Insider/ Outsider 

        If there was a word to describe my school experience, it is OUTSIDER. I have felt most of my school life that I was an outsider. I guess my first experience with being an outsider was when I was 6 years old. I remember it was my first day at an primary school in Manchester, UK. All the children spoke English, and I did not understand a word. I found it hard to communicate with the kids in the class, and even with the teacher. The teacher assigned a Kuwaiti student, who was also 6 years old, to give me a tour in the class. After he finished the tour, he got fed up with me and didn't want to work as a TRANSLATOR ! I don't blame him. I bet he had to do double the work, going back and forth between two languages. I felt isolated and lost. I hated the first day, and even my brother was placed in a different class. So, I couldn't even talk to him, even during break time. Although the teacher tried to teach me a few words to get through that day, she did not check up on me regularly. She left me with the Kuwaiti boy, who did not really want to hang around with me, because he felt that it was work to be with me, or like homework. (IF you are out there, I FORGIVE YOU. You were just a kid, and so was I 👀). 

      This outsider situation continued to haunt me throughout my school years. First it was because I looked and dressed differently than all the British students, and mostly it was because of my religion. I think being in high-school was the time where I felt mostly isolated. That is why for this post I will make a list of what people (including teachers and student) could have done to make me feel more welcome. I will also make a list to explain what people could have done to exclude me. After writing these lists, I will share ways in which I as a teacher could make students feel more welcome, and not go through the same experiences that I did in primary school and high school. 

What could have people (both student and teacher) done to welcome me? 

• the teacher could have worked to allow me to mix more with different students, instead of assigning a translator for me, or putting me with similar international students. 
• the teacher could have made some timely check-ins with me to see if I feel comfortable enough.
• students should be inclusive in their treatment of different students, especially if they are international students. So if there is a party, gathering or any study group, international students should also be a part of that.
• being friendly means that teachers and students should look at other cultural differences with respect and not express how "weird" they are in front of international students. 
• exchanging contact information, whether by social media, or by connecting families
• talking about special holidays or special cultural norms to others in class when the opportunity allows it.

What could have people (both students and teachers) done to exclude me? 

• the teachers and students could have asked me questions on spot and made me feel very embarrassed
• the teacher does not include me in extra-curricular activities with the other students (this happened all the time, and it broke my heart into tiny little pieces 💔)
• the teacher explains her excitement for me, that I am moving up in "sets," but in a very racist way. 
• students could just ignore international students, assuming that they are not FUN, and that they have different tastes when it comes to having fun
• comment on the way international students dresses, whether it was appropriating school uniforms for religious reasons, by wearing longer and more loose outfits, rather than the usual over the knee skirt and and "CAT" shoes. 

         

Creating a More Welcoming Environment for Students Who Feel Like Outsiders:

To help my students feel more welcomed in the classroom, I will definitely implement all the points in the list and develop them into classroom activities/ or extra-curricular activities we can do as a class to feel that we are functioning as a community, rather than isolated individuals. For example, for international students, the teacher could make it a habit of switching everyone seats in class every time they meet. By doing that, the teacher is allowing students to mix and mingle, and giving them a chance to talk to each other more often and that will allow international students to make more friends. 

Having Conferences: 

Throwing a student with a bunch of other students thinking that they can transcend cultural differences and talk to each other, even if they don't speak the same language DOES NOT WORK! The teacher needs to meet or have conferences with students who feel like outsiders, to see if they are doing alright in the class and whether there are other things they would like the teacher to do in order to make their experience more welcoming. 

Make Everybody Welcome: 

Students should always invite other international student to the activities that they are doing. It takes time for an international student to get to talk to other students in class. Finding that they are welcoming will ease the process of allowing the students to talk, and have some great learning and entertaining moments together.

Invite Their Culture into the Classroom: 

Cultural differences should be regarded with respect, and in the class the teacher could have the students share different cultural aspects of their life by asking an attendance question. Inviting student's culture into the classroom is a great way to allow student, especially international students, to feel that they belong to the classroom community.

Before I Go:
Here is a video about what it means to be an outsider. I think it shows that even though it is hard for students to mix in when they feel like outsiders, there is always someone who wants to be their friend, but students have to be patient. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A9l0XWGEHv8


References:

Images:

http://finalwakeupcall.info/en/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/02/insiders-versus-outsiders.jpg

https://mizrachi.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/left-out-496x270.jpg 

Philosophy of Grading & Response

A Story About Feedback...

