Post 248: What is an 'Idea' Journal? How can I use this to generate ideas for writing?

Post 248:What is an 'idea' journal? How can I see this to generate ideas for writing?

As I mentioned in my previous blog post, I keep an idea journal where I write down ideas for future blog posts.

I keep my idea journal in a 120 page spiral notebook. Whenever I read something interesting, I jot down notes in my journal.

When I was reading about the difference between how Asians and Europeans deal with conflict, I decided to write about the different ways my relatives handle conflict vs how my American friends handle conflict--and this idea blossomed into a blog post.

For writing or literature teachers, you can have your students keep a Reader Response Journal where students write down what they think about the books they read in your literature class. They can then use these ideas for possible literature papers in your class.

I quickly fill up my idea journals because I read a lot. Sometimes I read several textbooks at a time on my computer. When I come across something interesting, which is often, I jot it down.

After a while, I find it quite addictive to write in my idea journal and so will your students. It becomes a fun way to relax and it encourages students to read so that they have ideas for their idea journal.

Students can react to every chapter of what they read in your class, or they react to something they see online or something they see on social media that amuses them. The point is the more students write, the less they experience writer's block because they get into the habit of constantly writing things down which for me, is relaxing and fun.

Sometimes when I see an unusual headline or read an unusual story, I make note of it and think about how I can apply that to my writing blog, or apply that to my creative writing class or how i can use that to inspire my students to write.

If you are an aspiring artist like me, you can also sketch and doodle in your journal for future ideas for sketches or paintings which is what I do for my art. Before I watercolor paint something, I usually do a quick pencil sketch in my idea journal. I keep my writing ideas and my sketching ideas in one place which teaches my brain to go to that idea journal for all inspirational ideas.

 Over time, your brain learns to associate fun ideas with that journal making it even more fun to keep an idea journal.

Post 247: Do students avoid writing because they are afraid people will laugh at what they write?

Do students avoid writing because they are afraid people will laugh at what they write?

During the Grammar/Translation era of the 60's and 70's, most teachers during that period would teach reading and writing by correcting student errors.

The teacher would correct your reading errors if you mispronounce what you read aloud in class hoping that by correcting your speech errors, you learn proper mainstream English and you learn to associate the proper phonic rules to proper speech.

The teacher would correct grammatical errors on papers in student writing without giving any other feedback giving the student the impression that his writing is filled with errors and has no merit whatsoever.

The drawback of over teacher correction is that students develop an inferiority complex and think that they are bad readers or bad writers. As a result, students avoid reading or develop a dislike for reading or students avoid writing or develop a dislike for writing.

It is no wonder students with these kinds of insecurities will think that people will laugh at what they write. When all a teacher can do is harp on errors, then it is no wonder students stop reading and writing.

I get students all the time who complain to me that they took English last because their writing teacher in grammar school told them they are bad writers by filling their papers with nothing but red marks. Students become afraid to take risks and want to avoid chaos by avoiding writing.

Many times, my job becomes helping students gain confidence in writing by giving compliments or more positive remarks on student papers.

Therefore, instead of just focusing on student errors, I also make the effort to comment on what the student did right. "John, I love the way you wrote our thesis statement."  "Jane, you write so creatively in your use of similes."

By the end of my writing class, students say, "Thanks Prof. Ho for being such a great writing teacher. I never knew I could be a good writer."  or "Thanks Prof. Ho for making English a 'tolerable' subject' and mostly I get grateful student comments on how I helped them gain confidence in their writing by being so upbeat and positive in my teacher feedback and for being so engaging in the Discussion Forums.

Be positive and engaging in your teacher feedback to help students gain back their confidence and mojo for writing.

Post 246: Does fear of taking a risk cause students to experience Writer's Block?

Post 246: Does fear of taking a risk cause Writer's Block?

According to Irene Clark's Concepts in Composition, one of the reasons students have writer's block is because they fear taking a risk.

Many students grew up with writing teachers who only mentioned student errors in a composition. As a result, students think they are bad writers so they are afraid of taking the risk of being called a bad writer if they write in class, hence the writer's block. Perhaps, the fear of writing is rooted in our insecurity that we are a bad writer or we are afraid that we will get a low grade if we write. Or we are convinced people will laugh at what we write.

In order to get students to overcome their fear of writer's block and get over their insecurity, you need to be a supportive teacher that does not focus on student writing errors.

You have to get students to forget about the trauma they suffered as kids when their writing teacher harped endlessly about their writing errors.

I like to encourage my students to write creatively or freewrite where they just write down their thoughts without thinking about grammar. Free-writing allows you to release your mind from the constricting thoughts of what Krashen calls, "The Affective Filter" and allows you to think freely about whatever subject you want.

My students tell me that free writing or stream of consciousness writing is their favorite part of the writing process because then they are free to be the most creative and not have to worry about essay structure or grammar.

Freewriting helps many students overcome writer's block and it helps students overcome the panic of seeing a blank page every day.

I too experience writer's block every day when I first sit down to write my blog because i see all these blank pages in front of me that have nothing on them that I must fill with useful information for teachers so I panic and think, "What will I write today in my blog?". Then I look into my 'idea' notebook which I had freewritten the night before and I am able to generate ideas for my blog.

I keep an idea notebook of interesting ideas that come to my head while I am doing ordinary chores so that when I sit down to write that block and that blank page confronts me, I find I have plenty to say. It is all about letting your ideas freely flow from your mind to your fingertips, for me, that is my way of overcoming writer's block every day. 

Irene Clark in her book, Concepts in Composition, advises students to write journals, now the journal is not a diary of your daily events, but instead a place where you write down ideas or a place where you respond to readings. When I read about something interesting, I write it down in my journal. You can have your students keep an idea journal so for future assignments in any class they take, they will have ideas on which to write an academic essay based on what they are interested in.

Do you keep an 'idea' notebook? How do you generate ideas for your 'idea' notebook? Do you read interesting articles? What do you do to generate ideas for your essays?

Post 245 Empowering Minority Students by Teaching US History from Multiple Points of View

Post 245: Multicultural Education

One of the advantages of Multicultural Education is that you teach students to think in multiple perspectives. When students think in multiple perspectives, they learn to question the status quo thus developing a student's critical thinking skills. Having students realize that US history books are written in a Euroo-centric style opens their eyes to seeing history from another point of view.

Many history books in the US were written from the Eurocentric point of view--that is from a European American point of view. White Americans are seen as heroes and the major movers and shakers in American history.

To help minority students realize that they too have a part in American history, teachers need to teach their students US history from the minority student's point of view to limit the impact of the Eurocentric point of view.

  Students used to celebrate Columbus Day as the day that Columbus discovered America. If you were to re-write that same historical event from the Native American point of view, you would call that day, Indigenous Day and tell what impact Columbus' arrival had on Native Americans. This is an example of teaching students multiple perspectives. When we incorporate the culture of many students into our curriculum, this is called multicultural education.

Multicultural education refers to any form of education or teaching that incorporates the histories, texts, values, beliefs, and perspectives of people from different cultural backgrounds. At the classroom level, for example, teachers may modify or incorporate lessons to reflect the cultural diversity of the students in a particular class. In many cases, “culture” is defined in the broadest possible sense, encompassing race, ethnicity, nationality, language, religion, class, gender, sexual orientation, and “exceptionality”—a term applied to students with specialized needs or disabilities.
Generally speaking, multicultural education is predicated on the principle of educational equity for all students, regardless of culture, and it strives to remove barriers to educational opportunities and success for students from different cultural backgrounds. (Great School Reform Partnership, Glossary of Education Reform)

Both Maria Sweeney (1997) and Sharon Miller (2001) challenged their 4th grade white suburban students to consider alternate points of view of events to look for missing or silenced voices. (131) The 4th grade students had a great time rewriting historical events from different cultural points of view based on the cultural backgrounds of the students in the class.

