Dialect Feature Feedback

• 1. What key/central/core ideas are essential in answering the question?  In other words, what would almost all of us agree upon?
  2. What general advice would you give to the class (as a whole) about answering the question?  In other words, what makes a particularly strong answer?
  
  
  1. After reading everyone's essays, I realized that most of us are concerned with helping students "gain" an academic voice rather than erasing their home dialect. This idea of code-switching is prevalent in a lot of people's essays.  We all seem to agree that we need to help students to gain an academic voice, written language as a new language of power in academic field so they can better navigate this field with confidence. It seems that helping them recognize this power dynamic and the importance of gaining this voice would be difficult, however, necessary. I also noticed that most of us agreed on creating writing assignments that recognize different dialects and how to use them by utilizing lower stake assignments to higher-stake assignments.
  
  2. I think that in order to answer this question, best approach is to think about how can we help students "gain" a voice without hurting students' confidence in their home language? Once they recognize that there is a preference in academia, it would make them realize that the dialect they use at home is not really preferred because it may be considered "less powerful." In this case, would it be better to approach the subject as written English language as a new language rather than a language of power? It seems that when I read writing samples with emphasis on written English language as important "dialect" as home dialect made stronger answers.

Semi-Draft

1. Philosophy/approach for working with students whose ideas are underdeveloped

My philosophy in working with students whose ideas are underdeveloped is all about engagement. In my experience with diverse student population at San Francisco State University, I found that engaging discussion plays a vital role in assisting these types of students to move onto the next level of the writing stage.

In my experience, students present underdeveloped ideas for various reasons. For example, students may not be fully engaged with the prompt because they are not feeling passionate about the topic. As an instructor, I do my best to choose topics that may speak to a diverse population of students rather than a specific group of students. If I were to choose topics that speak only to native students or immigrant students who have spent most of their lives in America and are engaged in American culture and politics, it would be difficult for international students to follow or relate to such topics. Therefore, I always value choosing appropriate topics that speak to the diverse populations’ common experience.

      Aside from the lack of interest, another reason why students may be presenting underdeveloped writing could be because the students are not fully engaged with the prompt due to busy schedule or they are not aware of brainstorming methods. As an instructor, I always push and encourage students to ask questions and critically approach such topics from multiple points of views because this is a great way to start brainstorming. Although some students may be familiar with such practice, some students may not be exposed to such approach, especially for international students, whose culture and background may not support aggressive critical engagement with written authority. To overcome this, I encourage students to engage in critical discussion and peer review to ease tension. In this case, I must teach heuristics such as: annotation skills, revision drafts, establishing goals, and reader based writing method. These heuristics will not only help students in English papers, but moreover, these skills can transfer over to other classes that may require writing.

2.      Philosophy/approach for working with students who have oral features in their writing

My philosophy in working with students who have oral features in their writing is to help students transfer their oral skills into writing. When teaching students who have oral SLIPS in their writing, I always approach it with cultural sensitivity and empathy. I always keep in mind that oral language is invaluable component in writing process.

In identifying oral features, I try to separate it into two groups: one is to recognize the difference between grammar errors from colloquialism. Some oral features may not always be grammar errors. Students often write in colloquialism such as “You know what I mean,” and “Well,” etc. In working with students with oral features, I try my best to explain the difference between oral features and writing features. I compare the two and explain why writing is different than speaking. After clearly expressing the difference, I encourage my students to write and adapt an academic voice.

      Oral features also may be cultural. International students, generation 1.5 students, and native students may all have different types of oral features. Since all oral features are different, it would be important to reiterate to students why writing must involve different style of expression. Understanding the difference between speaking and writing, the students will be able to transfer their ideas onto the paper with a different voice.

                                                                                                              

3.      Philosophy/approach for working with students who have dialect features in their writing

When working with students with dialect feature, I promote diversity in dialectal features to provide richness in our classroom environment. I believe that students with dialects can learn how to code switch by being aware of different genres and audiences. I encourage students to actively compare different dialects and academic voice by incorporating dialectal assignments such as short stories and literatures.

I also believe that dialectal features do not interfere with generating ideas and therefore, it should not be discouraged from using it to scaffold ideas and answering prompts in the draft stages. In working with students who have dialect features, I often utilize endnotes and one-on-one meetings to decipher and transfer their unique voices into an academic voice. I always do my best to be sensitively aware of their identity and cultural background as dialect features reflect where they come from. As an instructor, I am always aware of the fact that students have their right to their own language. When they come into the classroom and adapt an academic voice, it is important to emphasize that they are gaining a voice, not losing it. Above all, I am aware of the fact that this kind of process takes some time and therefore, I must pace myself with different students individually.

