Thanks to the COM352 students for contributing a bunch of new pages! I'll be moving these pages into the main area of the wiki soon.

From UMassWiki

Students in College Writing, Section 71, provided handwritten, anonymous feedback to the teacher concerning what is and is not "working" in the class. The teacher created two lists, grouping what she perceives as "like" items together. Additionally, the teacher handwrote comments on the papers and returned them randomly to students. The idea is that no one gets their own paper back; instead, students have to read and make sense of a classmate's perception of what is/isn't working, and the teacher's interactive responses to the critique. Three different skills are being developed: one is literacy (reading and understanding another writer's point-of-view), the second is expository (explaining the author's point-of-view without getting too messed up with one's own view or opinions as reader), and the third skill is recognition and characterization of the rhetorical situation as an instance of interaction within a larger context (what is the 'big picture' conversation of which the particular reading/writing assignment is only one example?) steph (COM) 13:55, 4 March 2007 (EST)

shaping a conversation

Student to Teacher Feedback 1

First round of anonymous student feedback on the progress of this course.

Student Summaries of Feedback 1

An extra credit assignment allowed students to summarize the meaning of one peer's feedback to the teacher.

Summary of Peer Analyses

The teacher read the student's summaries and collected the points that were named (based on the original lists of anonymous feedback) into "points-of-view".

Students' point-of-view

Students raise issues/questions of

• homework (overload, too much, sometimes unclear, helps with writing for next time)
• group activities (more groupwork, more interaction, like hands-on, more involvement, "put voice out there")
• similarity to high school (lack of?)
• wiki (too hard, confusing, unnecessary, difficult)
• individual motivation (more desire, underappreciated by teacher)
• preference for teacher rather than peer feedback, more intimacy with teacher = "not enough bang for the buck", lack of direct criticism
• individual learning is effective, "the learning process requires your brain to work", feel alone.
• more at ease with discussion (speaking) than with writing (Steph wonders: is this a high school mode?)
• enjoyable, frustration
• what is/is not "necessary"
• text helpful, boring

Teacher's point-of-view

Teacher raises issues/questions of

• engagement, involvement,
• enjoyment
• agreement, receptivity to criticism
• thought-provoking questions, seeking expansion, need for sufficient evidence
• asking when something is not understood (being confused)
• trying to learn, wanting more depth
• too much reliance on the teacher-as-authority
• cannot make changes without specific details, accommodation

Environment for the Conversation

The tone and/or process of feedback and class in general is characterized as "helpful and respectful", "pointless", "fair...[with] a strong sense of honesty", "if we work together...we can come to an agreement", "good spirits with each other"

Student's Reflections on Improving Their Writing

Student reflections on improvements in their writing. These are individual reflections on one's own work - a different kind of feedback about the course, providing a measure of self-perceived improvement in the assigned subject (academic writing) rather than an overall critique of the learning environment.

Note-Taking Activities and Larger Conversations

These assignments are for skills development. What skills? Critical thinking and the expression of one's critical thoughts in writing.  :-)

de Zengotita and The Numbing of America

Student summaries and subsequent analyses of the summaries: "Numbed Mind?" Summary Page

Steinem and costs of masculinity

Student notes on Gloria Steinem's article "Supremacy Crimes", and "The School in School Violence: Definitions and Facts" by Michael Furlong & Gale Morrison provided a venue for processing some reactions to the violence at Virginia Tech.

Three Quarter Course Evaluations

Once again, Steph asked for feedback and input, an assessment of learning and critique of the learning environment. One pessimist wrote that there's "not really much time change anything" and I'm eager to prove you wrong! :-)

"If your teacher's name is Steph, there isn't a typical class"

Ah, but atypicality has not translated into fun, which bums me out. Nonetheless, several descriptions of "a typical class" were provided:

• "Layed out on the wiki, but generally not what I was suspecting (not a bad thing though). Lots of ideas and info about writing, but generally very few concrete things to work on. Makes class a little philosophical, which is good and bad. Good if you get it, because it is really easy to talk about. But if you don't, because you can't learn it that quick...frustrating."

