So I come to the final day of classes and learning of the semester. What have I learned? I remain terrible at returning papers on time. As a result the learning for my students is hampered. I intend to improve in this regard. I want to be better at both the classroom environment and the base 1 on 1 interaction about and around essays. I believe the best way to do that is through the process. As Embiid says, ‘Trust the process’ and I shall moving forward.
I’ve yet to figure out what that looks like. Part of that discovery is really breaking down good writing in a way that makes sense to section. If I begin with the basic principles of rhetoric (Pathos, Logos, Ethos) that is a very high school approach. Moreover, the developmental education studies I’ve read show that it is highly ineffective to target specific aspects of writing in that way. Instead the holistic approach is best. In other words, I need to be pursuing the draft, draft, draft again method for writing.
I think I need 2626.com to expand.
I think I need that end result to be public and published so that the students feel their voices matter and are part of the conversation. As it stands the ‘zine doesn’t do that (or anything really). However, if it serves as the end result–If I say one or more of your essays will be worked and polished till publishable, this might be a look forward.
There is more potential to this conversation. This is not a ‘base your grade on a single essay’ conversation, but it is starting to feel like a base your grade on your best piece of writing conversation. Perhaps the conversation is becoming about finding a way to divide the grade between process and product in a way that puts more weight on process as teaching ought to, and separates the C’s from the A’s based entirely on product.
Some Thoughts:
- I lost an idea last night. It popped up sometime after midnight. I still remember the script lettering of the title, though not the words. I remember the main character was a woman named Katherine and the first line put her in an interesting emotional peril. Yet all of this is gossamer. I remember it less than the zombie driven dream that followed.
- I think I view the zombie apocalypse as a type of reset button and escape route. If all the rules are changed then we are no longer beholden to the same list of demands and expectations. We are no longer tied to debt as the primary driver of our life choices. Perhaps then zombies is less what I need than lotto. Yet zombies feel far more likely.