Further Ruminations Upon Reading..

One of my favorite aspects of the Dornan et al. reading is how it zooms in on practical strategies, time-proven activities and truthful accounts of where teachers can go astray. When the text speaks to me earnestly about how a possible activity can fail, I appreciate the candor. Often these textbooks write case study after case study of idealized situations where each child prances through the aisles of desks with rosy cheeks and polished writing in their hands. This text seems to offer truthful tips about what works now and how it is different from what failed in the past.

Being “in” on this “new” type of teaching is exciting. On the one hand, we are recipients of years of trial and error research. On the other hand, we are acknowledging that we are entering a changing field. There is new research out almost everyday suggesting one or more ways teachers can modify their classrooms and or teaching styles to benefit students learning. This also eases my trepidation and assures me that I will not be the first to have an activity fail nor will I be the first to have a strategy succeed. I am learning, as the writers of this text had to learn, through reading, experience and modification.

Suggestions like: “write with your students as a practicing member of the classroom community. Share your struggles and successes so they can see that all writers go through the same difficult but rewarding process of drafting and redrafting a piece until it is just right” (70) are invaluable.

Tom Romano, Blending Genre, Altering Style: Writing Multigenre Papers

I’m not sure what I am more excited to do: teach the multigenre paper or listen to Count Basie. This type of writing is so exciting and alive. I LOVE the idea of switching genres. The first example in the book proves how fast-paced and gripping it can be. In the case of a sales woman at Nyman’s, it is much more interesting (to me) to take a varied look at all aspects - customer, salesperson, pressures, performance, consumerism, etc. – and work through them with poetry, prose and dialogue. I think it is easy to see why students and teachers alike would enjoy this type of writing.