• "Discussion/activities/examples of what can be done to achieve effecting writing." I like the verb form here, even though it is technically incorrect/awkward: the "ing" makes the act of having an effect a living thing, on-going, continuous. This is a nuance on the usual ("proper") form, "effective", which describes the act of having had an effect; it implies the past tense, as if one is looking back on the present from the future and the action of having an effect is done, finished, complete. With writing, THIS IS NEVER SO! As we have seen with the case of Hawai'i, writing and its potential to influence persists.

• "Pass in HmWk, do an activity, go over pending hmwk or work we just received back, do some sort of exercise like free write etc..."

• "Turn in a paper, Steph writes a lot of things on the board, some kind of group activity" (emphasis added, I am amused by this observation).

• "Talk about next paper, hand in a paper, read a story, discussion."

• "Sometimes seemingly senseless talking, not enough learning how to write. Check work, do stupid assignments, etc." I'm interested that the talking is described as "seeming" senseless, implying that on some level (which?) there is awareness that the talking does matter, at least a little?

• "Discussion more so than a lecture."

• "Come in sit down and no one is talking. Take a look @ the wiki & turn in our homework. It is not very fun to be in this class even though it is not a bad class." Alas. :-( I keep trying to understand why the energy of our group is so flat. My best guess is forcing us to slog through the entirely of "The Jacket" at the beginning of the semester. It was too long, too slow, and too chopped-up among class periods to have any other influence upon us than a deadening one. Anyone agree (or disagree)?

• "One of our typical classese would consist of Steph passing out an essay or some other sort of writing and the class would read it, go into groups and discuss what we just read, then we reflet upon it together with the entire class."

• "A typical class daya begins with reviewing our homework assignments that will be due for the next class. Next we usually read a piece of writing or watch a video that can and must be interpreted. Once done, we have a class-wide in-depth discussion. On occasion we will split into groups before the discussion to brainstorm ideas. A typical class day is relaxed and interesting" (emphasis added). I smiled at the emphasis on interpreting, as one of my pet pedagogical projects is that you leave this class with increased skill at assessing meanings. What is the meaning of meaning? :-) And, I'm happy that at least one person (!) actually enjoys class. (Besides me, of course, you can tell that I enjoy watching you grow, can't you?)

• "Have forced discussions, reaching analyzations of random things, etc."

• "Wiki days in the computer lab."

• "Pass in a buttload of work [gasp!], do either a group assignment that requires a lot of thinking or watch and assess some sort of video" (emphasis and commentary added).

Main learnings

Actually (if I do say so myself), a rather impressive list (with some humorous asides, yeah!). My responses in italics:

• "How to perceive a reader when they are reading your work."
• The following list made my day :-)

"find your focus/claim

stick with it and do not go off topic in your paper

include compelling evidence as well as a defined context of your own writing

conclude in a way without having to re-phrase the claim"

• "...to show not tell. I also have learned the importance of writing to a specific audience."
• "Proper grammar, noticing improvements in writing. Bibliography/citing works."
• "How to edit a wiki...LOL, and a lot on how to improve my own writing." I "LOL" back. :-)
• "Harder than it looks - you really have to get down and dirty with writing, and think in different contexts, for it to ever be good" (emphasis added).
• "I have learned to think as much as possible about what I am writing. It doesn't always go well if I write my first thoughts about an assignment" (emphasis added).
• "Frustration - rewrites to the extreme." Hopefully you're learning more than just how to endure?
• "How to make my writing better @ college level. Learning how to give good feedback, and, doing multiple drafts is to help me improve, not to kill me" (emphasis added). OUCH! :-), and . . . ok, I had to comment on the whole multiple draft thing. I do know it is hard! I respect every single one of you who gives it a go.
• "...you always have to rewrite, you can always make a paper better and there are always things to fix. The least distractions or not distractions the better, and detail in your writing is essential." Right on!
• "...to be more concise in my writing yet use enough detail to prove or support my point. Distractions in writing are the easiest way to bore an audience and detail is the best way of hooking one." I could break into celebratory song...but I won't.  ;-)
• "Variety of cultured texts for broader understanding of things." Let me ask if I understand the point, are you saying that you've learned not to rely on just a few sources or only one point-of-view on an issue? That's true and a great learning. :-) I could also read this sentence as meaning you have been exposed to a variety of texts through the assigned readings, and this has broadened your own view - which would also be totally cool. Maybe you mean both?!
• "Think about how your audience will perceive what you write."

