Monday, 11/4
No journal.
Wednesday, 11/6
This week is pretty much all about source integration, or at least Monday was. Today was a "work on rough draft in the class day" because I think that they get a lot of work done when I give them the time and the opportunity for help and to ask questions.
I was a little surprised, I think, that they do take the opportunities I give them to work and ask questions. Well, at least most of them do. Some of my students don't seem intent on using their free class time wisely, and they are the students who I worry are procrastinating. I think I need to do some work on methods of helping them not procrastinate and use the time that they have to work on their projects.
But back to them taking the opportunities given... Many of my students seem hell-bent on self-improvement. I have a couple of extremely brilliant raccoons! Our exchanges during this "free-time" are often full of mixed voices. I find myself switching between the voice I would say I use mostly with friends to the voice that I use in the front of the classroom.
My students also seem to relax and use voices that seem to be from settings with their friends, people with whom they are perhaps their most truthful self - truthful in the sense that it is not them using a voice that is used with the aim of fulfilling their ideal self, but truthful in the sense that it is the voice that most reflects their comfort and situatedness in a particular moment.
I'm not sure if that entirely makes sense. I find it difficult to correlate the idea of an "authentic" voice with the idea that we have multiple authentic voices (Royster), although I know/think that I am unconsciously understanding that and marking that knowledge in my statements about authentic voice. I feel a little stuck in this whirlpool of ideas. How do we mark these voices as authentic without marking another as inauthentic? I don't want to discredit the voices that I have used in exchange for working towards voices that I will use or would like to use, but I also believe in working towards improvement and acknowledging potential as ever-changing and ever-moving.
What is potential? What is its correlation with voice? What is its correlation with authenticity? Does the authentic voice reveal the authentic self, and is that authentic self idealized or true to the moment? Does the authentic self evolve as authentic voice changes, or does the authentic self simply change as well?
Friday, 11/8
Today we had conferences for Unit 3. These went a lot differently from Unit 2 conferences because these were individual and in my office. I have also had a workshop on conferencing, which I found to be really helpful. I used the style of offering partnered conferences, so I'd have two students present if they preferred, or individual conferences.
I found these conferences to be a little less casual. It felt much less like a collaborative effort than the group conferences, which I think I may have preferred. Watching them interact and gain and learn from each other was a great experience. However, I think my students preferred the individual attention and instruction. Many of them opted to meet me on their own.
I find it a little difficult that I prefer one style while my students seem partial to another. Perhaps, to alleviate this, I can have small groups work during our class time and spend the class walking from group-to-group, allowing for the group and collaborative atmosphere to be present as their work on their papers.
No journal.
Wednesday, 11/6
This week is pretty much all about source integration, or at least Monday was. Today was a "work on rough draft in the class day" because I think that they get a lot of work done when I give them the time and the opportunity for help and to ask questions.
I was a little surprised, I think, that they do take the opportunities I give them to work and ask questions. Well, at least most of them do. Some of my students don't seem intent on using their free class time wisely, and they are the students who I worry are procrastinating. I think I need to do some work on methods of helping them not procrastinate and use the time that they have to work on their projects.
But back to them taking the opportunities given... Many of my students seem hell-bent on self-improvement. I have a couple of extremely brilliant raccoons! Our exchanges during this "free-time" are often full of mixed voices. I find myself switching between the voice I would say I use mostly with friends to the voice that I use in the front of the classroom.
My students also seem to relax and use voices that seem to be from settings with their friends, people with whom they are perhaps their most truthful self - truthful in the sense that it is not them using a voice that is used with the aim of fulfilling their ideal self, but truthful in the sense that it is the voice that most reflects their comfort and situatedness in a particular moment.
I'm not sure if that entirely makes sense. I find it difficult to correlate the idea of an "authentic" voice with the idea that we have multiple authentic voices (Royster), although I know/think that I am unconsciously understanding that and marking that knowledge in my statements about authentic voice. I feel a little stuck in this whirlpool of ideas. How do we mark these voices as authentic without marking another as inauthentic? I don't want to discredit the voices that I have used in exchange for working towards voices that I will use or would like to use, but I also believe in working towards improvement and acknowledging potential as ever-changing and ever-moving.
What is potential? What is its correlation with voice? What is its correlation with authenticity? Does the authentic voice reveal the authentic self, and is that authentic self idealized or true to the moment? Does the authentic self evolve as authentic voice changes, or does the authentic self simply change as well?
Friday, 11/8
Today we had conferences for Unit 3. These went a lot differently from Unit 2 conferences because these were individual and in my office. I have also had a workshop on conferencing, which I found to be really helpful. I used the style of offering partnered conferences, so I'd have two students present if they preferred, or individual conferences.
I found these conferences to be a little less casual. It felt much less like a collaborative effort than the group conferences, which I think I may have preferred. Watching them interact and gain and learn from each other was a great experience. However, I think my students preferred the individual attention and instruction. Many of them opted to meet me on their own.
I find it a little difficult that I prefer one style while my students seem partial to another. Perhaps, to alleviate this, I can have small groups work during our class time and spend the class walking from group-to-group, allowing for the group and collaborative atmosphere to be present as their work on their papers.
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