When I taught my Asian American class to non-Asian class of students, I asked them to re-write the Japanese internment experience from the Japanese point of view.I asked them to rewrite certain Western fairy tales from the Asian point of view.  In a Western fairy tale, the rebellious young man gets the girl after defying his parent's wishes. In an Asian fairy tale, the young man dumps his love, sacrifices his happiness to obey the wishes of his elderly parents. When students rewrite a Western fairy tale into an Asian one, they learn multiple points of view for that same fairy tale.

They learn how in Asia it is the group/family that is more important than the individual's happiness while in America, it is the individual's happiness that overrides the wishes of the parents. I tell my students no culture is superior to the other, they are just different.

I enjoyed teaching Asian American Literature because it gave me a chance to teach others what it is like to be Asian American and to teach others the difficulties I have being considered too Asian in America and then being considered not Asian enough when I am in Taiwan.

I always felt that teaching about my culture made me feel empowered and made me feel included in the fabric of American society and not as an outcast.

When I left AMU, I missed teaching that Asian American class where I felt so at home with my students and so at home teaching about my culture.

I love teaching students alternate points of view to reflect the views of minority students and to make minority students feel like they are a part of America, because in truth, their ancestors are just as responsible for making America this great country as those of Native Americans and European Americans.

Post 244: Good Alignment equals Excellent Online Course Design

Post 244:Good Alignment equals excellent online course design

UMUC School Mission states, "Provide students with affordable open access to valued quality higher education and serving as a recognized leader in career relevant education..."

English Dept. program mission statement says, ""Engage in writing, research, teaching and public service that advances English through creative writing, writing, literature, rhetoric and professional writing."

ENGL 102 class  objective says, "read literature for critical insights and identify elements of fiction, drama and poetry..."

Weekly lessons include studying elements of an essay, writing process, studying elements of fiction, poetry and drama.

Assessments include a quiz on the elements of an essay, writing process and students write essays on the elements of fiction, poetry and drama.

In the discussion forums, students discuss the elements of an essay, writing process, the elements of fiction, poetry and drama.

Students read lecture notes on the elements of an essay, writing process, the elements of fiction, poetry and drama.

In a well designed program, the school mission aligns with the program mission which aligns with the class mission which aligns with the lesson mission and the lesson mission aligns with the forums, lessons and assessments in the class.

Here is a more complete look at how well UMUC's standards align:

Complete UMUC School Mission:

"Provide our students with affordable open access to valued quality higher education and serving as a recognized leader to career relevant education embracing innovation and change aligned with our purpose and sharing our expertise."

Complete UMUC English Department Program Objective:

"Overall mission of Department of English is to engage in writing, research, teaching, and public service that advances our understanding of the field of English through Creative Writing, Literature, Medieval Studies, and Rhetoric and Professional Writing."

Complete ENGL 102 Composition  and Literature Class Objectives:

"Upon completion of this course, you will have learned to:
1. Read Literature for critical insights.
2. Identify and compare the major elements of fiction, drama, and poetry.
3.Identify, discuss, employ concepts and methods  of literary analysis.
4.Demonstrate efficient writing skills by preparing well-developed critical analysis of literary texts.

Complete Lessons that align with Assessments
Week 1: Elements of Essay and Writing Process
Week 2: Quoting and Citing, Fiction
Week 3: Elements of Fiction
Week 4: Poetry
Week 5: Poetry
Week 6: Drama
Week 7: Drama
Week 8: Synthesis

Complete Assessments that match the Weekly Lessons
Quizzes--Elements of Essay and Writing Process
Essay 1: Apply elements of poetry to analysis of a poem essay.
Essay 2: Apply elements of fiction to analysis of short story.
Essay 3: Apply elements of drama to analysis of a play.
Essay 4: Synthesis

Discussion Forum Weekly Topics:
Week 1: What are the elements of an essay? What is a Writing Process?
Week 2: How do you cite fiction?
Week 3: What are the elements of fiction?
Week 4: What is the poetic voice?
Week 5: What is the poetic setting, tone, structure?
Week 6: What are the elements of drama or a play?
Week 7: What is a play?
Week 8: Reflection on class.

Post 243: The Advantages of Study Abroad Program

Post 243: The Advantages of Study Abroad Program

It is a shame that due to the COVID19 Quarantine that the Study Abroad Program has been cancelled.  Students and Faculty are advised to stay home to stay healthy. Many students are disappointed to see their study abroad plans just evaporate.

For me, my study abroad adventure in France was an eye-opening adventure. I learned so much about other cultures. I learned to empathize with our cultures.  I learned that Americans can have a negative or positive image abroad. In fact, I learned while I was in France that Americans are considered loud, naive, and spoiled.  On French TV comedy shows, Americans were depicted as having bad manners, speaking loudly, putting their feet inappropriately on fine furniture, and not knowing the language of the country. Americans come off looking like country bumpkins.  Before going to France, I had no idea that Americans could look that bad.  I only knew about how Americans thought about the rest of the world, not about how the rest of the world thought about America.

Advantages of a Study Abroad Program

1. Learn customs of host country.

2.Able to immerse yourself to learn another language.

3. Develop ability to make friends in host culture which means when you come back to the States, you have no trouble making friends with international business clients.

4. With the knowledge of other cultures, as a business leader, you are able to make day to day decisions regarding international public issues or international marketing strategies. As a teacher, you understand the other cultures from which your international students come from for better multicultural lessons.

5. Learn new ways of looking at social rules such as shopping, funerals and weddings.

6. You later enhance your ability to deal with people from that host culture in the future.

7. You gain an understanding of how to talk to different people from all walks of life.

8. Learn how to assert yourself to fight for social justice in the host country.

9. Develop conversational skills in other culture.

Post 242: Why Publishing papers encourages student writing

Post 242: Why Publishing Papers Encourages Student Writing

Publishing student papers to a class website or creating a class book motivates students to write. When students work together and choose the best papers to put into a class book, this gives students an audience and a purpose to write.

Publishing writing to be read by a known audience, for example, in a classroom newspaper increases student engagement and motivates students to engage in revision needed to enhance the clarity of their writing. (Alber, 1999)

The possible audience could be their friends or family. When the class book is finished, they have a souvenir of that writing class. They have the pride of showing off their writing and showing off the writing of their classmates. Friends and family praise their writing workmanship and also want to take the next writing class.

Creating a website also teaches students digital literacy and website design skills they can  use in the workplace. It also teaches students about web content writing which involves a different set of skills then writing on paper (multiliteracies--the idea that each writing genre has a different structure, skills set and code for students to learn).

Multimedia composing programs are efficient in teaching writing to children. (Smagorinsky,87

When students know that their family will be looking at their work, they put more care into revising their work and they put more care into producing more creative writing than if they were just writing to fulfill an assignment or doing a boring writing workbook exercise.

The best writers are those who write for an audience and for a purpose and publishing class papers on a website or in a class book achieves both purposes.

For an online class, you can still have students create collaborative projects such as round robin stories where the teacher posts a writing prompt, then each successive student posts a continuation of that story, poem or play.

