Blog Post #3

  

"They minimize voice in order to sound “objective.” They choose topics they think others will approve of. In short, they do the very things that make strong writing performance all but impossible" (Spandel, 69).

    These words rang so very true throughout the vast majority of my schooling, and ironically is one of the biggest reasons why I'm so drawn to English education. I aspire to be the teacher I wanted when I was younger. Someone who will teach just as much as they inspire, nurture creativity, and give students access to reading and writing in a way which is exciting, new, and fresh, rather than monotonous, draining, and half-hearted. This isn't to say that all my English classes have all been a complete drag, but rather I found so many of them repeating a never ending cycle of reading X book to achieve Y goal: read this book, write this essay, rinse, repeat. Sometimes when we covered certain books, we wouldn't even read the whole book, instead jumping from passage to passage as if to "cover more ground." So many books were sold short, degraded into glorified scavenger hunts where the reader has to use them to simply "learn" a specific theme/subject and then regurgitate it as if to signify some kind of knowledge gained. These practices were a robotic and offensive approach to books, and were a disservice to both the students and books. Experiences like this had me believe for so long that books were pages upon pages of homework, rather than something to be experienced and enjoyed. All of this not only lead for me to have a distaste for reading, but lead me to write papers and essays which were just as mundane as the lessons which spawned them. 

   Returning to the current day, some things have changed, and some things have remained the same. I've still struggled to fully actualize my abilities and desires as a writer, but I've had some classes such as creative writing along with various literature classes, which I felt have tapped into a more rewarding approach to English education with much more gratifying content and assignments. Furthermore, I try to approach the more tedious assignments as a learning experience, as a continuous reminder that this is precisely what I want to avoid in my future curriculum. With all of this in mind, Sam's quote on Spandel's article resonates with me to an uncomfortable level, but through the quotes honesty, I find reassurance that I'm not alone in feeling as if my writing abilities have been reduced to meeting some standard. 

"We fear—teachers and student writers alike—that someone will find out the truth: that we are not always perfect, that we make mistakes, that not every performance is a success" (Spandel, 70).

    To bring this jaded and bitter blog post to a close, and to summarize my thoughts into some sort of hopeful ending, my goal as a future educator is to harness these frustrating experiences to fuel a never-ending hunger for a more engaging and life affirming kind of curriculum. In doing this, I'll bring my students into arms reach of the joys of reading and writing, and let them do the rest as they choose, ultimately working to maintain that closeness regardless of the adversities and doubts which inevitability present themselves to all writers alike.

 3/1 EDIT: Definitely missed the mark on actually answering the blog prompt for this post, so I wanted to add this to approach the questions at the very least. (sorry to anyone who had to read all my complaining!) Let's just cut to the chase:

Describe your personal writing process - My writing process varies by the assignment, but I definitely start slow, focusing solely on ideas and concepts before worrying about the intro, conclusion, format, and ordering. I like to use bullet points or other lists/charts to gather all my ideas, and try to organize them in logical ways to establish my key points. From there, I actually start writing, which then makes the writing process as streamlined and painless as possible because I already have my points organized and established. For creative writing, this process differs, but I honestly don't feel like I've had enough opportunities to really explore creative writing to figure out my "process."

How might your process differ from that of novice writers? - If I had to guess, I think organization might get overlooked by novice writers, whom would rather opt into jumping straight into writing. This certainly can work for some, but isn't necessarily my style because I don't want to lose track of my points and lose steam trying to remember anything I might have forgotten.