4. Philosophy/approach for working with newly arrived international students

My philosophy in working with newly arrived international students is all about cooperation between student and a teacher. International students often come from a different background than other students in terms of linguistic background. They often are more aware of grammar rules than native students and therefore, are seeking for active critiques on their writing skills.

      In a classroom where there are diverse groups of students including international students, I would incorporate low stake diagnostic assessments to see what kind of needs are there among students. With international students, I prefer to work one-on-one and communicate through endnotes and marginal notes. I openly invite students to give me cover memos to tell me what kind of linguistic questions they have. In working with international students, I do my best to keep their unique cultural voice but at the same time, encourage collective learning experience by collaborating with other students in brainstorming or discussion activities.

Course Plan brainstorm

I would teach grammar points that are specific like active/passive voice through utilizing subject and verb in the beginning because it can actually determine students' message to the readers. In Unit 1 and 2, I will go over more detailed issues like how to fix speech patterns, and how to correctly choose words that convey your message. And as the unit progresses, I would deal with issues such as finding academic voice through right word choice, and avoiding fragments when synthesizing complex sentences. Towards the end of the unit, I would probably go over strategies they can take with them when they leave English class and transition into a new class such as how to go about academic voice by finding a good writing sample to model after?

What to teach in Freshmen comp?

I feel that everybody has different grammar issues. Especially if they are from different backgrounds such as generation 1.5 students or if they are international students. I believe that best way to approach this is to conduct a diagnostic essay and see what are some of the recurring issues in general in class. For example, are students familiar with academic voice? Are students having speech pattern interruptions in their writings? Are they not familiar with active/passive voice? I would try to find out what the main issue would be for the class as a whole rather than picking at every single grammar issues. That can be reserved for endnotes. Other than that, I would probably try to lean more towards something that will enhance everybody in class such as fragments, passive/active voice by using subject and verb, speech patterns in writing, and perhaps word choices (considering dialect features students can also have this problem).

Tutoring Update

Currently, I am working on grammar points with my student. She is very interested in learning grammar as English is not her first language. She and I have been looking up grammar rules from the book and her reader. We find it interesting and helpful to use each other's experience as helpful tips in learning grammar our way (ESL students' way).

We are also focusing on organization and sentence focus. We talk about the importance of minor details and how it can affect the overall message she is trying to convey in her paper. She has improved greatly since her first session in terms of understanding the purpose of essay and what it means to communicate to others through academic language.

Ferris Reading Points

This reading provided several insightful points about ESL student's grammar errors and how to approach them. As a former ESL student myself, I firmly believe that grammar error issues must be addressed in the process of ESL students' language development. If not, the errors can be fossilized and difficult to get rid of.

I agree that the teachers' inconsistency in their feedback can be confusing for students. When teachers pick out specific major errors and give constructive feedback, it may open doors for students to focus on that error and motivate themselves to fix that issue. Simply correcting grammar errors may be discouraging, therefore, the strategy must be that teachers should combine both and prioritize in picking out the errors.

Another point that I strongly agreed was a point about how to come up with concrete strategy for students' long term plan in developing self-editing skills. This is crucial and I absolutely agree that students who are underdeveloped in writing skills because of teachers' benign neglect can go into the real world and find themselves in trouble. Often I wish that my teachers had approached my grammar errors in a firm way so that my communication ability could improve. Currently, despite my effort to self correct, I am still not sure in many ways how to approach grammar errors that I make. This makes me paranoid and self conscious and it sometimes hinders me from expressing my ideas.


In conclusion, I agree that grammar is an essential component in learning language. I believe in spending more time with generation 1.5 students when it comes to grammar though because chances are, they have not been exposed to proper grammar terminology.

Video Response

What's your philosophy/approach for working with international students?  (At this point you can just do a brainstorm, especially if you've never worked with international students.)


My approach to working with international students begins with understanding their culture rather than thinking about it from my cultural stand point of view. I am aware of academic standard, therefore, my job as an instructor is to inform the student of expectations but also to help the student navigate and transfer their linguistic knowledge into English.

I had experiences where teachers were completely unaware of my culture which required me to speak up less and write less directly. This caused confusion and made me want to quit writing many times. Another huge discouragement came from the types of teachers who picked at grammar and idioms but nothing else.