       There are only a few instances I remember where the kind of feedback I received from my professors really aided me in my learning process and helped me improve. From those instances I remember phrases like "You articulate this beautifully but have you thought about...,"This is a small thing but could you explain more on...," "Very succinct, I would include..." All of these feedback phrases have something in common, which is that they praise, but they also suggest places where I can improve or make somethings clear. I believe that it is this kind of feedback that will allow me to grow as a learner. 

     The worst kind of feedback that I did receive was "This is a mish mash of everything." Not only did this feedback hurt me as a scholar and a learner, but it also did not provide me with clear instructions or suggestion on how to improve. I remember reading these words seven years ago and thinking that I am a complete FAILURE. I did not approach that professor because I felt that he has already made up his mind about me, and that I was a LOOSER. It is instances like these that define A student's progress. With the constructive feedback I received, I felt that I was welcome to talk further with my professors on how to make things clearer or better. 

What I Learned from My Past Experiences....

    From these stories, I can only think of how such a small thing like feedback can either push you forward or let you stay where you are and not improve.TOXIC grading practices like giving zeros, not accepting late work, and factoring behavior into grades DO NOT WORK anymore.I think the previous examples from my experience with feedback made me promise to be a better instructor for the students I will be teaching in the future.  The readings we did about grading and feedback these couple of weeks specifically have made me reevaluate the ways that I will grade and give feedback. 

Some of the Prolific Ideas from the Readings About Response and Grading That I Came Across and Which I will Try to Apply When I Start to Teach...

     In "Grading student's Writing,"  Steven Wilhoit establishes a difference between response and grading. Grades offer students final marks, and response shows students the points of strength and weakness that they need to work on in the future (100). I believe that for any feedback to be accurate, students should be able to receive both a grade and a response by the time they get their assignments back. Wilhoit identifies three types of grading; holistic, atmistic,a and portfolio (103). Although holistic grading allows teachers to look for the bigger picture in student papers, especially after deciding what an A,B,C,D paper looks like, it does not provide specific feedback to students (103). Portfolio grading allows students to focus on skills rather than grades and it encourages students to revise their papers (103-104). I feel that as a teacher, I will definitely need to use some kind of holistic and portfolio evaluation methods. Although Willhoit discourages new TA's from embracing the portfolio grading system, I believe that as new TA's we can allow students to complete portfolios of three assignments out of 4 for example. In that way we are encouraging revision and applying the portfolio method of grading. 


Are Grades ALWAYS a Good Thing for Students? Maybe Not....

    Wilhoit points our attention to Peter Elbow's suggestion about not putting grades on students papers and instead creating three different categories of (exceptional, adequate, inadequate) papers (108). Elbow explains that grades are not good for students by emphasizing several points like the fact that grading is subjective and therefore unreliable, that grading contributes little to student's growth as writers, grading has students only working to get a grade, grading makes teachers feel burdened because they have to be fair to every student in the grade they decide to give (qtd in Wilhoit 108). With Elbow's suggestions, students don't get grades, instead they have to keep trying until they pass or achieve a higher level in their writing. This approach is so tempting, and as a new TA, I might apply it to one of my assignments and not all of them. I think it will allow me some time to experience what both I as a teacher and what students really feel about grades. (I will defiantly talk more about this approach with my mentor). 


Read Your Student's Papers WITHOUT Bias....

   In "Responding to Student's Writing," Nancy Sommers emphasizes that as teachers, we have mainly been trained to "read and interpret literary texts for meaning" and that we as teachers have not been trained "to act upon the same set of assumptions in reading students texts as we follow in reading literary texts" (154). Sommers warns that this allows teachers to read students papers with biases, bringing in their own "preoccupation" and "preconceptions," looking for errors and fixing them without offering revision tasks pointing them to ways that they can make their papers more sophisticated (154). I'm inspired by the notion of "sabotage[ing] our students convictions that the drafts they have written are complete and coherent" (154). That is why commenting and feedback should be a way for student writers to improve and learn and not just receive feedback and not do anything with it. 

