Today was the day. I was anxious about taking care of everything I needed to on campus before class started, so I got here at eight thirty. By nine I had all my copies made and I was ready. That just left me with a good forty five minutes of waiting.
Now I'm doing my first office hours, which I've scheduled for right after class. Yup, I've gone, I've met my students, and I'm about half way toward knowing everyone's names. As I expected, the first class was tough, but now I'm through it and have a better idea of how the second class ought to go.
Here's an interesting part - During class I had everybody go around and answer some questions. While most people said things along the lines of what we've talked about in Katherine's class, it was fascinating to hear it from real live people.
Q: What's the point of Comp. 101?
A: To make us write better (I should have asked "what does 'better' mean?" Most looked like they weren't sure).
Q: What are your reading and writing habits?
A: I read the newspaper and online articles (with a couple of novels and one autobiography thrown in). I write when I have to for school (with a couple of MySpace bulletins, or poetry).
-So, a lot of people who read while doing other things and who read only short pieces. Also a lot of people who aren't invested in writing (no surprise there).
Q: What's been your past experience with writing instruction?
A: [Canned writing program]
Q: And how did you like it?
A: It was useless/I like knowing exactly what to do.
The best part was, as each person commented, I could relate to what they were saying. One student talked about the standard five paragraph format and how it's forced, sometimes two supports work better than three. In tenth grade I wrote my big research paper with two supports instead of three and my teacher made me redo it. I did, but I was never convinced that it made sense to the paper.
The questions were my favorite part of the class. My whole aim is this idea of having a dialogue about writing, and the questions helped get that started. The student who wasn't impressed by the five paragraph essay gave an excellent segue to me saying that I'm not concerned with whether or not a paper is in five paragraphs, but rather that the format fits what they're saying.
Well, the class has my first letter and I have a general feel for the students. Let's see how Wednesday goes.
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