Although now I understand that many teachers have hard time balancing these views, I believe that international students should definitely be given an extra attention and understanding in how their writing functions in American academic setting.

Essay drafts

Your Philosophy/Approach for working with oral features in writing

Cover Memo: I would like some feedback on how I should elaborate on my answers. Should I add more examples or should I bring in any scholarly arguments? Overall, does the organization of my answer make sense?

            My philosophy for working with oral features in student writing is to approach it in a culturally sensitive and supportive way. When working with students with oral features, I believe it is important to approach it with open mind and willingness to communicate to them about their situations. Oral features can occur in both native and non native students’ writings. Speech often bleeds into writing because many students hear the sound, but does not know how to write them down properly.

My key strategies in dealing with this situation are communication and assessment. When working with students who are struggling with speech interference issue in their writings, I often try to determine whether the student aware or unaware of the difference between speech and written English. Sometimes, the student may be writing the words down as they hear the sound but may not know the correct way to spell it. Since English vocabularies often have a lot of silent sounds and spellings that may not look the same on paper, a lot of non native speakers find this extremely difficult to deal with. Students who emigrate from another country that may have different phonetic systems or generation 1.5 students who acquire English orally may have this problem as well as those native speakers who rely on technology to communicate daily.

After I assess whether the student is aware of the differences in written language and speech, I proceed to show them how it is correctly spelled. I believe the best way to have students memorize vocabulary is to write it in a sentence. If the problem is something that involves grammar rule such as plurals or possessive pronouns, I go over them on the board and have the student use it in a sentence in a correct way to see the difference. I also scan their papers to see if there are any parts they did it correctly so that they can visually compare these two answers from their own works.

Your Philosophy for working with dialect features in student writing

Cover Memo: I would like some feedback on whether I answered the question right. Should I Be more elaborate and back my argument up with specific examples from the articles we’ve read so far?

            My philosophy in working with students with dialect features in their writing is again, communication. Without proper knowledge of what their background is, it would be difficult to assess how to help them or encourage them. My first and foremost strategy is communication in this case. For example, if a student comes from a certain ethnic background, they may have trouble using correct idioms. When student uses words such as “delivered” in place of “saved,” then this may be due to his or her own cultural background with different usage of words.  However, writing in different dialect can interfere with student’s success because not everybody can understand that dialect outside the group.

            In order to avoid such shock, I usually have a conference with a student to see what his or her cultural background is and explain to the student that although their dialect is important and unique to bring into the academic voice, it is better to acquire Standard English for the academic papers and dialect for fiction writing or poetry writing. This alone can save me such trouble when working with dialect features in students’ writing because I can take what they have written and explain to them that this is not how Standard English uses that particular word.

            Closing the gap between each regional personality and Standard American English is difficult. One group would like to preserve his or her voice but Standard American English imposes their language onto already linguistically marginalized groups in America. One of my key strategies is to visually show the difference on the board and read it out loud to let the students hear the difference. I also allow my students to be exposed to many different types of narratives ranging from poetry, short stories to academic articles. I use this opportunity to explain to them that it is not that dialects are bad to keep but to expand one’s linguistic horizon; one must learn different dialects and voices before turning to Standard American English to write them out for the public audience.

           

Portfolio #3 draft

What's your philosophy/approach for working with oral features in student writing? 


My philosophy for working with oral features in student writing is to approach their oral features in ways that are culturally sensitive and informative but at the same time, supportive as well. When working with students with oral features, it is important to approach them with open mind and willingness to communicate about their situations. Oral features can occur in various student writings no matter their native and non native status. My key strategy is communication and explanation.

Things to think about: what are some of the benefits of dialects in written language?  What is SLIP and how does this become a problem in written language?

Student Essays

Essay #1:

1) It seems like this student has some spoken interference in his language. In particular, certain parts like "It deliver me" and "The house alway smell good" look like they are phonological issues. The student is also having issues in using possessive forms (apostrophes). For example, he writes, "My godmother house" or "they life."

2) I would prioritize tutoring session by fixing some phonological issues because this is a direct speech pattern and it could make the academic paper look as though it is not ready to submit yet. Then I would go over some rules for using possessive forms.

3) To help the student, I would start out by reading his/her paper out loud and see if he can catch the mistakes. Then afterwards, I would go over some written rules and distinguish between speech patterns and writing. My only concern is that approaching rule based writing might bore this student. Would there be any other ways to help this student more effectively than relying on going over the rules or reading it out loud?


