The blog I choose is TVsquad. Why I choose this is because I love watching American shows. In this blog, it introduces all kinds of shows in the United States and categorizes into comedy, reality, drama, and etc for readers easier to find out what show I would like to search. In the blog, it will talk about some recent news about the shows or have some comments on the shows. In the top of the blog, there are “Contact Us” and “Corrections” buttons. So, if readers have any questions or you find something needed to be corrected, they can contact the blogger for further information and assistance. Besides, in every article, there are “email this” and “comment” buttons for readers to contact and share their opinions with the blogger.
Link: http://www.tvsquad.com/
Title: Desperate Housewives: You're Gonna Love Tomorrow
(season premiere)
Dates: Sep 29th 2008
Summary: This article comments on the season premiere of the show “Desperate Housewives.” After five-year jump in the season finale, it allows the writers to move each character forward and offer audience new mysteries and flashbacks to chew on.
At the top of the article, the blogger posts a photo of Desperate Housewives to let the readers who are interested in this article have motivation to click in. The writing style in this article is formal but the blogger seems to try to get closer to the readers by using slang, such as “what the hell” (in first paragraph). In the article, the blogger gives the readers outline for this season premiere and then share his personal opinion. He also sorts the mysteries in the shows for the readers to let us know which part should focus on. Besides, he comments on some of the actors and actresses in the show. In the end, he asks the reader’s opinions and encourages readers to write down their own comments.
There are 23 comments responding to this article. From these comments, I found out that some readers will uses expressional symbols, such as “XD”(comment 1) to express their feelings. Some reader’s writing style is informal. They use incorrect grammar, such as “too tired to get into it, just wanted to say…”(comment 2). Some readers will quote the blogger’s comment and discuss it. Comment 3 is the example.
2008年9月30日 星期二
2007年12月26日 星期三
Response 5
Developing an EAP Writing Course for Chinese ESL Students
This paper introduces an English for Academic Purposes (EAP) writing course developed to help students from China acquire an adequate level of academic writing competence in English so that they can successfully handle the academic writing tasks that they will need to undertake in their undergraduate studies.
In the senior high school, the teacher only asks us to write some expressive writing tasks, such as writing a short letter, describing a place, and narrating a personal experience. After I go to the college, I am asked to write some academic paper and I need systematic guidance and well-designed instruction to acquire this competence.
This article introduces metacognition, skills, and strategies for academic writing. I think it is useful and helpful. It mentions some of the mistakes I have made before. As for metacognition, we should use a knowledge-transforming rather than knowledge-telling process. This is what we usually do. We sometimes merely retell the statement instead of giving a new idea. As for skills, the author suggests that we should adapt writing to specific audiences, take notes and synthesize information from various sources, write appropriate thesis statements and topic sentences, and organize information effectively.
One of the professors advises me that I should take the writing classes as many as possible to enhance my writing. “Practice makes perfect,” and I deeply believe that. Besides, he also suggests that I should read more in order to learn usage of phrases and words, the culture, the structure of the articles, and the brand-new ideas. I should work hard to accomplish this competence to write an outstanding academic writing.
This paper introduces an English for Academic Purposes (EAP) writing course developed to help students from China acquire an adequate level of academic writing competence in English so that they can successfully handle the academic writing tasks that they will need to undertake in their undergraduate studies.
In the senior high school, the teacher only asks us to write some expressive writing tasks, such as writing a short letter, describing a place, and narrating a personal experience. After I go to the college, I am asked to write some academic paper and I need systematic guidance and well-designed instruction to acquire this competence.
This article introduces metacognition, skills, and strategies for academic writing. I think it is useful and helpful. It mentions some of the mistakes I have made before. As for metacognition, we should use a knowledge-transforming rather than knowledge-telling process. This is what we usually do. We sometimes merely retell the statement instead of giving a new idea. As for skills, the author suggests that we should adapt writing to specific audiences, take notes and synthesize information from various sources, write appropriate thesis statements and topic sentences, and organize information effectively.
One of the professors advises me that I should take the writing classes as many as possible to enhance my writing. “Practice makes perfect,” and I deeply believe that. Besides, he also suggests that I should read more in order to learn usage of phrases and words, the culture, the structure of the articles, and the brand-new ideas. I should work hard to accomplish this competence to write an outstanding academic writing.
2007年12月25日 星期二
Response 4
Writing as Process: Rewarding the Slipshod
The author, who is a writing teacher, talks about the errors that his students make and how they can repeat the same errors repeatedly. She thinks the practice of allowing students to revise their work and resubmit it for a better grade is not a system that helps the student to learn. Instead, students who revise their work should receive the grade that the paper deserves and not necessarily a higher grade. She suggests that teachers should not be worried about hampering self-expression or self-esteem by giving bad grades.
