“Someday you will be old enough to start reading fairy tales again”- C.S. Lewis
Introduction:
Once upon a time, there lived a girl who was told fairy tales belonged to childhood. Their magical happenings were juvenile and certainly not scholarly. Now, this young girl is all grown up. Along with her students, they’ll embark on an adventure and explore the world of fairies in an academic manner. Through the lens of identity, gender, culture, and modern interpretations, this course will guide students through a critical reading of fairy tales that will allow them to strengthen their college-level writing skills. This rationale will support the defense of the Fairy Tale themed ENG 200 course.
Theme:
Although fairy tales might seem like a juvenile topic, I argue that this genre is an appropriate theme for the English 200 course at the University of Dayton. My course will explore fairy tales through the lens of identity, gender, society, and culture. The final unit allows students to write a modern interpretation of a fairy tale, which is supported through scholarly research.
Educational research has emphasized the benefit of scholarly research in the classroom. The article “Filial Daughter, Woman Warrior, or Identity-Seeking Fairytale Princess: Fostering Critical Awareness Through Mulan” by Ivy Haoyin Hsieh and Marylou Matoush is used in my Identity Unit. At the end of the article, the authors explain how Mulan, and other fairy tales, can foster cultural diversity and awareness in the class room. “Indeed, the continuum of positions with regard to cultural authenticity…not only defines retelling, adaptations, and innovation…and appears to signal divergent attitudes toward the audience’s ability to make sense of socio-cultural diversity and power relationships” (221). Therefore, this course aims to participate in this conversation of “cultural authenticity,”and"soci0-culatural diversity and power relationships."
This theme and the discussions, lectures, papers, and readings that will result from it are also representative of the student learning outcomes that the English Department has deemed necessary for students taking English 200. While these outcomes will be more explicitly explained in different sections of this rationale, learning outcome six is specifically relevant in defending my choice of fairy tale as theme. It states, “Examine one topic with attention to differences such as race, class, gender, and/or sexually.” Fairy tales is my topic and will become the platform for discussion on identity, gender, and cultural diversity.
Course Policies/Classroom Management:
My syllabus is located on the first page of my web page. “Designing A Great Syllabus” by Ken Matejka and Lance Kurke helped me to create a syllabus that would provide my students with a ‘first impression’ of the course. The authors “identified four distinct purposes that are accomplished in a great syllabus: as a contract, a communication device, a plan, and a cognitive map. I have incorporated their ideas into my syllabus, because I found them to be clear, practicable, and comprehendible to both the students and the instructor.
First, I will show how my syllabus represents a contract with my students. At the top of the page, I include my name, my email, my office hours, the course name, the class time, course objectives, writing assignments, grading scales, attendance, and participation. Including this information indicates that this syllabus is establishing an agreement between the students and instructor (Kurke and Matejka). This agreement lays out my expectations and my availability to help students meet those expectations. It also provides students with the information they will need to complete the course objectives and to do well in the course. Identifying the syllabus as a contract is an important tool that I am able to refer back to throughout the semester. For example, if a student is upset about receive a point deduction on a late paper, I can point to my syllabus to show that students who turn their papers in late receive a 10% point deduction each day. In that situation, the consequences are laid out and I follow them. A syllabus as a contract is one purpose that I apply in my website.
My syllabus also aims to act as a communication device. “The syllabus is a marvelous opportunity for you to think about the course and develop an effective presentation of both your thoughts and answers to students’ anticipated question” (Kurke and Matejka). As I designed my syllabus, it went through many revisions in both content and structure. When students read the syllabus, they should be able to have their potential questions answered. An example of this is in my course policies section. In my experience, students tend to have a lot of questions on the first day about what is allowed and what is not allowed. For example, “Can I eat during class?” or “How many days can I skip without it affecting my grade?” At this point, I can direct students to my course policy section that answers these types of questions. As a student, I remember being frustrated when I could not identify a clear answer to my question during the semester. For this reason, I aim to make my syllabus a medium of communication for my students.
Kurke and Matejka also define the syllabus as a “plan of action for the course.” Therefore, I chose to incorporate my plan into the syllabus. This is evidenced by my inclusion of a brief explanation of the course, student learning objectives, and the writing assignments. On my web page, I preface with a quote from C.S. Lewis and my own brief introduction. This allows the students to get a feel for my personality and the course. Ideally, it also engages them in the topic. By including this, students also get a sense of direction of where the course is heading. This is seen in the lines of my web page “Throughout the semester we will critically read fairy tales through the lens of identity, gender, and culture. Scholarly articles and research will support our analysis. To conclude the semester, we will explore modern interpretations of fairy tales and write our own” (Sebastian). By reading this introduction, students receive a brief plan for the semester. The Writing Assignments direct students on how what they learn about fairy tales will be applied into their writing. This is important to establish up front, because this is a writing course. Students might not readily understand how writing and fairy tales connect; the writing assignments demonstrate that link. To receive a more in depth plan, students may look at the Daily Assignment Sheets which identify major class activities, reading and writing due dates, etc. Through these examples, my syllabus functions as a plan.
In addition, my syllabus purposes as a cognitive map. As the authors state,
Think of your course as an educational adventure. The class is about to embark on an intellectual journey. The teacher is the guide and the only one with the cognitive map of the destination, what routes we will take, detours needed, and the method of travel. Think about how to best share this information with the students. (Kurke and Matejka)
Although the analogy might seem cheesy, this helps the instructor to see them self as a guide for the students. Therefore, through my presentation of the syllabus I am to show students how we will explore the topic of fairy tales in order to strengthen their college-writing skills. I use phrases like “we will explore” to show that “we” will work together in this learning process. I want to establish that I will not be pouring information into my students’ brains. Rather, I will support, question, and respond to students in a way that will help them achieve the student learning objectives identified in the beginning of my introduction sheet. I also reiterate this concept in my “Final Note” to the students. I emphasize working together as we learn and that I am available to conference with them throughout the semester. (Sebastian). My willingness to work together and my emphasis on availability help to establish me as an instructor that will guide the students. Since this information is included in my syllabus, it becomes a cognitive map for students.
Teaching Critical-Thinking and the Writing Process:
The University of Dayton’s student learning outcomes include that students should engage in the writing process. One of my goals for this course is to help students become stronger, more confident writers as they practice the writing process and engage in critical thinking. I encourage the students to pre-write, draft, and revise in my course. However, before I can ask my students to complete a writing assignment, I must first ensure that I’ve provide students with the necessary skills and resources. One of the main skills that students need to write effectively is critical-thinking. In order to learn how to write, students must learn how to read.
Students are assigned several scholarly texts that address specific topics on fairy tales throughout the course. I aspire to use these texts to foster critical-reading skills. In his book A Brief Guide to Writing: Writing From Readings, Stephen W. Wilhoit dedicates his first chapter to critical reading. He describes the differences between two types of readers:
A major difference, then, between reflective reader and unreflective readers is the way they try to learn from what they read. Unreflective readers usually believe that the aming of a text can be found in the words on the page…for them, reading is a rather simple, straightforward process…[Reflective critical readers] believe that the meaning of a text resides in the interaction between the reader and the words on the page. (Wilhoit 1-3)
I agree with Wilhoit’s description of a unreflective readers and reflective readers. Therefore, I aim to provide students with the skills they need to become “reflective readers” that “interpret” and engage with a given text. One way that I accomplish this goal is by asking questions that begin with “why” and “how.” As Wilhoit states, “critical understanding requires asking the right kinds of questions” (3). However, I cannot immediately expect a student in my class to start “asking the right kinds of questions” (3). I must first model how to ask questions that lead to critical thinking. For example, in my Identity Unit, I provide discussion questions on the scholarly article, "Filia Daughter, Woman Warrior, or Identity-Seeking Fairy Tale Princess: Fostering Critical Awareness Through Mulan.” In addition to asking questions that re-iterate the main ideas of the text, I also ask questions that force students to consider answers that go beyond the text. For example, I ask the following two questions: “What do we lose when stories come "westernized" (215)? Or how does the meaning change through western adaption? How does each version of the ballad of Mulan change the meaning or what is emphasized in each tale? Specifically, what is emphasized in terms of identity?” (Sebastian). The article never directly answers these questions; however, students can make conclusions based on evidence from the text.
As the semester progresses, I do less modeling and require the students to create their own questions. My goal is to “urge along students” thinking (Romano 139). “Instead of offering them answers like dog yummies, [Romano] was using questions to discover how they perceived learning and to lead them in their own cognitive grappling” (139). Like Romano, I want to encourage students to develop their own thought process. To provide them with an opportunity for “cognitive grappling,” I set aside class days for round table discussions. During a round table discussion, I act as a mediator who makes connections between students’ questions and responses. That is the extent of my role. This enables students to practice being reflective readers, which will support the development of critical-thinking skills. As students learn to critically read, they will be able to form better, stronger, more-informed arguments. This will help students to write better papers as they participate in the writing process.
In my class, I follow the Andrea A. Lunsford’s perception of the writing process in her educational resource, The Everyday Writer. Before students can write a paper, they must brainstorm and pre-write. “Brainstorming means tossing out ideas—often with other people in person or online. You can also brainstorm by yourself” (Lunsford 59). I incorporate brainstorming into my lesson plans and blogs. A specific example is in the “What do you think?” tab under the post “Once Upon A time: Brainstorm.” In the post, I ask students to prepare for the upcoming paper by brainstorming possible topics/plots for their fairy tale re-write in the Modern Interpretation Unit. Students can expand and respond to other students as they participate in this brainstorming technique. Brainstorming helps the students to being narrowing down topics and formulating ideas (59). In class, I also provide opportunities for pre-writing. This allows the students to further develop their ideas and focus in on a topic and thesis. For example, in Unit 2, Class #6, I designate a pre-writing activity. Both brainstorming and pre-writing are incorporated in my course to engage students in the writing process.
In addition to pre-writing, I also emphasize the importance of drafting through my course. Lunsford recommends that students should keep track of their different drafts, have necessary notes and resources available, and to “try to write in stretches of at least thirty minutes” (Lunsford 77). I designate periods in class where students can draft, because I want to be available to assist students as needed. Drafting can help the students recognize their strengths and weaknesses as well as further develop their argument (77). In addition to drafting days, I will sometimes incorporate thesis and body paragraph workshops, which cause the students to draft and revise at least one strong body paragraph for their paper. I also include a Peer Review Day. Peer Review Days encourage the students to read each other’s paper critically. Lunsford explains peer reviewing to students, “One of the main goals of a peer reviewer is to help the writer see his or her draft differently. When you review a draft, you want to show the writer what does and doesn’t work about particular aspects of the draft (107). As students learn to identify specific critiques of one another’s papers, they will begin to form the necessary skills to be critical readers and writers.
