After the orientation, we did a brief intro activity to the movie. We brainstormed aspects of our own dialects. It was fun, but I’m not sure it was a good use of time. I’m unclear as to what the learning outcome was for that activity. We then watched the movie American Tongues. Unfortunately we didn’t really have time to discuss the movie. There are things said in there that really need to be discussed in some depth. We need to explore the attitudes and belief systems that are embedded in the way we view different accents and dialects. We did start doing that after the movie when we had everyone revisit their anticipation guide and discuss any shifting ideas, but then we moved into discussing the midterm paper (which is stressing people out).

We began working on the midterm paper by breaking down the question and asking students to begin brainstorming which authors they could use to answer each section of the paper.

Then it was on to the prereading for next week.

Once again we got caught in rushing through the material.

So next week, I promise, we’ll be spending lots of time discussing the readings and the movie. The two classes really go together – one is about linguistic variation and one is about cultural variation – but you really can’t separate the two. So I’m ok with the fact that we’ll discuss the two together. AND for those of you stressing about the essay, these two weeks of readings (and the movie) will help you answer big sections of the essay. Which leads me to the next promise. We’ll be spending lots of time in class workshopping the essay.

I also want to make it really clear that the essay is a FORMATIVE assessment. I use it to see if there are areas that we need to revisit. If an essay reveals that a student is missing an key understanding, we’ll revisit it and the student will have the opportunity to rewrite the essay (see the syllabus for details).

Also, I’m really pleased with the way the annotations have developed. They also serve as a formative assessment, but it’s also a learning tool. As we write an annotation, it forces us to really distill the article to it’s most essential pieces. And that brings about clarity of understanding. So it’s writing to learn. They really are what Bean calls “microthemes.” I’m also seeing the annotations as a way to develop professional voice as well. Strong annotations carry an authoritative voice. They say “I know what I’m talking about.” I want my students to have that confidence. It’s wonderful to see it come about.

One last thing. I know people are also stressing about the literacy artifact review presentation. We’re setting that aside for the time being in order to focus on the essay. I don’t like doing too many things at once. I’ve learned that when I do that, the quality of learning suffers. So we’ll return to it in a few weeks and will really concentrate on it. There will be class time devoted to it. Please, just hang on to your notes and don’t worry.

Thanks also for the comments last week. They are really helpful. I’m so glad that the Olson piece made sense after discussion. I will definitely keep it as a reading next time I teach the class. I’m also thrilled that everyone is coming to see themselves as able to take on a difficult reading and not give up.