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

Me 'n my honeybee friend

[edit] SJK: A Dark Ally

I'm a doctoral candidate in the Communication Department, and keep my own weblog: Reflexivity. I love teaching and am excited to be teaching two different writing courses this fall of 2007: a freshman level course in the English Department and a junior level course in the Communiction Department. This will be the fourth and fifth wiki's, and the first time I'll have two going at the same time: I have many ideas for integrating pedagogy and cross-pollinating learning for everyone's benefit.

I created a second blog to focus more specifically on learning and teaching: A Place in Space.

Integrating online (asynchronous) and realtime (face-to-face in the classroom) learning finally reached stride with the Spring 2008 Group Dynamics course. The juniors and seniors in Communication who embraced this course are terrific: click through for my take on the outstanding group dynamics class, COM352 Spring 2008.

For Spring 2007, I taught the required freshman writing course, College Writing: Section 71, English 112 for the second time. I first taught this course in the fall of 2006. With each class' wiki, I continue and extend the organic method of instruction that I have been developing for several years.

Previously, in Spring 2006, I taught a junior-level writing course (specific to the discipline of Communication) in a more live and spontaneous way than I ever had before. There were definitely moments of panic: "What am I going to teach today?!!" But if I relaxed and trusted in a few concrete principles, it seems the students deepened their abilities and capacity for critical thinking (that, or they bluffed me quite effectively!)

• Principle 1: Trust that students really do want to perform. Sure, they'd rather put as little effort into it as possible (!), but if the structure clearly requires improvement, most of them rise to the challenge.

• Principle 2: Lesson plans will appear from the material that students generate: watch, listen, think, gather, and coordinate.

• Principle 3: It really is ok to learn together. Keeping instruction alive by using material from my own daily experiences keeps my enthusiasm high; this seems to feed an increase in students' engagement with course material and intellectual demands.

Email: steph at comm dot umass dot edu

Here are some thoughts regarding my teaching philosophy. The moment for writing them occurred after a personal/pedagogical aha" based on a student's essay.

[edit] Weblog Postings

Students in ENG112 (Fall 2007) who aim to earn an A will be required to keep an anonymous Wordpress weblog for the duration of the semester. (At the end of the semester identities must be revealed to the teacher for participation credit.)

Students in COM375 (Fall 2007) will be required to keep an anonymous Wordpress weblog for the duration of the semester. (At the end of the semester identities must be revealed to the teacher for participation credit.)

The teacher's posts concerning current and past groups of students and/or in relation to teaching in general, see: www.reflexivity.us, Category:Teaching. More current blogposts will probably be at A Place in Space.

In regard to the Spring 2007 College Writing Course (Section 68), see this BlogPost Index.

[edit] Wordpress Weblog Hints and Tips

Problems with categorizing? Want to distinguish the look of your weblog from others? Have a brilliant idea to share? Check out Wordpress Hints and Tips.

[edit] Need a Reference Letter?

Here are some general tips and specific guidelines for a letter from Steph.

[edit] Summer 2008: Interpersonal Communication

This course will be conducted entirely online, using the UMass Blackboard system and Wordpress Weblogs. Only final team projects will be posted in the UMassWiki. Curricular design and communication technology will build on the success of the spring Group Dynamics course.

[edit] Spring 2008: Group Dynamics

My favorite subject of all time :-) Group Dynamics. We learned about decision-making in groups by studying our own decision-making processes. While we were at it, the class produced an amazing coursewiki and left me proud of what we accomplished. The outline for Day 1 set the frame for the course and notified students of a participatory research study.

[edit] Best Use of Blogs and Wikis yet!

Summarized afterwards on its own page in A Place in Space; A Time to Interact.

[edit] Fall 2007

Remember How to run a good wiki class and major assignments

[edit] ENGLWRIT 112 Section 36

[edit] A Drum Roll, please!

I'm proud of the freshfolk already; look at these fantastic one-liners they've created as teasers into the introductions written about them by peers!