I also emphasize the importance of revision by allowing the student to revise each paper once. I provide specific written feedback on their graded papers. I will ask questions, model examples, and make suggestions. This written feedback will hopefully teach students how to revise, not just edit. Tom Romano explains his dedication to the revision process in the following lines, “Such rereading, tinkering, and revising had become my habit, my power as an evolving writer” (Romano71). Including revision in my course helps students to evolve as stronger writers. To help students construct a reflective revision, I will ask the students to use “Track Changes” available through Microsoft Word. Each time the student makes a revision, they must also add a comment that explains why they made the change. This will help them to reflect on how revisions can strengthen their writing skills.
While I realize this is a condensed version of the Writing Process, the specific examples that I’ve provided in my class demonstrate that I work to encourage students to engage in the writing process: pre-writing, drafting, and revising.
Daily Assignment Sheets I approach Daily Assignment Sheets as a helpful source for both the instructor and the student. Rather than create one Daily Assignment Sheet that covers than entire semester, I created four mini Daily Assignment sheets that are located in each unit. This choice helps the students to easily identify the main activities, assignments, readings, and blogs for the course. I put important assignments in “bold” so that they stand out on the page. I also underline and italicize the weeks; then, I bold the days of the week. This structure helps students to identify the important events going on in the week and the unit, which will hopefully help them to stay prepared and organized. I chose to not go into much detail in my Daily Assignment Sheets because too much text will clutter up the webpage and make it difficult to find important information. Therefore, each day lists only the bare-minimum information that’s necessary to be ready for the day.
However, I do not design the Daily Assignment Sheets solely for the students benefit. They are also necessary for me as the instructor to stay prepared and organized as well. As I designed this course, I needed to consider how to identify which lessons and readings would be taught on each week. I needed to ensure that the lessons in each unit build off past units and also prepared students for future units. By breaking down the semester day by day, I was able to organize what I find to be a successful foundation for teaching fairy tales. Of course, this is an ideal layout. I recognize that I will need to go back re-teach, re-plan, re-think, etc. as I actually teach the course in the fall. Therefore, I expect to further revise this DAS as my students and I deem necessary to ensure a successful semester.
Rational Unit One- Identity
Focusing on identity will allow students to consider how perception of self can be explored in fairy tales. It also provides students with the opportunity to consider their own experience with fairy tales and what they can learn about identity through those stories.
Each Unit web page catches the student’s attention with a quote, picture, or video in order to engage them in the discussion from the beginning. The identity page opens with the scripted words from the well-known fairy tale, Snow White: Mirror, Mirror On the Wall/ Who is the fairest of them all? Mirrors are often associated with self-image and identity. Therefore, the symbol of the mirror and the quote from Snow White were an appropriate way to start unit one.
In order to ensure students are on the same page in terms of writing expectations, I review foundational skills that students should have learned in Eng. 100. Even though students will write a more creative personal essay on fairytales, I still chose to teach students the effective qualities of a thesis statement and body paragraph structure. Students will learn two structures that I myself learned as an undergraduate from Professor Vorachek and Professor Burnside at University of Dayton. The format is claim, evidence, analysis, and connections. Or Professor Vorachek’s version is MEAL, main idea, example, analysis, and link. This structure aims to support students as they further strengthen their ability to form a college-level argument. This reflects the English 200’s student learning outcome number four, “produce rhetorically effective college-level expository prose.” In addition, I will use Lundsford’s Everyday Writer to lead my students through pre-writing and drafting activities in order to guide students as they engage in the writing process. This writing process approach is a student-learning objective number two, “engage in a process approach to writing college-level prose.” Practicing writing body paragraph structure and pre-writing will equip students not only in this class, but the rest of their academic career.
This unit focuses on two scholarly articles that introduce the subject of identity in fairy tales. The first fairy tale and scholarly article that the students will read is “The Crown Prince and the Frog Prince: Characterization in the Identity Construction of Firstborn Males” by Gertina J. van Schalkwyk. From South African Journal of Psychology, Schalkwyk researched “the conceptual linkages between the crown prince, the frog-prince and the dominant discourse of patriarchy in identity construction” (van Schalkwyk 282). Therefore, this article will introduce how fairy tales can be used to understand identity or identity construction. The second reading is “Filial Daughter, Woman Warrior, or Identity-Seeking Fairytale Princess: Fostering Critical Awareness through Mulan” by Ivy Haoyin Hsieh and Marylou M. Matoush. Both authors demonstrate how different versions of Mulan’s character change how her identity is perceived by audiences. I use this article as a way to discuss identity and cultural awareness with the students. These two readings will guide the students as they explore the role of identity in fairy tales. They will also prepare the students to reflect on their own experiences with fairy tales and perceptions on identity. I use questions and make connections in order to support students in further developing their critical thinking skills, a main objective in the course.
At the end of Unit One, students will have written a narrative, reviewed thesis statements and body paragraphs, practiced the writing process, engaged with scholarly texts, and applied critical thinking skills.
Unit 1: Lesson # 3-Mulan and Identity
As I’ve emphasized in the Discussion and Critical Thinking section, I mainly use discussion to help students learn the main ideas of the text, but also to critical think about the text. I chose this particular article, because it evaluates how the identity of Mulan’s character changes based on the particular adaption. This is an easy way for students to identify the differences between the texts and how that relates to the unit one’s focus, identity.
I rely on the text and discussion questions to achieve the objective. The questions that I use will encourage students to make relevant connections that go beyond the text. I want the students to analyze the text, but I also want them to consider how the text works in the larger conversation on fairy tales, truth, and human experience all with the focus of identity. These type of questions will prepare the students to think about their own experience with fairy tales and how those experiences supported or contradicted their perception of identity, which will consequently prepare them for their upcoming paper, the fairy tale narrative.
This lesson aims to accomplish the following student learning objective, “Examine one topic from at least three disciplinary perspectives, two of which in the Humanities Commons.” This lesson explores the humanities theme of identity, a specific field of Psychology. Therefore students are participating in a interdisciplinary discussion that examines the topic of identity in fairy tales.
In my education courses as an undergraduate student, my professor taught us a useful acronym that guides the frame work of each lesson plan: ROC (Relevant, Organized, and Connected). Therefore, this lesson is organized by an opening, discussion, making connections, and a conclusion. In my conclusion, I re-reiterate the purpose of the day. Then, I assign a blog that helps students expand and connect our class discussion to other fairy tales.
Unit 2: Gender
To engage students in the Gender Unit, I use pictures, quotes, and questions to guide the students to start thinking about how gender is treated in fairy tales. My web page for Unit 2 asks the question: What can fairy tales highlight about gender? This prepares the students to enter into the conversation about gender and fairy tales.
To begin the course, the class will brainstorm and discuss different gender roles and fairy tale stereotypes, such has evil-step mothers, the knight, and the damsel in distress. I chose to invite the students to brainstorm in order to allow them to take ownership of this topic. Rather than tell them want to think, I want them to critically evaluate gender roles in fairy tales. But before they can do that, they must identify and define those roles. This introduction on day one of Unit 2 aims to provide students with a foundation before they read what scholars say on the subject.
Since the students will write a summary and response paper for Unit 2, I will review helpful reading strategies and how to write an effective summary in week two. To achieve this, I will teach the students the acronym CABIN: Clear, Accurate, Brief, Independent, and Neutral. This acronym was borrowed from my observations of faculty at the University of Dayton. Students will watch a short clip from the television series, Once Upon A Time. First, I will ask the students to summarize the plot of the clip. Then, I will ask them to analyze the clip by asking questions that start with “why” and “how.” These types of questions that I will use to support critical reading. I will emphasize the necessity of asking questions as students read scholarly texts. These questions will aid in helping them to respond to a text after they summarize it.
The following class day will review the characteristics of a response. Students will need to know how to write an effective response in order to write a successful summary and response paper. Although students most likely received teaching on both summary and response, I want to review my expectations so that they will be equipped to write their paper. For this lesson, I rely on Prezi, a free presentation tool online. After today, I post the presentation on my “Resources” tab on the website. That way, students can access the material as they need. After the lesson, students practice what they learned by writing a response to a particular quote on fairy tales. This will allow me to measure student learning and teacher effectiveness as I continue to prepare students for their upcoming paper. In addition to summary, response, and critical reading, students will continue to engage in the writing process by pre-writing, drafting, and revising.
The readings I chose aim to sponsor critical thinking skills, specifically application and reflection. For example, the students are asked to apply what they learned from Lucianan’s “A Fool Will Never Be Happy. ” The second article students will read is “Barbie Princesses and Dinosaur Dragons: Narration as a Way of Doing Gender.” Students are asked to participate in a round table discussion. Up until this point, I will have directed questions and learning; however, I want to foster an environment where students take responsibility for their own learning. Therefore, round table discussions provide an opportunity for students to share, ask, apply, and connect the reading on their own. I will act as a mediator as the students guide and explore this reading. Through this discussion, students will practice making their own arguments and showing their own responses to a particular text. This skill will apply to their upcoming papers as they learn to make effective rhetorical arguments.
Unit 2: Lesson #5
My purpose in teaching this lesson is to prepare the students for their upcoming paper, summary and response. Therefore, my main objective is to teach students how to effectively construct an argument and write a response.
Since this is primarily a lecture, I needed to find a way to keep my students alert and engaged. To accomplish this, I chose to create a Prezi. The Prezi has a creative background and design. In addition, it offers an easy and comprehendible format to present information. For example, in my Prezi, I have a circle shape labeled “Constructing an Argument.” In this circle, students can easily identify the components of a body paragraph, which will help them construct an effective argument. Students will need to know this structure for their response paragraphs. I placed this link directly on the website so that students could access the information as needed. To understand the educational success of Prezi, please review the “Creative Tools” section of this paper.
Once I have taught students how to write a response, I want to test what they’ve actually learned. For this reason, I assign an in-class writing assignment that requests students to respond to one of the following quotes. I provide students with options so that they can select one that interests them. The students’ responses will be assessed based on how well they incorporate what they’ve learned in class today. It will serve as a way for me to evaluate student learning and my teaching. It will also help me to gauge what I need to further emphasize in upcoming classes on both responses and constructing arguments.
This lesson supports the following learning objective: “Produce rhetorically effective college-level expository prose. ” Students need to learn the structure of an argument in order to write at a college level. This structure will help them to writer stronger papers in the course and their academic career.
Unit 3: Culture/Society
Unit Three aims to provide students with another way to understand to fairy tale while also strengthening students’ critical analysis skills so that they can create their own argument. Unlike the past two papers, The Fairy Tale Analysis asks students to use scholarly sources to support their own insights on fairy tales. While this assignment will no doubt challenge the students, if they obtain this skill of formulating and proving their own argument, it will serve them in their future academic career. To prepare students for this writing assignment, I engage the students with scholarly texts of cultural influences of fairy tales as well as offer them additional writing instruction.
