Monday, November 16, 2009

blog number 10

  The first writer I will talk about is Villanueva. I learned a lot reading him. He wrote about that culture must be thought about, while teaching WAC. He states "The idea of all cultures living together in mutual understanding is not yet practical"(WACNM.pg169). What he is trying to express is that we cannot teach like we live in a fair society. Culture cannot be overlooked while teaching WAC. He uses the word"Jaiberia" as a way for suppressed cultures to overcome their situations. Jaiberia is a subversive complicity, that is achieved by maintaining a cultural identity, while complying with dominance. In a country that is becoming more and more diverse, it is very important to take Villanueva beliefs under advisement, while teaching. a teacher must adjust to their students not the other way around.


Berlin was very hard to understand, but I learned a lot while reading him. He wrote about the New Rhetoric style of teaching writing. This method of teaching writing beliefs that knowledge comes from two opposing points of views facing off, and a new truth coming from it. I like this theory a lot, because it makes a lot of sense. The best way to learn is to study both sides of an issue, and come to a answer that combines the two opposing points of views. This allows the reader to be fully educated about the subject. Then when they write about it they are able to create their own truths.

Britton talked about the different styles of writing. He wrote that there was no real way to distinguish what is literature and what is not. It is very hard to answer that question. Is email and other informal ways of writing literature? Does the level of skill of the writer come into play when we are trying to determine what is literature? These are questions that have really not been answered. They are really questions that cannot be answered. That is because literature is something different to each person, it is up to each individual to decide what is or is not literature.

All of the great writers that I have read during this class have taught me a great deal. That is because they ask the reader questions and they talk about both problems of the past and problems that are new to teaching. With the rise of technology teaching has changed just like everything around it has changed. In this class we have learned about different ways to teach our students using technology and also have learned about what we may lose in a classroom by using too much of technology. There is a fine line about just how much technology we should use in teaching our students. I think the clear truth in this case though is simple and that is you can`t turn the clock back. If there is one thing to learn from history, it is that you can`t stop progress. We as teachers are going to have to learn about the new technology. We are going to have to use it and one day soon there will be no debate about whether we should use it or not, but rather it will be use it or find some other job. This class was a great first step for myself learning about how to use technology in teaching and for that I will always be thankful.

Tuesday, November 10, 2009

reflection, on blogs seven through nine

I liked this style very much. It allowed us to see what every student was thinking. It kept the imformation from becoming stale, and changed the discourse with every new post. It made me think of things that I would not have come up with on my own, or with the help of just one other student. I also like the fact that you write one post and then have to wait a day or two to write the next. This gives you more time to look at the content area and come up with new ideas.I like the fact that you really don`t know what you are going to write, until you see the last post before yours. This makes the writer adjust on the fly and creates a different style of writing. All in all I would clearly use this method in teaching my future students.