SED 445_Fall2017

For this week, I explored two blog posts from different blogs of my own interest. The first is from  Cult of Pedagogy titled, "Could You Teach Without Grades?" I was actually expecting this to be a traditional written post, but the majority of its content came from a 53 minute podcast episode. This didn't bother me though, considering how much I enjoyed the last podcast we got to listen to earlier in the semester. In addition to that, I was too interested in this hot topic have hearing LC's little secret about not grading papers. Overall, the podcast is about one teachers journey from going grade-less. Starr Sackstein, a teacher of 13 years, made this move with her high school students in a public prep school in the Bronx. After listening to this podcast, I feel like I'm much less intimidating by considering this approach in my own way. There were a plethora of golden nuggets, so for the sake of attempting  a way of reflecting on my readings, I'm going to ta...

Over the course of this class, more and more I feel like I've been sharpening my critical eye, particularly in the field of pedagogy. When it comes to spotting cookie cutter formulas, I'm much less likely to let them pass me by. However, this week's reading about the 6+1 Writing model from Education Northeast has me stumped. Regardless, here are my takes on my initial reading. According to EN, these are the "key qualities that define quality writing": ideas, organization, voice, word choice, sentence fluency, conventions, and presentation. Now, on the surface, all of this sounds hunky-dory, but my biggest issues with this measurement of writing include the lack of discussion regarding purpose, audience, and emotion. Purpose - Whether it's to release any nerves about shitty writing for one's self,  or to with a new policy into government, writers always have a purpose with what they're putting on the page. From what I remember of the reading, there...

So, like usual, I get caught up on one specific reading, and then my brain takes over and I have to run off with the thoughts in my head. As for what reading I can't stop thinking about, I think it's pretty clear that it's the blog post based off of my title. For me and my experiences, I think that the analogy of driving and teaching writing (or teaching in general) is so spot, that it's kinda scary. But before I get into the questions swirling around in my head, let me start off by sharing my story of learning how to drive (and also, write). My mother is one of the smartest and most patient people that's been a part of my life. From circling our church parking lot, to first turning out onto the open road, she is the sole person who taught me how to drive. During my first on-road class in driver's ed, my instructor told me to give my mom a pat on the back because he had never seen someone drive so well for a first lesson (even though it wasn't really my fi...