Planning and Organization
The goal of our group was to have students play around with and invest in a good deal of creative writing to produce a multigenre paper. Explaining the concept, getting them to research a topic and producing a multigenre paper seemed like a lot of work, but we thought it was conceivable. It simply didn’t turn out how we wanted it. I believe the planning and organization of the presentation was the part were most concerned about and spent the most time focusing on as a group, however, I think we realized, once in front of class, that what we had planned simply was not going to fit the time schedule. I still think day 1 was effective, however, also I think we bounced back nicely for day two. I thought day two was very meaningful towards the role of the teacher in evaluating multigenre papers, as well as, what they provide the student academically.
Team Investment and Participation
As an individual I believe I contributed a fair and equal amount to that of the other group members. All of us as a group worked well together and all contributed good ideas to the process of the presentation. I think we all owe John a thank you for constructing our packet. The times we met were constructive to the process, and definitely revised and crafted what we had come up with in the last meeting. Personally, I was a bit saddened by my participation in the final meeting, as I showed up late due to traffic issues. I think we were all pretty open and agreed on where we wanted this thing to go. I was very pleased with everyone’s input and investment in the project.
Teaching Presence and Authority:
This is where all our organization and planning met the realities of a classroom. The misunderstanding of our ‘engaging question’ provided that the students lose time in the beginning finding a topic and performing research. I also think that we were a bit unclear in how the students should conduct research, as students we over performing in that area. For creative writing, the research should have been a small concern, just something to get going. Once the project got going, I was very happy to see us observant and helpful to all students of the classroom. Students requested us for help, and we were the over seeing eye to jump in when needed. The second day I thought we ran a quality discussion, going off track here and there, but overall I think people understood the power of the multigenre paper and it’s place in the classroom.
Incorporation of Writing
For this lesson you guys blew me away with what you produced. I was extremely impressed with the quality of the work I saw. Also in hindsight, the time spent on one or two pieces, rather than the 4 or 5 we had hoped, still shows the unbelievable effort you guys put forth during out teach. Thank you all for that. The honest efferts you gave really provided us with evidence of why multigenre papers should be utilized in the classroom. It was really wonderful to see people get excited about what they wrote. Day one really provided reasoning to let kids write creatively in ANY classroom.
Meaningful Connection with students
I think we were all very observant leaders of the classroom on both days. During research and writing we aided students who needed help, and encouraged everyone to keep up the good work. That is not to say we were the necessary ingredient, you all could of produced the same wonderful work without us, but I think we played a good role in day one. Perhaps maybe more forceful on the timing of the day, but we also shouldn’t of expected so much in so little time. Day two I think we had a decent performance motioning you guys toward the connections we wanted to be made in class towards the subject matter. I think the issues of creativity, grading, and significance were relevant to the class and useful towards us as future teachers. I wish we could have all had a little more time to speak and more completely wrap up our discussion, but overall I think we did a good job.
Overall Grade: 90
Personal Grade: 87
Thank you all so much for your participation throughout our presentation. You guys were both great writers and great thinkers.
2 comments:
Oh yeah, I totally forgot about the question for homework. I was one of the people that misunderstood the question - I thought it had to do with the use of multigenre papers in the classroom. That turned out fine in the end, though, because I was able to think of something pretty quickly. Actually, I caught some flack for choosing a topic that I already knew a good deal about, but I think that actually helped me create two pieces (albeit one was very short), in the alloted time.
I loved your day one because it gave a chance for each of you to teach an individual or small group at the same time, using your own particular skills. Maybe we would have had more time if we had researched a little bit as homework. I realize that would have been asking a lot, but it may have helped. It may also have worked to go into day two with the construction of the MG, as I didn't see the relevance of effictiveness of trying to create a rubric in class.
I loved my MG and wanted to keep working on it. That shows how intrinsically motivating this task is for students. I really wanted to make something that I was proud of because it was a topic that I am passionate about.
You actually helped me the most during day one out of everybody because I spent a good deal of time at your station working on my obituary. You had a template for the format, gave me some ideas on how to use it and how to change it, and showed me how to wrap text around my picture. You were seriously a great teacher! I love how calm you are; that's one of your best assets. I'm usually a high-strung student so I appreciate that about you.
During day two the panel was a good idea, but may not have worked out participation-wise. It seemed like John did most of the talking that day, and all of your skills as group members weren't showcased like they were on day one. That said, I completely understand how difficult it is to run a classroom as a group. All three groups did it in different ways and I see benefits and drawbacks to each.
Good job, Brian. I think you deserve an A because it's clear that you learned a lot during the process of this project.
I had no trouble with the initial question. I was able to discern what was desired and came prepared to create a multigenre paper (which I was incredibly excited about). I can see how the misunderstanding of the question put the lesson behind though. We ended up taking quite a bit of time thinking about the topics we could research and then sharing each with the class. It was needed so that everyone was thinking about ideas to write about, but I believe it made it far less likely for us to complete the multigenre paper during day one.
I found the atmosphere of the classroom on day one extremely conducive for producing quality work. The way each group member circled the class to make sure we were proceeding well was marvelous. You really put yourselves out there as facilitators to our learning and came prepared to offer everything and anything possible. I was so entranced by the writing prompt that I found myself busily working without much regard to my surroundings. That is the sign of a great lesson plan, when the students are so engaged they spare little thought to anything put creating their own pieces. I didn't even require getting up to seek help because anytime I needed something one person from the group was there to oblige me. It was a beautiful model of how to work the multigenre paper effectively.
Day two was a little more difficult to follow. There was so much surrounding the notion of creating a rubric and I don't think we were prepared to really delve into the confines it should contain. Everyone had great ideas of what the rubric should measure, but it seemed there was no conclusive thoughts on how to implement it or what criteria should be left to the wayside.
I think you have such a kind presence when teaching that I would have loved to hear more from you on day two. It occurred to me your indy teach held very thoughtful activities and meaningful discussions, so more of your own voice would have been a calming and insightful aspect for the lesson.
In summation, your group teach was great. The structure and lofty hopes for what was to be accomplished drove us to put forth the best material we could. You'll be a great teacher Brian and thank you for introducing me to the multigenre paper. It was my first time creating it and in doing so, I found a method that I plan on using in the future.
Kudos.
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