The emphasis on critical thinking throughout the course and this unit provides students with the necessary skills to create their own arguments. The first three days involve discussion and small group work as a way to support students as they analyze the reading. For example on Day #4, I walk students through applying the reading to different text. This helps the students to not only understand the reading, but also to expand their thought process to outside the reading as well. Students make applications in small groups and then share as a class. I also use blogs to help students expand their ideas; this will prepare them in thinking about their upcoming paper.
As in every Unit, I set aside time to work on papers in class. This demonstrates the significance of engaging in the writing process, one of my course objectives. After reviewing the structure of the paper, the students participate in a body paragraph workshop. This supports students in reading other students writing critically. It helps them to read like writers. This will help students as they draft and revise their own papers as well.
Unit 3 is an important unit because it provides students with additional writing skills as well as builds on past critical thinking skills. The strongest component of Unit 3 is that it shows students how to write and defend their own argument.
Unit 4: Modern Interpretation
The Modern Interpretation Unit concludes the class. In very many ways, it unites past discussions on identity, gender, culture and society. Building on past discussions on these topics, we can now appreciate the influences of Modern Interpretation. To encourage students to critically analyze the effects of modern interpretation, I use scholarly articles, YouTube clips, and blogs. For example, on the web page, I provide clips from Cinderella and Brave. Critically thinking about modern interpretations of fairy tales supports students in writing their final paper.
I introduce the Unit by laying out the exact plan for the next few weeks; this will help students stay on task and prepared during the end of the semester—the busiest time for students. I also break the Final Writing Assignment into two parts to keep the students organized: The Fairy Tale and The Rationale. In order to equip students with the skills and resources that they will need to succeed, I increase in-class work days and schedule a Library Resource day. Since this is a more creative project and also an assignment that requires more scholarly research than past papers, I want to make sure that I am available for the students during this process. I also want the students to have a chance to interact with one another. These choices will hopefully lead to the students having strong final papers.
Ultimately, each Unit Plan organizes the semester by building on writing and critical thinking skills. My Unit Plans are revisable based on the students’ needs and my perceptions as an instructor. Each Unit Plan is specified by week and day. Each day outlines the objective, the rational, the teaching method, and the evaluation component as we were taught as Teaching Assistants. I found this method to be comprehensive and beneficial; therefore, I adapted it for my creation of Eng. 200.
Discussion
Throughout my Daily Assignment Sheets, Unit Plans, and Lesson plans, I consistently incorporate class and small group discussion. I use discussion as away to motivate my students, promote critical thinking, and to engage the class in the topic. Discussion also allows for peer-to peer learning, specifically in small group settings. The article “Discussion in the College Classroom: Triangulating Observational and Survey Results” by Claudia Nun points to past cognitive research which concludes that “a positive relationship between student participation in classroom discussion and learning, motivation, and problem-solving ability” (244). This research demonstrates discussion as a powerful tool for learning in the college classroom. In fact many educators recognize its significance. In the article, “Class Participation: Promoting In-Class Student Engagement” by Kevin J. O’Connor states “Designing course experiences and conducting class meetings in a manner that aims to ensure active participation and cognitive engagement of students is important (340). Therefore, the majority of my lessons are founded in discussion at least for a part of the course. There are also times where I specifically designate “round table discussions,” where the students are responsible for leading the conversation on the reading. They select quotes and create their own questions. This motivates students to engage in the reading and promotes learning. On days where I lead the discussion, I still aim to make connections and incorporate their responses into the lesson. In fact, using discussion, studies show, can make for “more enjoyable classes” (341). For these reasons, I chose to utilize discussion to engage and promote student-learning in the classroom.
Lack of participation in a classroom is a common source of worry, especially for newer instructors. Therefore, I found the article “Discussion in the College Classroom: Triangulating Observational and Survey Results” by Claudia Nun particularly useful in instructing educators on how to foster successful discussions. Since I rely heavily on discussion, I intend to implement these strategies to facilitate conversation in the classroom. This article is particularly unique because it researches the student perspective: “students believe the following techniques encourage participation: call on students when they volunteer, call on students by name, show signs of approval and interest, and encourage elaboration of questions” (Nun 245). During class discussion, even though I will always come with prepared questions and connections, I also need to be prepared to incorporate students’ responses. Asking students to expand on their answers is one way to encourage participation. In addition, I will call students by name and show signs of approval. I think the latter strategy is especially important. Even when a student answers something wrong, it is the instructor’s job to re-direct the conversation, not destroy the student. Both of these resources show that discussion in the classroom is not an easy task; it requires preparation and the ability to improvise. Implementing discussion is a useful tool to promote motivation, student engagement, and student-learning.
Blogs
My students will write blogs throughout the semester. These blogs function in two ways. First, the blogs allow the students to expand on class-discussion and reading. Second, an opportunity for students to ask questions and post concerns in a setting outside of the classroom. Blogs will facilitate and environment where students can engage in critical thinking, hopefully resulting in an in-depth understanding. In the article, “Reflections on Using Blogs to Expand In-class Discussion,” Shian-Kwei Wang and Hui-Yin Hsua reference “social constructivism theory, knowledge is generated through social intercourse, and through this interaction, we gradually accumulate advice in our levels of knowing” (81). Therefore, these blogs become an “ideal forum” for allowing students to build on their knowledge explored in class though online conversation (82). This is why I often assign blogs after a discussion of a particular reading. For example in the post called “Gender + Snow White,” I request that students apply class discussion by responding to another source about traditional female gender roles. Therefore, the students are making connections and applications that are relevant to enhancing their comprehension of the unit.
Blogs will also serve as a medium to sharing ideas about writing. For example, students will brainstorm for upcoming papers like the Modern Fairytale Writing Assignment. As discussed by Wang and Hsua, blogs can allow students to collaborate on projects or ideas. This was seen in their research where K-12 teachers used blogs to “have their students design a classroom newsletter collaboratively” (84). Through brainstorm activities, as seen on my blog, students can question, respond, and expand on writing papers. This will aim to provide students with a chance to discover topics that are interesting to them.
The article outlines several strategies to fuel active, successful blog discussion (85).
Connecting blogs to class discussion helps to motivate students (85). Therefore, my posts try to be explicit in asking the students to apply, connect, reflect, expand on what we’ve already explored in class. The article also suggests that instructors should “ ‘Deepen discussion’ by providing additional links to online resources so that students have easy access” (85). This is why I provide extra resources on my blogs in order to help them build on learning. An example is in the post “Culture and Fairy Tales.” I provide the students with the opportunity to select a version of Cinderella, catering to students’ personal interests. The resource is from www.pitt.edu. Providing additional outline resources is said to increase class discussion and student understanding, which is why I chose to implement this into my blogs on my web page.
Writing Assignments
For Eng 200- Fairy tales, I created a variety of formal writing assignments for the students: Fairy Tale Narrative, Summary and Response, Fairy Tale Analysis, and A Modern Fairy Tale supported by a scholarly researched Rationale Paper. I have chosen the following writing assignments for the class for the reasons: to promote critical thinking, to construct independent arguments; to engage students in the content and to cater to student interests and creative style.
Since supporting critical thinking in my classroom is one of my personal teaching objectives, it only makes sense that my writing assignments would also encourage those skills. The article “Learning through Writing: Teaching Critical Thinking Skills in Writing Assignments” by Gamze Cavadar and Sue Doe explains that need for educators to re-think how they construct writing assignments. Critical thinking is defined as “a set of strategies to help students develop reflective analysis and evaluation of interpretations or explanations, including one’s own, to decide what to believe or what to do” (Cavadar and Sue Doe 298). Therefore, I adapted those strategies into my writing assignments. For example, in the Fairy Tale Analysis paper, students are suppose to create their own argument as they reflect, analyze and explain the role of culture in fairy tales. Their final research paper, A Rationale for their Modern Fairy Tale, also requires students to formulate an argument that defends their re-writing of a traditional fairytale. These types of assignments require students to “demonstrate the ability to tease out the assumptions of varied approaches and then stake an informed claim or make a judgments about the approaches based on available information and a deliberate process that is both analytic and synthetic” (299). In Unit Three’s Fairy Tale Cultural Analysis, I include guiding questions to sponsor students into making “an informed claim” or argument about a particular text and its cultural or societal significance. For example, I ask “How are power structures either broken or supported in traditional fairytales” (Writing Assignments). These types of questions ask students to consider “assumptions” of power structures within the context of fairy tales. As they critically analyze the topic, they can ideally construct their own argument on the subject matter. Therefore, the student is not just parroting back information they learned in class or from outside research, instead they are writing their own informed argument. The authors quote the National Commission on Writing’s report, “Writing is not simply a way for students to demonstrate what they know. It is a way to help them understand what they know. At its best, writing is learning” (qtd. 299). Writing Assignment should not be seen as a separate entity from classroom discussion and lessons. Rather, they should provide an opportunity for students to apply what they have learned by developing their own analyses on particular topic. This philosophy of writing as learning is supported in my writing assignments for the course by asking students questions, the reflective nature of the assignments, and the emphasis of using scholarly research to support independent arguments.
This emphasis on scholarly research and defending an argument is most accurately supported through the final two papers, the Fairy Tale Cultural Analysis and The Modern Fairytale Rationale. Both of these papers require the students to make specific arguments to explain and support their position on a particular topic. Founded in critical thinking, making an argument is a key skill taught in this course. However, making an argument can prove difficult, even for second year college students. For this reason, I have borrowed strategies from Stephen L. Broskoke’s, “Prove Your Case: A New Approach to Teaching Research Papers.” Broskoke found that his students better comprehended the research paper when he used “the analogy that writing a research paper is like a lawyer defending a course case (31). As discussed earlier in defining my body paragraph model adapted from Professor Burnside, the structure of claims, evidence, analysis, and connections coincide well with this teaching strategy. First students define their topic, a difficult task since their topics are often vague or too general; for example, fairytales include stereotypes. Broskoske addresses this issue with his analogy, “Before beginning a case, a lawyer has to frame it properly. Similarly, a write has to frame the topic so that it is definable and defendable.” For this reason, I provide students with examples within the writing assignments that show strong and weak examples of a specific topic. However, to further explain the need to have a specific topic that is “definable and defendable” I will use Broskoske’s approach. The second and their step to Broskoske’s process is selecting specific pieces of evidence by finding credible sources and then presenting that evidence. “Just like lawyers, the students should introduce evidence to argue key points that will help them make their case” (32). This is reflected in my writing assignment because I ask students to use specific examples from scholarly sources to support their thesis statements. Broskoske’s conclusion helps students to not treat a conclusion paragraph like an afterthought. It requires students to re-enforce the main argument, high light key points, and end with persuasive technique (31). Typically, I tell my students that the conclusion is a way to remind the reader the purpose of the paper. It answers the question, what should the reader take away from this piece? I found Broskoske’s approach to teaching research papers comprehensive and applicable and I intend on using this analogy to help my students to be more successful in crafting arguments.