I agree with the author’s suggestion that students who revise their work should receive the grade that the paper deserves and not necessarily a higher grade. If the students make the errors again and again, it means the students do not learn from the mistake and do not value the revision. By giving the grade the students deserve, despite frustration for students at the first sight of the grades, it will stimulate and inspire students to take more account of the errors and the details of their writing. What’s more, they will remind themselves not to make the same errors next time. We should build confidence of students to encourage them to write, but sometimes the strictness of the teacher will make students value the importance of the revision and help them improve their writing.
The author, who is a writing teacher, talks about the errors that his students make and how they can repeat the same errors repeatedly. She thinks the practice of allowing students to revise their work and resubmit it for a better grade is not a system that helps the student to learn. Instead, students who revise their work should receive the grade that the paper deserves and not necessarily a higher grade. She suggests that teachers should not be worried about hampering self-expression or self-esteem by giving bad grades.
I agree with the author’s suggestion that students who revise their work should receive the grade that the paper deserves and not necessarily a higher grade. If the students make the errors again and again, it means the students do not learn from the mistake and do not value the revision. By giving the grade the students deserve, despite frustration for students at the first sight of the grades, it will stimulate and inspire students to take more account of the errors and the details of their writing. What’s more, they will remind themselves not to make the same errors next time. We should build confidence of students to encourage them to write, but sometimes the strictness of the teacher will make students value the importance of the revision and help them improve their writing.
2007年12月24日 星期一
Response 3
Peer Tutoring in Writing: A school systems approach
This paper studies seven 10-year-old to 11-year-old students peer-tutored seven six-year-old students in writing over a 10-week period compared with the control group without tutors’ assistance. The study shows that the students with tutors’ assistance improve their writing a lot. The author also recommends the school to adopt this tutoring approach to help students learn writing.
I appreciate the peer tutoring approach. In some way, the relationship between my tutors and I is similar to this kind of relationship for our ages are close to each other. In peer tutoring approach, students will feel more comfortable during peer interactions so that cognitive growth and skills may be more easily developed than in traditional teacher-and- student interactions. Besides, peer tutoring can promote the concept of altruism by helping each other to correct their writing and both tutors and tutees grow up in the process. What’s more, it can also raise students’ intrinsic motivation.
In the article, there are ten steps for tutoring writing :
1. Assists tutee to develop a plan for writing
2. Uses questions to expand on/clarify plan for writing
3. Assists with development of a written plan (e.g., word web) and/or
identification of key ideas
4. Provides prompts to assist tutee with writing process
5. Provides encouragement to writer during writing processes
6. Assists writer to attempt difficult words
7. Asks questions to promote editing changes/additions
8. Prompts or assists with proof-reading for accuracy in spelling
9. Prompts or assists with proof-reading for accuracy in punctuation
10.Provides praise/encouragement for writer’s efforts
In these ten steps, we can find that two of the steps emphasize on the encouragement toward tutees in order to build up their confidence to keep writing. Besides, some steps focus on details, such as word use, spelling, and punctuation. This study also shows that these details improve most in peer tutoring approach.
This paper studies seven 10-year-old to 11-year-old students peer-tutored seven six-year-old students in writing over a 10-week period compared with the control group without tutors’ assistance. The study shows that the students with tutors’ assistance improve their writing a lot. The author also recommends the school to adopt this tutoring approach to help students learn writing.
I appreciate the peer tutoring approach. In some way, the relationship between my tutors and I is similar to this kind of relationship for our ages are close to each other. In peer tutoring approach, students will feel more comfortable during peer interactions so that cognitive growth and skills may be more easily developed than in traditional teacher-and- student interactions. Besides, peer tutoring can promote the concept of altruism by helping each other to correct their writing and both tutors and tutees grow up in the process. What’s more, it can also raise students’ intrinsic motivation.
In the article, there are ten steps for tutoring writing :
1. Assists tutee to develop a plan for writing
2. Uses questions to expand on/clarify plan for writing
3. Assists with development of a written plan (e.g., word web) and/or
identification of key ideas
4. Provides prompts to assist tutee with writing process
5. Provides encouragement to writer during writing processes
6. Assists writer to attempt difficult words
7. Asks questions to promote editing changes/additions
8. Prompts or assists with proof-reading for accuracy in spelling
9. Prompts or assists with proof-reading for accuracy in punctuation
10.Provides praise/encouragement for writer’s efforts
In these ten steps, we can find that two of the steps emphasize on the encouragement toward tutees in order to build up their confidence to keep writing. Besides, some steps focus on details, such as word use, spelling, and punctuation. This study also shows that these details improve most in peer tutoring approach.
2007年12月22日 星期六
Response 2
Learning to teach writing
through tutoring and journal writing
This article says that tutoring teaching can lead to an increased sense of accomplishment and self-esteem, better mastery of academic skills, increased ability to apply and integrate knowledge taught in different courses and a broader, more realistic outlook on the process of teaching and learning. I quite agree with this point. Also, by writing journals, I can learn from the process, self-reflect and then do anything different the next time.
