notes on spring 2008

• I have required my comp I students to keep response logs for four or five years now. Students have to record—as close to verbatim as possible—the reader feedback they get, then respond thoughtfully to that feedback. Students inevitably complain about the assignment, and yet, every semester, several students admit to me that the response log was crucial in helping them remember the feedback they got and think critically about it. I want to find a way to make the assignment one that inspires less complaining, though. It’s clear to me and to some students that the response log is worth doing; but I never seem to be able to communicate that to a significant portion of the class.
• My composition II students are working with a broader range of genres this semester than I’ve seen in the past, and parody is more popular this semester than before. I spent less time this semester “selling” the multigenre concept and more time simply working with the students on reading and discussing works in different genres. I think I did a better job this semester than in previous semesters of keeping students from procrastinating during the seven weeks of workshopping; doing more whole class workshopping helped with this, as did having students blog more consistently about what they needed to do to get their next project done.
• The poetry workshop class hated the Mary Kinzie book I assigned, and I doubt I’ll use the book again. The biggest surprise success of the semester: taking the class outside, giving each group of three students a poetry anthology, and telling the groups to go find a comfortable place and take turns reading poetry to each other. Whoever had the book in each group was “in charge” as long as they had the book; they could decide what to read, how to read it, and how many times to read it. Once they were done reading one poem (as many times as they wanted), they had to pass the book on.

tags: reflection  composition  students  teaching  

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