The Fairy Tale Narrative may seem out of place next to the research focused arguments of the other writing assignments. However, research shows that incorporating narratives can allow students to practice their own writing style and encourage them to further engage in the topic. Similar to Gamze Cavadar and Sue Doe, Ellen Lavelle understand the link between writing and learning. In her article “Writing Style and the Narrative Essay,” Lavelle states “Just as writers revise their produces, so too they revise their own thinking” (476). Again, writing can be an outlet for applying critical thinking skills, even in a narrative essay. Traditional essay assignments run the risk of causing the student writer to become “detached from writing topics) (481). For this reason, I chose to assign the Fairy Tale Narrative essay first. Lavelle’s research emphasizes that “the role of writing in education needs to be redefined to include emphasis on personal writing as critical to meaningful instruction” (481). My Fairy Tale Narrative assignment aims to close the gap between the assignment and the writer. The student is asked to critically consider their own life in relationship to fairy tales and the theme of identity. Providing a range of assignments narratives, responses, stories, and research papers are more likely to “foster in-depth learning for a wider range of learners” (481). For this reason, I have chosen to select a variety of formal writing assignments for the class in order to achieve higher-learning.
Tom Romano’s emphasis on creativity and personal style led me follow his teaching approach in my writing assignments. In addition to the more informal personal narrative, students are also asked to construct or re-write their version of a fairy tale based on what they have learned throughout the course of the semester. Their researched Rationale requires them to defend their fairy tale. By allowing for more creative types of papers, I hope to help my students strengthen their voice and to become stronger writers.
Rubrics
My rubrics are designed to objectively assess the student’s writing for each writing assignment. Rubrics provide the instructor and student with the standard for grading. As the article “Targeted Assessment Rubric: An Empirically Grounded Rubric For Interdisciplinary Writing” states, “…grading is seen to be fairer and more consistent then assessment criteria are made explicit” (336). For these reason, I broke down each rubric into categories that were emphasized in the writing assignments, for example clarity and style. To explain the requirements for each category, I then provided students with questions that would aid them in developing a strong paper. I will then ask these questions to myself as I grade their papers. For example in the Summary + Response paper one of my categories is the “Summary Paragraph.” One of the corresponding questions to this category is “Does the author maintain a neutral perspective?” (Sebastian). I wrote this question because in class, I taught the students to follow the acronym “CABIN” when they write a summary. When students write a summary, they should maintain a neutral, objective perspective; it should not contain their response or opinion. Therefore, this question functions as a reminder to students to not include their opinion. When I grade this category of the students’ Summary + Response paper, I will ask myself the same question. Asking questions provide the student with how I will grade the paper. Grading the paper using questions helps me to remain objective as I assess the students.
Ultimately, I write rubrics that aim to benefit both the instructor and the student. As described above, students should use the questions in the rubric to “reflect on their work” (Targeted Assessment Authors 336). Reflection is a key part critical thinking. Students should learn how to critically analyze their own work; these questions aim to support that goal. The rubrics also aid in helping the students “judge the current quality of their work and the ways in which they could develop it further” (336). Not only will the rubric act as a tool for the students to reflect on their work as they draft, it will also help them if they decide to revise their paper. Students can see where they lost points on the rubric; this is one way they can “judge” their paper and decide what to change or add in their revision.
Obviously, I’m making assumptions on how effective my rubric will be for the students and myself, the instructor. I have not tried this type of rubric before. It is a combination of rubrics that I’ve created and rubrics that I’ve seen from other instructors. Therefore, the rubrics that I created are not set in stone. I will ask the students for feedback after their first paper to gauge the effectiveness of the rubric. I will also have to assess how well the rubric enables me to assess the students’ writing. Regardless, I agree that “the power of a rubric rests on the degree to which it captures meaningful dimensions of the work without which a quality produce (337). Therefore, if my rubrics are not able to assess the “quality” of writing, then I will need to revise them.
Rubrics should encourage the students to learn how to evaluate their writing. They should guide students in learning how to effectively write a college-level essay, which is one of the Student Learning Outcomes for my course. In “Speaking My Mind: In Defense of Rubrics” Vicki Spandel” argues for the necessity of rubrics in the composition classroom. She states, “As we become increasingly proficient at reading like writers, our rubrics change to mirror that new thinking” (Spandel 19). As stated previously, this is why I use questions in my rubrics—to aid student in learning how to read like writers. This skill can help them to become stronger writers.
In the final unit, students will have the opportunity to create a rubric for the final paper. For my last rubric, it remains almost completely blank with only a few categories, because I want them to be very involved in the construction of the final rubric. This is because I want to emphasize the necessity of critically reflecting on the quality of a paper. Just like peer review days allow students to evaluate another students writing, creating a rubric can achieve this through another angle. As Spandel states, rubrics should be “instructionally useful” and “are created by readers who think reflectively about how to make their own and others’ writing better” (20). By involving students in the process of creating a rubric, they are taught to reflect on how to help them and other students’ write stronger essays. I save this approach for the end, because students need to first learn how to assess their own writing before they create a rubric for the entire class. Since I emphasize the writing process and provide students with written and verbal feedback throughout that process, student have seen me model assessment of writing. Therefore, they, ideally, are now equipped on how to follow that process.
To conclude, I aim to use rubrics as a tool for grading and a tool for reflection on the writing process. I acknowledge that rubrics, like papers, require revision; therefore, I expect that through the course I will change and updated the rubrics based on my experience and my student’s experience. Ultimately, I want to use rubrics to teach students how to become critical readers of writing; this will support them in this class and the rest of their academic career.
Website Design
Overall my Website aims to be as simple and organized as possible—I want the web page to be easily accessible for students. My webpage is divided into the following tabs: Home; Identity; Gender; Society; Modern Interpretation; What do you think?; Writing Assignments/Rubrics; and Resources. The following explains the organization, the visual aspects, and the purposes of the web page.
I chose to organize the pages by Units and resources. While each unit is unified by the header of fairy tale books, each unit also has something specific that sparks interest in the topic. Each Unit uses a picture, quote, and/or video to introduce the student to the specific topic. For example, the gallery of photos in the Gender Unit represents common stereotypes. It is then followed by a quote and question. Therefore, students receive a visual and reflective way to get a sense of where the Unit is going. Keeping the Units separated allows students to easily access necessary information for the course, like their Daily Assignment Sheets.
The visual components aim to represent the theme. The fonts and dividers use the colors of browns, dark reds, and black provide the site with a “classic” look that aims to reflect the theme of the course. To further support the theme, each tab has a heading of the bindings of fairy tales. In addition, pictures and video clips also help to complete the visual component of the web page.
Having never designed a website, I found the article “Making the Most of Your Class Website” by Lemoyne S. Dunn to be helpful. She explains how “class websites can serve a variety of purposes” (Dunn 60). One purpose is to “disseminate information that doesn’t change” 60. An example of this is the inclusion of my syllabus, course policies, and writing assignments. This information is relevant throughout the course; therefore, by putting it on the web page, students can access it as necessary. Another purpose identified in the article is a “supplemental resource” (61). Therefore, information on the website would ‘supplement’ class lessons and discussion. The most obvious example of this is my resources tab, which provides links and presentations to helpful resources on writing or course content. Another example is how I use blogs on my web page. In my blog assignments, I often using videos and outside resources to provide students without extended information; it typically builds on ideas that were already discussed in class. Therefore, these type of resources included in my webpage support student learning. Blogs on the website also enable students to “collaborate to solve problems and answer one another’s questions” (62). For example, in one of the blogs students are asked to brain storm or explain their ideas for the upcoming writing assignment. Students can see and build off other’s responses in this format. This type of tool allows the website to function as what Dunn describes “as a dynamic knowledge repository for the course.” Students are able to take a more active role in this example.
In these ways, my website aims to primarily serve the students. For this reason, I would delete the Unit Plans, Lesson Plans, and Rationale portions if I were to actually use this website for the course. In a way, some of the ways I use my syllabus can correspond with how I plan to use the class website. Like my syllabus, the website is a way to communicate with the student’s course objectives and standards—however, the website is a more interactive tool.
Creative Tools: Prezi and Youtube Videos
One creative tool that I use to teach is Prezi. “Prezi is a Flash-based visualization, storytelling, and presentation tool that allows you to create non-linear presentations” (Chicorioreanu). Primarily, I use Prezi as a visual component during lectures; I also post Prezi presentations in the “Resources” tab on my web page. This allows students to follow my lecture in a visually pleasing way. They can then access that information outside of class and as much as they need to since it’s on the website. Two specific example are when I review Plagiarism and when I teach how to critically read and create an effective response. In the article, “An Awesome Online Presentation Tool-Prezi” by Teodora Daniela Chicioreanu, she reviews some of the advantages of using Prezi in the classroom. First, Prezi allows me to present information in a creative way (208). For example, I use ‘post it notes’ and thought bubbles in my presentation “When is it Plagiarism: Identifying Plagiarism and Finding ways to avoid it.” In the presentations, the thought bubble asks the question “Now, What?” This was followed by a definition of plagiarism. The question and the thought bubble echo the student’s problem with actually comprehending the definition of plagiarism. The post-it notes use specific examples on how to quote and paraphrase. This structure helps me as a teacher to “clarify the objectives of the lesson” (Chicioreanu 208). By using titles, specific examples, and points of clarification in the presentation, students receive a clear instruction and application of that instruction. The creative visual style also “helps in creating information” (208). Another benefit from using Prezi is it creates the opportunity for student engagement in the lecture. For example, I have a “What if” section that explores different scenarios about plagiarism. One of these questions is “What if I use information from another paper I’ve written in another class?” At this point, I would pause and open that question to students. They would then participate and answer the question. Student and teacher feedback is another advantage cited in the article (208). For these reasons, I use Prezi in the classroom to support student learning.
Another creative tool that I use through my lessons and on the web page is Youtube as a way to engage and motivate student learning. For example, on my Modern Interpretation page, I introduce the class to the topic by using two clips from Disney movies, Cinderella and Brave. Once the students watch both clips, I ask questions that relate to the videos and the upcoming unit. Using videos and asking questions is one way I attempt to engage the students in the topic. In the article, “Using Youtube in the Classroom for the Net Generation of Students” by Sumarie Roodt and Dominic Peier, they define engagement in their research as “how involved or interested students appear to be in their learning and how connected they are to their classes” (Roodt 447). Therefore, when I use YouTube videos, I will consider student involvement and interest after showing the videos. The goal is to motivate students to participate and learn about the topic through discussion of the chosen clips. In the articles conclusion, the authors state, “The research found that the use of YouTube in the classroom had a positive effect on overall engagement as well as on behavioral, emotional and cognitive engagement” (486). Therefore, not only are YouTube videos a creative aspect of the class; it’s a proven tool that sponsors student engagement and learning.