The author suggests that we should experiment with different teaching styles to meet individual student need. I quite identify with this concept. Take the example of my two tutor students, Ivy and Jane. They are both in the ninth grade. At first, I taught both them with direct instruction. Gradually, I found out that Ivy was good in the structure but weak in the grammar while Jane was good in the grammar but weak in the structure, Therefore, I decided to change my teaching style to meet individual student need. For Ivy, I focused more on the grammar. Rather than merely correcting her mistakes, I use collaborative way to encourage her to take more ownership of the revising process. First, I circled the mistakes and asked her if she could recognize and correct her errors by herself. If she couldn’t, I continued to explain the concept and then encourage her to self-correct. By collaborative teaching and self-correct technique, she improved her grammar. For Jane, I focused on the structure and the content of ideas. I taught her how to organize the structure in English composition and helped to decide which idea should keep and which on did not fit. I adopted more direct teaching style because I was dealing with the aspect of writing which my student was unfamiliar. By more controlled way, the student would feel secure and sure of learning.
The article says that the relationship between students will influence teaching. Take the relationship between my tutor students for example. The relationship between Ivy and I is like friends. We sometimes go out together after the class. The advantage of friend-relationship is that she would like to share her feelings and not feel shy to show her weak points to me. Therefore, I can realize more of her strengths and weakness in her writing and help her improve her writing. For Jane, our relationship is like traditional teacher-and-student relationship -- I teach and she learns. She is a little shy to express his feeling to me. She feels a little uncomfortable to write private topics, such as “My Mother”, or “What I Want to Be in the Future”. I find out this and try hard to communicate with her and encourage her. Now, she feels more comfortable. To sum up, the positive relationship between students and the teacher can help students learn and improve more.
through tutoring and journal writing
This article says that tutoring teaching can lead to an increased sense of accomplishment and self-esteem, better mastery of academic skills, increased ability to apply and integrate knowledge taught in different courses and a broader, more realistic outlook on the process of teaching and learning. I quite agree with this point. Also, by writing journals, I can learn from the process, self-reflect and then do anything different the next time.
The author suggests that we should experiment with different teaching styles to meet individual student need. I quite identify with this concept. Take the example of my two tutor students, Ivy and Jane. They are both in the ninth grade. At first, I taught both them with direct instruction. Gradually, I found out that Ivy was good in the structure but weak in the grammar while Jane was good in the grammar but weak in the structure, Therefore, I decided to change my teaching style to meet individual student need. For Ivy, I focused more on the grammar. Rather than merely correcting her mistakes, I use collaborative way to encourage her to take more ownership of the revising process. First, I circled the mistakes and asked her if she could recognize and correct her errors by herself. If she couldn’t, I continued to explain the concept and then encourage her to self-correct. By collaborative teaching and self-correct technique, she improved her grammar. For Jane, I focused on the structure and the content of ideas. I taught her how to organize the structure in English composition and helped to decide which idea should keep and which on did not fit. I adopted more direct teaching style because I was dealing with the aspect of writing which my student was unfamiliar. By more controlled way, the student would feel secure and sure of learning.
The article says that the relationship between students will influence teaching. Take the relationship between my tutor students for example. The relationship between Ivy and I is like friends. We sometimes go out together after the class. The advantage of friend-relationship is that she would like to share her feelings and not feel shy to show her weak points to me. Therefore, I can realize more of her strengths and weakness in her writing and help her improve her writing. For Jane, our relationship is like traditional teacher-and-student relationship -- I teach and she learns. She is a little shy to express his feeling to me. She feels a little uncomfortable to write private topics, such as “My Mother”, or “What I Want to Be in the Future”. I find out this and try hard to communicate with her and encourage her. Now, she feels more comfortable. To sum up, the positive relationship between students and the teacher can help students learn and improve more.
2007年12月20日 星期四
Response 1
RESPONDING TO ESL STUDENT WRITING:
THE VALUE OF A NONJUDGMENTAL APPROACH
This article describes the benefits of adopting a nonjudgmental response approach in the ESL writing class.
I quite agree this point. Some students will have anxiety to write English. As non- native English learners, they come to believe that writing is designed to expose their deficiency; therefore they will expect failure and feel anxiety. This article says that the anxiety does not come from the task of writing but from the anticipation of the evaluation of that writing by the teacher. So, it’s important for the teacher to encourage students to write. We should accept whatever the student does at first without judgment. By establishing a supportive writing environment, the student will have confidence to go on writing.
I agree with the “Fluency First” approach that the author raises. The result of emphasizing correctness too much is that students lose the possibilities for discovery. However, this approach can redirect the student’s attention toward fluent and clear expression of ideas, and away from perfectly correct language and form. Only after students have learned to express themselves fluently in writing, do they proceed to correcting errors in language and form.