In my Introduction to Literature class, students write together in the forums, a complete class story, a complete class poem and a complete class play that is published in the forums.  Students love the creativity of the activity and it allows students to work together on a class project. Students also learn teamwork and collaboration skills they can use for the workplace.

Post 241: How To Get Teenagers Interested In Classic Literature

Post 241: How To Get Teenagers Interested In Classic Literature

When I was a teenager sitting in class, I couldn't wait until the class bell would ring so I could escape to the next class. Many teenagers feel that what is taught in their literature, math, history classes does not apply to them, nor will they use 'algebra' when they grow up, so teenagers tune out what the teacher is saying.

For instance, English teachers love to teach literature like Canterbury Tales, Shakespeare, Iliad, Oedipus, or Beowolf just to name a few classics.  And as teenagers these classic literary names just seemed so abstract and far away. Instead, as a teenager, I found topics like, "Does Susan have a boyfriend?" much more interesting or keeping up with the latest teen idol in Seventeen magazine seemed more relevant to me than Shakespeare.

The trick for literature teachers to get teenagers interested in literature and to develop in children a life long love for reading is to make literature accessible and exciting just like the action movies kids like to watch or the video games kids like to play.

I had a teaching colleague who got his students interested in Shakespeare by saying, "Do you want to read stories that are filled with illicit affairs, bloody murders--very graphic bloody murders,  utter betrayal of son against father, mother against daughter, racism and violence?

He got his students interested in other classics by saying "Did you know The Iliad has war, blood, betrayal, and violence?

Did you know at the end of Oedipus, the main character is so filled with guilt he gouges his eyes out?

Did you know Canterbury Tales has fart jokes? What teenager doesn't want to learn fart jokes right? Fart jokes are timeless from generation to generation and fart jokes never go out of style and get old. I remember when I mentioned this question to my face to face students, you should have seen their eyes widened with interest.

For my online students, I had them search Canterbury Tales/fart jokes/video on Youtube for them to watch the story in Canterbury Tales that has the fart jokes and then we would discuss the significance of the fart joke of that story in the discussion forums.

For my face to face students, I would have them tell me fart jokes they know and then compare that with the English fart jokes in Canterbury Tales, then I would ask them why do they think Chaucer included fart jokes in Canterbury Tales to begin with.

Suddenly, the students realize that classic literature is not just old English that rhymes and puts them to sleep. They realize that classic literature is just like the movies they watch at the theatre. A good literature teacher knows how to make literature more relatable to modern life.  It is all about making students realize that classic literature has good drama, great conflict, addresses social issues that are still relevant today, like the possible racism in Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice.

Then, my teaching colleague won a Teacher of the Year award for this way of teaching Shakespeare. He had his students perform their versions of famous Shakespeare plays in front of the whole school, and his students grew to love Shakespeare and did not think classic literature was boring or out of date and most of all, he helped his students develop a lifelong love of reading classic literature.

Post 240: Are you an introverted one drafter or an extroverted multi-drafter?

Post 240: How Your Personality Type Influences Your Writing Process

As I was reading through Irene Clark's book, Concepts in Composition, I was fascinated to learn that a student's personality type influences his/her writing process.

Clark states that extroverts tend to be multi-drafters, that is students who like to explore their ideas through writing and have to write multiple drafts for one paper, while introverts tend to be One Drafters who visualize their paper in their head before writing and can write their paper all in one sitting.

The Myers Briggs Indicator Personality test measures if you are introverted or extroverted. George H Jensen and John K DiTiberio has indicated some relationship between personality types and writing processes.  Extroverts like to explore ideas as they write. Extroverts like the trial and error of unstructured writing. They find free-writing a good way to generate ideas for they think better when writing quickly, impulsively and uncritically. Extroverts are perceivers who see the world as unstructured.

I have to infer from this research that if extroverts are multi-drafters who like to explore ideas through freewriting, then introverts are one drafters who like to plan their papers in their head. For  extroverts, the pleasure of writing comes with the physicality of writing itself while for introverts the pleasure of writing is when they go through the process of visualization of the topic in their head before they write.  Introverted One Drafters rewrite their pre-text in many drafts in their heads before they finally come up with a visual picture that they like.

While extroverted multi-drafters like to explore ideas in writing in the physical world. Multi-drafters like the outside world better and like to interact with the actual words on paper through many drafts before they find a paper they like. Some multi-drafters find pleasure in constantly re-writing their papers.

Introverted one-drafters who do their papers in one sitting do it that way because they like quick closure. They like to finish papers right away. The re-writing goes on in their heads and by the time they write down what they want, they are finished with their paper. They feel no need to physically re-write their papers over and over again like extroverted multi-drafters do. Introverted one drafters like writing that produces few surprises as the generative process proceeds transcription.

Extroverted multi-drafters feel they are never finished. They do not experience quick closure of their papers which is why they feel the need to forever revise their papers. They are willing to go back and keep writing indefinitely whereas introverted one-drafters loathe to go back to a finished piece once they have written down their first draft.

Implications for teachers

Students can be trained to select which rules are appropriate for which problem. Some students take the writing rules to literally and too inflexibly and the teacher can point out the dysfunctional qualities by assisting the student in developing flexible alternatives.  You can make the One Drafters a little more like the Multi-Drafters and the Multi-Drafters a bit more like the One-Drafters.

For teaching one drafters, teachers need to make one drafters realize the need for more review and more rewrites and that they need to proofread and revise their papers more.  One Drafters need to learn strategies for more exploration and invention in their writing. That means teachers can encourage one drafters to do more free-writing or to create in one drafters the joy of free-writing to get one drafters to loosen up and develop the patience to want to rewrite and improve their papers.

For teaching multi-drafters, teachers need to teach multi-drafters to be more efficient planners. Teachers can get multi-drafters to do more mind maps to help them visualize what they are writing so that they do not aimlessly write indefinitely multiple drafts.  I give my students writing templates like the 5 paragraph essay structure to help mutli-drafters visualize what a paper could look like. When I teach writing structure, this helps students structure their paper and make their writing more efficient.

Also, teachers need to teach multi-drafters how to be more proficient on focusing on a topic quickly rather than agonize on one topic after another. In my 8 week Senior Seminar for English Majors class, I used to tell students from Day One of their Introduction Forum that they have to immediately start thinking about a topic for their senior paper and I give them tips from Day one on how to focus in on a topic because an 8 week class goes by very quickly.

I find it very interesting that a person's personality type influences his writing style. If you are interested in your personality, take the Briggs personality test and then think about your writing style.

Are you an introverted one drafter or are you an extroverted multi-drafter?

Clark, Irene.  Concepts in Composition

Post 239: Different students writing processes

Post 239: Different Students Writing Processes

Some students like to plan ahead and visualize their papers in their heads before they write a paper, these students are called One Drafters.

Other students explore ideas as they write their paper. These students sometimes cannot come up with a thesis statement until they have written their paper. Instead of writing their thesis statement first, they write their thesis last.

Some students like to write their introduction and conclusion paragraphs first before they can write their body paragraphs.

Yet others like to write their conclusion paragraph first before they can write the entire paper. This is especially true for creative writing when writers like to write the ending/conclusion before they write the story.

Students who explore ideas as they write tend to write multiple drafts before they get a draft that they like. These students are called Multi-Drafters.

When I write a paper, I am a One Drafters. I visualize the paper in my head. Then, I write down an outline of what I see in my head and then transform that outline into my rough draft. I tend to write too much so I spend my time revising by cutting out the unnecessary information until I fit the 10 pages my professor wants.