Still to cover...

A few of you want a different course entirely (creative writing? poetry?) and I cannot help you out. Others simply said "No", possibly implying that you do not want the course to cover anything else (?) and definitely nothing "more" (I have to let you down, as well - sorry, it's a teacher-kind-of thing.) Several of you provided ideas that I am eager to try over the next five course meetings. Hehehehehe..... ;-)

• "current event based writing" is already in motion: Virginia Tech and any of the conversations throughout the semester. :-) Thanks for specifying "the current curriculum serves its purpose."
• "a critique of an article or movie, etc." Hmmmm, Unit Four certainly gives you a chance to do this, doesn't it? And, I'm thinking this has been an element of the course all along - with Peer Reviews, Unit Three necessarily included critique, and Unit Two definitely could have been approached in this way....? As a specific, required assignment, a movie or article critique is the kind of assignment you might get in many other courses. I suppose as practice, that would make it a useful kind of paper to do in this introductory course . . . and . . . the general goal is to give you the skills to be able to write such a critique on any topic or subject matter...do you feel you have not gained these skills? That you would not, now, be able to write a solid critique of a movie or article?
• "I really hate to say this because I hate doing it, but structure and grammar. If it were to come about in more extra credit that would be awesome." Coming soon! Perhaps in the form of a competitive game show?
• "More direction on our essays as opposed to just setting out general ideas." Ah, but you see, if I provide direction then aren't I the one doing the thinking about what point you want to make? Or do you mean another kind of "direction"?
• "Perhaps do like one or two days on punctuation. I know we have Penguin, but hearing it helps to learn better."
• "Maybe more writing about things we're really interested in." How do I respond to this? Unit One is about yourself, Unit Two was the result of a class vote but you could go in any direction you chose, Unit Three was totally your own choice, and Unit Four provides a wide range. What are you interested in? :-/
• "Everything thus far has been real - I want to explore my imagination." Intriguing dichotomy! What prevents you from bringing your imagination to subjects that are real?

Critiquing specific activities

Students were asked to select ONE from a generic list of standard classroom activites and "suggest ways [to] make it more useful."

Freewriting

• have more opportunities You mean, every class? We did do this more frequently earlier in the semester...
• give a broad topic "and then we could write our views freely touching on any or all aspects of the topic" Isn't this how I've framed the in-class chances?
• "do a little less than 80 pages"
• "...if we were given a topic to ponder every week it would be easier to do our free write journals. Sometimes it gets tricky and hard to think of stuff to write."
• "I feel like I'm writing about nothing important." What stops you from writing about things that you feel are important?
• "less"
• "Check to make sure people do it."
• "shorten amount of pages"
• "You can make it useful by writing anything down without thinking and stopping for an amount of time and read it out loud to hear how funny and stupid it is. It is a way to make writing fun."

Class discussion

• "...have the teacher say an idea and throw it out there for the students to elaborate on instead of just asking them broad questions: students would then be able to analyze your idea and it would help lead them to their own ideas."

Exploratory writing

• "Maybe if we paired up on topics and did point, counterpoint essays it would help us see different sides of topics."

Peer Review

• "There is always an assumption of a re-write because we usually get review after we have turned in paper."
• "Teacher evaluation and peer review were most effective in improving my writing. All the other stuff were a little unnecessary." I'm glad direct feedback helped but, ummmm, are you saying that is the only thing you want/need to do in a writing classroom?
• "People don't always have their work in class, so it cannot be peer reviewed." Does not being able to read and review your peer's work take something away from you/your learning?

Additional suggestions and comments

• "Grading system is a little confusing. Don't like the wiki. Other than that it is good." Do you dislike the wiki because of the learning curve for the software or because of its public nature? Both? Another, different reason?
• "Some of the small assignments seem pointless, but overall it's alright."
• "I think that the grade for this shouldn't be based so much on posting things on the wiki and it should be based more on the quality of writings that you have to produce." Hmm, there is no real relationship between posting on the wiki and your grade...posting to date has only earned you extra credit. Only now have I begun to ask that everything be posted, but it still doesn't have to be if you really don't want to. You do have to be bold enough to tell me!
• "I think that the wiki is a bit confusing and maybe if it were stressed more before we began writing we could utilize it more efficiently for the rest of the course."
• Thanks for the comprehensiveness of this next response!