Essay #2:

1)  This student had some mistakes but not all of it sounded like speech interruption errors. She particularly has usage of double negatives, tense issues, and plural. In her writing, some strong points are that she is able to quote the dialect to distinguish a particular voice. In her writing, I feel like she is attempting to distinguish her slang voice and her academic voice.

2) I would prioritize this tutoring session by going over double negative issue because that stands out the most. Then after that, I would point out some tense issues such as, "the jobs interviews that I have went to seem," which lacks past participle.

3)  I feel as though with this student, I can approach with some rules first because she seems to be distinguishing between the speech and the writing. I feel that going over some rules would actually clarify a lot of questions she may have had for her writing. However, my overall concern is how to help her develop her own academic voice. In this case, what would be the best approach?


Essay #3:

1) This student seems to make mistake with first person singular rules (subject-verb agreement?). For example, she continues to say "I likes it" and sometimes reverts back to "I like it." She also has plural issues such as "Out of all the artists that is..." She also incorrectly uses which and that by referring it to people.

2) I would prioritize this session by going over singular person rules because this could make the writing appear weak. I would also make sure that I go over some plural rules because unlike speech patterns, plural rules can get in the way of understanding when it comes to writing.

3) One of my approaches would be to read this out loud first, and see if she could point anything out about her writing. Then I would go on and pick a sentence that she did correctly such as "I like it" and talk about what she knows about first person singular rule. From then on, I would go over some plurals and how that affects the meaning in a sentence. If she can correct the plurals, I would end it with explaining which and that and how to use these correctly.


Essay #4:

1) This student has chosen an interesting topic to discuss and he/she does so convincingly. I overall enjoyed this student's argument and information he/she presented in the paper. However, there were few mistakes that I noticed could possibly set the writing back such as misuse of  subject-verb agreement, some passive voices, and some punctuation errors. However, overall, this student has achieved the academic voice and has departed from speech interference writing.


2) For this student, I would also prioritize by going over subject verb agreement rules. For example, "The African American discover" should be "The African American discovers," or "The European writings of the African American is false" should be "The European writings of the African American are false."


3) In order to approach this, I would need to go over subject verb agreement rules first and have the student read out loud with me or without me to see if he/she can proofread this paper. I would like to also discuss the effect of passive vs active voice and see if there are other ways to make his/her sentences stronger by using active voice in some parts. My concern is, is passive voice necessarily a bad thing in academic papers? Wouldn't insisting on active voice another way of interrupting student's unique voice?

Update on Tutoring

This time, tutoring session was all about brainstorming. When my student came in, we talked a little bit about our days and went into talking about her English class. Only thing I had problem with was the fact that she did not bring her prompt and explained it to me orally. This presented me with some difficulties in determining what it is her instructor wants. She luckily found her notes on the prompt and we immediately began to work with what we had. Her instructor wanted her to write an academic essay on the poem "White Man's Burden" and comparing it to Sherlock Holmes series characters John Watson and Roylott. In order to better understand what the topic was, we proceeded to read "White Man's Burden" out loud. We then talked about what she thought of this topic. While we conversed, I was able to better understand what she thought about the poem. She picked out few passages that she reacted strongly to. We talked about those more in depth and began to separate what exactly is a white man's burden? After we identified the white man's burden as the whites viewed it, we began to apply it to those two characters and see how they were reiterating white man's burden in the text. We used strategies such as charting (she likes visual organization) and clusters to brainstorm. As a homework, I asked her to write a thesis and bring it back to me because I felt that she was still at the brain storming stage and she did not have her book with her.

Students' Right to Their Own Language

This article raises a number of issues concerning different dialects and standard English grammar in classrooms. One of the important issue was defining what dialect is. A dialect is the variety of language whose "linguistic patterns reflect and are determined by shared regional, social, or cultural perspectives." For example, one may refer to soda as "soda pop" or "soft drink" depending on where they live. Also, syntantic difference may exist for phrases such as "those flowers." Depending on which region you live in, you might refer to this phrase as "them flowers," "they flowers," or "their flowers." Then, the article goes onto point out that there are "prestige dialects" compared to others. For example, British dialect or standard American dialect may be preferable to many other dialects that exist out there. The article points out something interesting here about reading. Reading, the author argues, is essentially an acquisition of meaning, therefore, dialects have no affect on the process of reading. However, in terms of writing, the author argues, that as long as the students acquire proper ways to express themselves in writing, it should not matter and that they should be encouraged to experiment with other dialects in writing.