The One Drafters and Multi Drafters represent the extremes in student writing processes. Most students fall in between and most students do follow the Writing Process of (Pre-Writing, Writing, and Re-writing).  By studying the extremes in your class, you get an idea of what kind of writers you have in your writing class.

Sometimes writers differ in their writing processes depending on the complexity of the topic, or the writing genre being used and thus these differences would require different cognitive processes to write a paper.

Even though critics say the Writing Process is rigid, I find that when I teach the Writing Process, it helps students have a framework from which to approach writing an essay and I find most students like learning about the Writing Process. But for those students who do not fit the Writing Process paradigm, I do tell students it is okay to stray from the rigid structure of the Writing Process so students can each discover their own writing process their way.

As a writing teacher, it is my job to help my students explore what his/her unique writing process is by talking with the student and trying to learn the metacognitive process of that students' writing process in order to best give him the unique feedback that student needs to succeed in his writing skills. This is why I find teaching writing an adventure because like Forrest Gump used to say, in each chocolate candy box, you never know what you are going to get. With each new class, I never know what exciting different writing styles I will find with each new batch of writing students.

Post 238: One Drafter vs Multi-Drafter Writing Process

Post 238: One Drafter vs Multi-Drafter Writing Process

Post 237: Digital Native vs Digital Immigrant Quiz

Post 237: Digital Native vs Digital Immigrant Student Quiz

The comments are from Freshman students. My students are all adult non-traditional students who take online classes because they have a full time job during the day and a family to take care of that prevents them from going to a brick and mortar class. Here are some comments I got from students through the years about their computer experience. From the following student comments, can you tell if that student is a Digital Native (somebody comfortable using a computer) or a Digital Immigrant (somebody not comfortable using a computer)?

"Prof. Ho, I am headed to the senior center. They are offering a class on how to use Powerpoint. I am so excited to learn how to use the computer. Now I can keep up with my grandkids1 and with your online class I am taking with you!"

Is this student a Digital Native (somebody who was born during the era of computers) or a Digital Immigrant (somebody who is not comfortable with a computer and is learning about apps at a later age) ?

"Prof. Ho, I remember learning Microsoft Office when I was in elementary school. In fact, I did a presentation on dinosaurs in 4th grade on Powerpoint."

Is this student a Digital Native or a Digital Immigrant?

"Prof. Ho, how do I upload my assignment? What exactly is an email?"

Is this student a Digital Native or a Digital Immigrant?

"Prof. Ho, this online classroom interface is so outdated. When will the school upgrade the classroom?"

Is this student a Digital Native or a Digital Immigrant?

"Okay, Prof. Ho, I have so many suggestions on apps on my iphone that can teach foreign languages. My friends and I have been playing with apps on our iphones since we were teenagers. I even have created a few apps myself. Do you want me to email you the apps I have created And you can share those apps with the class?

Is this student a Digital Native or a Digital Immigrant?

Can you tell which student is a Digital Native and which student is a Digital Immigrant?

Post 236: How To Deal With A Difficult Student in your Online Classroom

Post 236: How To Deal With A Difficult Student In Your Online Classroom

How many of you have had difficult students in your class? What did you do about it?
For the most part, luckily, I have not had many difficult student in my classes. Most of my students have been respectful.

If you do have a difficult student, here are some ways you can smooth things over.

1. Email the student privately, Do not embarrass the student by addressing the problem in front of the entire class.

2. In the email, tell the student what the problem is. Example "Many students are complaining that you are cutting and pasting exactly what other students are saying in their forums in your forum post. Other students feel you are 'stealing' their ideas and calling it your own. Remember, when you write a forum post, you have to write entirely your own thoughts. You can feel free to respectfully disagree with a student and give your reasons why, and as long as you add to the conversation, you will do fine in the discussion forums."

3. Do not scold the student in ALL CAPS. Getting angry or getting into an argument with the student will only escalate the problem. Use a professional calm neutral tone with your student in your private email.

4. Use the Sandwich Method.  Say something positive. Then add in what the student did wrong. Then end with something positive.

5. Remind the student of the school's netiquette rules.

6. Have a one on one chat with the student in Adobe Connect or in an LMS chat room.

7.  Use rubrics so students will not complain about their grade as much especially if they know what they did wrong and what they can do in the future to avoid that low grade in the future.

What other best practice teaching tips do you have for dealing with a difficult student?

Post 235: Does Prof. Ho follow the Writing Process?

Post 235: Does Prof. Ho follow the Writing Process?

In general, the answer to this question is yes and no. As a reminder, the Writing Process consists of Pre-Writing (brainstorming, finding a topic, thesis, outline), Writing (Writing your Rough draft) and Re-writing (Revision and Proofreading).

For this blog for instance, I find topics by reading research articles, writing things down in a notebook, sometimes I use an outline, sometimes I write all in one sitting. Sometimes, I do write out ideas in my notebook for future blog posts. If I find something interesting in what I read, I write that down in my notebook. I keep an 'idea' notebook to find inspiring ideas for my blog. Then I know what 3 blog posts I will write for the next day.

It all depends on the subject. Most of the time, I just write down notes and interesting points I find in readings I have done.  Then, I think back to see how I can explain the topic and how it applies to me or if I have experienced the topic.

And then, I write down what I think of the topic on the blog. I then supplement what I write down from my notes or from the reading.

Like for this blog post, I took no notes, and this is just a one draft one time deal. So for this blog post, no, I did not follow the Writing Process completely. For this blog post, I did not do a mind map, I did not write an outline, and I did not even visualize the paper in my head like I usually do.

I  am just freewriting this blog post in a metacognitive way. I am doing a think aloud exercise of exactly what I am thinking as I am writing this post and I am writing down or remembering how I came up with this topic to write this post.

When I used to do think aloud exercises with my face to face students, I would do pretty much the same thing. As I write my paper in real time, I would tell my students out loud what I was thinking to write my essay or story as I am doing right now with this blog post.

For more complicated papers, yes, I read about the topic, then I visualize the entire paper in my head, and then I write down in my outline what I visualized in my head and from that outline flows my first rough draft.

When I teach the Writing Process, I tell students it is not a rigid process because every writer has his/her own way of thinking and processing when they write. The Writing Process just describes in general the human cognitive process as it produces writing but the Writing Process does not take into consideration individual preferences, cultural contexts of each student.

As Irene Clark says in her Concepts in Composition book, writing is a recursive process where you create, write, revise and then revise, create write over at different times.

Each writer has his own style when he writes. For the most part, I have noticed though that the more students revise and proof read their paper, the better grade they get.

Generally if you sit down and just write one draft the night before a paper is due, you get a lower grade because you do not take the time to fix typos.

So the answer to the question, Does Prof. Ho follow the Writing Process, yes, for more complicated papers, but no for less complicated papers. Yes and No.

Do you follow the Writing Process when you write your papers?

Post 234: Two Kinds of Online Learners: Digital Native vs Digital Immigrant

Post 233: Is Freshman English Composition class a waste of time? The answer is no.

Post 233: Is Freshman English Composition class a waste of time?

Many colleges are short on money and they have to decide, do I want to spend extra money on another English class or should I spend money on a more lucrative STEM class?  By aligning English Composition with WAC and STEM, English Composition has found its new purpose for the 21st century.

When I was in college, Freshman English Composition class was called 'Bonehead' English Composition class meaning only students who are stupid enough to flunk their English Writing Placement test have to take Freshman English Composition class.

