Dear Rosemarie, Blog #6

Dear Rosemarie,

I greatly enjoyed reading this week’s articles and chapters for our Writing Across the Curriculum course. I was really able to soak up most of the information McCarthy discussed in A Stranger in Strange Lands: A College Student Writing Across the Curriculum, and Bean’s Engaging Ideas, chapter four.

McCarthy’s article was lengthy, but it was a pretty easy read. McCarthy discussed approaches a student must take in order to be a successful writer in all academic courses. McCarthy focuses on a boy named David, and follows his through his college courses observing his course work, his teachers, and his way of understanding and adapting to different teachers and different classes. David said, “first you’ve got to figure out what your teachers want. And then you’ve got to give it to them if you’re gonna’ get the grade. And that’s not always so easy.” McCarthy believes that a student can be successful if he or she can determine what constitutes appropriate texts in the classroom. Do you agree with McCarthy when she says this? McCarthy also believes that “college writing is a process of assessing and adapting to requirements in unfamiliar academic settings”. Do you agree with that statement? I have to say that I do. Writing is definitely a process, a lengthy one at that, and it does require assessment and adaptation to what is expected of an individual, or student in this case, in new settings. One must become accustom to their environment and what is expected of them if they want to succeed, and I think that same rule applies to writing across the curriculum.

Like many others, David is learning new languages in new territories, he must define and master the rules of use for written discourse from on classroom to another, and he must use the communication means considered appropriate by members of particular speech or discourse communities according to McCarthy. This is a big task, don’t you agree?

McCarthy makes reference to Erickson in this article. Erickson believes that the classroom environment is not limited to just a student-teacher relationship but also the subject matter, social task structure, the enacted task, and the sequence of actions involved in the task. In other words, he is saying that there is much more that needs to be mastered besides good relations with a teacher, but that the subject matter is understood, the task is clear, and the proper actions are taken to complete the task in a proper manner. I think this is something that applies not only to classrooms but in many aspects of life. What do you think? Do you share in my views?

In Bean’s chapter four of Engaging Ideas, he discusses tips for teachers to follow to help make their classroom run much more smoothly. He mentions promoting active learning, maximizing the help given, how to keep teachers’ workloads manageable, and encourages getting students on track early in the writing process. Bean believes ways teachers can save time marking and grading students is by creating scoring guides, clarifying grading criteria, assigning drafts and outlines, and having students do paired interviews and small group tasks. I agree that these tips are helpful. By clarifying grading criteria will help students better know what is required of them, and then limit the amount of mistakes they make which in turn will make less work for the teacher. How do you feel about this Rosemarie? I think this links to what McCarthy was saying about knowing the task, and approaching the task in a manner accordingly. Did you draw the same conclusions?

In addition, Bean discusses techniques for grading students' work. He says is best to not circle things, and to limit the number of comments a teacher writes on student's work. What do you think? Do you think its best not to overwhelm the students with comments? Do you think it is overwhelming? Professor Muhlhauser wrote a lot of comments on my paper. While it was overwhelming to see, it was helpful to me when it came to revising it to his liking. How do you feel about this? Are you in support of many comments, or do you think fewer comments work better?


All in all, I think McCarthy and Bean both knew the subject matter they were discussing well. Their writing was clear and easy to read despite its length, and they offer a lot of advice in creating positive experiences in the classroom for both the teacher and the student. I enjoyed reading both of these articles together because I feel like one article focused on the teacher end of things, while the other focused on the student. I was able to understand things from both a teacher’s perspective and a student’s perspective and I think that is something important for a teacher to understand. It’s good to see things from both sides. How do you feel about that? Do you think McCarthy and Bean presented valid information that is useful for both teachers and students?

Sincerely,
Dana