    Sommers argues that "as writers we need and want thoughtful commentary to show us when we have communicated our ideas and when not, raising questions from a reader's point of view that many not have occurred to us as writers" (148). It is only then can true learning happen. Putting myself in the student's shoes, I do not want to receive feedback telling me that everything I did in the paper is wrong. I want from the teacher to show me parts that I forgot to communicate to the readers or point to ideas that I can improve and make better. Sommers also emphasizes that it is important to make students think about readers and not just writers. Having the audience in mind will definitely help students better draft their writing and make clear statements. 

How Much Control Do We as Teachers Need Over Students Papers? 

    Richard Straub in "The Concept of Control in Teacher Response: Defining the Varieties of "Directive" and "Facilitative" Commentary,"  states that critics like Nancy Sommers and Lil Brannon and C.H Knobluch have set the basis of the theory of response and grading, "Beyond calling on us to write out our comments in full statements, make them "text-specific," and focus on different concerns at different stages of drafting, they urged us to be careful about the amount of control we exert over students when we read and comment on their writing" (223). Since the nature of the classroom is defined by the student teacher relationship, which is always seen as hierarchical, by making comments and responding to student's writing, the teacher's comments are evaluative and directive (247). Therefore, the major question isn't about teachers exerting control or not over student's writing, it is about "when and to what extent we as individual teachers exert control over student writing through our comments" (247). According to Straub, teachers should not appropriate student's texts "by overlooking their purposes for writing and emphasizing our purposes for commenting" (223). I also like the notion of comments as facilitative rather than asking students directly to do something about their papers (Straub 233). As Straub does not really give teachers the best response style, he advocates for response styles that are "middle ground," responses that are sometimes "directive" and sometimes "facilitative" (247). 

I see myself giving "middle ground" response to students all the time, especially that I am a student myself and think about what would be most beneficial for both the student's writing and process.

Do Rubrics Aid or Hinder Teachers When Grading and Responding to Student's Writing?

Valerie Balester states that rubrics "oversimplify and standardize writing" therefore they do not allow for equal evaluation for other students population like students of color or ever international students (63). She introduces three types of grading rubrics; acculturationism, accomidationism, and multiculturalism (65). According to Balester the acculturationism rubric aims at encouraging the use of Standard English in academic writing and in school (66). Accomidationism rubric is similar to the acculturationism rubric, however it allows for more freedom when it comes to using "home" languages and code switching as a bridge to teaching edited American English (67). A distinguishing characteristic of multiculturalism rubrics is that it acknowledges "the value of language diversity and the equal stature of all language varieties" (71). Balester confesses that rubrics are imperfect instruments, however, she states that they can be improved especially for writing instructions (74). 

In the future, I would like to use rubrics that are attentive to all student populations and not just a particular set of students. By doing so, I know that I can be fair in my treatment of students grades. 

Do Grading Contracts Work? 

Asao B. Inoue uses grading contracts in order to solve three grading problems; the deception of grades, how grades create false hierarchies, and how students want to pursue grades only (79). After examining Frenso States grading contract approach, Inoue concludes that "grading technologies with quality biases tend to oppress many students, but especially poorer students and students of color" (94). Although one of the contract's aim is to limit teacher power over student's writing and revising, they are harmful to diverse students in the university because the contract simply justifies grades "by the amount of work done" (83).

Although grading contracts are very tempting, I think that developing one on my own wouldn't be fair to the students. I would envision having one ready and asking students to comment and even make changes on the contract before having them sign it. This is a great way to get students involved in the classroom as whole and in the grading criteria.

How to Incorporate Feedback in the Composition Classroom...

In "What Kinds of Practice and Feedback Enhance Learning?" the authors emphasize that "goal-directed practice must be coordinated with targeted feedback in order to promote the greatest learning gains" (Ambrose et al 137). Here feedback is defined as "information given to students about their performances that guides future behavior" (Ambrose et al 125). Some of the strategies addressing the need for targeted feedback in this chapter are so insightful. Some of the strategies that the authors point to are for example looking for patterns of errors in students work, privatizing feedback, balancing strength and weaknesses in the feedback, designing frequent opportunities to give feedback, providing feedback at the group level, incorporating peer feedback, requiring student to reflect on how they used peer feedback in their works. I think that in the future, I would like to utilize some of these strategies in my classes, as they seem very student-centered and this is what I was my class to be like. 

