It’s almost the end of April. And I’m struggling. I know many of you are also struggling, but hang in there! The end is near!

With the multi-modal project looming over my head, I feel overwhelmed. With all of this new found freedom I have been given to express my thoughts I don’t know what to do!

I want the project to encompass everything I have learned from this semester, but that’s just not possible. So, what do I really want to focus on?

I think the two things that have stood out to me the most is LPP and multi-modality. To put it in extremely simple words, let kids figure out on their own way to express their ideas in an area that aids the learning of the student. It’s rather hard to portray these things though.

When brainstorming for this assignment, immediately my brain goes to video. Video allows for a lot of information to be given in a short amount of time. Video also allows multiple modes and resources to be incorporated into the project. The issue is, I’m not all that tech savvy when it comes to taking and creating videos. I know that Kim has said to not let the technology stand in the way of our projects, but if I’m given all this freedom to create something of my own then I want to make sure the final product is goooooood.

So, Kory and Russell and I have talked a bit about creating a video. Although nothing is for certain, we want to take on the same kind of vibe of Zach  Galifianakis’ show “Between Two Ferns.” His small interview show on YouTube essentially allows satire, underhanded, passive aggressive comments, and sarcasm to combined into one perfect mini interview session. I love it. and it’s perfect for all of our personalities. As we have grown a little jaded after these years of graduate school. I think we want to incorporate the ideas we have learned and kind of poke fun at our current state of composition teaching.

We didn’t get much time to thoroughly discuss our ideas of this project, but I know it will turn out great. I’m nervous with all of this freedom we have, but I think it’s going to be fun to see where the assignment ends up. Even if we don’t follow through with this idea, I want the project to be something funny and enjoyable, not unbearable and boring.

I know this blog isn’t much, but it’s all my poor brain could muster up.

Keep on keepin on! April is almost over.

 

Before I begin, I just want to say that Shipka’s article took me by surprise. Much of it was hard for me to understand and process, so I’m gonna use this blog to try to work through my ideas about what she is trying to say.

I’ve read some of your guys’ blog posts, and I’m glad to see some of you are in the same boat as I am. Here I am, about to graduate with my Masters… and the thought of having to express my ideas through some other format than an essay is terrifying. Throughout the countless years of school, I have never been exposed to this kind of framework. Letting students decide how and what to say??? is this real life?? Most of my education was spent trying to perfectly align my essay with the strict prompts provided by teachers. If the prompt wasn’t followed exactly, points were docked off. I don’t think I remember a single instance throughout all of my education where I was given the opportunity to use whatever materials and modes I wanted. The guidelines on an assignment were given to me, and like I was trained, I followed the rules accordingly in order to not miss points. For these reasons, the idea of multi-modality is a little intimidating and scary…but also exciting. I feel like this class has opened my eyes to so many different ways to look and think about teaching, and this is another example of something that will influence my teaching career one day.

The funny thing is, at first when Kim told us that we were going to be making our own multi-modal project, I was stoked! Once doing a little bit of brainstorming and beginning to work on the assignment, I was stuck. What do I do? What should I use? Do I really have this much freedom? Is this a bad choice? I’m so brainwashed! Immediately my brain started thinking if only I could use a powerpoint… This makes me sick! I think that this is the underlying message of what Shipka’s whole article is about. Why are things like this?

Here I am. 23 years old. Almost 19 years of education. And I freeze up when given the opportunity to choose how I was to present my ideas. This makes me really sad. Although unknowingly, I have gone throughout my entire academic career without this kind of freedom. And I know I’m not the only one. My peers and I have been part of an education system that focuses solely on writing in the form of a composition. We have been so trained to express our ideas in the structured, outlined, five-paragraph essay, that I feel lost when given freedom to choose a different format.

What if we changed how things were done? What is instead of telling students how they should form and express their ideas, they were given the freedom to do whatever they wanted? In her article, Shipka talks about the changes that would happen if students were given opportunities like this. She says, ” The task-based multimodal framework offered here represents, I suggest, one way of responding to Yancey’s call. It highlights what students might accomplish when they are provided with opportunities: (1) to set their own goals for the work they engage in in the course; (2) to draw upon a wider range of communicative resources than courses have typically allowed; (3) to speak to the ways the various choices they have made serve, alter, or complicate those goals; and (4) to attend to the various ways in which communicative texts and events shape, and take shape from, the contexts and media in which they are produced and received.”

I completely agree with this quote. If I were given more multi-modal opportunities in my early education, maybe my ways of thinking and creativity would be different. I’d be able to use a wider range of materials and resources, explain how they have helped or hindered the message I am trying to get across, and be more skilled in interacting with various contexts and media.

Like I said before, this whole Shipka s#!^ is really intimidating and overwhelming to me. So I hope I was able to kinda work through my ideas as I wrote.

 

I’d say I read quite frequently and come in contact with multiple writing styles on a daily basis. Seeing as I’m in graduate school, the reading never stops. So. much. reading, So obviously this is one way that I am exposed to writing. Other than the stuff that’s assigned to me, I am also frequently checking social media and browsing the internet. I come across articles, quizzes, polls, stories, and much more. In all of the reading I’ve done outside of school, I honestly don’t think I’ve EVER seen the 5P essay be used.