Introduction:
Once upon a time, there lived a girl who was told fairy tales belonged to childhood. Their magical happenings were juvenile and certainly not scholarly. Now, this young girl is all grown up. Along with her students, they’ll embark on an adventure and explore the world of fairies in an academic manner. Through the lens of identity, gender, culture, and modern interpretations, this course will guide students through a critical reading of fairy tales that will allow them to strengthen their college-level writing skills. This rationale will support the defense of the Fairy Tale themed ENG 200 course.
Theme:
Although fairy tales might seem like a juvenile topic, I argue that this genre is an appropriate theme for the English 200 course at the University of Dayton. My course will explore fairy tales through the lens of identity, gender, society, and culture. The final unit allows students to write a modern interpretation of a fairy tale, which is supported through scholarly research.
Educational research has emphasized the benefit of scholarly research in the classroom. The article “Filial Daughter, Woman Warrior, or Identity-Seeking Fairytale Princess: Fostering Critical Awareness Through Mulan” by Ivy Haoyin Hsieh and Marylou Matoush is used in my Identity Unit. At the end of the article, the authors explain how Mulan, and other fairy tales, can foster cultural diversity and awareness in the class room. “Indeed, the continuum of positions with regard to cultural authenticity…not only defines retelling, adaptations, and innovation…and appears to signal divergent attitudes toward the audience’s ability to make sense of socio-cultural diversity and power relationships” (221). Therefore, this course aims to participate in this conversation of “cultural authenticity,”and"soci0-culatural diversity and power relationships."
This theme and the discussions, lectures, papers, and readings that will result from it are also representative of the student learning outcomes that the English Department has deemed necessary for students taking English 200. While these outcomes will be more explicitly explained in different sections of this rationale, learning outcome six is specifically relevant in defending my choice of fairy tale as theme. It states, “Examine one topic with attention to differences such as race, class, gender, and/or sexually.” Fairy tales is my topic and will become the platform for discussion on identity, gender, and cultural diversity.
Course Policies/Classroom Management:
My syllabus is located on the first page of my web page. “Designing A Great Syllabus” by Ken Matejka and Lance Kurke helped me to create a syllabus that would provide my students with a ‘first impression’ of the course. The authors “identified four distinct purposes that are accomplished in a great syllabus: as a contract, a communication device, a plan, and a cognitive map. I have incorporated their ideas into my syllabus, because I found them to be clear, practicable, and comprehendible to both the students and the instructor.
First, I will show how my syllabus represents a contract with my students. At the top of the page, I include my name, my email, my office hours, the course name, the class time, course objectives, writing assignments, grading scales, attendance, and participation. Including this information indicates that this syllabus is establishing an agreement between the students and instructor (Kurke and Matejka). This agreement lays out my expectations and my availability to help students meet those expectations. It also provides students with the information they will need to complete the course objectives and to do well in the course. Identifying the syllabus as a contract is an important tool that I am able to refer back to throughout the semester. For example, if a student is upset about receive a point deduction on a late paper, I can point to my syllabus to show that students who turn their papers in late receive a 10% point deduction each day. In that situation, the consequences are laid out and I follow them. A syllabus as a contract is one purpose that I apply in my website.
My syllabus also aims to act as a communication device. “The syllabus is a marvelous opportunity for you to think about the course and develop an effective presentation of both your thoughts and answers to students’ anticipated question” (Kurke and Matejka). As I designed my syllabus, it went through many revisions in both content and structure. When students read the syllabus, they should be able to have their potential questions answered. An example of this is in my course policies section. In my experience, students tend to have a lot of questions on the first day about what is allowed and what is not allowed. For example, “Can I eat during class?” or “How many days can I skip without it affecting my grade?” At this point, I can direct students to my course policy section that answers these types of questions. As a student, I remember being frustrated when I could not identify a clear answer to my question during the semester. For this reason, I aim to make my syllabus a medium of communication for my students.
Kurke and Matejka also define the syllabus as a “plan of action for the course.” Therefore, I chose to incorporate my plan into the syllabus. This is evidenced by my inclusion of a brief explanation of the course, student learning objectives, and the writing assignments. On my web page, I preface with a quote from C.S. Lewis and my own brief introduction. This allows the students to get a feel for my personality and the course. Ideally, it also engages them in the topic. By including this, students also get a sense of direction of where the course is heading. This is seen in the lines of my web page “Throughout the semester we will critically read fairy tales through the lens of identity, gender, and culture. Scholarly articles and research will support our analysis. To conclude the semester, we will explore modern interpretations of fairy tales and write our own” (Sebastian). By reading this introduction, students receive a brief plan for the semester. The Writing Assignments direct students on how what they learn about fairy tales will be applied into their writing. This is important to establish up front, because this is a writing course. Students might not readily understand how writing and fairy tales connect; the writing assignments demonstrate that link. To receive a more in depth plan, students may look at the Daily Assignment Sheets which identify major class activities, reading and writing due dates, etc. Through these examples, my syllabus functions as a plan.
In addition, my syllabus purposes as a cognitive map. As the authors state,
Think of your course as an educational adventure. The class is about to embark on an intellectual journey. The teacher is the guide and the only one with the cognitive map of the destination, what routes we will take, detours needed, and the method of travel. Think about how to best share this information with the students. (Kurke and Matejka)
Although the analogy might seem cheesy, this helps the instructor to see them self as a guide for the students. Therefore, through my presentation of the syllabus I am to show students how we will explore the topic of fairy tales in order to strengthen their college-writing skills. I use phrases like “we will explore” to show that “we” will work together in this learning process. I want to establish that I will not be pouring information into my students’ brains. Rather, I will support, question, and respond to students in a way that will help them achieve the student learning objectives identified in the beginning of my introduction sheet. I also reiterate this concept in my “Final Note” to the students. I emphasize working together as we learn and that I am available to conference with them throughout the semester. (Sebastian). My willingness to work together and my emphasis on availability help to establish me as an instructor that will guide the students. Since this information is included in my syllabus, it becomes a cognitive map for students.
Teaching Critical-Thinking and the Writing Process:
The University of Dayton’s student learning outcomes include that students should engage in the writing process. One of my goals for this course is to help students become stronger, more confident writers as they practice the writing process and engage in critical thinking. I encourage the students to pre-write, draft, and revise in my course. However, before I can ask my students to complete a writing assignment, I must first ensure that I’ve provide students with the necessary skills and resources. One of the main skills that students need to write effectively is critical-thinking. In order to learn how to write, students must learn how to read.
Students are assigned several scholarly texts that address specific topics on fairy tales throughout the course. I aspire to use these texts to foster critical-reading skills. In his book A Brief Guide to Writing: Writing From Readings, Stephen W. Wilhoit dedicates his first chapter to critical reading. He describes the differences between two types of readers:
A major difference, then, between reflective reader and unreflective readers is the way they try to learn from what they read. Unreflective readers usually believe that the aming of a text can be found in the words on the page…for them, reading is a rather simple, straightforward process…[Reflective critical readers] believe that the meaning of a text resides in the interaction between the reader and the words on the page. (Wilhoit 1-3)
I agree with Wilhoit’s description of a unreflective readers and reflective readers. Therefore, I aim to provide students with the skills they need to become “reflective readers” that “interpret” and engage with a given text. One way that I accomplish this goal is by asking questions that begin with “why” and “how.” As Wilhoit states, “critical understanding requires asking the right kinds of questions” (3). However, I cannot immediately expect a student in my class to start “asking the right kinds of questions” (3). I must first model how to ask questions that lead to critical thinking. For example, in my Identity Unit, I provide discussion questions on the scholarly article, "Filia Daughter, Woman Warrior, or Identity-Seeking Fairy Tale Princess: Fostering Critical Awareness Through Mulan.” In addition to asking questions that re-iterate the main ideas of the text, I also ask questions that force students to consider answers that go beyond the text. For example, I ask the following two questions: “What do we lose when stories come "westernized" (215)? Or how does the meaning change through western adaption? How does each version of the ballad of Mulan change the meaning or what is emphasized in each tale? Specifically, what is emphasized in terms of identity?” (Sebastian). The article never directly answers these questions; however, students can make conclusions based on evidence from the text.
As the semester progresses, I do less modeling and require the students to create their own questions. My goal is to “urge along students” thinking (Romano 139). “Instead of offering them answers like dog yummies, [Romano] was using questions to discover how they perceived learning and to lead them in their own cognitive grappling” (139). Like Romano, I want to encourage students to develop their own thought process. To provide them with an opportunity for “cognitive grappling,” I set aside class days for round table discussions. During a round table discussion, I act as a mediator who makes connections between students’ questions and responses. That is the extent of my role. This enables students to practice being reflective readers, which will support the development of critical-thinking skills. As students learn to critically read, they will be able to form better, stronger, more-informed arguments. This will help students to write better papers as they participate in the writing process.
In my class, I follow the Andrea A. Lunsford’s perception of the writing process in her educational resource, The Everyday Writer. Before students can write a paper, they must brainstorm and pre-write. “Brainstorming means tossing out ideas—often with other people in person or online. You can also brainstorm by yourself” (Lunsford 59). I incorporate brainstorming into my lesson plans and blogs. A specific example is in the “What do you think?” tab under the post “Once Upon A time: Brainstorm.” In the post, I ask students to prepare for the upcoming paper by brainstorming possible topics/plots for their fairy tale re-write in the Modern Interpretation Unit. Students can expand and respond to other students as they participate in this brainstorming technique. Brainstorming helps the students to being narrowing down topics and formulating ideas (59). In class, I also provide opportunities for pre-writing. This allows the students to further develop their ideas and focus in on a topic and thesis. For example, in Unit 2, Class #6, I designate a pre-writing activity. Both brainstorming and pre-writing are incorporated in my course to engage students in the writing process.
In addition to pre-writing, I also emphasize the importance of drafting through my course. Lunsford recommends that students should keep track of their different drafts, have necessary notes and resources available, and to “try to write in stretches of at least thirty minutes” (Lunsford 77). I designate periods in class where students can draft, because I want to be available to assist students as needed. Drafting can help the students recognize their strengths and weaknesses as well as further develop their argument (77). In addition to drafting days, I will sometimes incorporate thesis and body paragraph workshops, which cause the students to draft and revise at least one strong body paragraph for their paper. I also include a Peer Review Day. Peer Review Days encourage the students to read each other’s paper critically. Lunsford explains peer reviewing to students, “One of the main goals of a peer reviewer is to help the writer see his or her draft differently. When you review a draft, you want to show the writer what does and doesn’t work about particular aspects of the draft (107). As students learn to identify specific critiques of one another’s papers, they will begin to form the necessary skills to be critical readers and writers.
