. I don't think a paper will ever be written to its best ability by only checking for spelling or punctuation mistakes. Instead, Atwell lists several questions about purpose, information, leads, conclusions, titles, and style. She really covers all the bases, and gives her students the BEST chance of revising their paper. I think it would be really cool to have all of these topics on posters around the room, listing out the editing questions for each one. That way, when students are sitting in class, just staring at their paper, thinking about how they can change it, they can look up, read a question, and go back through looking for a more specific thing. Another thing I really liked about this article, is the way Atwell dealt with her students when they needed help. Her specific example with Arelitsa on page 50 was a great example of how a teacher should respond. Arelitsa was stuck on something with her paper, and needed help knowing where to go next. Instead of solving her problem and telling her exactly what to do, the teacher simply asked a few probing things to get Arelitsa to think and come to the conclusion on her own.

Interesting stuff... I'm excited to actually use this someday.

-Lacy

Nancie has quite a group of students...

I've read quite a bit from Nancie Atwell and it seems she has the smartest, most focused students ever. Sometimes  I feel like she is promoting her way of teaching so much that she forgets to tell us how to handle students who down care. Some students are going to hate to read and write. Some will be little scientists in the making who could care less about writing a fiction piece. How do we deal with these kids when doing a reading and writing workshop? Anyway, I do like her 13 "Content Conference Guidelines." One thing I have wondered about was how to go about doing the student conferences and these guideline are very helpful.

How will I respond?

I really admire Atwell's conferencing procedures. I would like to borrow her ideas when I begin writing conferences, because they seem so perfect! Her mandatory conferencing equipment, for example, sounds like a great start: "the status-of-the-class record on a clipboard, a pad of four-by-six-inch Post-it notes...and my footstool" (49). The status-of-the-class record on a clipboard would extinguish the need for asking students, during class, where they are in their writing. The Post-it notes seem ideal for helping students remember your suggestions, because all too often, students don't write down your comments and later forget them (therefore not revising or improving their writing). Hopefully, I will also be able to carry a footstool around the room in order to look my students in the eye and comfortably situate myself in front of their writing.

When it comes to asking questions, I also plan on using Atwell's list of questions found on page 54. These questions are open-ended, which force students to give detailed, clarifying answers. I may even carry the questions around with me when I first begin implementing writing conferences, so as not to get stuck or feel unhelpful. Then, once I get used to the questions, I can come up with my own or have these questions embedded in my brain.

I found this article very useful and am glad I read it!

Responding to student writing

So far in my field I've been lucky enough to encounter a lot of student writing. They've been writing reviews over the books they read for lit circles. It's a neat way to get the students thinking about their text critically, and I think it would be worth considering when in the real teaching world. (My host teacher is Mackenzie Everett-Kennedy, if you'd want to ask her anything about the lesson). I think the biggest problems facing students writers (or the biggest problem I've faced in the Career Comm class) has been writing that goes nowhere. "This book is an example of what people can do when they're facing adversity. John faces adversity throughout the whole book. He has to deal with it when he was a kid too. One time his mom had cancer and their house burned down. It would be tough for anyone to have to go through all this, and it was really hard for John too." That's not a verbatim example of student writing, but that's what I've seen so far. (But who knows, maybe the papers other than the other 2 or 3 I've looked at are brilliant). This is especially hard for me to address with the students. I can tell that they've been working hard to get what they have so far, so I'm afraid to say "This is all redundant, scrap it!" I try to say something like "let your voice shine through" or "spend less time talking about what happened in the book and more time giving your impressions." But sometimes I'm scared that this may be too advanced for them. Sometimes I feel like they're just at the stage where getting something down is important, but I feel compelled take it further. However, I don't want to frustrate the kids.

I really try to ignore grammar when I look at their papers, but it's just too easy sometimes. Against my better judgement, I've wasted time on the easy clerical stuff before, sacrificing an analysis of what's really going wrong in the paper. I love the Charles Cooper quote on page 77, "It's easier to persist with commas if you know you're engaged in some fundamentally important human activity that has very great consequence for your full development as a human being." It is easier. Grammar correction is the monday morning quarterbacking of the writing world.