[edit] Pasta Sauce Introduces Me

{Note: we had an odd number,
so someone "got" me. Poor guy!}
Steph^(talk) 15:06, 25 September 2007 (EDT)

Twice a week, a group of students ambles into a classroom filled with computers to study writing. Many groan about the fact that the class is obligatory on the track to a bachelor’s degree, but one person in particular is always smiling and ready to start class with lots of energy. Her excitement to open her students’ minds is apparent as she asks, “Should we start? It’s four o’clock.” Stephanie Jo Kent is definitely an education junkie. Her UMassWiki page and education-devoted blog “A Place in Space” (link) talk of her ideas for challenging her students to think in new ways and to discover new meanings behind seemingly dry subjects. Her enthusiasm to learn while teaching is reflected in her Wiki as one of her essential principles of teaching: she states that drawing from her own day-to-day experiences helps to keep her highly enthused, and therefore keeps students interested. In her opinion, the most important part of her job is to encourage students to worry less about the “assumed instructional parameters” of more traditional K-12 settings in order to be able to think for themselves. In Steph’s mind, the classroom is one of those ideal places where people of all types can come together to learn and express themselves. Steph works hard to create an ideal learning environment where students learn about themselves and how to relate those selves to the world around them. Of course, there is more to life than the classroom, but Steph devotes much of her energy to her teaching and classroom time.

Steph’s pedagogical question easily explains how openly intellectual her class is to someone new, “How does one support students as they learn how to learn on their own?” Each discussion that the class has about expression through writing are full of just that---students talking to other students about topics that Steph proposes with her occasional input of agreement or correction. This form of learning is new to most if not all of the class, coming from an education focused on the next step, be that college or the workplace. Now that we are in “the next step” the focus has shifted to studying subjects of interest and learning how to apply our new knowledge to life. And so this class is decidedly more mature than past writing courses, with new light shed on author responsibility and credibility, as well as making writing more interesting than the banally formulaic research paper.

Even though she is the teacher, Steph challenges herself to learn just as she challenges her students to. One blog entry on her personal blog “Reflexivity” spoke of an invitation to an Association of Cultural Studies event in Istanbul with potential for side travel to Iran. Her words were not fearful of traveling to a conflicted area of the world, but were full of excitement, “…there are some invitations an opportunities that are not to be passed by….” (link) This spirit of learning and taking risks that embodies Steph’s teaching and personality. Another risk Steph takes, and takes often, is one of using technology as a tool to reinforce her lessons. This introduction is one of the products of such learning, as the impressions of Steph mentioned here is heavily based on reading various weblog and wiki pages in addition to class interaction. Technology has paid off, as many students have been able to interact with their writing outside of class and gain a better understanding of the creativity and intellect of the class group.

Steph is an ally for sure, but is she dark? Her bright enthusiasm and thirst for knowledge and interaction make her class a bright place to be indeed. A scholar and a teacher, willing to take risks and challenge the norm, Steph does her best every day to enlighten her students. She is public with her ambitions, sharing her triumphs and frustrations with audiences vast and small---communicating her ideas with the world. Pasta sauce 13:05, 20 November 2007 (EST)

[edit] Reviewed

A Suck-ups Guide to the Teacher.

[edit] General Info and (semi-secret) Prep

• College Writing will be taught at a publicly undisclosed location on unannounced days of the week for a certain (unproclaimed) amount of time (following the Writing Program's interpretation of FERPA: in which student "attendance in a particular class is considered private information so that others cannot locate them in a particular time and place" (Statement on Technology and Teaching, University of Massachusetts Writing Program Handbook 2007, p. 25. See TO Handbook (PDF)).
• Students in ENG112 who aim to earn an A will be required to keep an anonymous Wordpress weblog for the duration of the semester. (At the end of the semester identities must be revealed to the teacher for participation credit.)

This I Believe: Experiencing a Feeling of Wildness by David Gessner.

"Some of your students don’t read much? Wow. I guess it may be the different age they are growing in. They probably read a LOT on line, in text messaging and magazines but maybe not many books?" From a comment by cole to a blogpost about the sexiness of writing like a reader, somewhat inspired by the individual voice's post about Francine Prose's book of that title (which includes the quote: We Make the Path by Walking).

Check out The Reflective Teacher's Your Day in a Sentence as a teaching activity. steph (COM) 16:07, 4 August 2007 (EDT)

I have to organize the "Interacting with Text" cross-wiki information to a) maintain the record of how we did it and b) prep for the next stage, which moves us into "Conversation." Steph^(talk) 21:22, 23 October 2007 (EDT)

[edit] COM375 Section 9

• Writing as Communication will be taught somewhere on campus on two or three days/week for some particular block of time.
• Students in COM375 will be required to keep an anonymous Wordpress weblog for the duration of the semester. (At some point during the semester identities must be revealed to the teacher for participation and assignment credit.)

[edit] Spring 2007

I took inspiration from Natalie Goldberg in the fall of 2006; here's a lingering thought:

[edit] Stellar Students

All the way around. The Section 71 course wiki revamped by student editors sets a standard for others to meet (and surpass?), while the class magazine, Piecing It Together, is a monumental document of students' growth as writers.

