[Teaching_Composition] Linguistically Diverse Classroom - sharing knowledge

Mon, 23 Oct 2006 12:40:49 -0500

> This message is in MIME format. Since your mail reader does not understand
this format, some or all of this message may not be legible.

--B_3244452049_416001
Content-type: text/plain;
	charset="ISO-8859-1"
Content-transfer-encoding: quoted-printable

Hello again everyone,
I apologize for being such a quiet conversation facilitator these days...as
you all know work and life can get in the way of the best intentions...and
list activity.

I appreciate all we have heard so far about experiences with and
perspectives on teaching writing in linguistically diverse classrooms. As a
means of exploring where we might go beyond this sharing, I=B9d like to pose =
a
few more questions to you all:

# How were you prepared in grad school or through professional development
programs to work with linguistically diverse writers? What was most/least
effective about that preparation? What about preparation for working with
=B3basic writers?"
# What do you want to learn most about in terms of working with a
linguistically diverse student population in the writing classroom? What,
for you, would be the most effective way to learn?

I ask these questions, somewhat selfishly, because I frequently field the
questions of faculty in our first-year writing program about these issues.
As I go through my list of suggestions, I never know if I=B9m actually being
helpful. Much of what I offer has to do with taking the time to work closel=
y
with the student to understand what he/she is trying to say before giving i=
n
to the impulse to correct. Then working to develop the language to express
those complicated ideas. In large comp classrooms, that time and attention
can be hard to get to, but it is effective.

I=B9d like to hear what you think. What has worked? What has not worked? How
do we begin to recognize the cultural and linguistic complexities
increasingly present and important (and valuable!) in our writing classroom=
s
while we do what we do? It seems like this is an ever more pressing need as
we watch what is happening in the world around us.

Thank you,
Suzanne
>=20

-- Suzanne Blum Malley
Columbia College Chicago
English Department
Director of ESL
Director of the Writing Center (interim)
312-344-8111
sbmalley@colum.edu

--B_3244452049_416001
Content-type: text/html;
	charset="ISO-8859-1"
Content-transfer-encoding: quoted-printable

<HTML>
<HEAD>
<TITLE>Linguistically Diverse Classroom - sharing knowledge</TITLE>
</HEAD>
<BODY>
<FONT FACE=3D"Verdana, Helvetica, Arial"><SPAN STYLE=3D'font-size:12.0px'>Hello=
 again everyone,<BR>
I apologize for being such a quiet conversation facilitator these days...as=
 you all know work and life can get in the way of the best intentions...and =
list activity.<BR>
<BR>
I appreciate all we have heard so far about experiences with and perspectiv=
es on teaching writing in linguistically diverse classrooms. As a means of e=
xploring where we might go beyond this sharing, I&#8217;d like to pose a few=
 more questions to you all:<BR>
<BR>
# How were you prepared in grad school or through professional development =
programs to work with linguistically diverse writers? What was most/least ef=
fective about that preparation? What about preparation for working with &#82=
20;basic writers?&quot;<BR>
# What do you want to learn most about in terms of working with a linguisti=
cally diverse student population in the writing classroom? What, for you, wo=
uld be the most effective way to learn? <BR>
<BR>
I ask these questions, somewhat selfishly, because I frequently field the q=
uestions of faculty in our first-year writing program about these issues. As=
 I go through my list of suggestions, I never know if I&#8217;m actually bei=
ng helpful. Much of what I offer has to do with taking the time to work clos=
ely with the student to understand what he/she is trying to say before givin=
g in to the impulse to correct. Then working to develop the language to expr=
ess those complicated ideas. In large comp classrooms, that time and attenti=
on can be hard to get to, but it is effective. &nbsp;<BR>
<BR>
I&#8217;d like to hear what you think. What has worked? What has not worked=
? How do we begin to recognize the cultural and linguistic complexities incr=
easingly present and important (and valuable!) in our writing classrooms whi=
le we do what we do? It seems like this is an ever more pressing need as we =
watch what is happening in the world around us.<BR>
<BR>
Thank you,<BR>
Suzanne<BR>
</SPAN></FONT><BLOCKQUOTE><FONT FACE=3D"Verdana, Helvetica, Arial"><SPAN STYL=
E=3D'font-size:12.0px'><BR>
</SPAN></FONT></BLOCKQUOTE><FONT FACE=3D"Verdana, Helvetica, Arial"><SPAN STY=
LE=3D'font-size:12.0px'><BR>
<BR>
-- Suzanne Blum Malley<BR>
Columbia College Chicago<BR>
English Department<BR>
Director of ESL<BR>
Director of the Writing Center (interim)<BR>
312-344-8111<BR>
sbmalley@colum.edu<BR>
<BR>
</SPAN></FONT>
</BODY>
</HTML>

--B_3244452049_416001--