A List I Created from the Previous Readings, with some influence from Keven Yee's Handout, that Reflects my Philosophy of Response and Grading...

1. In his handout Kevin Yee starts with the amount of writing students are supposed to do. He suggests that students don't have to do a lot of writing. That is why he encourages teachers to make assignments short and even turn in assignments for group grade.
2. It is always wise to share grading contracts with students, or to show them grading rubrics with assignments. In this way, students will know exactly what they are being graded on and what is expected of them.
3. Grading doesn't have to come from the teacher alone. Students themselves can experience what grading is like when they have peer review sessions or have to do peer edit sheets. I think that peer review is a great way to decenter power relationships in the writing classroom too. 
4. In order to avoid plagiarism, Yee asks teachers to not do the same assignments every semester, and to use Turnitin.com to check plagiarism. The other sources I've read say very little about this issue, and I think that it is appropriate to explain to students what plagiarism looks like in the very beginning of the semester, like explaining patch writing, which is a very common form of plagiarism in the writing classroom. 
5. From Wilhoit's article, I beleive that it is very beneficial for both students and teachers to experience the use of portfolio and getting a chance to explore the concept of revision. 
6. Assigning grades can be problematic sometimes to students consciousness of progress  Although Elbow's suggestion is tempting, I believe I can try this approach after a few years of teaching and not as a first year TA.
7. Response and feedback is about communicating to the students that they should always consider their readers and audience in order to be better writers.
8. Teachers should know exactly when and how to exert control over students writing, and teachers reading of students papers should be bias free.
9. Giving equal facilitative and directive feedback is a very good philosophy of response. Teachers should watch out and not give extreme facilitative or directive feedback. 
10.  Although rubrics can be simplistic they can be adjusted to suit more diverse learners. 
11. Targeted feedback enhances students chances of learning, especially when it comes to writing.
12. The way teacher asses Multimodal assignments is different from when they assess print texts. Madeleine Sorapure states that "rather than assessing individual modes in a multimodal work I suggest an assessment strategy that focuses on the effectiveness with which modes such as image, texts and sound are brought together or, literally, composed". Sorapure focuses mainly on metaphors and metonymy as a language that teachers can use to communicate with students about the effectiveness of their work.

Works Cited:

Ambrose, Susan A, et al. How Learning Works: Seven Research-Based Principles for Smart Teaching. First Editions. San Francisco, CA, Jossey-Bass, 2010. 

Inoue, Asao B. "Grading Contracts: Assessing Their Effectiveness on Different Racial Formations." Race and Writing Assessment, edited by Asao B. Inoue and Mya Poe, 2012, pp.79.94. 

• Sommers, Nancy. "Responding to Student Writing." College Composition and Communication, vol. 33, no. 2, 1982, pp. 148-156.

Sorapure, Madeline. “Between Modes: Assessing Student New Media Compositions.” Kairos 10.2 (Spring 2006): 1-15. Web. 12 May 2012.

• STRAUB, R. "the Concept of Control in Teacher Response, Defining the Varieties of Directive and Facilitative Commentary." College Composition and Communication, vol. 47, no. 2, 1996, pp. 223-251.

Wilhoit, Stephen."Grading Student's Writing."The Longman Teaching Assistants Handbook: A Guide For Graduate Instructors of Writing and Literature. Pearson Longman, 2008. 

Images: 

https://info.marygrove.edu/hs-fs/hub/94958/file-356784581-jpg/images/grading-papers.jpg

https://www.burgettstown.k12.pa.us/cms/lib/PA01000191/Centricity/Domain/174/grading%20cartoon%20pic.gif

https://18670-presscdn-pagely.netdna-ssl.com/wp-content/uploads/Dream-Maker-1024x1024.png

Multimodality in the Classroom

    I have been afraid of using multimodal assignments in my classes, because I thought that they are hard to grade and that I needed to be technology literate in all the possible technologies that the students might use in a multimodal assignment. I never thought that I too can learn and experiment as the students are completing their multimodal assignments with the students. As Mickey Hess states, "faculty will want to spend some time creating their own multimodal texts as they design and finalize assignments (33). As I mentioned early in previous blogs, I come form a culture and teaching backgrounds that values lecture over having students or learner centered class. Multimodality will definitely add many dimension to teachers of writing. It bridges the gap between what can be educational and entertaining or creative in the class. Multimodality enhances students communication with teachers and each other in the classroom, as they will be using different multimodal modes to communicate their ideas. One major aspect that has encouraged me to use multimodal assignments is the new digital technology and how easily one can communicate and use these technology.

