FINAL REFLECTION

When I first came into the class Issues in Composition I had no idea what the course was going to be about. I figured something to do with writing, but my thoughts were somewhat wrong. The first day of class we all wrote what composition was and my thoughts on that was composition is when a person writes their thoughts and ideas down to try to persuade the other person to be fond of what they are writing about. Now as the class has ended I believe composition addresses many different aspects in writing. Whether it’s from using technology in a class to teach composition, showing how something rhetoric can be effective, and how teacher’s responses to students writing can be effective. Composition encompasses a variety of elements, these are just a few.
I’ve learned that composition is not where someone just expresses their own ideas on a piece of paper and organizes it in a five paragraph format. Composition includes technology such as, using blog posting to help students jot their ideas down without worrying about mechanics and grammar. My presentation consisted of students interacting "face to face and using online discussion". In the article I’ve read the majority of students liked using online discussion because the students were not being judged. I believe online discussion is a great way to see the students writing and how they feel about a certain topic. But what I also, found out is how face to face interaction is very vital as well. As a teacher I believe you should incorporate both strategies in writing because some students may like one or the other more. This can help the teacher interact with the student’s as well.
Also, Kamerin Ipock a student in the course described how poetry can be used to break down the meaning of a certain poem. She revealed how student’s used a "certain poem to make their own interpretations of the poem on a power point format". This certain presentation helped me to see how students can put their own interpretations to the poem. It gives the teacher a way to see how the students look at the poem and what the poem really means to them. As a future teacher I plan to use this certain strategy to help understand my students and to see where they are at as a writer and reader. This will help me pin point out their strengths and weakness. But one thing I worry about is how to grade this certain activity.
When Garrison talked to the class about "rhetoric analysis" I did not know it affected everyone until I wrote the paper. Rhetoric analysis plays a big part in composition because when a certain person writes a book or a poem it displays some type of persuasiveness. For example, in a section in Lanham’s he discusses how textbooks are so formatted that the students are so tired of using textbooks. He says textbooks are considered to “revise” most of the time and don’t give students a chance to fee write. In this book he is trying to persuade the evil of textbooks and so much more things that I didn’t understand. But by reading the book you can see where he is using a persuasive format. Garrison taught the class how rhetoric analysis is used everywhere such as, what I am wearing what the other person is wearing or what they are saying and doing that reflects to the whole society. By looking at all these different factors of rhetoric analysis it showed me to see why people write the way they do and why we as students are obligated to write a certain way in high school and a certain way in college. I know for a fact I plan to advise my students on rhetoric analysis because it is very crazy how society works to persuade someone to do or act a certain way.
Another presentation I found interesting was Meredith’s presentation about "teacher’s responses on a student’s writing". From her article the author suggested for teachers to elaborate on their responses and give valuable advice to students about their writing. Don’t just simply put “Good Job” or “Well done”. Take it much further so the student can correct their mistake. I think this presentation showed me how students will react to different comments and I totally understand why they would want a more elaborated response. I think if the teacher elaborates on their responses and tell the students what to fix in their paper and give them advice the students will become a better writer. I believe garrison is a great example of showing how responses should be done. He basically pin points what needs to be fixed then writes a long response to encourage what you can do to become a better writer in the future. Don’t get me wrong all the presentation where very memorable and I plan to incorporate some in to my activities.
The most memorable class period I had in the course is when we talked about cannibalism. I was like why are we discussing this? But then I read the article called "Born Canibal" I came to realize that composition is not where someone is typing or writing anything it is a variety of elements and as for James Miles he expresses his thoughts on how we as a society are cannibals. He does this to express his own ideas and thoughts about humans and canibals, showing writing in a different perspective, where everyone is in shoct of what he has written. His article really made me think and it helped me to see why language is so important. Till this day I don’t really know if where cannibals or not who knows?
I found this course to be very beneficial for the future and I plan to use most of the things I learned in this class in my future class.

The Course

Well let me see, most of the topics that we discussed where not what I expected, but thats a good thing. I've learned and have grown from this course any many different aspects. I really like how Kevin uses different styles of learning to help us understand any confusion we may have. This course has been very beneficial to me as a student and a future student. I really didn't think a course like this one would help me to incorparate information as a future teacher. Everything we talked about was very interesting and I really liked when we had group discussions because I not only saw my views but others as well. One thing that I enjoyed the most where listening to all the presentations. The presentation that I presented help me to see how gender can be a big issue in a class room. Other presentations that I really liked where the poem interpretation (using computers) and the comment presentatoion. Don't get me wrong each presentation were very beneficial those were the ones that caught my eyes. Overall the class was great, everyone had a chance to speak their mind and discussed issues that we have never thought of. Some of the issues we touched base on does matter to me like, the Moo because if teachers are using this type of system, then they need to realize none of the students are learning anything , but just random comments.

Richard Lanham

Well I found Richard Lanham's book very difficult to read, so for the most part I did not like it. But I don't hate the book because it did provide useful teaching skills that I plan to use when I teach. Some parts were entertaining and some were boring. I think the part that was boring was the parts that I could not understant. I found it interesting that he was bias against text books because most teachers teach throughout the text books. I would have to agree on his view on how students are taught to write well formatted papers then writing what they believe in and expressing their ideas and thoughts. If teachers don't show students that they can express their ideas in writing then student will only know how to write formatted paper. Lanhams seems like a very intellegent man, but was his argument valid?

I believe future students will find this book useful because they can see his perspective in writing and compare his thoughts to others. Also, students can learn new information they did not know that Lanham's discusses in his book. I don't think this book was that awful, but if we analyzed the texted more into detail I would have got a better understanding.