How might your process change when writing in online settings or via multimodal resources? - To me, the biggest thing that mediums like multimodal writings bring to the table is a kind of parallel vision to writing. Through this, I feel that my writing might come a bit more naturally, because the other elements in multimodal composition such as music, visuals, and audio will work in tandem to bring out a clear and precise effect in my writing and ideas. 

https://www.edutopia.org/article/3-authentic-multimodal-projects-young-writers/

https://www.creative-writing-now.com/short-story-ideas.html

    

Blog Post #2

    Hello. My name is Seth Kaplan. I am a fourth-year undergraduate student studying English education with the goal of one day being a high school English/literature teacher. I got my associates degree at Milwaukee Area Technical College in 2020, and have since transferred to UWM, with this being my second year. Admittedly, I enjoy reading drastically more than writing, but nonetheless, I know writing is still an important skill that should constantly be exercised and improved on. In terms of my writing/teaching career, I currently work at the Milwaukee Academy of Science as a SPARK tutor, which is an early literacy program through the Boys and Girls club which helps K-3rd grade students improve on their reading and writing skills. Though I would prefer to work with middle and high school students eventually, my experience so far at SPARK has jump started my admiration for working with others, especially in relation to their reading and writing. I’m looking forward to meeting you and helping you in any way that I can with your writing! 

    Some more about me, I spend most of my time doing schoolwork and working, but when I’m not doing those things, I’m playing guitar, skateboarding, or spending time with friends and family. Other hobbies which I've picked up recently are learning to speak Russian and drawing, but I'm an absolute novice at both!

Me one year ago.

Me 10+ years ago.

My literary "selfie," which includes other media I resonate with, such as art and music!

Pro Blog Post #1

    On the topic of social media or digital composition use as a way of connecting with others, I almost drew a blank, but after racking my brain and reaching quite a while back into time, I believe I have a personal experience worth mentioning. Before getting to the point, I want to admit that as I've "matured," aged, gotten older (?) (what's the right word for this? I'm only 22, but I feel old admitting this) I've grown more and more exhausted by the internet. Rather than it being something which I've grown better qualified navigating, I feel like it has grown at a scale in which obscures any kind of understanding and admiration which I initially had of it during my childhood. I struggle to pinpoint exact reasons why this is, but if I had to guess, I think it would be a mix of nostalgia, isolation, overstimulation, and overindulgence. Nonetheless, I really look forward to this class, because I long for ways in which I can reinvigorate my curiosity for the internet, and I know that it has tremendous value which can strengthen lessons inside the classroom.

    Getting back to the blog prompt, I played a video game in my pre-teen/early teen years called Garry's Mod, which essentially acted as a hub connecting players to a series of mini-games. The game is/was extremely modular, giving players tools and resources to make their own game modes using existing assets and building blocks from pre-existing games. Around age 13, I found a community within Garry's Mod which I grew really fond of. It was called "The Cube," and the server curated a community which emphasized a friendly environment and attitude, something that wasn't always the norm for video games in 2013. I spent a large portion of my time from ages 13-15ish on these servers, and interacted with it's community in a multitude of ways. From playing the game itself, to at one point taking on a "moderator" role which gave me a responsibility of weeding out disrespectful and ill-mannered players. Furthermore, The Cube also had an online forum, which was my introduction to anything of that sort, and served as a microcosm for like-minded individuals, interested in expanding the servers footprint and impact. I remember there being a lot of collaboration on the forums, mainly from artists and other creatives, but it also served as a place where regular players could simply chat. A real world impact this server had was a charity that it ran, which raised money to give kids with physical disabilities/health implications computers capable of running the games in which The Cube operated. I tried to search for pictures and other media which illustrated these causes, but unfortunately, a lot of these things have been lost to time due to the forums no longer being up. Alternatively, I found a few pictures relating to The Cube, from screenshots of the maps players interacted on, to the server's logo.

    Relating back to my future endeavors as a teacher, I realize my experience on The Cube laid the groundwork for my desire to nurture small, tight-knit communities, which sustains itself through a common goal. I think a lot of my sentiments and desires for this were illustrated by Jenkins, which found video game players in similar situations in his paper Confronting the Challenges of Participatory Culture: Media Education for the 21st Century. Ultimately, his writing argued that teachers need to embrace the internet's ability to encourage collaboration.

https://blogs.hanken.fi/cers/2020/03/03/the-traditional-internet-forum-old-but-not-forgotten/