I also emphasize the importance of revision by allowing the student to revise each paper once. I provide specific written feedback on their graded papers. I will ask questions, model examples, and make suggestions. This written feedback will hopefully teach students how to revise, not just edit. Tom Romano explains his dedication to the revision process in the following lines, “Such rereading, tinkering, and revising had become my habit, my power as an evolving writer” (Romano71). Including revision in my course helps students to evolve as stronger writers. To help students construct a reflective revision, I will ask the students to use “Track Changes” available through Microsoft Word. Each time the student makes a revision, they must also add a comment that explains why they made the change. This will help them to reflect on how revisions can strengthen their writing skills.
While I realize this is a condensed version of the Writing Process, the specific examples that I’ve provided in my class demonstrate that I work to encourage students to engage in the writing process: pre-writing, drafting, and revising.
Daily Assignment Sheets I approach Daily Assignment Sheets as a helpful source for both the instructor and the student. Rather than create one Daily Assignment Sheet that covers than entire semester, I created four mini Daily Assignment sheets that are located in each unit. This choice helps the students to easily identify the main activities, assignments, readings, and blogs for the course. I put important assignments in “bold” so that they stand out on the page. I also underline and italicize the weeks; then, I bold the days of the week. This structure helps students to identify the important events going on in the week and the unit, which will hopefully help them to stay prepared and organized. I chose to not go into much detail in my Daily Assignment Sheets because too much text will clutter up the webpage and make it difficult to find important information. Therefore, each day lists only the bare-minimum information that’s necessary to be ready for the day.
However, I do not design the Daily Assignment Sheets solely for the students benefit. They are also necessary for me as the instructor to stay prepared and organized as well. As I designed this course, I needed to consider how to identify which lessons and readings would be taught on each week. I needed to ensure that the lessons in each unit build off past units and also prepared students for future units. By breaking down the semester day by day, I was able to organize what I find to be a successful foundation for teaching fairy tales. Of course, this is an ideal layout. I recognize that I will need to go back re-teach, re-plan, re-think, etc. as I actually teach the course in the fall. Therefore, I expect to further revise this DAS as my students and I deem necessary to ensure a successful semester.
Rational Unit One- Identity
Focusing on identity will allow students to consider how perception of self can be explored in fairy tales. It also provides students with the opportunity to consider their own experience with fairy tales and what they can learn about identity through those stories.
Each Unit web page catches the student’s attention with a quote, picture, or video in order to engage them in the discussion from the beginning. The identity page opens with the scripted words from the well-known fairy tale, Snow White: Mirror, Mirror On the Wall/ Who is the fairest of them all? Mirrors are often associated with self-image and identity. Therefore, the symbol of the mirror and the quote from Snow White were an appropriate way to start unit one.
In order to ensure students are on the same page in terms of writing expectations, I review foundational skills that students should have learned in Eng. 100. Even though students will write a more creative personal essay on fairytales, I still chose to teach students the effective qualities of a thesis statement and body paragraph structure. Students will learn two structures that I myself learned as an undergraduate from Professor Vorachek and Professor Burnside at University of Dayton. The format is claim, evidence, analysis, and connections. Or Professor Vorachek’s version is MEAL, main idea, example, analysis, and link. This structure aims to support students as they further strengthen their ability to form a college-level argument. This reflects the English 200’s student learning outcome number four, “produce rhetorically effective college-level expository prose.” In addition, I will use Lundsford’s Everyday Writer to lead my students through pre-writing and drafting activities in order to guide students as they engage in the writing process. This writing process approach is a student-learning objective number two, “engage in a process approach to writing college-level prose.” Practicing writing body paragraph structure and pre-writing will equip students not only in this class, but the rest of their academic career.
This unit focuses on two scholarly articles that introduce the subject of identity in fairy tales. The first fairy tale and scholarly article that the students will read is “The Crown Prince and the Frog Prince: Characterization in the Identity Construction of Firstborn Males” by Gertina J. van Schalkwyk. From South African Journal of Psychology, Schalkwyk researched “the conceptual linkages between the crown prince, the frog-prince and the dominant discourse of patriarchy in identity construction” (van Schalkwyk 282). Therefore, this article will introduce how fairy tales can be used to understand identity or identity construction. The second reading is “Filial Daughter, Woman Warrior, or Identity-Seeking Fairytale Princess: Fostering Critical Awareness through Mulan” by Ivy Haoyin Hsieh and Marylou M. Matoush. Both authors demonstrate how different versions of Mulan’s character change how her identity is perceived by audiences. I use this article as a way to discuss identity and cultural awareness with the students. These two readings will guide the students as they explore the role of identity in fairy tales. They will also prepare the students to reflect on their own experiences with fairy tales and perceptions on identity. I use questions and make connections in order to support students in further developing their critical thinking skills, a main objective in the course.
At the end of Unit One, students will have written a narrative, reviewed thesis statements and body paragraphs, practiced the writing process, engaged with scholarly texts, and applied critical thinking skills.
Unit 1: Lesson # 3-Mulan and Identity
As I’ve emphasized in the Discussion and Critical Thinking section, I mainly use discussion to help students learn the main ideas of the text, but also to critical think about the text. I chose this particular article, because it evaluates how the identity of Mulan’s character changes based on the particular adaption. This is an easy way for students to identify the differences between the texts and how that relates to the unit one’s focus, identity.
I rely on the text and discussion questions to achieve the objective. The questions that I use will encourage students to make relevant connections that go beyond the text. I want the students to analyze the text, but I also want them to consider how the text works in the larger conversation on fairy tales, truth, and human experience all with the focus of identity. These type of questions will prepare the students to think about their own experience with fairy tales and how those experiences supported or contradicted their perception of identity, which will consequently prepare them for their upcoming paper, the fairy tale narrative.
This lesson aims to accomplish the following student learning objective, “Examine one topic from at least three disciplinary perspectives, two of which in the Humanities Commons.” This lesson explores the humanities theme of identity, a specific field of Psychology. Therefore students are participating in a interdisciplinary discussion that examines the topic of identity in fairy tales.
In my education courses as an undergraduate student, my professor taught us a useful acronym that guides the frame work of each lesson plan: ROC (Relevant, Organized, and Connected). Therefore, this lesson is organized by an opening, discussion, making connections, and a conclusion. In my conclusion, I re-reiterate the purpose of the day. Then, I assign a blog that helps students expand and connect our class discussion to other fairy tales.
Unit 2: Gender
To engage students in the Gender Unit, I use pictures, quotes, and questions to guide the students to start thinking about how gender is treated in fairy tales. My web page for Unit 2 asks the question: What can fairy tales highlight about gender? This prepares the students to enter into the conversation about gender and fairy tales.
To begin the course, the class will brainstorm and discuss different gender roles and fairy tale stereotypes, such has evil-step mothers, the knight, and the damsel in distress. I chose to invite the students to brainstorm in order to allow them to take ownership of this topic. Rather than tell them want to think, I want them to critically evaluate gender roles in fairy tales. But before they can do that, they must identify and define those roles. This introduction on day one of Unit 2 aims to provide students with a foundation before they read what scholars say on the subject.
Since the students will write a summary and response paper for Unit 2, I will review helpful reading strategies and how to write an effective summary in week two. To achieve this, I will teach the students the acronym CABIN: Clear, Accurate, Brief, Independent, and Neutral. This acronym was borrowed from my observations of faculty at the University of Dayton. Students will watch a short clip from the television series, Once Upon A Time. First, I will ask the students to summarize the plot of the clip. Then, I will ask them to analyze the clip by asking questions that start with “why” and “how.” These types of questions that I will use to support critical reading. I will emphasize the necessity of asking questions as students read scholarly texts. These questions will aid in helping them to respond to a text after they summarize it.
The following class day will review the characteristics of a response. Students will need to know how to write an effective response in order to write a successful summary and response paper. Although students most likely received teaching on both summary and response, I want to review my expectations so that they will be equipped to write their paper. For this lesson, I rely on Prezi, a free presentation tool online. After today, I post the presentation on my “Resources” tab on the website. That way, students can access the material as they need. After the lesson, students practice what they learned by writing a response to a particular quote on fairy tales. This will allow me to measure student learning and teacher effectiveness as I continue to prepare students for their upcoming paper. In addition to summary, response, and critical reading, students will continue to engage in the writing process by pre-writing, drafting, and revising.
The readings I chose aim to sponsor critical thinking skills, specifically application and reflection. For example, the students are asked to apply what they learned from Lucianan’s “A Fool Will Never Be Happy. ” The second article students will read is “Barbie Princesses and Dinosaur Dragons: Narration as a Way of Doing Gender.” Students are asked to participate in a round table discussion. Up until this point, I will have directed questions and learning; however, I want to foster an environment where students take responsibility for their own learning. Therefore, round table discussions provide an opportunity for students to share, ask, apply, and connect the reading on their own. I will act as a mediator as the students guide and explore this reading. Through this discussion, students will practice making their own arguments and showing their own responses to a particular text. This skill will apply to their upcoming papers as they learn to make effective rhetorical arguments.
Unit 2: Lesson #5
My purpose in teaching this lesson is to prepare the students for their upcoming paper, summary and response. Therefore, my main objective is to teach students how to effectively construct an argument and write a response.
Since this is primarily a lecture, I needed to find a way to keep my students alert and engaged. To accomplish this, I chose to create a Prezi. The Prezi has a creative background and design. In addition, it offers an easy and comprehendible format to present information. For example, in my Prezi, I have a circle shape labeled “Constructing an Argument.” In this circle, students can easily identify the components of a body paragraph, which will help them construct an effective argument. Students will need to know this structure for their response paragraphs. I placed this link directly on the website so that students could access the information as needed. To understand the educational success of Prezi, please review the “Creative Tools” section of this paper.
Once I have taught students how to write a response, I want to test what they’ve actually learned. For this reason, I assign an in-class writing assignment that requests students to respond to one of the following quotes. I provide students with options so that they can select one that interests them. The students’ responses will be assessed based on how well they incorporate what they’ve learned in class today. It will serve as a way for me to evaluate student learning and my teaching. It will also help me to gauge what I need to further emphasize in upcoming classes on both responses and constructing arguments.
This lesson supports the following learning objective: “Produce rhetorically effective college-level expository prose. ” Students need to learn the structure of an argument in order to write at a college level. This structure will help them to writer stronger papers in the course and their academic career.
Unit 3: Culture/Society
Unit Three aims to provide students with another way to understand to fairy tale while also strengthening students’ critical analysis skills so that they can create their own argument. Unlike the past two papers, The Fairy Tale Analysis asks students to use scholarly sources to support their own insights on fairy tales. While this assignment will no doubt challenge the students, if they obtain this skill of formulating and proving their own argument, it will serve them in their future academic career. To prepare students for this writing assignment, I engage the students with scholarly texts of cultural influences of fairy tales as well as offer them additional writing instruction.