Another negative perception of Freshman English Composition class is that it is a 'remedial' class for students who lack English writing skills that they were supposed to have learned in high school and the Freshman English Composition class was supposed to 'fix' the student's writing abilities so they can catch up to other students.

The irony is when Freshman English Composition class was started to improve student literacy so that they could write papers for the Classic Studies department and keep up with other literature students at Harvard University. In the beginning, Freshman English Composition was not looked down upon like it is today.

Today, only 'dummies' take Freshman English Composition and English faculty are loathe to teach English Composition because they want to teach American or English Literature. As a result, by tradition, newbies to the English Department have been assigned the dreaded Freshman English Composition class.

Reformists said that educators can improve student literacy through Freshman English classes while Abolitionists stated that Freshman English Composition class was a waste of time draining the resources of the English department.

Meanwhile, faculty from other departments kept complaining about the low quality of student writing skills and these faculty blamed the English department and the English department blamed the inefficient Freshman English Composition class.

However, when Freshman English Composition teachers started reaching out to ask other faculty members, "What writing requirements are needed in your field?", then other faculty realized that they too could help the English Department teach writng. Hence, the Writing Across the Curriculum Movement was born.

At AMU where I worked, members of the English Department took a survey and asked the Program Directors of all departments, 'What writing needs does your department require? What research method requirements does your department require?" Rather than blame the English department for low writing skills of students, all faculty worked together to come up with a writing requirement checklist which gave birth to the Writing Across the Disciplines Freshman English Composition class.

So rather than just teach students how to write the classic literature essay for the English department, WAC now teaches the types of writing genres that students are expected to know for all their majors including STEM and Business majors---It is the WAC movement that resulted in the rebirth of the old clunky classic Freshman English Composition class.

I remember hearing how my English teacher colleagues used to hate how other faculty would complain about how students did not know how to write implying the English faculty were not doing their jobs, well with WAC, faculty of all content areas are encouraged to make teaching student writing a part of their curriculum

 Instead of pointing fingers of blame, all faculty working together to develop a WAC program teaching students how to write is a great idea. By aligning more Gen Ed classes with STEM raises its overall value in the eyes of administrators and by teaching students how to apply what they learn in Freshman English to STEM values, administrators see Freshman English Composition as part of the educating students on writing in the digital age.

 See the WAC Clearninghouse website for more information on WAC and WAC assignments.

Post 232: Different Kinds of Writers in your English Composition Class

Post 232: Different Kinds of Writers in your English Composition Class

Not everybody writes using exactly the Writing Process (Pre-Write, Write, and Re-write).  Many critics of the Writing Process  such as Joseph Petralia and  David Russell say that the Writing Process is too rigid and that every student has his/her own style of a writing process and it is up to each student to discover what writing style suits him/her.  In the Activity Theory Post-Process Theory, Richard Fulkerson in his book, Pre and Post Process Review and Ruminations says the idea of writing is recursive and that teaching writing means helping each student develop a process of writing that works effectively for them. (Clark, 12)

Here are some examples of the different kinds of writers you can have in your English Composition class:

1. Writers who plan in advance

These students would think and plan what they will write in their minds before they write ideas down on paper. As a result, their first drafts are better than other first drafts. These are students who can visualize the paper in their head before they write their paper and then they write down what they see in their heads. This is how I write my papers.

Student Comment of this kind of writer:

"I am a visual learner. I visualize the entire outline in my head. Then I write my paper from that mental outline in my head. Sometimes I draw a concept map of what I see in my head to write my rough draft faster."

2.Writers Who Discover Ideas Through Writing

 There are students who as they write their body paragraphs find out what they want to say as they write the paper. These students do not pre-write. They do not visualize the paper in their head or plan ahead. Instead, they simply write down what they know, or write down what they have researched in search of ideas. Students who use this method of writing usually have to write many first drafts while revising each version of their rough draft instead they are pleased with their paper. Some of these students would write the middle of their paper first and then write their introduction, conclusion and thesis statement last. I have had many students who write in this method. These are students who have trouble coming up with a thesis statement, and they need to explore the topic by writing it down before they can come up with a central idea.

Student comment of this kind of writer:

"I can't write my thesis statement until I write my body paragraphs. Then I summarize my thesis statement after I write my paper. I can't pre-write because I don't know what to say in the beginning. I have to write it all down to see what I've got."



3. Writers who write in a linear fashion and spend time planning, writing and revision in stages


These writers do write in a more linear fashion. They pre-write their paper, brainstorm, outline, and then write their rough draft and then revise. These students use the Writing Process more than other students. These students write their papers in stages in step with the wriitng process.

Student comment of this kind of writer:

"I pre-write my paper by doing brainstorming where I write down all I know and then I decide on a topic. I then read some articles and decide on a thesis statement based on the research. After I know my thesis I write my body paragraphs and conclusion. After I write my rough draft, I spend a lot of time revising.

4. Writers who delay writing their paper until the very last minute

These students are the procrastinators. They wait until the very last minute to write their paper. Often, they write the paper the night before it is due all in one sitting all at once. They pull an 'all-nighter' where they just write it all down almost like a stream of consciousness exercise. When students wait until the last minute to write their paper, they usually make more mistakes because they have less time to revise/proofread their paper and students who write at the very last minute tend to get a lower grade.

Student Comment of this kind of writer:

"Oh, I have 3 more weeks before I have to look at that assignment. I still have no idea what I am going to write about, but I have plenty of time later on to do it. The deadline is still far away."

or

"I am pulling an all nighter and I sat up all night writing my rough draft. I got no sleep at all and wrote it all at once. I don't need to have a lengthy writing process and I don't need to think ahead because I can write it all in one shot. "

or

"I forgot the deadline. Can you give me an extra night and I promise I will get the paper to you tomorrow morning first thing!"

How do different writers figure out what kind of writers they are? 

You can have students answer a forum prompt such as the one above: What is your writing process? Then you can tell students in your class lesson, the different kinds of writers and have students realize what kind of writers they are from their answers to the questions in the forums, "What is your writing process?".

Other questions the instructor can ask is the following:
Discuss your history as a writer.

Find examples of what you feel is good writing.

Reflect on why you are taking this English Composition class.


In a face to face class, you can have students think aloud and tell the teacher out loud what thoughts are going through their mind as they create the multiple drafts of their paper. This is called metacognition--an awareness of how they write. When each student becomes aware of his own unique writing process, this knowledge will help students gain confidence in knowing he/she is on his way to writing a good paper. A good writer has a purpose, knows his audience, and has time to revise/proofread his paper.

Clark, Irene.  Concepts in Composition: Theory and Practice in the Teaching of Writing

Post 231: What to do for a Zoom Job Interview

Post 231: What to do to prepare for a Zoom Job Interview

In the old days, I used to just go to the future place of employment and be interviewed face to face. I also have had interviews where an entire panel of teachers would interview me and ask me role play questions like, 'What would you do during a school lockdown?" or "What would you do if you had a difficult student?' and they would give me a scenario where a student brandishes a weapon, how would I handle the situation? Then, in front of a panel of teachers, I would answer their questions;

Then, later on in the digital age when I started teaching online, my job interviews became conference calls on the phone where several people would interview me by phone. I even remember giving interviews on a conference call with other teachers for potential hires. We would ask the potential hire questions such as, "Tell us about yourself", "What would you do with a difficult student?" and now today, I just had a job interview using Zoom.

