We’ll use Perusall to annotate and read together. 
Yes, No, and I Don’t Know- Cherie Tice
So Bartholomae. Yeah. That was a fun read. -shakes head- Okay it kind of was, but to be honest there were really only two things that stood out to me. The first being the comparison in what is implied as “freshmen” papers. This was particularly confusing to me because the one paper was well written, grammatically correct, something I can easily imagine a teacher giving an A grade on. The other basically sounded like the student was using phrases he had heard and popped them all together, to create a piece of written work. Both papers received a high grade. One because it was well written and grammatically correct and the other because the person tried to use words and structure and whatnot that is just beyond their level??? I don’t know about anyone else but when I tried to go beyond in such a way and my papers sounded choppy, like the one in the article and I never got a high grade. There were notes like “see me” or “re-write” There was nothing that said that what I did was even remotely the right thing to do. I think attempting to go above and beyond like that should be encouraged but at the same time I have to wonder if giving them a high grade was a good thing considering they now think that it is good and it will not need work in the future, not taking into account that the student will have multiple teachers with multiple styles they will have to deal with.
The second was about acting in authority, specifically if a student says i don’t know it’s not because they do not know but because they do not feel they have enough knowledge to speak with authority about the subject. Sometimes this is very true for me but other times i legitimately do not know. I am in school to learn, not because I know everything already. In the moments after is where some learning can happen, because someone will answer the question. The student that said I don’t know will learn a possible answer that will help them speak with authority later. There are times where i am not sure if people don’t speak in class because they feel they lack authority or if they lack the confidence. I think those two things work together in a way.
One Reply to “Yes, No, and I Don’t Know- Cherie Tice”
I have to say that when a teacher is giving criticism on the paper instead of saying “re-write” they should explain the reasoning for re-writing the paper. If the note did say “see me” the teacher should use this opportunity to explain the different parts of the essay that should be revised and have the student take notes on these fixes in order to improve their writing. It is difficult for the student to write a paper that they know nothing or little about. I believe that the teacher’s main goal is for the student to learn the information to write their paper and to develop their own style. With the restrictions of rubrics and teacher opinions this can hinder the student’s true form of writing. Giving both student’s high grades in Bartholomae’s examples was not beneficial towards the students in the long run of writing essays and developing their own forms of writing, As a teacher I would have made the students add their own opinion to the essay once they researched all the facts, but each assignment is determined and controlled by the teacher. The students need to learn to be flexible in their writing skills, but also learn to have their own voice.
In response to the second paragraph I believe that if the student doesn’t know the information then they should take the responsibility and initiative to research the information and learn independently if the teacher isn’t teaching the appropriate material for the assignment. This situation is also a great example to learn from of what not to do as a teacher. In response to students not raising their hands I know that I don’t raise my hand in class because either most of the students have said what I wanted to say and I have no more original thoughts (which can be very frustrating sometimes) or I am not given the chance to raise my hand with so many people participating/speaking. If given the right moment I will raise my hand and volunteer what I have to say ;)