Nonjudgmental Response Approach can mesh well with the “Fluency First” approach. It requires the teacher’s feedback that responds to students' writing not by correcting errors, but by asking task-oriented questions or by making task-oriented comments. For example, I may ask the student the question, such as: Could you be more specific, provide more details, about this point? Or I may make the comment, such as: You need to go deeper to analyze your feelings. By asking task-oriented questions, the students will improve and expand the content of their writing and on increasing the clarity of their ideas.
As for editing student’s writing, the author suggests that the teacher alerts students to minor errors, which don’t obscure meaning, such as tense, spelling, or word form, by circling those errors. Besides, the teacher should circle and use editorial symbols to identify more serious errors, which will obscure meaning, such as word order errors. Later, the teacher can provide further grammatical assistance only when students request it, and only after students have made several attempts to clarify and correct their own writing. By this approach, students can take more responsibility for their own writing and gradually gain more confidence in their ability both to express themselves more effectively and to check their own work.
I really identify with the nonjudgmental instructional approach. It emphasizes the fluent and clear expression of ideas, writing anxiety decreased and writing performance improved. What’s more, students took a more active role in learning how to write. Both the quality and the quantity of students' writing increased, and their papers became more thoughtful and coherent.
THE VALUE OF A NONJUDGMENTAL APPROACH
This article describes the benefits of adopting a nonjudgmental response approach in the ESL writing class.
I quite agree this point. Some students will have anxiety to write English. As non- native English learners, they come to believe that writing is designed to expose their deficiency; therefore they will expect failure and feel anxiety. This article says that the anxiety does not come from the task of writing but from the anticipation of the evaluation of that writing by the teacher. So, it’s important for the teacher to encourage students to write. We should accept whatever the student does at first without judgment. By establishing a supportive writing environment, the student will have confidence to go on writing.
I agree with the “Fluency First” approach that the author raises. The result of emphasizing correctness too much is that students lose the possibilities for discovery. However, this approach can redirect the student’s attention toward fluent and clear expression of ideas, and away from perfectly correct language and form. Only after students have learned to express themselves fluently in writing, do they proceed to correcting errors in language and form.
Nonjudgmental Response Approach can mesh well with the “Fluency First” approach. It requires the teacher’s feedback that responds to students' writing not by correcting errors, but by asking task-oriented questions or by making task-oriented comments. For example, I may ask the student the question, such as: Could you be more specific, provide more details, about this point? Or I may make the comment, such as: You need to go deeper to analyze your feelings. By asking task-oriented questions, the students will improve and expand the content of their writing and on increasing the clarity of their ideas.
As for editing student’s writing, the author suggests that the teacher alerts students to minor errors, which don’t obscure meaning, such as tense, spelling, or word form, by circling those errors. Besides, the teacher should circle and use editorial symbols to identify more serious errors, which will obscure meaning, such as word order errors. Later, the teacher can provide further grammatical assistance only when students request it, and only after students have made several attempts to clarify and correct their own writing. By this approach, students can take more responsibility for their own writing and gradually gain more confidence in their ability both to express themselves more effectively and to check their own work.
I really identify with the nonjudgmental instructional approach. It emphasizes the fluent and clear expression of ideas, writing anxiety decreased and writing performance improved. What’s more, students took a more active role in learning how to write. Both the quality and the quantity of students' writing increased, and their papers became more thoughtful and coherent.
2007年12月9日 星期日
Journal 7
Class Management --Interaction
The good class management lies in the initiation of interaction with the students by the teacher. For me, the role of the teacher is as Controller. I determine most of what students should do. However, I am still flexible to have interaction with students.
For more interaction, I will ask students questions. I will ask them some Knowledge questions, for example, giving them several items and asking them to select which one is correct, and also ask some Inference questions, for example, asking them why the sentence “My father let me to wash the car” is wrong. The way of asking question may be random or may be one student responsible for one question. By asking questions, the students can have chances to speak up and meanwhile, I can realize if the students understand the concept. Despite the advantage of asking questions, I should be ware not to ask too many questions; otherwise, the students will feel weary and think “if I know all of the answers, why should I go to class and learn?” Besides, keep in mind that don’t ask stupid questions; otherwise, students will think you are insulting them!
Sometimes, the teacher should add some joyful elements to make the atmosphere of the class better and stimulate students for continued interaction. I used to tell a joke in class, but I found out that is not my teaching style and the effect was not what I had expected. Therefore, I throw away this idea. Instead, I will share them some special and interesting experiences with them. However, I should keep in mind that the stories I tell must relate to the lesson I am teaching. By this way, the students will be more impressed and interested in the lesson. Otherwise, it will easily fall prey to chitchat, and the students can get nothing form it.
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