Yon's questions for July26

Q 1. According to Reiff, the genre can be interpreted in the context of a power dynamic. Used to a genre convention, however, readers often cannot see how excluding a genre can be. In what ways can composition teachers help students to critically read a genre convention?

Q 2. When we adopt Yancey's portfolio evaluation into a writing class, how can we relieve students' anxiety about their grade all along the semester? 

K.K. questions for 7/26

1. From the Wysocki piece-
Have you ever had to analyze the visual aspects of a written page the way Wysocki does by examining different fonts and sizes? Also, do you see a value in teaching about the visual parts of something textual as another way to understand the social circumstances that surround what makes a text look the way it does?

2. In the "Portfolio Program in Press" section of the Yancey piece, a series of questions is asked about portfolios, and Yancey suggests that as the portfolio pedagogy progresses, those questions should continually be asked to ensure portfolios are helping students write.

"Do portfolios as currently conceptualized and defined foster development in writing? Do they help students become (better) writers? What attitudes toward writing do they engender? Are the portfolio contents appropriate, given the aims of the curriculum? Are students given enough authority in selecting the contents of the final portfolio? Are they given enough help in doing so? Are students prepared to assume responsibility for their own writing?"

So, do you share this view of portfolios in the classroom as an ever-changing tool that is always going to be shifting and evolving? Or is there a certain standard or version of portfolio that you imagine you will default to as a teacher?

Aderibigbe, questions 7/26/2018

1. In one sentence, how will you assess Reiff's view on genre? 

2. As a writing teacher, how much importance do you place on visual arrangements?

Annaliisa's Questions

1) Did Yancey's essay help you decide whether or not to use portfolios in your classes? Why or why not?

2) Reiff writes that her essay is directed at new instructors. Did you find her discussion of genre added anything new to what we have already learned and if so, then what?

Pat's Questions July 26

1.     Reiff mentions that “the idea is that as students critique genres as sites of rhetorical action and cultural production and reproduction, they also see how genres function as motivated social actions, enabling them to enter into the production of alternatives” (163). Using this as a springboard, and since all of us will eventually teach ENC 2135, how might you have students engage in and produce alternatives?  

2.     Yancey, on page 112, mentions the different ways which composition teachers might use in order to evaluate student portfolios, from grading the portfolio holistically, to averaging the grades of the individual pieces or even including assessment from a group of teachers. If you have had any previous experience with portfolio grading, which assessment method did you (or a previous instructor you may have had) use and why? Or in light of our discussion on Tuesday about assessment, is there a specific assessment method that Yancey mentions or otherwise that you might consider using in your own classroom? 

Keri Miller 7/26

1. Reif calls attention to “how our own work as teachers is also situated institutionally and organized and generated by genres ranging from textbooks to syllabi to assignments to the end comments we write on papers.” What institutional genres do you feel you could analyze more thoroughly in order to help yourself become a better composition teacher?

2. What are some examples of times you’ve used genre as a lens to better understand a rhetorical situation? Either as a student, a teacher, or in your day-to-day life?

Noah's Q's 7/26

1. What was your writing instruction like? Was it as genre oriented as some of the readings/suggestions we've seen for writing instruction?

2. For the non-rhet/compers in bootcamp: looking at the portfolio assignments, the readings for tomorrow, and the digital strands, how was your view of composition changed? Was multimodality a part of your writing instruction? Did you see this type of composition as a part of the discipline? Do you find it useful? Will you use it?

Laura Smith Questions July 26

1) Yancey offers a lot of compelling arguments for portfolio grading. What are the pros and cons? Especially for people who are planning on not using it, what are you planning to do instead? Why?

2) Wysocki offers several in-depth analyses of visual spaces in her article, which engage with everything from typeface to color to layout. How is critically analyzing visual elements similar and different to analyzing alphabetic text? Is it more or less culturally situated? Is it more or less individual?

Reiff questions - Liz :)

1. Reiff stresses an importance for instructors to move beyond simply teaching genre as form. For one, if we teach genre as simply a template to fill, then students will be less likely to take risks like they are encouraged to in project three. How do you think you can get your students to this point of taking risks in writing and genres?

2. How do you feel about Reiff's "anti genres" (page 162)? How do you see using this type of response in class?

Farrah Hersh Q's 7/26

In the Reiff piece, creativity and the strength and interest of the student was a common theme at least to me. In your classroom, will you allow a student to be more creative throughout the semester rather than perhaps on the last project? I'm thinking how we were able to design our literacy narrative any way we wanted.

When talking about portfolio assessments, Yancey states that a possibility would be a group of teachers rating together. Somehow this doesn't seem right to me. As a teacher you've watched a student grow in the classroom, how would other teachers know the effort was put into every assignment and project if they weren't there for the entire semester? I will admit it is different if it's just one paper, but an entire semester's worth is something else entirely.

Pickens 7/26

1 – In Portfolios in the Writing Classroom: A Final Reflection Kathleen Yancey says that “teachers will read not so much to see how their students are developing or to suggest new directions, but to assess, to assign value (Purves 1984). In this situation, teachers' reading of and response to text are directed in large part, first, toward providing such an evaluation and, second, toward providing a justification of the reading and of the assigned grade” (111). Do you agree with her assessment of the effect that responding for evaluative purposes can have on a teacher’s responsive priorities? If possible, draw on your own experiences. If you think she is correct, do you think there are ways other than portfolio grading that can prevent this?

