The articles we’ve had to read in class have helped me solidify some of my own ideas about teaching. For example, one of the first articles we read in the beginning of the semester brought attention to how students tend to take on different ‘personas’ depending on who their target audience is and the purpose behind their writing. This led to a class discussion about how what we (students) really learn in high school is essentially how to be a good student and work the system. Other articles also brought to my attention some of the teaching methods my previous teachers used when I was in K-12, and have resulted in my becoming a little bit angry.

I think, for this mutli-modal project, I really just want to showcase my own ideas about teaching writing as well as my attitude towards certain methods. personally, what matters most for me- and what should matter most for a writers audience- is the content and that it is effectively conveyed to the reader. Based on my own experiences, a majority of my high school teachers strongly supported and believed in this cookie-cutter styled essay model- 5 paragraphs: intro conclusion, body made of 2 pieces of evidence with 2 sentences of analysis for each.

We see in different writing genre how writers play with form and image and even sounds when they compose their words- examples being House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski, Easter Wings by George Herbert, and Dentist Dan by Shel Silverstein. Such a huge emphasis is placed on grammar, and I’ve even seen in my 30 workshop classes that students are always treated their first draft as their final draft-always asking for revisions on their sentence structures and words while remaining completely unconcerned with their arguments and ideas. Even I, personally, have been able to get away with so many half-assed papers because of my flowery language. The only time I was ever called out was in a Psychology class.

content is important, but having a go-to cookie cutter format makes it way to easy for a student to fake-it-till-they-make-it, so many aren’t really learning anything. As mentioned earlier, they learn how to be students in high school, which preps them for a rude awakening once they reach the real world, when suddenly they aren’t able to get away with the types of material they produced as students.

I’m thinking maybe for my project to mock these students and teachers who support this ‘easy’ writing format by mimicking a pinterest photoset tutorial, but applying it to essay writing. I’m also debating on making a youtube video that parodies those ‘_blank_ hack test- DOES THIS REALLY WORK?!?!?!” on different methods of essay writing- my only difficulty will be coming up with an appropriate prompt.

Even now i’m not really sure on whether or not my intention behind the multi-modal project answered by my project, or it it’s even a good topic to explore. A part of me still feels  unsure about my own ideas of writing, but that’s because writing shouldn’t really be so constrictingly defined.

I’m personally all in favor for multimodal projects in English Comp classes. One of the main lessons that teachers tend to stress when students write their papers and read text is to be able to make connections- either to past texts, their personal experiences, or their understanding of the material. These projects allow them to do just that, but in informal ways that- in my opinion- show an even broader understanding of what they’re talking about. Just like with Banks’ presentation, he brought in materials from an entirely different Genre/ area of communication (music lyrics, pop culture references, etc) in order to help others either make the same connections he made or to create those connections for them- all the while demonstrating his own understanding and showcasing his opinion in a unique and memorable way.

Not all learning methods work for students- and that’s totally fine. This kind of project allows an opportunity for students to present their comprehension in an unconstricted way- just as Shipka presented with the students understanding and demonstration of a word’s definition. One gave a visual example of ‘scare’ with a literal jump scare- as well as the option to opt out for those faint of heart (myself included). Another student- in a successful attempt to vent out her frustration with the frustration she felt towards the assignment– created an elaborate test that reflected the meaning of her word ‘mirrors.’

I performed a simple google search for my question, “purpose of English Comp for Colleges,” and my results both pleased and angered me. The very first result took me to a website for an online ‘low cost’ college that stressed:

“In order to succeed in this verbal whirlwind, you don’t just need to know how to read and write. You have to know how to read between the lines, how to compose, persuade, understand and respond. That’s the focus of English Composition: empowering you to interact with the world on your terms, in your own words. It might be the most important life skill any 21st-century person can have. If you don’t master at least the basics, you can expect to have a harder time getting ahead in school, in life and in business.”

                                           — Beth Dumbauld, English Composition: The Most Important College Course You’ll Ever Take

Multimodal projects encompass everything ENGL Comp is set out to do- make connections, relate to material, present understanding. As we’ve discussed many times in class, Engl Comp can be difficult for both teachers and students because of the huge variety of majors that come in and out of the classrooms. Not everyone is there for English, Biology and Anthropology have different styles of writing, the 5 paragraph essay is not a universal format for every field. Just as Kim’s said, if you want students to learn how to do the thing, then make them do the thing. Generalized assignments for the sake of uniformity isn’t always helpful, and can often throw students off more rather than enhancing their understanding once they break into their major courses.