I find it interesting how students are expected to write a certain way, but this manner of writing is never used in the real world. I whole heartedly believe that learning must have some kind of context and meaning behind it. In most people’s cases, just like mine, grew up learning the extremely strict guidelines for how to write a five paragraph essay. Structure, rules, expectations were shoved down our throats since the moment we were competent enough to write. Throughout my entire school career, I learned how to write things a certain way, and there was no swaying from this way. Many times I would miss points on an essay because the order of my body paragraphs wasn’t quite correct. Or would lose points for not having a strong enough introduction. Or conclusion for that matter. Either way, we grew up learning the “correct” way to write.

I feel like a lot of students could reach their writing potential if they were granted permission to write whatever they want. However they want. I believe a lot of students get discouraged about their writing abilities due to the harsh repercussions they received as a punishment for not following a extremely specific format.

I’ve never once seen a five paragraph used for anything other than in middle and high school english classes. Not one tweet, facebook post, blog entry, or whatever else has ever followed this format. Hmmmmm…. interesting.

this is my second semester working in the ESL center. This semester, however, I have a much different point of view of things due to the topics with are covering in class. In regards to LPP, I think that I see some strong examples, and some not so great examples. For this post, I will use the guidelines given to us by Kim:

Try using LPP to think through your internship space: what is the relationship between the participants? What is the space like? What materials and resources are used? How do the relationships, materials, and space shape the learning environment? What does the mentoring look like in the internship?

 

To be honest, there is not much of a relationship between the participants whatsoever. Students come in voluntarily, and for the most part they come in alone. When they come in, they immediately start meeting with a tutor. There is no interaction between them and other students coming in for help.

The space of the ESL center is quite nice. There are plenty of tables and couches throughout the space. There is also a computer and printer available for students to use when they need. Each table has notepads, paper, pens, and highlighters for tutoring sessions. There are also many resourceful posters and handouts regarding certain writing structures and other features of essays.

In my opinion, the combination of the space and resources work together well to create a positive learning environment. However, I have heard that the space is a bit intimidating to those who come in. I guess some people have a hard time figuring out what to do and therefore feel intimidated and unsure. Other than this, the space is welcoming and allows for students get help from their peers. The style of this center is much less formal than a typical classroom and the fact that students are tutoring other students takes away the formality factor.

In this internship, the mentoring looks like one on one sessions between tutor and student. Student bring in various assignments such as essays and presentations. Sometime students just want to come in and practice their English conversation skills.

overall, I am much more aware of my surroundings and what is going on in the center. I try to look at things from a more critical and constructive point of view now.

I’m excited to learn more and see how it applies to this internship in the future.

After reading some of your blog posts, it makes me feel better to know that you guys struggled with this reading as well. Many times I found myself re-reading a sentence and trying to decipher whether I was actually reading English or some sort of academic, super fancy language I know nothing about. After class discussions and conversations with my group, I think I’m getting a better grasp of this whole concept.

Although I mentioned this in class, I want to reiterate because I think this issue is extremely relevant to the topics of our class. In class on Wednesday, I noted how my best friend and I are both currently enrolled in post-baccalaureate courses at Chico State. We both graduated from undergrad in 2014, and immediately started our programs. She is in the Teaching Credential Program, while I am in the Teaching International Languages Master’s program. Many times throughout the course of our studies we have consulted each other due to the fact that many of our courses are similar. Although her focus is on secondary education and mine is on ESL, many of the things we are studying are seemingly parallel. We learn about the same theories, methods, and strategies for teaching. Now here is big problem, even though both of us are in these programs to ultimately become teachers, the way in which we are learning to do so could not be more different.

In her program, she has had to shadow a teacher every week, five days a week, 8 hours a day. On top this, she also has the master’s level courses she must concurrently take while maintaining a full-time teacher’s schedule. My program on the other hand, only focuses on the courses. Throughout the entire course of our curriculum, there are approximately 5-6 times we have had to teach a lesson. These lessons were not full lessons, rather what they refer to as micro-teaches.

Although I have noticed these notable differences before, it hasn’t quite resonated as strongly as it has since I’ve started this course. Upon learning about LPP, I am astounded!!!!!! Although I have always known that my program in lacking in hands-on experience, I never quite realized how askew this plan of action for preparing future teachers really is. Now don’t get me wrong, I love the stuff I am studying and my program is amazing, but is this really the best way to prepare us to be teachers? Afterall, the name of the program is TEACHING international languages, but are we actually being prepared to TEACH? The main thing I’ve done as a master’s student is write papers, learn how to conduct research, and write more papers. I believe that a solid foundation in theory and methods is critical for teachers, but there must be more than that. I believe that it would be more beneficial to actually TEACH, instead of learning about teaching through classwork and reading.

Now that I have a better understanding of LPP and my viewpoint of learning in general has transformed because of this class, I think I am a little critical and skeptical of my program. BAH HUM BUG TIL program!!!! We need more hands-on experience and real-life practice.

Rant=OVER.