Here’s a link to my musings from TTU’s English 5060 course: History and Theory of Composition:
I just finished participating in an absolutely fantastic Twitter chat about First-Year Composition (#FYCchat), courtesy of @readywriting and @comPOSITIONblog. This is the sort of enthusiasm about teaching that I just soak up like a sponge. I am so thrilled to have discovered the chat – and that Twitter can provide such a platform for sharing, community, and discussion.
From what I understand (I’m new to this), #FYCchat is a weekly discussion, held Wednesdays at 9pm EST. It’s open to all who would like to join and discuss topics important to teachers of FYC. This week’s topic revolved around a discussion of favorite FYC assignments – and the ideas were fun and inspiring! Here are a few of the great ideas from this evening’s chat:
@readywriting kicked off the evening with her “go-to assignment: Reading D.W. Cross’ essay Propaganda: How not to be bamboozled.” She said that they “talk about the essay and the 13 propaganda ‘tricks’ and then the students break down an ad of their choice.”
@comPOSITIONblog shared ideas for students to “use writing as activism. They find out what they are passionate about & write to make a change in the form they think… It has included letters to Ed. Boards, Senators, blogs, websites, editorials, etc. Requires research, audience awareness, role, etc.” Students can “individualize” the assignment, so long as it includes “1200+ words of solid writing.”
@literarychica discussed ways to incorporate pop culture into FYC, including an assignment asking students to write about music. She said that the assignment is “a close reading of a song+some research. They come up with an interpretation of the song + their view by referring to the text, to the music, to research they have done on artist.”
@eetempleton shared how she uses service learning, as well as the blending of the personal and the professional, as a way to increase involvement and engagement in FYC non-English majors.
@ryancordell said that he has his “class do a rhetorical analysis of college brochures.” He asks students to analyze: “What does this brochure promise you?”
@thatcarlygirl Of course, I had to do a bit of my own sharing as well. The assignment I discussed was one of my favorites: students read George Orwell’s “Politics and the English Language” and we then have a discussion about style, word choice, and concise writing. I then have them write six-word memoirs, which they post on Twitter.
I also talked a bit about how I integrate social media into my classes, including the use of Twitter, a class wiki, and a class blog – as well as discussions about online privacy, etiquette, writing styles, and rhetorical considerations (including ethos, audience, etc.). It sounds like the integration of social media is becoming more and more popular in FYC courses, which I think is only an indication of just how far the definition of “composition” has come. It’s exciting to think of composing in all of its forms: alphabetic, visual, digital, auditory – and helping students realize how much reading and writing they do, naturally (and how much of it occurs online).
Thanks again to @readywriting and @comPOSITIONblog for organizing this week’s #FYCchat – and for letting me be a part of it. I couldn’t be more thrilled with the platform that Twitter has provided for educators to come together, form a community, and have discussions like this one.
For those interested, join #FYCchat Wednesday evenings from 9pm – 10pm, EST. Follow the #FYCchat blog at: http://fycchat.blogspot.com.
Whew! It finally kicked in – as I suspected it would: motivation. Today I finally managed to get some work done. I found out that I’ll be teaching two very different sections of English 103 (first-year accelerated composition) this spring: one that meets 3 times a week for 50 minutes at a time and one that meets twice a week for an hour and 15 minutes at a time. This, I’m sure, will provide many challenges: starting with coming up with two different versions of a syllabus (which I finished up and printed off today).
As opposed to last term, when I taught two sections of the 3x week variety, this will be quite a change. For starters, it will mean that I’m continually crafting multiple versions of lesson plans, and will have to do some serious multitasking to ensure that I remember what I’ve done in each class. On the plus side, it means that I’ll be less likely to confuse the two classes and I won’t be doing the same lecture twice a day; I’ll have the freedom to switch things up a bit from class to class, as I see fit.
I’m also looking forward to meeting my new students next week. Whereas fall term I taught mostly male engineering majors, a quick look at the rosters for spring term indicates I’ll have classes of primarily female psychology majors. Should make for an interesting dynamic. I’ve heard many horror stories from past teachers complaining that spring term just “isn’t the same” as fall term; I, for one, am looking forward to the new term (even as I continue to mourn the loss of my fantastic students from last term). I see it as an opportunity to meet another group of great students – and hopefully teach them a thing or two along the way.
And so. While I’m still a bit stressed out about all I didn’t get accomplished over the holiday break, at the same time I’m getting excited for the new term. I’ve always been the nerd who enjoys school; now that I’m the teacher, I get even more excited for the fresh notebooks, brand new pens, and cleanly organized 3-ring binders that signify the beginning of a new class.
Today, in preparation for classes (which begin January 12th) I organized my office. Oh the joy I felt as I filled an entire Office Depot box with recycling: old assignment sheets, random notes from last term, stacks and stacks of student papers, readings I’ll likely never touch again. I also packaged up a bunch of old textbooks to sell back. Once again I can see the surface of my gleaming birch desk – and I even have room on my bookshelves! The best part is I’m only about halfway done. By tomorrow my office should feel brand spankin’ new.
Happy 2011! It’s the first Monday after the Christmas/New Year’s holiday, which can only mean one thing: back to work. For the first time in weeks, I actually set an alarm this morning, determined to get up early and get a bit of work done on my thesis. Up to this point, I’ve written five pages over the course of two weeks. This morning I wrote one page and formatted many more, leading to a grand total of 15 pages (if you count the 10 blank title pages, which I do). Five pages down, 95 to go. I’m thinking: progress.
The problem with progress is that it also goes hand-in-hand with procrastination. I can tell I’m still on ‘vacation mode,’ so I keep making deals with myself. OK, Carly, if you write for one hour, you can play for two hours, etc. The issue is that the new term starts up on January 12th, leaving me with precisely 9 days and 39 minutes left to myself before teaching begins. Because I’ve already done all of my class prep for the term, including crafting a few new versions of the syllabus and arranging lesson plans, I can choose to use that time to play or to get a jump on my thesis before the term begins. Hmm… which shall I choose?
Well, the PhD applications have been completed and shipped off, and with that comes two things: 1) relief that I managed to get them all out before the deadlines with time to spare; and 2) never-ending nervousness that at this point the decision is entirely out of my control.
It’s very likely that this time next year I’ll be blogging from some cold place (because odds are I’ll end up somewhere cooler than South Carolina), reflecting upon my first term as a doctoral student. That is, if everything goes as planned. Answers from doctoral programs, I hope, will start arriving in the mail some time in February and March, leaving me little to do between now and then besides fret over what might be. (Oh, and of course I still have that thing called a thesis to work on, not to mention teaching.) In the meantime, I’m doing my best to remain philosophical and positive – that I’ll end up in the program that’s the best fit for me.
Now I just have to figure out how to type with my fingers crossed.
Or… not.
Mostly, I’m just checking to see if this thing actually works. I thought it was about time to move from the old “industry” website to the new “academic” one. Apparently this is the new me.
The title of this site, “That Carly Girl,” is a reference to my childhood, when it unwittingly became my nickname. My parents moved around a lot and I changed schools approximately every 1-2 years. Because I was always new in town, my classmates would often forget my name. They would say, “You know that girl? The new one? That Carly girl?” And so, it stuck.
Stay tuned for musings about my life as a teacher, student, and all-around bundle of sunshine.