The author also emphasizes to English teachers the fluidity of English language and its structures. The author points out, "The language of the King James Bible shows considerable syntactic variation from modern English, and linguists have demonstrated that speakers even as recent as the eighteenth century might be nearly unintelligible to modern ears." The author also goes onto point out that the grammar rules are not "prescriptive" but "descriptive" and the difference in usage does not mean that grammar rule may necessarily be wrong. 


After reading this article, I realized that most of my fears about acquiring "correct" grammar was a foolish one. Although there are set of rules, the author argues that to be bound by them out of fear could possibly harm students' writing abilities. My question is that what happens to ESL students who come from different system of language? According to this definition, dialects still belong to English grammar group. However, what happens to those students such as myself who come from different system of writing and cultural expression in general? What kind of dialects are we exposed to?

Democracy, Dialect, and the Power of Every Voice

Summary: The article emphasizes several important things regarding instructing multicultural students in a multilingual classroom. Lyman and Figgins point out that in America, where several regional dialects on top of diverse cultural influences on its language exist, forcing students to assimilate to standard English when they are not ready would be ineffective as well as oppressive. The authors stress the importance and value of dialectic language and how this may help enhance and maintain the student's unique voice in a writing in standard English. The authors cite Mark Twain and African American authors as examples and claim that standard English may not be the only measure to communicate outside one's culture. The authors also point out that grammar and usage are two different things as grammar is rules for writing and usage is how one group speaks a particular language. They also point out that in speaking language, dialects may offer creative new ways to communicate more effectively than with certain grammar rules. In doing so, the authors suggest that English teachers should appreciate the students' home languages/dialects and instruct them in learning standard English based on the students' home languages/dialects. As a possible solution to students who may have difficulty acquiring standard English, the authors suggest several teaching ideas: 1) learning the roots behind their dialects and home language, 2) listening to different dialects, 3) comparing different literary dialects, 4) create skits to perform the communication between two different dialects, 5) rewrite literary dialect passages using standard English, 6) compare dialectic grammar rules and standard English grammar rules to better understand these two structures.


Comments: This article provided many insights into dialect and its usage in English language. I agree with the author that various dialects can offer insight into a deeper communication than only sticking to the standard English. I agree with some of the suggestions such as reading dialects out loud and being exposed to various usage of literary dialects. This could possibly broaden and deepen the student's sense of language and expressions.

Basic Skills College Level Writing Sample #1

Sample 1:

• How would you work with the writer in a tutoring session to develop the ideas into a more sophisticated essay? Overall, this student did a good job at putting her ideas out there and assessing herself. However, she seems to be struggling with giving detailed examples of her own self assessment. For example, she talks about her strength and weakness but she goes onto talk about something else right afterwards. I would have her brainstorm there since this prompt is about self assessment. I would have her think about what it is about her strength that makes her special? If it is about learning new things, what are some of the specific incident that made her realize she is this way? I would also do the same with her weakness and help her go into details about her examples. This will naturally help her develop ideas.
• How would you work with the writer to express the ideas in more formal academic language? In terms of academic language, I think it would be essential to identify what parts need to be translated into academic language. There are parts like "she is a really smart student" and I would ask the student to expand on this idea. If there are any other ways to say really smart? Same would apply to expressions such as "she always keep trying her best." I would ask questions such as: if there is another way to describe someone who tries hard (hard worker perhaps?), what would be an appropriate word?
• How would you help the writer proofread for "oral" grammar/spelling errors?: It seems that there are phonological SLIP in this student's essay. In this case, according to the readings we have done, the best scenario would be pronouncing certain things out loud as we write. However, for example like 'really,' can be misspelled as 'realy' but this is because it is hard to distinguish visually and orally what is the right spelling. Fortunately, this student has not much of other serious SLIP than 'realy' and 'mush.' I would use visual writing to show the difference for this type of student. 