Even with a project like this, there will be those who try to play the system- as Baron’s article/chapter thing helpfully points out with every sort of advancement in technology. With this kind of project, even bullshitting an assignment is a feat in itself. You still have to show a level of understanding and you still need to be able to present whatever it is you’re presenting coherently. That’s requires a thought process that teachers in ENGL comp are always encouraging, so even a half-assed assignment required more skill and effort than fluffing up a body paragraph after running out of time and things to say.

To put it simply, I’m all in favor for the Multimodal projects. I’m not saying they should replace all assignments in the ENGL comp/ every classroom, but they should (in the very least) be presented as an option for the students.

I felt as if Russell’s article was just an echo of our class discussions: “If you want students to do the thing, then have them do the thing.” Because of this, I’m going to focus on what Wiley has to say. I knew I was going to have to mentally prepare myself for whatever Wiley had to say by his opening statement: “but don’t worry, I’m not about to rehash diatribes against the five-paragraph” (61). Oh, Joy.

So, already, we’re given a formulaic approach to writing called the Jane Schaffer Approach to teaching writing. I’m always weary of those with little modesty, so reading that Schaffer recommends her formula should be used “not just by individual teachers, but as the preferred curriculum for all language arts teachers” is very discouraging (61). Of all the ideas I could have commented on in this article, I went with these opening statements and Shaffer’s method because it kept me angry as I read this article twice.

Her approach includes having shared jargon in relation to writing between students and teachers to make critique and discussion easier. She also recommends, for a body paragraph, a specific 8-sentence format:

Topic sentence

Concrete detail 1

Commentary 1a

Commentary 1b

Concrete detail 2

Commentary 2a

Commentary 2b

Concluding sentence

These body paragraphs must be at least 100 words, with introductions and conclusions containing at least 40 words. Intros need a thesis and a minimum of three sentences; conclusions have all of the commentaries from the body paragraphs. This format makes me angry, but what makes me especially bitter is that “this format replicates what is found in high scoring essays on district wide tests and AP exams” (62).

I am personally offended for two reasons with the first being that this is the successful method for student’s test scores. To me, this feels like a cop out. Look at my blog post. This post appears to be blatantly disrespecting this ‘writing formula,’ but am I not getting my point across? Am I not using ‘concrete details’ and ‘commentary’ without having to structure them immediately after one another? My body paragraphs haven’t even broken 60 words, but does this mean I’ve jeopardized my paper? I will allow that this is not a paper, but a blog post in response to an article. The only reason that this is even called a ‘blog post’ is due to the method of which I’m presenting this paper (look at that, 130 words).

While reading this article, I made a connection to another formula of essay writing Jaxon had my class discussed in Intro to Literacy: The Twitter Essay. The purpose behind this formula was mainly in defense against the degradation of English Language, but this article can also be applied towards my point. The author, Jesse Stommel, tells his own students to condense their argument with support into 140 characters:

“In composing their Twitter-essay, I have students proceed through all the steps I would have them take in writing a traditional academic essay, including brainstorming, composing, workshopping, and revising. I also have them consider and research their audience, the Twitter members engaged in discussion around a particular hashtag. Finally, I have them work dynamically with the Tweets of their peers, responding to them on Twitter and close-analyzing them in class. I ask the students to consider their word-choice, use of abbreviation, punctuation, etc. (Stommel, “The Twitter Essay”)

This idea puts an emphasis on content more so than presentation. Schaffer’s formula allows those grading the papers to easily identify the quotes and commentary with a simple scan of the page while quickly judging how well students executed each. Schaffer says that “teachers are happier with the results when they read essays with a 1:2+ ratio,” and I can confidently hazard a guess as to why. It’s the arguments made, the content, that should be given attention, not the structure of the paper. This ‘paper’ that you’re reading would be ripped to shreds in any other context or blog post because of my wacky format, but shouldn’t my argument and evidence be valued more than the fact that this paragraph is made up of 100 words?

