There are so many things I would like to do and so little time left! The biggest problem right now is webpages. Now I know this has nothing to do with English composition... although my department would certainly be happy to know that I am teaching my students how to make webpages since this is a very "technology-oriented" department. In fact, the "goals for 106 instructors" handout that we got at the beginning of the semester, clearly says that we have to help our students "build confidence in their abilities to create, interpret, and evaluate texts in all types of media" and "know how to use commonplace software to create visuals that effectively make or support arguments." We also have to "integrate appropriate advanced technologies such as photo editing, Flash, or MOO building and e-book development" in our teaching. So really, I SHOULD make it a priority to teach my students about webpages, Dreamweaver (which we don't have on our computers!), and other such programs. I know that the majority of the regular 106 sections have put a lot of emphasis on teaching Photoshop, Dreamweaver (which they do have on their computers!), and PowerPoint to their students. However, my question is: what does that have to do with English? The teaching goals handout says that we have to use those tools "in a rhetorically sound way" but if my students don't know what an introduction or a counterargument is, then what's the point of teaching them how to be rhetorical on their webpage? The research I am currently reading for my own classes explains that students in general, and scientific students in particular, don't learn how to write adequately in their own programs (for example in engineering classes) and then find themselves in a workplace that requires them to write a lot, or in graduate school where they have to write articles and theses and don't know how to do it! On the other hand, I certainly understand that technology is becoming increasingly important, and I do agree that writing a five paragraph essay about our last vacation does not make much sense for "today's students." To tell the truth, I love to make webpages and believe that since I have learned how to do that (just a year ago) I have been able to understand better how this world works. I have also learned how to take advantage of what the Internet offers in a more efficient way, with this online teaching portfolio, for example. And I love to teach my students about this, because I do think it is important for them to know how the Internet works but certainly not because I think that a Freshman Composition class is the best place to do it. If you are interested in my department's perspective on this,
here is an article that appeared in the Exponent about the new 106 classes.
Anyway, here I am, with this dilemma at hand, and at first, I really did not want to get into technology more than to teach my students how to use Word efficiently, but now I have done it, and it is becoming a real challenge. On the one hand, I just wanted to introduce how to make basic webpages and how to upload them on the Purdue server. On the other hand, I now see that my students want to learn more about it because of course, it is more fun to do this than to work on the structure of the classical argument. Some 106 instructors have created a "first webpage" template that they had their students copy and paste on their Purdue account and that is all they did. I wanted to give more freedom to my students and let them create their own webpage, so I created an
example page to show my students what kind of things they could modify and should or should not do on their first webpage, and I also made
another page with specific directions they could follow to create a nice little website and upload it on Purdue's server. We have worked on their pages on Monday and Tuesday, and a little more during the rest of the week, but I just don't feel that we should spend that much more time on it, even thought several students have not yet been able to even upload even one page on their server. This is discouraging!
Other than that, this week has been spent discussing the format of a classical argument. We talked about making a claim, articulating reasons, understanding unstated assumptions, finding evidence, using different kinds of evidence (research, personal experience, testimony, statistics, etc.), addressing counterarguments (by rebutting opposing views, conceding to counterarguments, or qualifying our claims), anticipating objections, and appealing to pathos, logos, and ethos. We worked on several examples and I explained these concepts several times since they are not always easy to understand. Next week I want to talk about fallacies and get the final paper started. I gave three quizzes to my students just to make sure that they were doing the assigned reading (because I know that they tend to skim over the information and I believe that this is something they need to understand well if they want to write a decent final paper). The interesting thing was the discussions that came up when I told them that their final paper was going to be an argument paper. Several students had a very hard time understanding how they could present the information they have gathered throughout this semester as an argument. Many simply wanted to learn more about a certain topic and have never taken a position. I thought about that a lot and wasn't sure what to do, especially since our textbook (the Allyn and Bacon Guide to Writing) does present other types of writing styles: analyzing and synthesizing ideas, investigating cause and consequence, making an evaluation, proposing a solution, writing to persuade, etc. So at first I wanted to present all these different styles to my students and allow them to choose the style that they think is the best to present the information they have. However, in the end, and mainly because of the time restriction and the fact that my students are starting to be a bit overwhelmed with the end of the semester coming, I decided that everyone was going to have to formulate some kind of argumentation. I will tell them that there are different kinds of arguments and that sometimes, we argue not to propose a solution but just to show that there is a problem. Rohit can "argue" that the situation in India concerning AIDS is dramatic and needs to be addressed, but not give a solution. He could think about different solutions and present them but does not necessarily have to argue one over the other. Kester can present the information he gathered about new regulations for international students and "demonstrate" that those regulations can sometimes be beneficial and sometimes be confusing or detrimental to the students. Yes, the more I think about it, the more convinced I am that we can find a way for everyone to present his/her information in some kind of an "argumentative" way.
Well we had class every day this week and I did not meet with anyone individually, and I must say, I wish this week had been longer! We still have many things to do before the end of the semester, and I am really starting to feel comfortable with my students, which is very agreeable. I graded their interview report this week, also, and many students had done a good job. It was very difficult to grade because some students had written three pages while others had up to seven pages, and I did not always know how to balance depth of information, organization, and assignment requirements. I guess that is why I had a grading rubric, but giving a low grade to someone who was presenting extremely interesting information for seven pages (but with a poor organization, for example), was hard, especially since I know that most students were quite excited about this project and put a lot of work into it. One student, who usually gets 60 or 70 on his papers, got a 93 on this one, and that was really rewarding (for him too I bet)! I hope they all will do a great job with their final paper too!
