Classrooms, presentations, and a growing sense of ability

[Doug Zimmerman]

Ladies and Gentlemen,

 

     As you may recall, I do not have a classroom of my own yet but will begin teaching ENG 101 in the fall.  I am brimming with nervous excitement.  Despite my lack of formal classroom practice, I have worked with students in writing centers over the past three years; first at James Madison University then at UNR.  During that time, my sense of pedagogical authority has grown and I do feel like a teacher.  Although a typical writing center "classroom" consists of any available space that may or may not include a desk, or a table, or a computer, I do consider wherever I meet with students as a learning environment.  In addition to meeting with students one-on-one, I have given presentations to full classrooms about writing and revision; therefore, I feel comfortable calling myself a budding writing instructor.  Whether or not I ultimately deserve this appellation will be determined during the next academic year. 

 

     One of the presentations I have given to ENG 101 and 102 classrooms at UNR this past year deals with a revision strategy focused on prepositions and prepositional phrases.  Specifically, I discuss how recognizing prepositions and their phrases can enhance revision potentials for a second or third draft.  Potential areas for revision include cutting and/or rearranging for clarity and concision, which may lead to a recognition of paragraphs that require expansion.  I have talked through this strategy with students who came to see me at UNR's writing center and they have had success using it to help them rethink sentence structure, idea formation, and paragraph clarity.  With Maureen's coaching, I developed a 30 to 60 minute presentation based on my discussions with these students and offered it to UNR classes; instructors had an option to schedule either the shorter or longer version. 

 

     My focus for the NNWP presentation is to rethink this revision strategy for students at the primary and secondary education levels.  I am interested in revision strategies for both university and secondary students because my dissertation will, in part, center on the connections between high school writing instruction and first-year university instruction.  I hope to better understand both high school and university writing curricular requirements and perhaps develop pedagogical methods that could lessen any academic shock that may take place when students tackle new academic settings.  I hope you will help me with this process.   

 

     I have included the presentation packet I use during UNR classroom discussions.  Any insight on how primary and/or secondary instructors might use this information will be greatly appreciated.  I understand, of course, that taken out of context some of the information may seem disconnected.  Thank you for your help.

 

Doug

[Kelly Rubero]

Doug,

I teach middle school language arts and I am always looking for new ways to revise with my students. My students have a tough time revising their writing... they always figure that their rough draft is great and that they don't need to make any changes... yeah right! Anyway, after taking a quick look at your presentation packet, I can definately see myself using this type of strategy with my middle school students. In the student sample that you included, it really shows how revising prepositions and prepositional phrases can help with clarity and organization.

I really like the idea of rearranging sentences and phrases to strengthen sentence fluency and idea development in student writing!

Kelly