The emphasis on critical thinking throughout the course and this unit provides students with the necessary skills to create their own arguments. The first three days involve discussion and small group work as a way to support students as they analyze the reading. For example on Day #4, I walk students through applying the reading to different text. This helps the students to not only understand the reading, but also to expand their thought process to outside the reading as well. Students make applications in small groups and then share as a class. I also use blogs to help students expand their ideas; this will prepare them in thinking about their upcoming paper.
As in every Unit, I set aside time to work on papers in class. This demonstrates the significance of engaging in the writing process, one of my course objectives. After reviewing the structure of the paper, the students participate in a body paragraph workshop. This supports students in reading other students writing critically. It helps them to read like writers. This will help students as they draft and revise their own papers as well.
Unit 3 is an important unit because it provides students with additional writing skills as well as builds on past critical thinking skills. The strongest component of Unit 3 is that it shows students how to write and defend their own argument.
Unit 4: Modern Interpretation
The Modern Interpretation Unit concludes the class. In very many ways, it unites past discussions on identity, gender, culture and society. Building on past discussions on these topics, we can now appreciate the influences of Modern Interpretation. To encourage students to critically analyze the effects of modern interpretation, I use scholarly articles, YouTube clips, and blogs. For example, on the web page, I provide clips from Cinderella and Brave. Critically thinking about modern interpretations of fairy tales supports students in writing their final paper.
I introduce the Unit by laying out the exact plan for the next few weeks; this will help students stay on task and prepared during the end of the semester—the busiest time for students. I also break the Final Writing Assignment into two parts to keep the students organized: The Fairy Tale and The Rationale. In order to equip students with the skills and resources that they will need to succeed, I increase in-class work days and schedule a Library Resource day. Since this is a more creative project and also an assignment that requires more scholarly research than past papers, I want to make sure that I am available for the students during this process. I also want the students to have a chance to interact with one another. These choices will hopefully lead to the students having strong final papers.
Ultimately, each Unit Plan organizes the semester by building on writing and critical thinking skills. My Unit Plans are revisable based on the students’ needs and my perceptions as an instructor. Each Unit Plan is specified by week and day. Each day outlines the objective, the rational, the teaching method, and the evaluation component as we were taught as Teaching Assistants. I found this method to be comprehensive and beneficial; therefore, I adapted it for my creation of Eng. 200.
Discussion
Throughout my Daily Assignment Sheets, Unit Plans, and Lesson plans, I consistently incorporate class and small group discussion. I use discussion as away to motivate my students, promote critical thinking, and to engage the class in the topic. Discussion also allows for peer-to peer learning, specifically in small group settings. The article “Discussion in the College Classroom: Triangulating Observational and Survey Results” by Claudia Nun points to past cognitive research which concludes that “a positive relationship between student participation in classroom discussion and learning, motivation, and problem-solving ability” (244). This research demonstrates discussion as a powerful tool for learning in the college classroom. In fact many educators recognize its significance. In the article, “Class Participation: Promoting In-Class Student Engagement” by Kevin J. O’Connor states “Designing course experiences and conducting class meetings in a manner that aims to ensure active participation and cognitive engagement of students is important (340). Therefore, the majority of my lessons are founded in discussion at least for a part of the course. There are also times where I specifically designate “round table discussions,” where the students are responsible for leading the conversation on the reading. They select quotes and create their own questions. This motivates students to engage in the reading and promotes learning. On days where I lead the discussion, I still aim to make connections and incorporate their responses into the lesson. In fact, using discussion, studies show, can make for “more enjoyable classes” (341). For these reasons, I chose to utilize discussion to engage and promote student-learning in the classroom.
Lack of participation in a classroom is a common source of worry, especially for newer instructors. Therefore, I found the article “Discussion in the College Classroom: Triangulating Observational and Survey Results” by Claudia Nun particularly useful in instructing educators on how to foster successful discussions. Since I rely heavily on discussion, I intend to implement these strategies to facilitate conversation in the classroom. This article is particularly unique because it researches the student perspective: “students believe the following techniques encourage participation: call on students when they volunteer, call on students by name, show signs of approval and interest, and encourage elaboration of questions” (Nun 245). During class discussion, even though I will always come with prepared questions and connections, I also need to be prepared to incorporate students’ responses. Asking students to expand on their answers is one way to encourage participation. In addition, I will call students by name and show signs of approval. I think the latter strategy is especially important. Even when a student answers something wrong, it is the instructor’s job to re-direct the conversation, not destroy the student. Both of these resources show that discussion in the classroom is not an easy task; it requires preparation and the ability to improvise. Implementing discussion is a useful tool to promote motivation, student engagement, and student-learning.
Blogs
My students will write blogs throughout the semester. These blogs function in two ways. First, the blogs allow the students to expand on class-discussion and reading. Second, an opportunity for students to ask questions and post concerns in a setting outside of the classroom. Blogs will facilitate and environment where students can engage in critical thinking, hopefully resulting in an in-depth understanding. In the article, “Reflections on Using Blogs to Expand In-class Discussion,” Shian-Kwei Wang and Hui-Yin Hsua reference “social constructivism theory, knowledge is generated through social intercourse, and through this interaction, we gradually accumulate advice in our levels of knowing” (81). Therefore, these blogs become an “ideal forum” for allowing students to build on their knowledge explored in class though online conversation (82). This is why I often assign blogs after a discussion of a particular reading. For example in the post called “Gender + Snow White,” I request that students apply class discussion by responding to another source about traditional female gender roles. Therefore, the students are making connections and applications that are relevant to enhancing their comprehension of the unit.
Blogs will also serve as a medium to sharing ideas about writing. For example, students will brainstorm for upcoming papers like the Modern Fairytale Writing Assignment. As discussed by Wang and Hsua, blogs can allow students to collaborate on projects or ideas. This was seen in their research where K-12 teachers used blogs to “have their students design a classroom newsletter collaboratively” (84). Through brainstorm activities, as seen on my blog, students can question, respond, and expand on writing papers. This will aim to provide students with a chance to discover topics that are interesting to them.
The article outlines several strategies to fuel active, successful blog discussion (85).
Connecting blogs to class discussion helps to motivate students (85). Therefore, my posts try to be explicit in asking the students to apply, connect, reflect, expand on what we’ve already explored in class. The article also suggests that instructors should “ ‘Deepen discussion’ by providing additional links to online resources so that students have easy access” (85). This is why I provide extra resources on my blogs in order to help them build on learning. An example is in the post “Culture and Fairy Tales.” I provide the students with the opportunity to select a version of Cinderella, catering to students’ personal interests. The resource is from www.pitt.edu. Providing additional outline resources is said to increase class discussion and student understanding, which is why I chose to implement this into my blogs on my web page.
Writing Assignments
For Eng 200- Fairy tales, I created a variety of formal writing assignments for the students: Fairy Tale Narrative, Summary and Response, Fairy Tale Analysis, and A Modern Fairy Tale supported by a scholarly researched Rationale Paper. I have chosen the following writing assignments for the class for the reasons: to promote critical thinking, to construct independent arguments; to engage students in the content and to cater to student interests and creative style.
Since supporting critical thinking in my classroom is one of my personal teaching objectives, it only makes sense that my writing assignments would also encourage those skills. The article “Learning through Writing: Teaching Critical Thinking Skills in Writing Assignments” by Gamze Cavadar and Sue Doe explains that need for educators to re-think how they construct writing assignments. Critical thinking is defined as “a set of strategies to help students develop reflective analysis and evaluation of interpretations or explanations, including one’s own, to decide what to believe or what to do” (Cavadar and Sue Doe 298). Therefore, I adapted those strategies into my writing assignments. For example, in the Fairy Tale Analysis paper, students are suppose to create their own argument as they reflect, analyze and explain the role of culture in fairy tales. Their final research paper, A Rationale for their Modern Fairy Tale, also requires students to formulate an argument that defends their re-writing of a traditional fairytale. These types of assignments require students to “demonstrate the ability to tease out the assumptions of varied approaches and then stake an informed claim or make a judgments about the approaches based on available information and a deliberate process that is both analytic and synthetic” (299). In Unit Three’s Fairy Tale Cultural Analysis, I include guiding questions to sponsor students into making “an informed claim” or argument about a particular text and its cultural or societal significance. For example, I ask “How are power structures either broken or supported in traditional fairytales” (Writing Assignments). These types of questions ask students to consider “assumptions” of power structures within the context of fairy tales. As they critically analyze the topic, they can ideally construct their own argument on the subject matter. Therefore, the student is not just parroting back information they learned in class or from outside research, instead they are writing their own informed argument. The authors quote the National Commission on Writing’s report, “Writing is not simply a way for students to demonstrate what they know. It is a way to help them understand what they know. At its best, writing is learning” (qtd. 299). Writing Assignment should not be seen as a separate entity from classroom discussion and lessons. Rather, they should provide an opportunity for students to apply what they have learned by developing their own analyses on particular topic. This philosophy of writing as learning is supported in my writing assignments for the course by asking students questions, the reflective nature of the assignments, and the emphasis of using scholarly research to support independent arguments.
This emphasis on scholarly research and defending an argument is most accurately supported through the final two papers, the Fairy Tale Cultural Analysis and The Modern Fairytale Rationale. Both of these papers require the students to make specific arguments to explain and support their position on a particular topic. Founded in critical thinking, making an argument is a key skill taught in this course. However, making an argument can prove difficult, even for second year college students. For this reason, I have borrowed strategies from Stephen L. Broskoke’s, “Prove Your Case: A New Approach to Teaching Research Papers.” Broskoke found that his students better comprehended the research paper when he used “the analogy that writing a research paper is like a lawyer defending a course case (31). As discussed earlier in defining my body paragraph model adapted from Professor Burnside, the structure of claims, evidence, analysis, and connections coincide well with this teaching strategy. First students define their topic, a difficult task since their topics are often vague or too general; for example, fairytales include stereotypes. Broskoske addresses this issue with his analogy, “Before beginning a case, a lawyer has to frame it properly. Similarly, a write has to frame the topic so that it is definable and defendable.” For this reason, I provide students with examples within the writing assignments that show strong and weak examples of a specific topic. However, to further explain the need to have a specific topic that is “definable and defendable” I will use Broskoske’s approach. The second and their step to Broskoske’s process is selecting specific pieces of evidence by finding credible sources and then presenting that evidence. “Just like lawyers, the students should introduce evidence to argue key points that will help them make their case” (32). This is reflected in my writing assignment because I ask students to use specific examples from scholarly sources to support their thesis statements. Broskoske’s conclusion helps students to not treat a conclusion paragraph like an afterthought. It requires students to re-enforce the main argument, high light key points, and end with persuasive technique (31). Typically, I tell my students that the conclusion is a way to remind the reader the purpose of the paper. It answers the question, what should the reader take away from this piece? I found Broskoske’s approach to teaching research papers comprehensive and applicable and I intend on using this analogy to help my students to be more successful in crafting arguments.