    From the resources we have read, I have found out that there are many ways teachers can integrate multimodality. In chapter 3, Mickey Hess, states that "teachers who compose the best assignments, then, don't outline a step-by-step procedure for students to follow; instead they create assignments that prompt writers to think in new ways" (29). Hess also makes an important recommendation, while pushing teachers to make what he calls as open-ended assignments, he urges teachers to consider three components; theory, structure and choice, and circulation. The teachers have to think about theory, not only the choice of including multimodal assignments, but also which "assignments are amenable to the affordances of different modalities" (30). The teachers should also consider structure and choice in the multimodal composition, where teachers should "leave plenty of room for c choices within a structure that outlines goals and objectives for students" (30). As for circulation, teachers should allow the students to think about authentic audience, or real world audiences and this adds to the agency of the assignment (30). The most important aspect o the multimodal composition process is the types of structures and types of choice. Hess gives great points for teachers to consider with regards to this issue. Hess asks teachers to allow students the choice of composition modalities, whether it is to use audio, video, print, or a mixture of these elements and consider collaborative work where students can become a "community of learners" (32). At the end of a multimodal assignment, Hess advises faculty to include a written reflection because "it encourages critical thinking and deepens the learning that multimodal assignments demand" (33). Reflection can be done by giving students different prompts to respond to at the end of the assignment. Other important aspects that Hess mentions are including multimodal assignments within the course and consider the time that teachers wants students to spend on the assignment in class or outside of class, as well as inviting experts to help students work better in a digital environment (36).

     One other challenge that might face teachers in composing multimodal assignments is collaborating. While Hess prompts teachers to consider collaborative work on multimodal assignments by students, he acknowledges the challenges and set backs for such a choice. Anne Marie Pedersen and Carolyn Skinner identify THREE of these changeless. One is that students might find "that limitations of the technology prohibit working simultaneously" (44). For example, if a class has access to one video camera, then the teacher will need to "from larger teams of collaborates" or the teacher may ask students to have collaborative project logs (44). The second challenge is that some students may chose to work on some parts of the project but not others. While some students will do all the technological work, other in that group will learn very little about the technology used in the project. That is why teachers should ask students in a group to work on all aspects of the project, or even asks them to work on the part of the project that makes them feel uncomfortable. The third challenge is that students might "struggle to create a shared vision for the project" (45). That is why teachers again should insist that students not only complete the project but also have some successful discussions, analysis and understanding (45).                                              

      In Chapter 5, Daniel Keller gives a great short list of specialized terms that help students "practice using these terms as they engage in rhetorical analyses of multimodal texts" (53). Rhetoric teachers should introduce students to these terms in case they are using video, or audio analysis. Some of these terms are point of view, camera angle, soundscape, keynote, establishing shot, fade out and fade in , and affordance. I think this vocabulary will help students work in multimodal projects, if they have never been exposed to      these assignments, as these terms are springboards for their major multimodal projects. Connected to these key terms is the information that Ball Point provides to students about multimodality. I think that having students read this chapter before or along with presenting them with the assignment should be a great way to introduce them to these kinds of assignments.

Considering all of the above, and as a teacher who will be using multimodality more in her classrooms, I have come up with this important checklist for teachers that want to compose and take on any kind of multimodal assignment:

1. Always emphasize the WHY, when first introducing students to multimodal assignments: Many students might not see the reason behind learning composition by using different modalities, they even might see it as a wast of time. That is why it should be a very wise move to tell students the reason behind multimodal assignments and what they will gain from learning them. I think that the most important reason is that it allows students to respond and connect to the real world, and not just the classroom. In the real world today, people use different forms of words and texts to argue for something, as seen in the wide usage of social media and news outlets. 
2. While students have a variety of choices, it is always a good idea to conference with students or facilitate choice making by talking and discussing in class or whenever there are questions asked. By talking with the students, teachers can help students make the right choices at the right time. 
3. It is alright if a teacher doesn't know a certain kind of technology. I believe that composing multimodal  assignments is a great way for teachers to learn about new technologies, as well as facilitate the learning of students about this new technology. This also reminds teachers to give students some key terms they can begin with, or start from if they have never done any similar assignments using video or audio composition. 
4. Monitoring student group work is a successful way to make sure that all students have new learning opportunities. As Anne Marie Pedersen and Carolyn Skinner show in their analysis of group work, collaborative work can be a challenge for many students. Keeping a project blog will ensure that all students are doing something and that they are involved in the making of the project.  
5. While the sources support not giving students certain instructions, I think that it is wise to give students a timeline, or have them write proposals for their multimodal projects, where they show when and where they will be doing their work, whether it is individually or collaboratively. 
6. I think that having multimodal projects examples are also a good way to start talking about multimodal assignments. Teachers can use some examples from their previous students or examples that they have done themselves to show students the major components of multimodal assignments. The Ball Point chapter is great in giving students various examples about multimodality and the different technologies that they can use. 
7. It is important to emphasize CREATIVITY while composing. Students must know that that this is not just an assignments that they will get grades for, but that it is an assignment that allows them to use their different fields, hobbies or interests and bring in the classroom.
8. As for grading criteria, I think that students should be graded on both of their multimodal project and the written script accompanying it. In other words, the students should not be graded only for the multimodal project alone. There should ALWAYS be a written script. 
9. Allowing multimodal assignments to be open ended is the best way to foster creativity and allow students to find their own voices.

Some example medias for multimodal assignment m:  

1. Six word essay to be transformed into a   multimodal text 
2. "This I believe" essay to be transformed into a multimodal text
3.  infographics
4.  podcasts visual or audio
5.  using social media such as instagram or snapchat 
6. collage
7. poster
8. movie
9. youtube video
10. painting

References:

Hess, Mickey. “Composing Multimodal Assignments.” Multimodal Composition: Resources for Teachers, NJ: Hampton Press, 2007.

Skinner, Carolyn, & Anne Marie Pedersen. “Collaborating on Multimodal Projects.”  Multimodal Composition: Resources for Teachers. Cresskill, NJ: Hampton Press, 2007. 

Keller, Daniel. “Thinking Rhetorically.”  Multimodal Composition: Resources for Teachers. Cresskill, NJ: Hampton Press, 2007. 

Selfe, Cynthia L. Multimodal Composition: Resources for Teachers. Cresskill, NJ: Hampton Press, 2007. 

Images:

https://goo.gl/images/xGJVrs 

https://goo.gl/images/eaEFWd

http://www.wdilt.org/2016/03/student-choice/ 

Learner Centered Teaching

“I can’t teach anybody anything, I can only make them think.” – Socrates

Remembering the time I spent in school in Saudi Arabia brings back a lot of memories about the classroom and the role of the teacher in the classroom. Spending most of my time growing up in England, going to English school during the day, and spending tea time being homeschooled for Arabic school, I suffered a cultural shock from the high school education system in Saudi Arabia. I remember that classroom in England were fun, creative and a very comfortable. Although I did sense that the teacher was always the center of the classroom, and that our textbooks and the teacher herself had the ability to teach us every thing. In England we were given homework, and we had specific instructions for what to do on every assignment. We had little quizzes that would accumulate towards our final grade. I felt that I get a lot done in an academic semester and that I grew and learned every year.

When we went back to Saudi Arabia, I was a bit shocked that all we did was receive information from the teacher, write it down in our notebooks and memorize it for midterm exams. There was no class discussion, no room for creativity, and we were just repeating the things that the teacher wanted us to learn. Add to this prospect that any idea that the student comes up with is not taken seriously and is disregarded and also looked down upon. Exams are a form of dumping out all of the information that you learned that semester. Once students are done with the exam, I've personally witnessed some girls either throwing their books in the trash or ripping their books in the cafeteria. This broke my HEART! Seriously! Although the British education system was not that student or learner centered, but it still allowed room for personalization.

Another classroom dynamic  that really bothered me was the fact that we had to stand up when we had to answer questions. I didn't realize this, and was asked to leave the class for the disrespect I caused the teacher. I really felt like I was what Paulo Frier describes in his radical pedagogy, as containers of the Banking Model of Education that have to be filled with knowledge or spoon fed. He introduced the idea of "Problem Solving Education" where he deconstructs the place of the teacher in the educational equation.This is a very funny video that explains Paulo Frier's Pedagogy of the Oppressed. 