My second complaint is this emphasis on competition. Schaffer’s format is reflected, as written in the article, in high scoring AP papers and district wide tests. It’s doesn’t matter whether or not the student can form a cohesive argument and be able to back up their words with evidence; ultimately, it’s how well they score, and, when left to the judgement of the teacher, presentation is everything. This ‘formula,’ with an introduction, 2-3 body paragraphs, and a conclusion, with each body paragraph containing at least 2 commentaries for every 1 piece of textual evidence, is a method I know all too well how to (pardon my language) bullshit all over my page.

Schaffer wants this method to be used by all language arts teachers, but this method- instead of helping students improve their writing and argument building- only makes it easier for a student to bullshit whatever the teacher wants to hear. Since middle school, my fellow classmates and I easily wrote beautiful papers that were essentially flowers covering a discarded candy wrapper. The only time I ever got reprimanded for writing a ‘paper without content’ was in my AP psychology class- a non-language arts class that required an entirely different approach to writing.

Why is learning a competition? Why are we making learning a competition? Education’s goal should be to educate, not to place a value on a person based on how advanced their knowledge is. Those who don’t do well are discouraged and faced with a constant reminder of how they’re performing compared to their classmates. There are plenty of students who can make well thought out and supported arguments without needing to use as many words as the ‘writing formula’ preaches, but they are faced with the stress to fill in the blanks of that chart shown above that they do poorly trying to give their teachers what they want.

Structure can be good for some students. Yes, it can be a helpful template for those struggling with where to start or how to approach presenting their arguments. Ultimately, however, for Schaffer to say that her method should be used by all schools frustrates me. Learning and writing (oh Lord, especially writing) shouldn’t be this static, constrained thing. It should by dynamic and changing to embrace the needs of students. As our society evolves, so should the methods behind teaching and writing.

To use this method as a suggestion or an example, I’m okay with. It is a good teaching tool. To assert that it is a method that every classroom needs (and knowing that some teachers will misunderstand that this formula is a suggestion, not an expectation or essay requirement) is what bothers me. Even though the article discusses the advantages and disadvantages of this method (some of which I’ve echoed in my writing), my tantrum is mainly thrown in anticipation of the teachers that will make this structure their edict for essays.

I lied, this isn’t a how-to. You can, however, learn by observing ;)

So, I don’t exactly have my book in front of me because I’m an idiot, so my blog post is primarily based off of my understanding of what LPP is based on what was discussed in class.  LPP focuses primarily on analyzing learning in social settings, on the ways in which people observe and eventually participate in a group they’d like to be apart of (for the most part); chapter 1 references how “children are…quintessentially legitimate peripheral participants in adult social worlds” (I found a solution to my predicament) and that “learners inevitably participate in communities of practitioners and that the mastery of knowledge and skill requires newcomers to move toward full participation in the sociocultural practices of a community.”

Comparing this definition to that of my internship, I know know that there are two groups of LPP going on. I feel as if the students are unintentionally trying to figure out how they should interact with us (the mentor and I) since we are both students ourselves. There are no other points of reference for them to go off of, which leads them to being flat out told how they can approach us and to observe the responses that other students are given in the way they talk to us and the questions they ask. The form of LPP that the students are aware of doing is working on ‘better improving’ their writing. This is what they’ve been put in the workshop for, and it starts with them observing what they’ve been deemed to be ‘doing wrong’ in their papers. I don’t know how the workshop is going to be run, so they could be observing how to write ‘better’ papers through examples and lectures/tips before participating through writing their own papers with these methods. At the same time, they could also be picking up tips from the mentor and I in navigating through college life/freshman year: we spent our Wednesday class making a list of links on a google doc for the freshman consisting of food delivery websites, taxi services, places that are fun to go to, bus schedule, etc- anything they could possibly get information for online in regards to their education, enjoyment, and safety.

I wonder if the students are even aware of this kind of social learning. I certainly wasn’t aware of it until LPP was brought up in class. I guess I always found myself picking up habits from ‘more experienced’ people without even thinking about it. I’d just be “oh, the teacher’s don’t mind if I leave to go to the bathroom without asking? Sweet,” or “The seniors (in highschool) park in the back of the parking lot? I’ll park there next week I guess” or something like that.

At the same time, it makes me sad because isn’t that just a form of conforming to fit in with another group? We’re so hellbent on being individuals, but in our endeavors we find that we’re removing ourselves out of one group and placing ourselves into another. It’s all very bleak.