The Fairy Tale Narrative may seem out of place next to the research focused arguments of the other writing assignments. However, research shows that incorporating narratives can allow students to practice their own writing style and encourage them to further engage in the topic. Similar to Gamze Cavadar and Sue Doe, Ellen Lavelle understand the link between writing and learning. In her article “Writing Style and the Narrative Essay,” Lavelle states “Just as writers revise their produces, so too they revise their own thinking” (476). Again, writing can be an outlet for applying critical thinking skills, even in a narrative essay. Traditional essay assignments run the risk of causing the student writer to become “detached from writing topics) (481). For this reason, I chose to assign the Fairy Tale Narrative essay first. Lavelle’s research emphasizes that “the role of writing in education needs to be redefined to include emphasis on personal writing as critical to meaningful instruction” (481). My Fairy Tale Narrative assignment aims to close the gap between the assignment and the writer. The student is asked to critically consider their own life in relationship to fairy tales and the theme of identity. Providing a range of assignments narratives, responses, stories, and research papers are more likely to “foster in-depth learning for a wider range of learners” (481). For this reason, I have chosen to select a variety of formal writing assignments for the class in order to achieve higher-learning.
Tom Romano’s emphasis on creativity and personal style led me follow his teaching approach in my writing assignments. In addition to the more informal personal narrative, students are also asked to construct or re-write their version of a fairy tale based on what they have learned throughout the course of the semester. Their researched Rationale requires them to defend their fairy tale. By allowing for more creative types of papers, I hope to help my students strengthen their voice and to become stronger writers.
Rubrics
My rubrics are designed to objectively assess the student’s writing for each writing assignment. Rubrics provide the instructor and student with the standard for grading. As the article “Targeted Assessment Rubric: An Empirically Grounded Rubric For Interdisciplinary Writing” states, “…grading is seen to be fairer and more consistent then assessment criteria are made explicit” (336). For these reason, I broke down each rubric into categories that were emphasized in the writing assignments, for example clarity and style. To explain the requirements for each category, I then provided students with questions that would aid them in developing a strong paper. I will then ask these questions to myself as I grade their papers. For example in the Summary + Response paper one of my categories is the “Summary Paragraph.” One of the corresponding questions to this category is “Does the author maintain a neutral perspective?” (Sebastian). I wrote this question because in class, I taught the students to follow the acronym “CABIN” when they write a summary. When students write a summary, they should maintain a neutral, objective perspective; it should not contain their response or opinion. Therefore, this question functions as a reminder to students to not include their opinion. When I grade this category of the students’ Summary + Response paper, I will ask myself the same question. Asking questions provide the student with how I will grade the paper. Grading the paper using questions helps me to remain objective as I assess the students.
Ultimately, I write rubrics that aim to benefit both the instructor and the student. As described above, students should use the questions in the rubric to “reflect on their work” (Targeted Assessment Authors 336). Reflection is a key part critical thinking. Students should learn how to critically analyze their own work; these questions aim to support that goal. The rubrics also aid in helping the students “judge the current quality of their work and the ways in which they could develop it further” (336). Not only will the rubric act as a tool for the students to reflect on their work as they draft, it will also help them if they decide to revise their paper. Students can see where they lost points on the rubric; this is one way they can “judge” their paper and decide what to change or add in their revision.
Obviously, I’m making assumptions on how effective my rubric will be for the students and myself, the instructor. I have not tried this type of rubric before. It is a combination of rubrics that I’ve created and rubrics that I’ve seen from other instructors. Therefore, the rubrics that I created are not set in stone. I will ask the students for feedback after their first paper to gauge the effectiveness of the rubric. I will also have to assess how well the rubric enables me to assess the students’ writing. Regardless, I agree that “the power of a rubric rests on the degree to which it captures meaningful dimensions of the work without which a quality produce (337). Therefore, if my rubrics are not able to assess the “quality” of writing, then I will need to revise them.
Rubrics should encourage the students to learn how to evaluate their writing. They should guide students in learning how to effectively write a college-level essay, which is one of the Student Learning Outcomes for my course. In “Speaking My Mind: In Defense of Rubrics” Vicki Spandel” argues for the necessity of rubrics in the composition classroom. She states, “As we become increasingly proficient at reading like writers, our rubrics change to mirror that new thinking” (Spandel 19). As stated previously, this is why I use questions in my rubrics—to aid student in learning how to read like writers. This skill can help them to become stronger writers.
In the final unit, students will have the opportunity to create a rubric for the final paper. For my last rubric, it remains almost completely blank with only a few categories, because I want them to be very involved in the construction of the final rubric. This is because I want to emphasize the necessity of critically reflecting on the quality of a paper. Just like peer review days allow students to evaluate another students writing, creating a rubric can achieve this through another angle. As Spandel states, rubrics should be “instructionally useful” and “are created by readers who think reflectively about how to make their own and others’ writing better” (20). By involving students in the process of creating a rubric, they are taught to reflect on how to help them and other students’ write stronger essays. I save this approach for the end, because students need to first learn how to assess their own writing before they create a rubric for the entire class. Since I emphasize the writing process and provide students with written and verbal feedback throughout that process, student have seen me model assessment of writing. Therefore, they, ideally, are now equipped on how to follow that process.
To conclude, I aim to use rubrics as a tool for grading and a tool for reflection on the writing process. I acknowledge that rubrics, like papers, require revision; therefore, I expect that through the course I will change and updated the rubrics based on my experience and my student’s experience. Ultimately, I want to use rubrics to teach students how to become critical readers of writing; this will support them in this class and the rest of their academic career.
Website Design
Overall my Website aims to be as simple and organized as possible—I want the web page to be easily accessible for students. My webpage is divided into the following tabs: Home; Identity; Gender; Society; Modern Interpretation; What do you think?; Writing Assignments/Rubrics; and Resources. The following explains the organization, the visual aspects, and the purposes of the web page.
I chose to organize the pages by Units and resources. While each unit is unified by the header of fairy tale books, each unit also has something specific that sparks interest in the topic. Each Unit uses a picture, quote, and/or video to introduce the student to the specific topic. For example, the gallery of photos in the Gender Unit represents common stereotypes. It is then followed by a quote and question. Therefore, students receive a visual and reflective way to get a sense of where the Unit is going. Keeping the Units separated allows students to easily access necessary information for the course, like their Daily Assignment Sheets.
The visual components aim to represent the theme. The fonts and dividers use the colors of browns, dark reds, and black provide the site with a “classic” look that aims to reflect the theme of the course. To further support the theme, each tab has a heading of the bindings of fairy tales. In addition, pictures and video clips also help to complete the visual component of the web page.
Having never designed a website, I found the article “Making the Most of Your Class Website” by Lemoyne S. Dunn to be helpful. She explains how “class websites can serve a variety of purposes” (Dunn 60). One purpose is to “disseminate information that doesn’t change” 60. An example of this is the inclusion of my syllabus, course policies, and writing assignments. This information is relevant throughout the course; therefore, by putting it on the web page, students can access it as necessary. Another purpose identified in the article is a “supplemental resource” (61). Therefore, information on the website would ‘supplement’ class lessons and discussion. The most obvious example of this is my resources tab, which provides links and presentations to helpful resources on writing or course content. Another example is how I use blogs on my web page. In my blog assignments, I often using videos and outside resources to provide students without extended information; it typically builds on ideas that were already discussed in class. Therefore, these type of resources included in my webpage support student learning. Blogs on the website also enable students to “collaborate to solve problems and answer one another’s questions” (62). For example, in one of the blogs students are asked to brain storm or explain their ideas for the upcoming writing assignment. Students can see and build off other’s responses in this format. This type of tool allows the website to function as what Dunn describes “as a dynamic knowledge repository for the course.” Students are able to take a more active role in this example.
In these ways, my website aims to primarily serve the students. For this reason, I would delete the Unit Plans, Lesson Plans, and Rationale portions if I were to actually use this website for the course. In a way, some of the ways I use my syllabus can correspond with how I plan to use the class website. Like my syllabus, the website is a way to communicate with the student’s course objectives and standards—however, the website is a more interactive tool.
Creative Tools: Prezi and Youtube Videos
One creative tool that I use to teach is Prezi. “Prezi is a Flash-based visualization, storytelling, and presentation tool that allows you to create non-linear presentations” (Chicorioreanu). Primarily, I use Prezi as a visual component during lectures; I also post Prezi presentations in the “Resources” tab on my web page. This allows students to follow my lecture in a visually pleasing way. They can then access that information outside of class and as much as they need to since it’s on the website. Two specific example are when I review Plagiarism and when I teach how to critically read and create an effective response. In the article, “An Awesome Online Presentation Tool-Prezi” by Teodora Daniela Chicioreanu, she reviews some of the advantages of using Prezi in the classroom. First, Prezi allows me to present information in a creative way (208). For example, I use ‘post it notes’ and thought bubbles in my presentation “When is it Plagiarism: Identifying Plagiarism and Finding ways to avoid it.” In the presentations, the thought bubble asks the question “Now, What?” This was followed by a definition of plagiarism. The question and the thought bubble echo the student’s problem with actually comprehending the definition of plagiarism. The post-it notes use specific examples on how to quote and paraphrase. This structure helps me as a teacher to “clarify the objectives of the lesson” (Chicioreanu 208). By using titles, specific examples, and points of clarification in the presentation, students receive a clear instruction and application of that instruction. The creative visual style also “helps in creating information” (208). Another benefit from using Prezi is it creates the opportunity for student engagement in the lecture. For example, I have a “What if” section that explores different scenarios about plagiarism. One of these questions is “What if I use information from another paper I’ve written in another class?” At this point, I would pause and open that question to students. They would then participate and answer the question. Student and teacher feedback is another advantage cited in the article (208). For these reasons, I use Prezi in the classroom to support student learning.
Another creative tool that I use through my lessons and on the web page is Youtube as a way to engage and motivate student learning. For example, on my Modern Interpretation page, I introduce the class to the topic by using two clips from Disney movies, Cinderella and Brave. Once the students watch both clips, I ask questions that relate to the videos and the upcoming unit. Using videos and asking questions is one way I attempt to engage the students in the topic. In the article, “Using Youtube in the Classroom for the Net Generation of Students” by Sumarie Roodt and Dominic Peier, they define engagement in their research as “how involved or interested students appear to be in their learning and how connected they are to their classes” (Roodt 447). Therefore, when I use YouTube videos, I will consider student involvement and interest after showing the videos. The goal is to motivate students to participate and learn about the topic through discussion of the chosen clips. In the articles conclusion, the authors state, “The research found that the use of YouTube in the classroom had a positive effect on overall engagement as well as on behavioral, emotional and cognitive engagement” (486). Therefore, not only are YouTube videos a creative aspect of the class; it’s a proven tool that sponsors student engagement and learning.