CI5461: Week 4

As teachers, we all walk many different balance beams. There is a sort of practiced, artful, gymnastic quality in almost everything we do. The readings this week highlighted a couple of important issues that require the kind of balance and thought put into any good routine.

First, that of how much to praise and how much to correct. I understand the reasoning behind praising students' writing to lower the affective filter and to simply get them writing. That makes sense to me. However, I also think that it's important to show students that all writing can be improved upon-- that even a "final draft" is still a draft. So where do we draw the line? I think it's important to make sure that all of our praise is genuine. Certainly, there should be a large amount of praise given to students who put in the effort to write, but they need to know that it takes more effort than just a first shot.

Which leads me to the second balancing act of revising. Where do you start in order to give students enough structure to put them on the right track, but without quashing their ability to go out on a ledge and take a risk? I really like the idea of peer conferencing for this reason. As a teacher, I don't want my students to feel the need to take my word as gospel. They should know that I'm still learning too. On the other hand, I don't want my modeling of constructive criticism to seem fabricated or gimmicky. For this reason, I really want my students to have an active understanding of safe space and of respecting one another. This way, my students will have a good foundation for working in groups and for helping each other to do their best work so that modeling on my part will be minimal and to the point.

There are a couple of lesson plans on this website that deal with revision... along with many more for reading and writing. Most of them need a little revision of their own, but it's worth browsing for some general ideas.