Christensen Chapter 8

I think this was an excellent chapter, and one that most of us could easily relate to in regard to our own high school experiences. As a student who took honors and AP courses all through high school I perhaps was on the other end of the spectrum. For instance, throughout my entire education I took advanced classes, was used to having hours upon hours of homework each time, and learned to adapt to a fairly rigorous schedule. However, my senior year I began to get burnt out with taking advanced classes in all my core subjects. My last semester I dropped my AP English class (ironic right, now that I'm becoming an English teacher) and took a general untracked class in its placement. Also, that semester I became a teacher's assistant for a remedial chemistry class and this really opened my eyes to the difference that teachers and students interacted between AP classes, and untracked general courses. For instance, I was surprised at the lack of effort, particiapation, and motivation that students in untracked classes which in my experience had a direct result with the teacher at hand. Ultimately, the teacher didnt enjoy the class and didn't find a need to encourage students that were labeled as average and the students behavior reflected this. Likewise as the teacher aid I saw students in some of these classes that had the potential to do great things, and could succeed if they were given the opportunity to  be placed into other classes. I recognize why tracking is used, but feel that there are many cases where students fall between the cracks, and that as teachers we should treat each class with the same level of motivation, and not be afraid to push students a bit harder. Just because a student is in English 10A instead of AP Composition, does not mean that they do not have the potential to do great things. It is our personal responsibility to be knowledgeable about English, and pass on our love, our passion, our ideas onto students. If we do not show students that we believe in them, and that they have the potential to do great things, who will?

Gilmore Chapter 7-So What's Your Story?

I liked the concept of this chapter because often times pieces of creative writing in high school don’t get much attention, let alone revision time. Writing a poem, or a creative fictional piece is very different from writing a thesis driven research paper. Therefore its only natural that the revision would be different as well.

I must say that I feel like a slacker when it comes to responding to this chapter because I don’t have any particularly striking things to say. I think that Gilmore presents some really great strategies that I can use in my own writing. I like his ideas on poetry specifically, I think he has some great insight and like that he really stresses the idea of giving yourself time to work on a project. While a poem can come to you in 15 minutes, revising it the next day may not be constructive, it may be something that needs a few weeks, months even to go back to and really dig in deep to what you had to say, and maybe even combining other works. How true.

Lastly I liked the last sentence of this chapter: “If we can make writing fun and profitable (not in dollars but in satisfaction) we’ll help to create lifelong writers as well as better readers.”
Amen. Haha, but really isn’t this the whole point of why we are teaching English?Well said Barry Gilmore, well said.

Gilmore Chapter 6-You're Just My Type

First let it be known I giggled at the title of this chapter, because I’m immature and enjoy the cheesiness, now that I have gotten that statement off my chest…technology eh?

I think that in our generation it is only natural that technology will continued to be incorporated into our classroom. Currently most of my classes at the college level use webvista, or other classroom specific websites, or message boards/forums to discuss assignments and so on and so forth. I think this ideas are great, however may prove to be frustrating for students that have limited or no means of getting online. While most of the world is plugged in, and has access to the internet, there are many individuals that simply do not have those means at home. I think that using these resources in class is great, specifically when students have access to computers on a daily basis, but that there should be some sensitivity given to assignments given outside of class in regard to doing work on computers.

Overall this chapter was an interesting read, but I may just be a bit old fashioned in my thinking. I like the idea of incorporating technology like I said but I’m not a huge fan of emailing my professors papers, and I’m not sure how I feel about the electronic revision…maybe I am just stuck in my comfortable ways? I think Gilmore has a good head on his shoulders though, and I really like that he says teachers have a chance to either embrace technology or fight against it. I think the most important thing to keep in mind is that there needs to be a balance between everything in a classroom, and while some of these strategies arnt my favorite, that I can find some other ways to incorporate technology into my classroom. Though on a completely hypocritical last thought statement I do like the idea of having a class website in highschool. I think it would be a good place to post class notes, due dates, and various strategies for students to use.

Gilmore Chapter 5- Can We Leave Yet?

I love lists, I love structure, I like when I receive a little piece of direction because Lord knows I am one of the least focused people that have walked this Earth. With this little background in mind I really love Gilmore’s strategy of giving students a check list of revision strategies, and that this list can be adjusted depending on the amount of time each student has left. I think this is a very constructive and useful method.

For instance it is very difficult under pressure to think clearly, specifically while doing something like a standardized test in which the outcome of this test could mean scholarship money, your college future, and so on and so forth. I get nervous just thinking about it, and its been years since I’ve been in that situation. By giving students an easy and simple list I feel that it helps students recall material that has been given to them throughout their education, and now is the time to actually apply what they’ve learned. Who would have thought?