Student Essay Feedback: Spelling

Spelling

1. How would you work with the writer in a tutoring session to develop the ideas into a more sophisticated essay?: I would first begin by asking questions about why their title is spelling and how his overall theme fits into what he has written so far. I would point out that although other goals he wrote are great goals, he needs to find one main goal and stick with it. In his case, I would ask more about his spelling issues and have him expand on this. What about spelling issues does he want to work on? I would also encourage him to expand on reading and its relationship to spelling. I would then have him organize these thoughts into outline and restructure his essay.
2. How would you work with the writer to express the ideas in more formal academic language?: I would work with this student by talking about how to transcribe his thoughts onto written language. For example, I would point out that although saying "my spelling kills me" gets point across, we need to be mindful of our audiences who are academic audiences. I would encourage him to think of several other phrases that might be more fitting for this expression.
3. How would you help the writer proofread for "oral" grammar/spelling errors: This is a difficult task because the student is not a native speaker. It would be difficult for this student to hear his own mistakes. Fortunately, the mistakes he made are something that can be visually identified unlike grammar errors. For example, if he were to fix the word 'faith' which he has spelled as 'fait,' I would repeat the word to him and ask him what syllable he thinks is missing there since 't' and 'th' has distinctive sound. Another example from his essay would be 'a star' which I assume he meant to write 'I start.' I would ask him about this and make sure this is what he was trying to say and proceed onto show him that 'a' although sounds a lot like 'I,' ultimately it is incorrect because it does not have a long 'e.' Also, when pointing out 'start,' I would emphasize that there is almost very silent 't' at the end and 'star' means something completely different than 'start.' 

Essay #2 brainstorm

My approach to help students develop their ideas in writing is by combining visual methods and constant dialogue. I often utilize my whiteboard to organize thoughts and information as well as visualize the connections. My experience with visual methods has been very positive. My students have responded with enthusiasm when I utilized the board work because this helped them see their ideas rather than just think about it. While I do this, I often incorporate dialogues during the session to figure out what the student is thinking about. The student may be seeing a new connection or understand his/her perspective in a different light by organizing thoughts. I try to converse through this process but I also let my students get their thoughts out by letting them speak. My job here is to guide through this process not talk over them. Students often analyze their ideas better after this. Their writing also becomes analytical when they begin to answer my questions that I have as a reader.

Tutoring Update

Last Tuesday, when I met with my student again and this time it was a bit more difficult than our last session because her full essay was due soon. My student was rather freaking out as she was completely lost on how to structure academic essays. She had no idea what PIE format was. She also did not know how to organize her ideas into paragraphs or even incorporating quotes. For her assignment, I made charts to organize quotes from her primary source (text), secondary source quotes (articles), and her comments/notes on these quotes. This helped her see the connections between her ideas and actual text. However, she still had problems coming up with strong thesis because her secondary sources were all over the place. I urged her to ask some important questions about her topic and prompt (which is how Sherlock Holmes and the female characters relate to Victorian era and its readers). After the session, I sent her some suggestions to think about for her essay writing since she was still very nervous. This is what I wrote to her:


I. Introduction

-Introduce the topic to the audience. Decide who is your audience. (Your audience is to fellow modern readers who are reading Sherlock Holmes text and believe in modern vision of female rights).
-At the end of the introduction paragraph comes thesis. Thesis should clearly state what you are going to talk about in the paper. For example, in your case it is how Conan Doyle utilizes female characters who are seemingly out of their time but ultimately perpetuating Victorian female identity in some ways to not only entertain male readers at the time but also to reiterate the position of dependence women occupy at the time. (Like you said, these women needed male approval and needed to use their female sexuality to get what they want, instead of solely relying on their intellectual capacity.)

II. Body paragraph 1

-(POINT) Engage with Irene Adler or Violet Hunter. In your topic sentence, be clear on what you think Irene Adler or Violet Hunter character represents. Is Irene Adler a woman who engages in men-like qualities but ultimately succumbs to female fate such as marriage?

-(INFORMATION) use secondary source to prove this point. For example: In the article "_________" by _______. _________ argues that the portrayal of women in Sherlock Holmes actually is an accurate portrayal of Victorian women at the time. Provide quote or paraphrased point.

-(EXPLAIN) Now, analyze the quote and merge it with your point. What does secondary source say about your point? For example, if it is true that females that are portrayed in S.H are accurate descriptions of Victorian women at the time, how does this prove your point about Irene Adler may seem like she has the quality of men but still is fated to be women in the end?

III. Body Paragraph 2

Do the same with Violet Hunter.

IV. Body Paragraph 3

-In this paragraph, think about how Conan Doyle may be engaging with his Victorian audience who are perhaps predominantly male. (Novels were considered women's reading material. Men read literature. I am not sure about serial narratives though. Please look into it.) If majority of men indeed enjoyed reading Conan Doyle's work, what do we make of his fetishization of women? Also, in this case, are women following the norm of women as art form? What do we make of female audiences who are reading this in Victorian time? How would they be engaging with this alternative or even truthful depiction of Victorian women?

