Think it... Write it... Speak it

In my limited time as a writing coach I’ve had some really positive interactions with the students I’m working with, but not many opportunities to read their work. For the first set of papers, I believe we were instructed to provide feedback on in-text citations. This was relatively simple, and to be honest I was pretty relieved because I realized that I didn’t feel very confident in providing feedback. Prior to this class I always focused on things like grammar but now knew that I wanted to look at higher order concerns, and I was nervous about how to do that. I received two other papers that were variations of the standard book report. I feel like I still focused on things like sentence structure but used the rubric as a guide for my feedback, so I was able to make some comments about topics that were missed or confusing. First and foremost, I think student writers need their teachers to teach them how to write including structure, organization, main ideas, thesis, etc. I also thin...

At this moment, I can’t say I have much experience with digital storytelling or any other forms of multimodal composition. I’ve watched videos on YouTube and have seen book trailers but beyond that, my experience is limited. After further exploring the various types of multimodal composition out there, the two that I was most fond of was the digital poetry and text animation, and the interactive timelines and maps. ( digital storytelling - Bing images ) Within the classroom, I might have students create digital compositions in order to better engage with texts they’re reading. Rather than have students write summaries or book reports they could create interactive timelines for the events of the book, digital poetry could take the place of the traditional pen to paper poetry. Digital compositions might be used as a writing assignment on their own to help students better understand the writing process. As mentioned in “Digital Storytelling in a Place-Based Composition Course” by James Ch...

 As I sit here and try to figure out what my writing process looks like I struggle to find one technique or set of rules I follow for every piece of writing I do. My writing process very much depends on what I am writing but typically follows a goal-driven process similar to the one outlined in “A Cognitive Process Theory of Writing” by Linda Flower and John R. Hayes. Flower’s and Hayes’ mention writers working under a “high-level goal or plan to explore: that is, to think the topic over, to jot ideas down, or just start writing to see what they have to say,” (382). This is certainly something I do but it takes many different forms, usually resulting from the question, “What am I going to say about this?” Depending on the topic or the type of genre being written, the first step in my process likely involves note taking, which I consider as part of “exploring”. I start by researching the topic with the hope to really narrow the scope of my topic. Once I’ve taken notes from several...

I love reading and I've loved reading for as long as I can remember. There have been various instances in my life that always sort of reinforce my love of reading, like a teacher that always recommended books I thought I would hate or my family trip to Boston where I got to see the Louisa May Alcott house. I always try to stay open-minded when selecting books because I’ve learned that I rarely find a book I don’t like. I don’t spend as much time writing as I do reading but have written a lot for different classes. My bachelor’s degree is in psychology so before I decided I wanted to teach, most of the writing I had done consisted of research papers, which are really boring. I don’t consider myself overly creative but have enjoyed the challenge of creative writing on my path to becoming an English teacher. I worked as an aide in a high school for a short time and have helped many students with their writing assignments. I also have a daughter in middle school and help her with diffe...

When I was growing up, social media did not exist. Most of my friends didn’t even have computers in their homes, let alone access to the internet. In sixth grade, my school was able to buy about 30 desktop computers to be housed in a “computer room”. Teachers could sign up for specific time slots and take their class to the computer room where we mostly played games that kids today would certainly laugh at if given the opportunity. Back then, I don’t think anyone was aware at how essential computers and internet access would become in our everyday lives. Fast forward to today and I am currently active on a few social media platforms but my primary purpose is to keep in touch with friends and family. I primarily use social media to share pictures, and document experiences; however, I do occasionally read stories or articles relating to current events or pop culture. Most recently for a previous class’ assignment, I created a PechaKucha on the need for more mental health services in ur...

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