Pretty much like a face to face interview, I dressed up, I made sure I was in a neutral background, and I answered questions like, "Tell us about yourself." and "What would you do with a difficult student?". The interviewers faces were on the screen, but they were nice and they gave me the choice of having the video on or off.

1. Dress up like you would for a face to face interview.

2. Clean up your face. Look presentable just like you would do for a face to face interview.

3. Be on time just like you would do for both a phone interview and a face to face interview.

4. Project a confidence voice.

5. Maintain proper posture.

6. Look at the little red light dot on your camera to make eye contact even if it seems strange talking to a red dot so you look like you are looking right at the person talking.

7. Wear a suit like you would for a face to face interview.

8. Make sure you have a neutral/solid color/non-distracting background or use a virtual background.

9. Be yourself.

What other tips do you all have for a Zoom job interview?
 

Post 230: Why Zoom is fun

Post 230: Why Zoom is fun

Like I said in my previous post, before this COVID19 pandemic lockdown, I had never heard of Zoom. Then, after the lockdown, suddenly the only way for me to get together with people whether it be work, family or church was through Zoom.  It was my cousin in England who started zooming first.

Zooming is fun because at family reunions I am able to see all my cousins from around the world. I could see my cousin in England with his wife and kids. He even showed off his house in England that I had never seen before.

I was able to see cousins from all over the world at the same time, which was really cool and I got to interact with them all in real time. I saw not just my cousin in England, but my niece in Sweden, my cousin and her fiancee in Hong Kong, another cousin in Singapore, a cousin and his wife in Taiwan, my 3 cousins in New York.

It was fascinating to see all the time zones all at the same time. It would be early morning here in Los Angeles so I am just getting up, I saw the afternoon sun of England, the night time backdrop of Hong Kong, Singapore and Taiwan.  And noon time lunch hour for my 3 cousins in New York. I could also see how the sun looked different in all these different locations all at the same time on one computer screen.

It is amazing how Zoom enabled all of us to laugh, talk and have fun all at the same time. We were able to make jokes, and revel in our commonalities. I loved seeing my one year old nephew trying to talk into his parent's Zoom computer and another 4 year old who disliked computers. I got to see the interior of all my cousin's houses.

As for church, it is a bit disconcerting to see the people I usually see in 3D compressed to 2D on my computer screen, but it was interesting to see how creative our pastor was in being able to create a church service on Zoom.

I still prefer seeing people face to face, but if your family is in many time zones and spread out across the world, then Zoom is a great way to stay connected and feel like your family is right next door!

Like my family reunion, it was interesting to see the interior of everybody's houses, but like I said in my previous post, a bit distracting.

Post 229: Why is Zoom conferencing or teaching so exhausting? What is Zoom fatigue?

Why is Zoom conferencing or Zoom teaching so exhausting?

Before COVID 19 quarantine, I had never heard of Zoom. Suddenly, all the face to face gatherings I used to have is now through Zoom--club gatherings, family reunion gatherings, lunches with friends, meetings at work, teaching students, job interviews, and even church is now done with Zoom. It's as if my whole world has been crushed onto a computer screen!

I think Zoom is exhausting because as I have been reading articles about it--it is not a natural way for people to communicate to have somebody's face so big on a screen. The human brain is wired to think that if somebody is that close to you, that is a threat.

Then, you worry about if your house looks neat/sloppy/and you worry if people like or dislike your house which is normally your sanctuary away from work.  Now when I zoom faculty meetings, for the first time, I see my teaching colleague's living rooms, dining rooms, backyards, and even a bedroom. I can't help being distracted by their house in either admiring it or wishing they had more lighting if they sit too close to a lit window. I worry if my boss approves or disapproves of the way I designed my house! I never had to worry about that before when I was in the office!

Then, you have to be aware of how you look. Now when you are face to face, you can look away, you can become attuned to the other person's face. But with Zoom, you get eye strain by staring so unnaturally at that big face on the screen and you have to try hard to look interested, focused.  If you sit too close to the computer, I can see every wrinkle, every zit, every wart on somebody's face and for me, that's just too much information. They advise people to sit away from the computer for a more natural look.

It is hard to get a drink of water without looking impolite. Also, video etiquette dictates not eating during a video chat. What if you are thirsty? hungry?

You also worry if a family member will interrupt you. My niece is 4 years old. She likes to have all the attention. If she senses my attention is on the computer, she will get cranky and cry. Imagine your friends, colleagues, and students hearing your niece cry. What impression does that make on them so you worry if your colleagues think you are a bad Aunt. It is all about the optics of it all that is exhausting.

I remember talking to a colleague and her cat came and walked on the keyboard purring. It wanted to be fed NOW. I didn't even know my colleague had a cat!  She felt awkward having to excuse herself from the meeting momentarily to feed her cat!

So far, we have been lucky--no Zoombombing---this is another new word I have learned since the COVID 19 pandemic quarantine! The world has surely changed in the last 5 weeks I have been locked down in my house!

I do think Zoom  is fun because it does offer me a way to connect with family from around the world that I never had been able to do before so it is not all negative! I will post a Why Zoom is fun in my next blog post!

Here is an article about Zoom fatigue from The Chronicle of Higher Education

https://www.chronicle.com/article/Why-Is-Zoom-So-Exhausting-/248619

Post 228: Show students you care--that's the key to success in teaching--online or face to face

Post 228: Show students you care

One of the most important components of successful teaching is that you have to show students you care about them before they care about what you are teaching.

When I first started teaching, all I cared about was getting through the lesson so that I could keep up with the curriculum of the other teachers.

I did not bother to learn about my students. Instead, I spent the entire class period lecturing about the lesson and I wanted to make sure I got each and every point I had planned for that class into my lecture.

I was annoyed that the students would not listen to me. Instead, students would talk among themselves and pretty much ignore me.

I  thought my students were not respecting the fact how much work had gone into the planning of my lesson.  At that time, I didn't even think to learn the names of my student, or to call on my students.

So, the situation got worse. The students got louder. Teachers from other classrooms began to complain that my classroom was too loud.

Finally, they had a senior teacher come in to observe my class to ascertain how she could resolve this problem.

The senior teacher said to me, "Do you care about your students each and every one of them? Do you know them personally?"

I stared at my senior teacher as if she were craxy and said, "I have 50 students in my class, how can I get to know all of them and besides I have so little time I need to focus on my lesson."

She said, "Teaching is not about 'getting through the lesson' or 'keeping up with the curriculum', it is about caring for the students." She then asked me, "Yvonne, why did you even get into teaching?"

This question made me stop in my tracks, as I remembered why I got into teaching I said, "I want to pass on what I know to my students. I want them to succeed."

She said, "So you see, you got into teaching because you care about your students. Now you have to show them you care, and it is not about just teaching a lesson, show them you care by getting to know them, what are their interests? their hobbies? Relationships is what counts like in any business. Once you get to know your students, then they will care about your lesson. "

I thought about what she said and in the following weeks, I spent less time on my lesson and did my dialoguing back and forth with the students and to my surprise, I had fun getting to know my students, their names, their lives, their life goals, their dreams and aspirations. Once I bonded with them, we had trust and it was out of that trust that students learned to care about the lesson.

Since that time, I have always thought about my students first, lesson second.  I have always made an effort to get to know my students as people and to have them get to know me as a person.  In an online environment, they call getting to know the teacher as Social Presence. They call the teacher knowing the hopes and aspirations of their students, Cognitive Presence. And teaching a well designed class--Teaching Presence. In time, I managed to have all three.

