New Semester, New Questions

The Spring semester begins and I have another set of lovely students. Blessed as I am, this bunch of students is engaged, asking questions and always open to discussion. With the help of a fellow colleague, I incorporated more activities into the course to further engage the students. My first activity of this semester was very useful. After we introduced ourselves, I made the students break into groups of 4. I then made the first of the four students write a sentence about smoking. Then the second student in the group would elaborate on the first student's sentence. Then the third and fourth do the same until there is a full story.

I asked: What is the purpose of this activity? The students were baffled. In my passionate ranting I went on a tirade about how writing is a collaborative process. That we borrow and extend ideas of others in parallel to our own ideas. That this type of writing is relevant to their very degrees: business majors write case studies based on ideas explored in other relevant case studies, biology students base their research on previous research done in the same topic.

They were entranced. This is a new idea to them. It contrasts with their high school experiences where English is focused on writing well and not content and development of ideas.

I'll keep y'all in the loop about other useful class activities. Hopefully they will all be as successful as this one.

Which is Which: finding the Main Idea, Thesis and Examples

I did a writing activity the other day. It was some what inspired, if I may say so.

I made cards that reflected the theme of identity. Each card was either a Main Idea, a Thesis, or an Example. There were 15 cards and they were divided into groups of three. Each Main Idea had a subsequent Thesis and Example that fit into the style and ideas of the Main Idea. The objective was to have the students identify the fine line between a Main Idea, a Thesis and an Example.

They worked in groups of four. And I found that one class could barely identify the difference between a Main Idea and a Thesis. While another class was more adept at these skills. It is common to have one class stronger than the other.

But generally there was a consensus that the activity was too hard.

This is interesting as identifying a Main Idea and Thesis requires an astute focus on language. Which phrasing takes a position (aka Thesis) and which one is making a statement (aka Main Idea). Student's lack this astute focus and the objective of Composition teachers is to teach these skills.

Not only was I able to assess the level of my students, but I was also able to challenge myself in figuring out ways to engage these students into figuring these differences out without overwhelming them.

The activity was hard, but it taught them a lesson in language and now I'm finding that both classes are more able to express the Main Idea of a text versus its Thesis, which was the goal of the activity.

I hope to incorporate more of this into the classroom, but time is limited and students do loose focus when in working in groups forcing one student to do all the work while the others gabber about their day.

I'm trying really hard to outwit there laziness, but this is not always easy. In any case, this activity proved very useful.

Beginning of the Semester

The beginning of the semester is always the most daunting experience. Student's faces and names are new. And for some of us the question "will they like me" arises.

I am one of those people. I feel that if the students like the Instructor they are more willing to learn.

This might be a misgiving. Discipline requires a degree of objectivity and distance.

The other day I asked "Do you find this material boring?" And one brave student said yes. I received mixed messages about this statement: "He was rude and shouldn't have said that." versus "He was expressing his feelings and that's good for trust."

I responded to his statement with this: "I will do the best to make this material interesting, but we have to get through these key concepts."

The following week everyone was saying "This is boring Ms."

And I wondered, did my question spark an epidemic? Are they saying and feeling this because I asked?

At the beginning of the semester I tend to include a lot of informative lessons on Composition. Like "How to Write an Essay" and "What is Summary Writing." Then I emphasize on these skills through the texts we study in class. Perhaps my method is wrong. Perhaps I should spread out these lessons throughout the course more evenly. Perhaps I shouldn't have asked "Are you bored?"

But my instinct is to please the students so they respond to material discussed in class. And for the most part they do respond. Answering questions like "What is a thesis?" and "Is this argumentative?"

I'm still new to teaching so I wonder where do we draw the line between friendly and lovable and firm and strict?