[edit] No Bullshit

No Bullshit: Living Against the Jacket

[edit] Steph Ruminates on Writing Identity Narratives

Reflection Letter by Steph

I learned about myself by writing a second personal identity essay this spring. Certain feedback from students about the content helped me understand myself better as a teacher, and specific examples from students about where they became confused pushed me to express this understanding more clearly.

In terms of content, students identified the (self-perceived!) components of my identity in the first draft: nonconformist, out-of-the-ordinary, ever-changing, facing challenges, resilient, and seeking surprise. I felt "read" accurately by my audience, meaning they "got" what I wanted them "to get" about me (one indicator of success as a writer). However, they also correctly diagnosed that I had not yet actually stated how these components work together as a generic model of identity. In the next version I was able to summarize, "Identity is the spirit that rises to meet what is: identity ... engages the environment ... [identity is] how a person reads and responds to the action occurring around them."

Rhetorically, students were not able to follow my logic in the first three drafts. The logos of "identity is a surprise" was not explained carefully enough or with adequate detail. Some students connected with my pathos, although the link between the rap verse and the rest of the essay was tenuous. I failed to establish ethos in both domains of academic writing and creative wordplay. I left the rap out of the next version, which I thought was a loss but one of my critics did not: "the only things you threw away were the things that got a lot of us confused in the first place."

Because of the problems identified already, most students found my first version ineffective. I am proud that they did not tell me nice (fake) things. Instead, I received a list of weaknesses: "too many quick transitions," "scattered" thoughts, "unclear" ideas, and general incompleteness: readers "don't know how it ends." A few comments went further, questioning my motivation, "It's like the author was trying to fit in with the type of people." Another clarified that instead of providing insight into my own identity, I "[question] others on how their identity should be." The narrative, explained another reader, seemed more about the movie I used as my example than about me. One lone (!) comment did indicate a positive effective, meaning the writing was received in alignment with what I had intended. This reader recognized that I wrote: "to cause emotion from reader, cause a response. [T]his is...neat since we said that she measures identity through response and this essay causes a reaction...a response." On the basis of this and other generous feedbacks I knew that some seeds of what I wanted to grow were floating in the tidepool of my first attempt!

I am quite tickled returning to these comments now, a month or two later, and recognizing how similar this collection of feedback from the students to me is to the feedback I give them on their assignments. We all suffer the same challenges! The suggestions for improvement are precise: tell more about me (do not leave my identity vague for the reader to infer), provide more answers than questions, explain more, relate myself more to the example, improve the flow, and - most basic? - finish it! Focus! (Can you see me smiling?) :-) Despite all of this, some readers did believe that the first draft gave a sense of my identity, while others insisted on a more clear representation of who I think I am and why. Why did I write "that poem"?

knowledge elusive,

grounded in surreal space, transmitted via

myspace, facebook, cellphone, I’m-not-at-home

yet,

all alone surrounded by dead eyes,

trying to reach the right size,

in order not to compromise.

Sell out for the right price,

it ain’t just any roll of the dice.

Memory dictates what it will,

life won’t make me swallow that pill.

I’ve got game without the shame;

you gonna play or pack it up for a later day?

References:

1. Student feedback on first draft.
2. Tom and John?'s critiques on the second draft.
3. First Draft (really the third, but the first public version). :-)
4. Second Draft, No Bullshit: Living Against the Jacket

[edit] Fall 2006

What follows is my writing (and a window to my pedagogy) for College Writing, Section 68 English 112.

This fall I've been listening to Natalie Goldberg reading her own book, Writing Down the Bones. She has perfectly expressed my intention with blogging in one concise sentence. In my weblog, Reflexivity I have been "writing the moments for human consciousness and using my own personal details to express the ride."

During the teacher training workshop for English 112, we wrote a first draft of a personal essay on the topic of "Self in Contradiction". I received feedback from my Peer Reviewer, Phil. I created an elaboration of the assignment criteria, juxtaposing key points with my Peer Reviewer's feedback as a step in planning the second draft. In the process of rewriting, I realized that Phil's feedback focused more on the content level of the ideas, whereas I want the essay to be a statement of identity through those ideas. The fact that my writing took him, as a careful and thoughtful reader, to a different place than I intended meant I had to revamp and reconsider how to align my written words with my deliberate goal. Here's take two: Language as Motion.