Furthermore I think another idea that Gilmore brings up is to know the test and know the readers. In high school I was very blessed that my teachers did do a great job at preparing us for AP tests. I think its essential that we have information readily available for students, and can provide lessons in our curriculum that is relevant to these type of tests. For example, my teachers in high school often had us do practice tests a few weeks before, and scored them accordingly to the methods specific for that test. Likewise we were able to reflect as a class on how we did, where we excelled and where we could improve. I also like Gilmore’s idea about having students be the “reader” and going through essays and setting up your room like a testing center. While I may change up just how many papers students look at it, I think this is a great exercise for students, because it can physically show them what readers do and don’t want to see on their papers. I think this is a really constructive testing strategy that I would like to incorporate in some form into my future classroom.

Christensen Chapter 7: Portfolios

I must say this was a bit of brief chapter for Christensen, but overall an intersting take on the concept of creating student portfolios. I must say I like the idea, and with the proper direction I think this could be a great and rewarding project of sorts. My only personal experience with porfolio's was my freshman year of college in English 105. We had to create a portfolio that consited of I believe 5 essays that we had written over the course of the semester, with multiple drats, and reflections as well. I remember at the time I was not too fond of the idea because I didn't have the desite to revise papers that had already been revised and handed in, but I think it was good learning experience as well.

I think portfolios are good though for students to see the amount of growth that is made from where they started and where they now have come to be. I like that Christensen seems to be very much into personal growth rather than simply sticking a grade on top. I have had professors and teachers over the years that were on both ends of the spectrum. One moment that sticks out to me though, is that for an English class I had last year in fact, I had tried my hardest the entire semester and by the time the last paper came about I was burnt out. My style of writing had greatly improved over the course of the semester, and this is something that my professor often commented on throughout my papers. When I turned in this last paper I was not satisfied and expected a very low grade, however I actually recieved a decent score. Attached to my paper was a critique along with some comments on how to improve and why I got the grade I did. My professor had told me that while this was not my best piece of writing he can still see areas that I have improved on over the course of the class, and that my improvement has been so significant that he was giving me the benefit of the doubt that this paper I simply took the safe road, and that while it was not A worthy, that he would give me a B and that I should be really proud of how much I have accomplished over the past few months.

I feel that portfolios make it possible for students to reflect, which is something that many may not do on a regular basis. I woul say with proper guidelines and allowing enough time and prep for this assignment, it would prove to be very successful and rewarding in the long run.

Gilmore Chapter 4

I can imagine that if I went to the typical high school classroom and announced that today we would be breaking off into small groups and revising that the excitement of the classroom would immediately walk out the door, or perhaps jump out the window never to bee seen again.
As i've stated time and time again revision was something I even had a trouble with in high school and college because I'm one of those individuals that procrastinates until the last minute, hops up on some form of caffeine and writes a 10 page research paper the night before its due. Thats just how I work. Its not brilliant, its not efficient, but its my usual process. However, I am beginning to see the art of revision, specifically with working with peers to gain insight and ideas that I often miss because I don't write that first draft.





I think Gilmore does a great job of giving us multiple options of revising that can be used in a classroom that may be subtle and decent enough for even the biggest moaners to deal with. I liked how he broke down some ways for groups to revise, as well as the individual. One activitiy that I liekd was the color marking exercise on page 100. I think this is a great way for students to revise because its a little more fun that the typical "underline" or "circling" approach and I think the concepts that Gilmore suggests such as syntax, rhetorical devices, and supporting evidence are good for students to try and pull out of their paper. I think this would help students recognize if they are doing these tasks, or if they are missing from their papers. I also like that this could easily turn in from an individual homework assignment to a partners activity, by allowing partners to look over or "corlor mark" one anothers paper. Overall, great activity I had never heard of this and think it sounds easy and practical to do in the everyday english classroom.

Gilmore Chapter 3

Gilmore has a really unique writing style that I really enjoy, i like his personal anecdotes that he throws in for good measure. This whole chapter was chalked up with good content and for the sake of time and rambling I will only touch on a few things. To begin with, I like how the chapter begins with the 'foreign' language that many english teachers develop when responding to papers. I remember often times in high school my teachers would use such odd abbreviations that often I could not keep straight what each one meant. Therefore, I rarely even paid attention the the markings in the margins, which looking back did a great dis service for both my teacher and my future writing.

Likewise this chapter had some great ideas about the idea of voice and how it should be addressed in essays. Gimore makes an excellent point when he states, "In the end teaching studnets that their voices can leap from the page as well as they carry in a school hallway is partly the responsibility of the assignment of the assignment and the way it's presented." I like the idea of not simply sticking to the never use "I" rule, becuase I feel that in certain context it can be very powerful. It is also less awkward than using "one" all the time, when everyone and their mother recognzies that you are just trying to be sly in disguising your desire to use the first person. I think its important that we allow certain assignments to have creative freedom, and that ability to dive into the first person. I feel that this would allow for stories to be heard that otherwise may have been lost, and that students would be more apt to write when they can not so much worry about the voice, but tell powerful stories and not be afraid to reflect on their personal experiences.

Overall I really enjoyed the content of Gilmore thus far,and feel that he offers practical advice for teachers, as well as ways to break down things about revision that I had never really thought about. I definitely think that I will need to do a closer read once I get closer to actually being in the classroom, because he has some great ideas that I'd like to incorporate into my own teaching and revision styles in the future.