V. Conclusion

-Engage with your overall wrap up opinion about how this affects modern readers. As modern readers, what are we seeing?

Chapter 3

Phonology:

1. How are speaking and writing different in this linguistic area?: In phonology, students often cannot tell the difference in sounds. For example, students may write "their" instead of "they're" or "there" because the sounds are the same. The author also mentions cases such as making errors in verb agreement because it is difficult to pronounce the plural -s in some cases. In this sense, we can observe that speaking bleeds into writing easily. Students may get confused when they acquire English orally rather than writing/reading.
2. How can spoken language practices create errors or problem for writers?: As I have mentioned above, students who acquired English through speaking will have problems distinguishing small details such as "their" "they're" "there" due to their homophonic sounds. They will also have some spelling errors by letter reversal such as spelling 'believe' as 'beleive' thinking that e takes care of the sound of 'ie.'
3. How might you help student writers working on these issues?: There are several ways to help students with this problem. I believe the first step is to approach simple grammatical rules and write it out on the board for them. This helps students to visualize the spoken language and written language and see their difference. Another way is perhaps to point out the context after explaining the grammar error. For example, if they wrote "there" instead of "their," we could explain the difference and have them read it in two different ways to see if they can tell the difference.

Morphology:

1.  In morphology section, the author emphasizes that speaking patterns that bleed into writing language are subject-verb agreement, excessive use of pronouns (indefinite, demonstrative). Students will often use someone, somebody, everybody, that, this, these into written language because those are prevalent in spoken language.
2. Spoken language practices in this case create not only grammatical errors but also could make written language very murky. If the student uses excessive pronouns, the readers will be left confused. For example, this, these, that, are difficult to use in written language because it does not signify anything. Pronouns must be carefully used and are often times discouraged in written form.
3. In order to help students with this problem, I would suggest circling pronouns and try to clarify who/what they are talking about. This could help clear up a lot of mistakes because I have had experiences correcting my own papers by doing this. Students can visibly see what their excessive use of pronoun looks like. 

Chapter 1-2 Summary

Chapter 1: Mainly, in this chapter, the author talks about the difference between speaking and writing. This chapter was intriguing to me because as a 1.5 generation, I have always had that problem of how to balance my writing as I acquired English orally. It was intriguing to find out that written language is completely different than oral language. In the chapter, the author points out that most students feel that they have mastered written language because they are good at speaking. The author further points out that the written language's punctuation and grammatical syntax reflects human voices' tone, expression, and feelings. This was the most intriguing part for me as I have always viewed grammar as something dry. This would be a great tip to use to help students who also have difficulty with grammars.

Chapter 2: What I took away from this chapter was how to help students who are excellent speakers transition into academic writing language. The author suggests that pointing out what they do best in spoken language and taking that into written language is one of the best ways to help them transition. I find most fascinating that spoken language and written language are different yet they derive from the same root. But as author questions, why is it so different when it comes to academic writing? This chapter left me rather deep in thought about how these two should reconcile since written language has to come from somewhere.

Homelessness Essay Feedback

Strength

1) Great information and details
2) Conclusion paragraph offers suggestions which gives a nice wrap-up feeling at the end
3) The introduction paragraph is relatively focused on the issue
4) Different factors that contribute to this problem are nicely laid out throuhout the essay

Weakness

1) It is not answering the prompt
2) The thesis can be tightened
3) The organization needs to be focused
4) Be more argumentative


Strategy: With this student, I would work on coming up with a strong argument for it. First of all, I would try to get the student to brainstorm what are some of the main causes of homelessness in United States based on his/her research. After we come up with a clear thesis, I would then go into little details such as organization issues and topic sentences.



Endnote:

I like how you went into depth about the factors that contribute to America's homelessness. I think it's interesting that you mentioned mentally ill people taking over the streets as homeless. I remember an article written on this about how this began during Reagan years. This could be an exciting research topic to see how many homeless people are mentally ill and if they had history of institutionalization. My question for you is, what do you think is the main reason for homelessness in America? I think that should be our main focus to tackle together first. Looking forward to your second draft!