[edit] Rewrite #3: Language and Me

The class had a great time (!) ripping my second draft to shreds.  :-)

The students noted many differences and some similarities. In general, there were bits of the first draft they liked and wished I had carried through, but felt the second draft was better written. However, most of them were clear on the fact that it was not obviously an identity piece about me. (I suspect they were delighted to tell me that the essay isn't done.) We figured out that I had not yet met the assignment criteria by discussing how I had used the feedback from my esteemed Peer Reviewer. It was intriguing to learn that while I thought I had deliberately worked against Phil's specific suggestions, the students found evidence of me working within his feedback. steph (COM) 15:31, 22 October 2006 (EDT)

I offered Extra Credit if students analyzed my third rewrite for specific evidence of my stated goals for the piece (its argument) and also labeled the rhetorical strategy used: ethos, logos, or pathos. steph (COM)

[edit] Reader's Theatre Script

I arranged for one of my best friends to substitute teach a class I had to miss due to a family emergency. It was a "wiki day", so I wrote a reader's theatre script for my students to get them going.

[edit] Risky Living

My final This I Believe essay is posted on my weblog. I began by reading, listening to, and thinking about some of the beliefs that inspire me.

[edit] research: references and resources

First Thoughts, posted in my weblog on 2 November 2006 and second thoughts, posted 21 November.

A source, this review by Terry Eagleton of Edward Said's book, Power, Politics, and Culture.

An example of courage in writing: personal/professional risk.

An email with statements on climate change from the dropping knowledge project (we peeked at them at the beginning of the semester).

Excerpt from Soul of a Citizen by Paul Rogat Loeb. Still powerful nearly a decade after I first read it.

Diction - certain key defintions.

A quote from Natalie Goldberg (scribbled from the audiotape, may not be precise). "You not only have to write. You have to digest what you wrote so you close the gap. And what you write can inform your life."

[edit] drafting

I needed seven drafts. Here they are in sequence, with the comments I wrote at the time.

I started. Feels good - this writing has been preceded by much thought. Not sure where it will end, yet, and once that lands other things may change. 18:14, 30 November 2006 (EST)

Well. This is really my third draft, because in my second draft I turned to using negation, which is precisely not the criteria. See! It's hard for me, too! I think it was helpful for me to write it with the negative contrasts (what I don't like, what seems wrong, bad effects, etc) because that thinking is in my head and I had to exorcise it. Once it was on paper, then I could look at the words and think more clearly about the positive opposites: this is how I eventually got the next draft, only half of which (the first half) I'm posting to share. Still working on the second half...the very specific doing built on the foundation in first two paragraphs. 11:26, 3 December 2006 (EST)

Really, a freewrite (technically, a freetype). I know what I want to write about next, but not how to write it. So I did a quick freewrite trying to explain what it is I want to explain. Hopefully it is enough to break the logjam. I pounded out a quick paragraph in five minutes or less. Now, to let it simmer and trust what comes next . . . 22:04, 4 December 2006 (EST)

This is not final because it is too long by sixty words. I need help refining it. Where can I condense? How can I be more precise? 08:31, 7 December 2006 (EST)

Still thirty-nine words too many but notice the improvement in being concise. 22:59, 10 December 2006 (EST)

Let's see if I can pull it off, now that I have read the extraordinary feedback from my very own wonderful students.  :-) If you use the history, you can compare the fifth with the sixth draft. 23:14, 11 December 2006 (EST)

[edit] my wiki map

Here are my responses to assist the editors of the Section 68, Freshman Writing Wiki.

[edit] Spring 2006

I wrote a few things for stimulation (my own, and - in theory - students in the class): Writing in Communication for Communication majors in their Junior Year (COM375).

In Defense of Writing responds to students' complaints, concerns, and critiques of writing in and for college classes.

As I continued to try and understand what students were saying (both verbally in class and through their writing), I realized that I needed to improve my own listening skills. I wrote Becoming Audience as part of that effort. It is a continuation of my first essay defending writing, but it is different in that it seeks to address some of the messages from students that didn't quite sink in upon first reading.

I've also written extensive informal feedback to many of the students in the "Discussion" pages attached to their own "articles" (as they are labeled here in the UMass wiki). No grades are posted here. They are a private matter between each student, myself, and the University.

[edit] rap

The biggest risk I've took with the Junior Writing Class was allowing and participating in the rap battle. It began innocently enough, with one disgruntled student taking me on publicly and me responding in kind. Over a few weeks, as students began to dog each other, and more raps began to appear, I decided to allow some rapping to count for credit (up to two pages' worth, or 500 words). Grading criteria applies to the written representation of this contemporary verbal/auditory form. Here are links to my entries, although it is probably more entertaining to simply read the whole twenty-six verse masterpiece (!) from the beginning. Do keep in mind that rap is a form of artistic expression occurring in a cultural and political context as critique of the status quo. It often contains explicit references to sexual behavior and physical violence.