2 – In her pedagogical insight essay, Mary Joe Reif says that “Approaching writing through a contextual genre theory consists of using genre as a lens for accessing, understanding, and

writing in various situations and contexts. A genre approach to teaching writing is careful not to treat genres as static forms or systems of classification. Rather, students learn how to recognize

genres as rhetorical responses to and reflections of the situations in which they are used” (159). What are some of the approaches that you might take as a teacher to avoid teaching genre as a static form? If possible, provide an example of a less that you might employ.

David Lowrey Questions 7/26

1. I am intrigued by Reiff’s idea to ask our student to produce new genres for class. That said, it seems like a pretty broad request, particularly considering that our students are likely to have just learned about genre in such detail. How can we ensure that our students are not overwhelmed by the idea of creating a new genre from scratch?

2. Yancey discusses how portfolios in writing courses are useful because they train the students to be reflective on the themes and patterns of their own writing. Do you think there is a way to reinforce to students the importance of self-reflection on their writing?

Nicholas - 7/26

1. On page 161, Reiff says that "Students' critical awareness of how genres work—their understanding of how rhetorical features are connected to social actions—enables them to more effectively critique and resist genres by creating alternatives."

Why would it be important for students learning genre to resist genre? What can a teacher do to help facilitate this?


2. Yancey lists three "essential characteristics" of portfolios: they are "longitudinal in nature," "diverse in content," and "almost always collaborative in ownership and composition."

In what ways do these characteristics make portfolios effective evaluation tools for instructors?

Dorothy 7/26

Can you see yourself incorporating various modes of composition in your classroom, other than the typical linguistic-focused text? Why or why not?

One of the greatest benefits of a genre-awareness approach to composition is that we can encourage students to not only learn and understand how genre functions, but how to experiment with or even break away from genre. However, as we’ve discussed in class, students are often hesitant to take risks. How can we encourage students to take more risks and break away from conventions?

John 7:26

1. Say you decide to use portfolio grading, would you want it to be more of a revised compilation of a student's writing from your course in totality, or as a curation of only their strongest works? (What are your thoughts on portfolios in terms of design choices?)

2. If we are understanding genre as contingent on context, where we investigate it with certain analytical lenses, how would you go about explaining this understanding to your ENC 2135 class in a way they can easily comprehend and begin to utilize?

Michael Taylor 7/26

Yancey says that, if teachers elect to use portfolios, they should do so with a purpose. What would your purpose be in using portfolios in your classes?

Wysocki calls attention to visual details we might otherwise ignore. What are some of the visual elements of compositions (from essays to photographs to websites) that you'll call your students' attention to?

Hera's Questions for 7/26

1. What would be your favorite approach towards grading portfolios?

2. What is a dream typeface that does not exist and you would like to see it come into being? Describe it and explain what purpose it would serve. This is a serious question.

or

What are some of the activities that you would introduce to make students inquire into the rhetorical design of a genre and use their knowledge to challenge genre for the purposes of social action/intervention? 

Amanda's questions for 7-26

Reif talks about resisting genres by creating alternatives. This is something we touched on a little in class last week. Since we are also instructed to have our students use genres as a sort of scaffolding, how will you then remove that scaffolding and help them bush past genre into a place where they can create their own?

 

As we think about creating our own portfolios for bootcamp and consider the things Yancey said in this week’s reading, do you think you will use portfolios for your own classes? If so, what purpose will they serve?

 

 

Michael Pons, Yeet

1. Reiff mentions her exercise of having her students develop "antigenres" as alternatives to working within the defined conventions of a genre that may not fit the student's purpose. This seems like valuable assignment when it comes to learning how to operate both within and outside of established genre conventions, but does the process of creating a antigenre that is antithetical to the genre still serve to limit students in that their antigenre is inherently limited by what the genre is "not?" Would it be better to try and have the students compose entirely new genres from scratch?

2. I like the idea of using portfolios as a means for evaluating students, as I personally believe that growth is always the true goal for students in a classroom setting. However, evaluating based on growth might lead to some problematic implications. For instance, a student who writes an above average paper might receive a lower grade than a student who writes an average paper, which might cause frustration and confusion among both students and concerned parents. What would you anticipate as being the biggest roadblocks when it comes to trying to evaluate students based on growth?

Leah Delaney Questions 07/26

1. On page 105 Yancey writes "writing portfolios promise to change significantly what goes on in writing classrooms-- because of the messages they send, the authority they assign, the ways they motivate students, and the insights they challenge students to perceive and articulate."

How do portfolios accomplish all of this? If we choose not to do portfolio grading, what other methods, if any, might achieve the same effect?

2. How does the Reiff piece achieve the goal of "conversation starter" (163) that it deems to be the goal of this specific genre of writing?

Raquel 7/25 Qs

1. How do you feel about portfolio grading versus more traditional grading? Which do you prefer to use?

2. Did Wysockis' article on multiple media of texts surprise you? Why or why not? What were your biggest takeaways from this article?

Sidney 7/26

1.     How would you go about introducing students to the way that the multi-media nature of texts complicates and influences audience experience? Would you utilize some of Wysocki’s suggested activities, or maybe briefly discuss how aesthetic decisions impact understanding of texts?

2.     If you decide to use portfolio grading how do you plan on evaluating the formative “development of the writer”? Will you allow multiple submissions of assignments, or grade based off an evaluation of the growth in their writing throughout the progression of the course (or perhaps an alternative approach)? And why?