First Week of Tutoring

My first week of tutoring was great. I met up with my tutee at 7 o'clock sharp on Tuesday evening. My tutee was a senior who is planning to become an elementary school teacher after her graduation. She and I exchanged our information and we spoke to each other about our interest. She shared her dream to go study abroad before she graduated. She specifically told me she would like to go study in Sweden and learn some great education programs over there. She also asked me what I was studying in grad program and wanted to hear about my academic plan in the future. I think that was a great bonding experience. We were able to move onto her writing assignment naturally after that. It was exciting to find out that she was working on Sherlock Holmes series in her writing class. Her teacher had specifically sent a referral letter explaining that she had problems with organizing essay and coming up with ideas. After speaking with her for a while about her 2 paragraph writing assignment, I used charting strategy to organize her thoughts. When things were visually organized, she seemed to respond well. We spent 20 minutes on generating ideas on board and charting those. We spent the next 20 minutes learning how to write thesis and organize the writing in PIE format. This seemed to help her organize her thoughts better than before. My only question is, she seemed very hesitant getting her ideas out because she thinks it is not good enough. How can I overcome this?

First Draft Revised

Cover memo: I would like feedback on transitions or anything that might feel awkward. If you feel that I need to add examples from the book or my personal experience, please let me know! J

Portfolio 1: Philosophy and Approach to Working with Students One-on-One

My philsophy in tutoring students one-on-one can be described as collaboration and cooperation. I believe that tutoring is not a one-sided effort but mutual effort coming from both sides. As I worked in LAC for the past semester, I realized many students are coming to you because they need guidance and help on a different level than what their teachers can provide for them. The teachers are often taking care of large groups of students in classroom settings. This presents many challenges for studetns and the teacher as well. I truly believe that our job as tutors is to be the bridge between the two and fill the gap by encouraging, collaborating, and assisting students and their academic needs. There are few areas that I would like to focus on as far as tutoring session and those are: setting up agendas, setting up boundaries as tutors and tutees, and assisting with grammar issues.

Setting up agenda is a very important part of tutoring session. Setting up agenda is what determines what will happen in the next 50 minutes of your session. I personally like to collaborate with students on what our agenda is going to be. I start by asking them what would they like to work on and when it is due as well as what they would like to accomplish by the end of the session. This way I will have a clear picture of what the pace should be and what the goal should be. Students usually seem to respond to a clear plan and structure. It is also good for the tutors as well because at the end of the day, you walk away knowing that you have accomplished something. As for agenda planning, this is a collaborative effort and there should not be a hiearchy. The student should be allowed to express what they would like to accomplish that day and the tutor should not necessarily impose what they think should be worked on first.

Many times, tutors would like to be the tutee’s closeset friend because they are so enthusiastic. This could create some problems when it comes to setting the boundaries. As I was working in LAC, one thing I was repeatedly told was that I was not necessarily an authority figure to the tutees but I was also not their close peers either. This put me in an interseting position. I quickly realized that I must have balance between being their tutor and their fellow student. Although one may have pesronal conversation with the tutee during the session, we as tutors must not let it interfere with the session too much but at the same time maintain that supportive environmnet. This is extremely hard as we tutors can get involved in tutee’s stories if they are in need of emotional support. In this case, I believe some realistic boundary setting needs to be made. It is important to set the expectation right in the beginning that the tutors are there to support them academically. It is also important to go over what you expect out of the tutee as well. Setting these expectations for each other can lead to a better understadning of productive 50-60 minutes session.

            Another big issue to deal with as a writing tutor is grammar. Many students wish to get their grammar fixed or looked over and this just is not what you can do for them. It is important to clearly let them know that you cannot edit or fix the paper for them. However, you also cannot let the student make grammar errors constantly if the class is primarily dedicaetd to grammars. In this case, a proper grammar lesson is needed instead of fixing grammar errors for them. It would be important to pick out few errors they make persistently and decide which one gets in the way of meaning. For example, article mistakes may not be as serious compared to subject verb agreement, fragments, and verb tense issues. I was also advised many times by my coordinators to choose sentences that the tutee has done correctly first and use that as an example to help his/her other sentences. This seemed to work because the sentences he/she did correctly is in their own unique voice. It is also a good way to do some research on their first langauge and how their grammar is structured. This could be another way to connect with the tutee and their insecurities in grammar. For me, as a former ESL student, learning the difference between English grammar structure and Koraen grammar structure helped me to undersatnd why certain things are needed in English such as articles but not in Korean.

            Being a tutor may not be easy but it is definitely a rewarding one. Working with students on one-on-one is a valuable exeprience that I perhaps may not be able to fully enjoy once I start teaching a class of twenty or more people. I believe tutoring provides a bonding experience in a differnet way.  As I mentioned earlier, tutoring provides a bridging experience between the teacher and the student. I believe our job is to connect and fill the gap between and in so doing, we must keep our mutually collaborative mindset open.