Post 227: What is Writing in The Disciplines?

Post 227: What is Writing In the Disciplines?

Writing in the Disciplines means teaching students the writing conventions of their field or discipline. In an ordinary English Composition class, I can give students essay topics from the ProCon.org website for them to write their essays, but in a WAC (Writing Across the Curriculum)  class, I have students choose topics that they will use from their discipline.  I also have students write in either APA, MLA or Chicago Turabian so that students become familiar with the research formatting of their discipline.

Students are introduced to the writing conventions of their field through exemplars, model papers or WAC (Writing Across the Curriculum) assignments that resemble what they will be expected to write in their field. Science majors learn to write a lab report or keep a lab notebook,  Business majors learn how to write a business letter, Social Sciences and Humanities majors learn how to do a literature review or a movie review just to name a few assignments.  Having good example papers and templates of writing helps students visualize what they will be expected to write in their majors.

Remember, a WAC class is only the beginning of the writing experience for students. Students are expected to learn more in depth writing convention rules as they take classes in the content area of their major but a WAC class gives students the writing foundations to succeed.

In ENGL 110, the WAC class to which I was Course Lead at AMU, I assigned my WAC students to do a Position Paper and an Argumentative Evaluation paper, but there are alternate WID assignments that mimic professional writing such as:

Think of alternate forms/formats. Although the research essay is the most common kind of WID assignment, it's not the only format that students can use to learn about disciplinary writing conventions. If professionals in your field use any of these types of writing, consider using these formats to help students understand the thinking and writing of your discipline:

• Project or lab notebook
• Progress report
• Management plan
• Position paper
• Interpretive essay
• Casebook
• Review of literature
• Journal or professional article
• Project proposals
• Grant proposals
• Reading Journals
• Jargon Journals
• Summarizing a Popular Article in the field
• Lab/field reports  (From the WAC Clearinghouse Website)

The WAC Clearinghouse Website suggests that if a WAC teacher decides for her students to do a research essay, WAC suggests that students should also learn how to use the school library, how to find credible sources on the internet, how to read scholarly articles and to give students a chance to work on parts of the final assignment as separate tasks.  In my class lessons in my ENGL 110 WAC class,  I give students access to video tutorials on how to use the AMU library as well as the AMU librarian email address and her hours of availability to assist students with research. I also have a massive lesson on the different between scholarly articles and popular culture articles. In my DQ forums, I separate the parts of the essay into parts so students can peer edit each other's papers and discuss what topics they want to do for their essay.  I actually found it much harder to plan and prep for a WAC writing class than the traditional English Composition essay class!! But I learned a lot in the process.

For more information on WAC,  go to this website address: https://wac.colostate.edu/resources/wac/intro/wid/

Post 226:: Should we teach students to write like they speak?

Post 226: Should we teach students to  write like they speak?

For many years, the role of the grammar/writing teacher was to teach students correct grammar and to teach students how to write in Standard English. Immigrant students had to lose their heritage language to assimilate into American culture and learn mainstream English to succeed in school, to go to college, and get a good job.  This has been the paradigm for a long time--the teacher as the error correction police.

If you are a student with a southern accent for instance, you were told to drop that southern twang and learn to speak 'Standard English'. If you spoke regional English with 'bad' grammar, you were told by your teacher how to speak correctly using Standard English grammar.

Now comes the linguist who says, your Black English, your Pidgin Chinese English, your franglais or Spanglish is okay. You can write the way you speak. That teachers need to celebrate the cultures of other students and that acculturation is key not assimilation.

Then that same teacher has you read stories that have more of a local color where the author deliberately writes in the regional way she talks. Authors like James Baldwin would write his books in Black English. Many writers from underdeveloped parts of the United States wrote in the local accent of their region to lend local color to their stories. 'Local color' stories where authors wrote liked they talked are called Regionalism stories. Famous authors include William Faulkner, Nora Neale Hurston,  Flannery O'Connor,  Sarah Orne Jewett and many others. In fact, many Regionalism writers rejected the standardization of English accusing other earlier artists of capitulating to East Coast tastes.

For African American students and students from the south, reading literature that mirrors the way they talk gave them a feeling of powerfulness and pride in their English. Linguists believe that no matter how you speak English, all English is legitimate.

When I was teaching face to face, I remember teaching Regionalism Literature and having students write stories about their own lives in their own English just like the Regionalism authors did. I taught them that writing in their own English was a certain style of writing that adds local flavor to their stories. In the novel, Crazy Rich Asians about a family of very rich Asian Americans, Kevin Kwan uses some Chinese in his novel to give his story a more authentic Asian feel. I taught students in my writing class that it is okay to write like they speak if they are adding local flavor to a story they are writing and that they can choose to write in any style they want--whether it be their regional accent--or in Standard English.

However, when I was teaching online English Composition, most students wanted to learn how NOT to write the way they talk. They wanted to learn proper grammar rules to escape from the way they talk. So, if the objective of the class is to teach the different styles of writing through literature, then I tell students it is okay to write the way they talk, but if the teaching objectives of the class is to teach students how to write an academic research essay, then I tell students it is not okay to write the way they talk.

In my literature class, students loved adding local flavor to their short stories by writing the way they talked and in my English Composition class, students loved learning how to write so that they don't write the way they talk. I had one grateful student from Oklahoma say to me, "Thanks to your class, Prof. Ho, now nobody will know I am from Oklahoma from my essays." and from a student from my literature class, "Thanks Prof. Ho, for teaching me how to add local color to my story by teaching me it is okay to write as I talk when I need to for a creative story!"

The important lessons my students learned is that writing in your own English is a choice they can make to empower themselves to have pride in their heritage and not let the establishment white middle class English make them feel they are inferior, but instead, minority students and immigrant students learn to celebrate their culture by writing about their culture in their own English.   This is the power of language to project your voice in writing. Students can still learn Standard English while still acknowledging the power of their own English and their own voice.

Post 225: How do teachers plan/integrate group work in their face to face or online classes?

Post 225: How do teachers plan/integrate collaborative group work in their face to face or online classes?

Collaborative group work is the new buzzword. People expect teachers to simply stop lecturing and just hand over the classroom to the students to do group work and just stand back and watch the students improve their writing skills.

No, it is not that simple. Teachers cannot simply randomly throw together students to do group work. Group work and project-based activities like all classroom activities takes careful planning and class prep by the teacher.

When I teach a unit, I plan out how I will present each day of that unit. Usually at the beginning of the unit, I ask students, "What do you know about topicX?"  Then, I give a short lecture of that unit, go over basic terms, concepts and vocabulary. I may even give a short mastery quiz to make sure students read the lesson or understood core concepts and vocabulary.

Then, I organize more student centered activities--This is where the group activities or collaborative activities come in!

If I am organizing a peer editing group activity for instance, as I have said on previous blog posts, I would group the more able/older writer with the younger less experienced writers and let that older writer help the younger writer improve his/her paper.

It takes planning to know which student is the more able writer and which student is the less able writer.

The day before the activity, I look through the grade book. I write down the names of the students from the roster. Then, on a piece of paper, I draw a storyboard of my groups. I place the names of the more experienced writers and less experienced writers into groups on my paper so then on the day of the activity, I know right away who goes into each group.

Now if the group is doing multiple tasks, I would then assign each group member a different task so that each group member is doing something and no one person is left doing all the work. It takes time for me to figure out which student is doing what task.

