Summer I: Weeks 4 & 5 Reflection

In a few days, I am off to Charleston, SC for one month. I cannot wait. My students' work this semester is sending me off in good spirits. I have been impressed with this semester's diligence and thoughtfulness. Students engaged in reflective processes of writing and revising--and our final conferences proved productive and meaningful. I think the best take-away for me: students asked "writerly" questions of their work. This shows me an awareness of purpose-driven writing, which is so important for the growth of college writers. 

Students also enjoyed blogging and were more active this semester with responding to classmates' posts. I wonder if the reduced schedule in the summer--or the type of students who attend summer college courses--had anything to do with the increased blogging presences in both sections of ENG 100.

For the fall, I want to explore more ways for students to engage in multigenre/multimodal processes of writing, and to write blog posts that interest both their classmates and others outside of class. For that to happen, I need to consider more accessible and creative blog prompts. Perhaps leave more blog assignments open-ended. I am always concerned about being too prescriptive. This summer felt like I might have outlined too much of their writing. In the future, I might increase the amount of low-stakes, informal blog assignments so students can compose varied texts. Perhaps the blog assignments have less to do with students showing their stages of composing their formal assignments and more about using the blog for writing within and against multiple literacies, for bridging the gap between their lives inside and outside of the classroom, and for "reading the word and the world."