I enrolled in Teaching Writing and Grammar because I wanted to become a better writer. I knew that to bring my writing to the next level I needed confidence in writing conventions. I wanted to experience a writing class where my work would receive assessment and feedback based not only on content, but also on structure and grammar.
Signing up for Teaching Writing and Grammar, I was apprehensive. It was my first semester at GMC, and the thought of taking a class with upperclassmen on a track to become high school English teachers was intimidating. I had signed up for eighteen credits with the intent to drop a class. Given my qualms, I was pretty sure it would be Teaching Writing and Grammar.
That first warm evening, as we sat on sunlit slate …show more content…
The author wrote, “Whenever I can’t find the answer to a student or classroom writing problem in an expert’s book, I try to find it in my own writing.” This quote, combined with the content of the two readings, offered me hope for the class. Scott was going to focus on developing our understanding of writing conventions through writing, because he, like Tim Gillespie, believed that being a fluent writer was an integral aspect of teaching writing, and that the process was infact as (or more) valuable than the finished product. If this was indeed going to be the case, then Scott's class was for me. Although I didn’t see it at the time, in reflection I realize that those two first handouts were the introduction that outlined the content of the class, Teaching Writing and Grammar, in the same way an introductory paragraph provides the framework of a sound essay.
Through an exploration of the personal narrative genre, our first assignment addressed many of the concepts presented in the initial readings mentioned earlier. In addition to the narratives themselves, Scott asked us to submit “metacognitive reflections” which offered us an opportunity to contemplate our writing process by exploring its challenges and successes. Although at first I was dubious of this …show more content…
As well as fulfilling the first introductory reading’s promise of developing writing proficiency and conventions through experience in a diverse array of genres, these assignments afforded an opportunity for us to delve deeper into the writing process. Each of these genre explorations (the critical analysis less so) represented a process involving inventive topic creation and development, writing, reviewing, editing, and reflection. We read our papers aloud, workshopped sections of them on the smartboard, explored the uses of premade organizing
Signing up for Teaching Writing and Grammar, I was apprehensive. It was my first semester at GMC, and the thought of taking a class with upperclassmen on a track to become high school English teachers was intimidating. I had signed up for eighteen credits with the intent to drop a class. Given my qualms, I was pretty sure it would be Teaching Writing and Grammar.
That first warm evening, as we sat on sunlit slate …show more content…
The author wrote, “Whenever I can’t find the answer to a student or classroom writing problem in an expert’s book, I try to find it in my own writing.” This quote, combined with the content of the two readings, offered me hope for the class. Scott was going to focus on developing our understanding of writing conventions through writing, because he, like Tim Gillespie, believed that being a fluent writer was an integral aspect of teaching writing, and that the process was infact as (or more) valuable than the finished product. If this was indeed going to be the case, then Scott's class was for me. Although I didn’t see it at the time, in reflection I realize that those two first handouts were the introduction that outlined the content of the class, Teaching Writing and Grammar, in the same way an introductory paragraph provides the framework of a sound essay.
Through an exploration of the personal narrative genre, our first assignment addressed many of the concepts presented in the initial readings mentioned earlier. In addition to the narratives themselves, Scott asked us to submit “metacognitive reflections” which offered us an opportunity to contemplate our writing process by exploring its challenges and successes. Although at first I was dubious of this …show more content…
As well as fulfilling the first introductory reading’s promise of developing writing proficiency and conventions through experience in a diverse array of genres, these assignments afforded an opportunity for us to delve deeper into the writing process. Each of these genre explorations (the critical analysis less so) represented a process involving inventive topic creation and development, writing, reviewing, editing, and reflection. We read our papers aloud, workshopped sections of them on the smartboard, explored the uses of premade organizing