Monthly Archives: March 2009

Stupid Rules

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This post actually has next to nothing to do with technology for a change. My husband and I got into a bit of a debate last Friday about rules. We were talking about things like cell phone bans and no-hat policies, and I said that if the rules were perceived by students as baseless and unjust, then it was unrealistic to expect them to follow. That they would rebel–not because they really really want to wear their hats in school, but to rebel against the rule itself. My husband (also a teacher) agreed that some rules may be “stupid” (my word) but that it was a slippery slope if we said that students had to follow some rules but not others. I see his point, I really do, but at the same time, I was not about start demanding that a student hand over his cell phone because he flipped it out in class to see if he had any messages–even though my school’s policy might have told me I must. It’s just not a hill I’m willing to die on. I have bigger battles to fight.

I’m not saying that students should be allowed to disregard any rule they think is stupid. But let’s face it. There are some stupid rules out there, and to expect students to follow those rules just because we say they are rules offends every fibre of a teenager’s being.

The next logical thing for me is to ask schools to review “stupid” policies. But what do I do in the meantime? If the policy says I must take a cellphone if a student has it out in class after being warned once, but I don’t want to because it’s not disrupting my class, do I have to? Because you know that student might end up telling Mrs. Stickler that Ms. Barker didn’t take her cell phone when she had it in class. I resent other teachers dictating what rules my students need to follow in my class, provided that the students are learning and behaviour is courteous and respectful of me and the other students in the class.

Must I insist that students follow stupid rules?

(I should mention that the rationale behind the no-hat policy is student safety. Hats obscure student faces from security cameras. Although I have to say, in my experience viewing security camera footage, I could never really identify a face. The hats might actually help us identify students!)

Photo credit: Zac Zellers

If a tree falls in the forest…

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Photo by john-morgan

While writing in isolation and without an audience may not be quite the same as the old “If a tree falls in the forest does anyone hear it?” adage, but it’s got me thinking.

In preparation for a workshop, I’ve been giving thought to the idea of authentic writing opportunities for students. In Kathleen Blake Yancey, in her article “Writing in the 21st Century” concludes by saying:

Through research documenting these new models [of composing], we can create the theory that has too often been absent from composition historically, and we can define composition not as a part of a test or its primary vehicle, but apart from testing. In creating these new models, we want to include a hitherto neglected dimension: the role of writing for the public. As Doug Hesse has argued, the public is perhaps the most important audience today, and it’s an audience that people have written for throughout history. If this is so, we need to find a place for it both in our models of writing and in our teaching of writing.

We always tell students to consider their audience and purpose when writing, but so often their only audience is the teacher, and then, we are often only seen as judge. Students need authentic opportunities to write which is why I think Web 2.0 presents so many amazing opportunities for students to write for a real audience and receive feedback from peers–not just those peers in their own classroom who may have preconceived notions about who that student is, but for peers around the world. I believe that when students write for an audience and receive real feedback, they see writing not just as a task they have to complete for marks, but as a way to forge connections.

If we want to make writing engaging for our students, we’ve got to make it authentic.

Just as an aside, right now I’m waiting on some input from student bloggers about why they enjoy blogging. Thanks to Jane Smith and Nathan Toft for their help with this. Check out their class blogs by clicking on their names. You should also check out Portable PD for great information (the name says it all). These teachers are amazing and I have so much to learn from them, not to mention a local star-teacher David Carruthers. All three of these teachers are doing great work with podcasting too.

Conventions: They’re just like so whatever

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photo by Jai-to-Z

Just finished reading an article in ASCD  by Naomi S. Baron called “Are Digital Media Changing Language?”   Rather than summarizing the article myself, I’ve included the abstract. Take a moment to read it. I’ll wait.

Are instant messaging and text messaging killing language? The author’s research has found that electronically mediated language is only changing the mechanics of traditional speech and writing in a few minor ways—for example, the incorporation of such acronyms as brb (be right back) and lol (laughing out loud) into everyday language. Of more concern, she writes, is the way the new media may be changing attitudes toward language. Two attitude shifts stand out: (1) a shift away from caring about language rules or consistency; and (2) a tendency to view language not as an opportunity for interpersonal dialog but as a system we can maneuver for individual gain.

Got it? Okay.

A while back I was talking to some colleagues about whether or not grammar was elitist, and I was reminded of that conversation while reading the article.

 

Lately the issue has been of interest to me in my role as a learning coordinator working with language teachers and English teachers who are very concerned about assessing conventions in their students’ work. I feel that I can write about this with impunity, having been one of those teachers who obsessed over the lack of subject verb agreement in a student’s essay (Argh! “Them” is plural! PLURAL!). And I still break out into a cold sweat when I see improperly used apostrophes (although I am guilty of recently committing the crime of using “it’s” when I meant “its.” I may be on Lynne Truss‘s hit because of it.)

 

What I’m getting at is this: What is it that makes a piece of writing worth reading? Have you ever set down a book and said “Man, that Atwood sure punctuated the heck out of that book!” ?

(And yes, I momentarily agonized over the punctuation of that sentence and then let it go. And yes, this is not a very good use of parentheses.)

Not likely. That doesn’t mean that punctuation, sentence construction and other conventions are not important to the communication of ideas, but does their contribution to the meaning of a piece of writing warrant the weight they are usually given in an assessment? Unless the teacher is explicitly assessing for conventions because that is what has been explicitly taught, then I say no.

 

Then why does it happen? I would argue because it is the one aspect of the subject of English that we can distill down to something science-like. There are rules. It is right or it is wrong. It’s one of the few things that we can grade without pausing and considering, “Well, maybe….” 

 

But as Baron’s article points out, many of our grammar “rules” were arbitrarily created in the 18th and 19th centuries. Someone correct me if I’m wrong, but if I recall correctly, this is a result of the increase in printed texts and a desire for some uniformity in spelling and sentence construction. Prior to that time, there was wide variation in spelling and very little punctuation at all.  

 

I’m not suggesting that we shouldn’t teach conventions at all. Right now, if a student were to go to university and take a “whatever” approach to their (subject-verb agreement be damned!) writing, they wouldn’t do very well on their essay. But rules are evolving, and it probably won’t be long before the rules that I followed in essay-writing turn into, well, guidelines.

 

The other thing to keep in mind is that not all our students are planning on attending university; in fact, most aren’t! Shouldn’t we place the focus of our teaching and assessment on clear expression of carefully developed ideas? Certainly conventions are a part of that, but if a student has perfect punctuation, spelling, and grammar, but no depth or creativity in their writing (doing it again, I know), then that’s a much bigger concern to me than if the opposite were the case.

 

Teaching and Learning Through Facebook

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At our secondary English conference yesterday, one of the teachers shared how he had recently started to use Facebook for part of his unit on Of Mice and Men.  He had groups of students draw for a character in the novel and then they worked together to create a Facebook page as that character. The students are completely engaged and are demonstrating a sophisticated understanding of the characters in the novel. It was a great discussion.

I have some concerns though, but I’m not sure if they’re valid.

First of all, when we were looking at the teacher’s exemplar Facebook page, some inappropriate ads came up on the sidebar. I’m not sure that privacy settings are a real issue since the students are not posting as themselves, but isn’t there the possibility that Facebook might shut down the page if they realize it’s not a real person?

I thought about doing the same kind of thing on Ning, but the cool thing about Facebook, is the students (as characters) were joining groups etc. that exist on Facebook and wouldn’t exist on Ning.

Does anybody have some thoughts about this?