If I have students do a round robin reading with each group doing a chapter, then I would assign one student to read aloud the chapter, another student in that group would take notes, and another student is assigned to present what the group has done.

So when you do group work in a class, it is not as simple as telling students to all go in a group and correct papers!

I have to set it up carefully so all the smart writers don't go into one group and I also have to make sure students who are good friends don't form cliques and just hang out with each other during group activity time.

When I place groups online, I also place the students with better grades and mix them with students with lower grades and this usually works because the A students help out the B students. I remember once students had a web quest and the B students were confused about the assignment and the A students would know to ask me if they are confused and then the A students would tell the B students what to do.

If I don't have time or if the online class is too big, then I would just place everybody in alphabetical order in groups of three.

With online group work, I find I have to do the assigning of which group does which week assignment because if I leave it up to the online students, everybody wants to present in the last weeks of the semester and no group wants to voluntarily present in the first few weeks and it is almost impossible to get anybody to want to be the very first ones to give a group presentation so that is why I end up assigning when groups present their work.

So, group work does take a lot of planning, but it is worth the effort to see students master/construct their own knowledge and learn collaboration skills.

Post 224: Can you judge another culture by its own standards?

Post 224:  Can you judge another culture by its own standards?

I was watching TV one night and the American broadcaster said, "Confucianism disgusts me because in China they think of the collective good and they don't value individual human life like we do in the United States. Unlike China, in the US we treasure every individual. The Chinese are just not wired that way to value individual life like we do in the States " (This is a paraphrase)


Did this American broadcaster make an ethnocentric statement?
Your Dictionary.com defines ethnocentrism as this, "Ethnocentrism is a major factor in the divisions among members of different ethnicities, races, and religious groups. It's the belief that one's ethnic group is superior to another. Ethnocentric individuals believe they're better than other individuals for reasons based solely on their heritage. Clearly, this practice relates to problems of both racism and prejudice."

The sad thing is ethnocentrism happens any time one culture thinks it is superior to another. In Nazi Germany, Hitler thought the Aryan race was better than the Jews, so he exterminated 6 million Jews.  As a result, ethnocentric views can be dangerous.

In the 18th and 19th centuries, the British took over other lands like Africa, Australia, Canada, India, Ireland, Scotland, and the Americas. The British thought Africa and the Americas were primitive societies that needed the British to teach them modern British technology and culture. Thus, the British thought their culture was superior to other cultures.

Going back to the American broadcaster, was it appropriate for him to state that Confucianism disgusts him? Or that Confucianism leads the Chinese to think of the common good rather than think about the individual like in American culture? Is he being ethnocentric to think American individualism is better than Chinese collectivism? Does he think the American individualistic culture is better than Confucian culture?

Now if I were teaching an Intercultural Communication class, or a Cultural Diversity class, I would then ask the students, "Why is this statement inappropriate based on the concepts of ethnocentrism and cultural relativism?" "

If I were teaching a Critical Thinking class, I would ask students: "In what way is this statement a sweeping generalization fallacy?"

Is it appropriate for anybody to have ethnocentric views? Why or why not?

Is it better instead to practice cultural relativism? Cultural relativism means you judge that culture's standards in that culture's context. For instance, Confucianism works well in Chinese culture while Individualism works well in American culture. No culture is better than the other. They are just different from one another and each culture has its own set of rules that works for it.

Do you think cultural relativism can reduce ethnocentrism?

How would you rephrase that American broadcaster's statement so that it does not sound so ethnocentric? and more cultural relativistic?

Or I can have my students do role play. If a Chinese person were to say, "Christianity disgusts me. In China, we believe in the common good. Believing in the common good is better than believing in the individualistic culture of the United States." How would you feel if an ethnocentric Chinese person said that to you about American culture?

I believe these questions would make for a fascinating discussion about instances of ethnocentrism in American culture or instances of ethnocentrism around the world. (Yes, the Chinese are also guilty of ethnocentrism but that is another blog post!)

Then I would have my students figure out the answer for themselves, because I would want my students to construct their own knowledge.

Post 223: What stereotypes are perpetuated by U.S. popular culture and exported to other countries?

Post 223: What stereotypes are perpetuated by US popular culture and exported to other countries?

People around the world watch American movies. The blockbuster Titanic made more money around the world than in the US.  When I was in France, I had the option of watching my favorite American movie either with French voice overs or without French voice overs. Barry Brunett (1994) defines popular culture as "those systems or artifacts that most people share and that most people know about." Popular culture is produced by cultural industries such as movies, TV, radio, newspaper, social media, web articles, books, music and food.  Popular culture is not the same as folk culture, which reflects age-old cultural traditions such as Europeans dressed in folk costumes of past centuries.  Pop culture is everywhere. When you drive down the street, you see a billboard of the latest blockbuster movie and pop culture fulfills a social function.

Most US movies portray the hero as the straight white male getting the female or saving the world. Meanwhile, Asian Americans are portrayed as geeks or as comic relief. African Americans are portrayed as the loyal sidekick of the white male. Females also play a subordinate role in American movies.

When people around the world watch US movies, they think the ideal American is a white male with blonde hair and blue eyes.  African Americans are often portrayed  as criminals, thugs or drug dealers while Muslim Americans are portrayed as terrorists. Asian Americans are portrayed as geeks, ultra smart geniuses with no life of their own, or as spies for the Chinese government.  If a theater goer has no idea what American culture is like, then they are learning about white American culture primarily in these films and the foreign movie-goer rarely sees other ethnic groups depicted as real 3 dimensional people.

Not many movies are made with an all Asian American cast. I think about 25 years ago, Joy Luck Club was a hit and now 25 years later Crazy Rich Asians had an all Asian American cast. There have been other Asian American movies, but they are very few compared with American movies with white males as the ideal American.

While people around the world get to watch American movies, American themselves do not watch as many foreign films because Americans do not like to read the foreign subtitles. Sometimes the jokes do not translate well into English.  In comparison to people around the world, Americans watch fewer foreign films than foreigners watch American films

When people around the world watch American movies with the hero as the straight white male, they have a misconception of the other races in America. They develop the wrong idea that the only race that matters is the white race in America. And they miss out on the richness of diversity of other cultures in the US. US culture is seen mainly as a white culture in other countries.

I was surprised at how often American movies or American TV shows are shown around the world. When I went to Taiwan, I saw all my favorite TV shows like Modern Family, and old shows like Different Strokes for Different Folks. When I went to France, I watched American movies like Titanic and TV shows like John Wayne movies (the French voice over guy had the same quality voice as the real John Wayne.)  In France, I saw the newest American TV shows as well as older classics like Dallas and Dynasty.  People around the world know more about American culture than Americans do about foreign cultures because of the massive exportation of American movies, TV, internet, streaming internet around the world.

To make your students more aware of the cultural and ethnic bias of American films, ask your students this:

1. Ask your international students, when you think of the word, 'American', how does he/she look? What American movies have you seen? Who was the hero? Who was the villain?
2. Do you think about African Americans or Asian Americans as the ideal American hero why or why not?
3. Have your American students watch 4 hours of TV. Have them write down how many Asian Americans are depicted if any, if African Americans are depicted, are they the heroes, comic relief or the villain? Who is usually portrayed as the hero? Then begin a discussion on why there is a need for more ethnic representation in American films.
4. How do stereotypes of ethnic groups influence intercultural communication? What prejudices will foreigners have about African Americans? Muslim Americans or Asian Americans based on many American movies (especially movies made from the early 20th century)? How does media influence the way we think? How does media influence what others think of you?