"I still don't like the wiki and wish it didn't play such a big role in the class. It confuses me, and never works the way I want it too.

Things seem jumbled together. Having to rewrite Unit 2, do Penguin Points, and the reading seems overwhelming, when we have had weeks with much less to do. Workload seems to go up and down a lot.

Assignments still seem very vague and unclear, wish the writing assignments would be more specific and include what you want to see.

More freewriting in class, less awkward silences."

• Thanks for the detail in this response, too.

"Steph should follow-up/let us know the reason behind some assignments that seem to do nothing to help us get better.

Wiki confidentiality should be nonexistent within the confines of the class.

I have learned quite a lot, but not as much as I would have if it was run differently."

• "I have learned a lot from class and would like an easier way to remember it all and have that resource for when I write essays." Believe it or not, the class magazine and the Penguin Points activity (in this, the dreaded wiki!) are two ways that I hope you can carry the learnings from this class forward - or at least be able to refer back to when you need them. Let me know if you ever do!
• "For Unit Two, the choices we had to write about were both incredibly BORING! You may want to work on those." Are you suggesting I decide, rather than letting the class vote?
• "More explanation about paper before it is passed in. It is difficult to take in info about past papers and fix them while working on another paper. Some people at this point could be working with 15 pages of editing, while writing another five page paper."
• "No more quizzes..." No problem! :-)
• "Less 'busy' work and more personal and specific review/evaluation on our papers." Ask for an appointment anytime!!
• "I know we have gone over WIKI several times, but some of us are computer incompetent. Perhaps less wiki more writing."

Student' Summarize Meaning

For each group of responses, students worked in pairs or trios to answer these three questions:

1. What does the feedback say?
2. What does the feedback <i<meand</i>?
3. What do Steph's comments add or take away?

phane88 & KSweets

1) The feedback says everything we have learned about what makes good writing. It lists several different things which can either make or break a paper. 2) The feedback means we have learned what Steph has taught!! It shows our class comprehends what Steph has taught us over the course of the semester and hopfully now we will always apply it to our writing. Also it shows our writing is improving. 3) Steph's comments validate what we said. It also shows that we learned was right, and that she must have taught the material well.! Ksweets 22:27, 6 May 2007 (EDT)

David & Anna

1. The feedback from "Still to Cover" says that the students want more "current event based writing", "critique" writing, "imaginary" writing, and more work on grammar and mechanics.
2. Based on the students' feedbacks, they mean that they would like to work with writing they could apply to their everyday life. They want to write about things they could relate too. Perhaps by writing things that that students could relate to, it would seem more like they were writing for themselves rather than "required" writing. Students also want to engage on writings that critique "articles and movies." I think that this is another way of saying that students would rather write about things they enjoy. The same goes for "imaginary" or creative writing.
3. Steph responds by saying that she has already been trying to implement these aspects into her classes. In a way, if you read her responses, she seems somewhat defensive because she feels like this is a class aimed to improve writing skills, not specifically creative writing or writing critiques. Steph says that the skills students acquire in class could potentially help students engage creative and critique writing in other classes. One thing that Steph put into consideration was the the request to work on grammar and mechanics.

Annerrs 14:11, 3 May 2007 (EDT)

Jessica & Esco

Paul, John? & Atshekleton

Additional Comments and Suggestions

1) What does it say?

We found that this section of the review was mostly a list of complaints about the class. There was a comment about there being less wiki and more writing happening and also about things getting jumbled together in terms of the workload.

2) What does it mean?

The general conclusion of the group was that the wiki isn't helping the class at all but is instead constatnly hurting it. One of the biggest issues (that we covered in class on Tuesday) was the fact that there is too much to do at one time; things aren't spread out as they should be.

3) What do Steph's comments add or take away?

Steph generally wants the group to be more detailed and specific when speaking/writing about any topic. She took all of the comments that were made about the class into consideration even though many of them were portraying it in a negative fashion, and I (Adam) think that it takes a pretty big person to do that.

Dan, Andy, & The IceCream Man

=== What does the