Before reading Murray or Bean, I wanted to get down my I imagine teaching to be relaxed this quarter. I feel good about the years of instruction experience I have in dance, and my years as a writing group facilitator. These skills, coupled with my studies on Marshall Rosenberg’s theory of Nonviolent Communication, and my work in English 443 and 444 here at Western, in addition to comp camp, make me excited to teach!
I expect that not all students will share my enthusiasm for being in the classroom, especially for the earlier classes, the lunch classes, and the end of day classes—essentially all classes. However, I am hopeful that a new face and the curriculum we have provided will help keep the students engaged and see that there is something for everyone in this class. Communicating effectively through writing is a vital skill for anyone in this day and age, no matter what they do, and I believe the students will be able to recognize that.
The two quotes I chose from Bean and Murray are as follows:
“Teachers can get better final products, therefore, if they design their courses from the outset to combat last-minute writing, to promote exploratory writing and talking, and to encourage substantive revision” (Bean 10).
“Most of all the craft of making use of surprise is the ability to let the writing flow, to develop the potential of the surprise” (Murray 6).
The quote from Murray comes right before the description of the ‘zero draft,’ ‘vomit-all,’ or ‘discovery draft.’
It’s interesting to me how these two quotes interact. Bean’s suggestion is for a careful scaffolding where writing is well-focused and avoids last minute rushes, and Murray emphasizes the importance of a push for writing, that sounds similar to last-minute. On closer reflection, Murray’s ‘discovery draft’ is simply the first stage in scaffolding for Bean’s suggestion to help writers prepare with exploratory work. This first draft is also intrinsically linked to the first project, which reminds me of backwards buildup, a process learned in English 443 that describes starting with where you want to go, and then figuring out skills are needed to achieve that product. The emphasis on scaffolding has been the biggest surprise to me since I began taking formal education courses. The breakthrough moment for me, while obvious in hindsight, is that students should be able to draw connections from one part of learning to the next, rather than being taught everything as if it didn’t relate. Since learning this, my work in editing and dance instruction has seen a marked improvement, and I’m excited to jump in for English 101!