        One of the most important concepts in Learner Centered Teaching is the "The Role of The Teacher." I love the metaphors that Maryellen Weimer provides the reader in the beginning of this chapter. According to Weimer, on the major roles of the teacher is becoming a FACILITATOR in the process of education. The most memorable of these metaphor is the teacher-midwife who is their at the birth of education (62). Giving birth to two children, I used to hate midwives, I thought that they just sat their while I was in extreme pain from labour. However, it is after I gave birth to my children, that I noticed how helpful they were during the delivery or even after. They bring you ice cubes to crunch, and they check your baby's heart rate all the time. Without them, I think giving birth would have been much more harder. Just like the midwife, the teacher can also be a facilitator of learning.

       One of the facilitative teaching principals that Weimer provides is that faculty should encourage students to learn from and with each other. I believe that this can be done not only with group work, but also allowing the students to be responsible for delivering some content in class. The students will definitely learn how difficult it is to prepare something that can be taught to class by having them do pair presentations on the topic of that day. I think that this is a great way to get them involved in the process of learning and allowing them to feel responsible for their learning too. This activity allows them to learn from and with each other. It was only when I did my master degree, that my professors in Saudi Arabia took to this activity. We were mostly responsible for the content. I know that this is a graduate degree activity, and by having student work in pairs, the presentation will be less stressful and even more manageable.

    One other great activity that Weimer presents teachers is demonstrating the "value of collaboration in a venue that students take seriously: exams" (81). Weimer assigns her students study groups, that participate in a group exam experience. She allows the students to prepare some review materials for the whole class, and she leaves it to the students to decide if they want to study together for it. As for assessment, Weimer grades individual papers first and then calculates an average score for the group. Then she grades the group exam, and if the group exam is higher, the students get to an individual average added to their individual scores. I believe that this activity is beneficial for courses that have heavy content material. For writing courses, I would do this activity with research resources like MLA or APA. I would develop an exam on each and see if they can also learn these two helpful research tools.

Works Cited 

        Weimer, Maryellen. Learner -Centered Teaching : Five Key Changes to Practice. Second edition. ed., San Francisco, CA, Jossey-Bass, A Wiley Imprint, 2013.

Images
learner centered teaching 

saudi arabia school classroom  

Video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x1Yqr4PByOY 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iEtjl3TqwB4&has_verified=1 

           My Teacher Body In the Classroom
          "We Are Strong Enough to Be Weak" 

In the picture on the left,  inside the classroom, I appear to be excited, I'm holding my hands close together, actually myself together, and somewhat confident. I think of myself as an established scholar in my field, Ethnic American Literature, and also of my identity as a great part of who I am as teacher. I think of myself as a mother, wife, and student too. 

The first thing the students notice in class is my attire, and maybe the way I speak. I can imagine that these students have never come into contact with anyone from the Middle East. Standing at the front of the classroom, as I face the students, I can not help but notice the amazed looks I first received upon entering the classroom. As I began to come to class regularly, students began to lower their guards and gathered the courage to ask me about some things they needed help with, or if something looks right. Although my mentor properly introduced me to the class, and acknowledged the active role I will be playing in class this semester, I felt that the students still had doubts about me, and what I could do to help them in class.

When it comes to what I wear, everyday I try to pick and chose colors that might go together, especially with the Hijab (head covering), I want to appear stylish and modest at the same time. When I shop online for Hijab attire, in specialized Hijabi websites, the things I find are either too long, too weird, or too expensive. That is why I stick to looking for shirt dresses in Target, TJMax, or H&M (now you know where I get all my clothes from!!!). The Hijab has always been part of my childhood, and over the years it grew on me. I can't think of myself going outside the house, and not having something to cover my head with. Although there was a part of my life, where I rebelled and chose not to wear it, as I grew up I felt that for the public eye, this is the Hayat I want everyone to know. I sometimes think of it as a uniform that I have to wear for people to know who I am. A lot of people might know right away that I am a Muslim, but when I tell them I'm doing my PhD in English Literature and specifically in Ethnic American studies, they appear surprised. I feel that it is at that moment that I have changed the way they think about women from the Middle East, especially women who still wear the Hijab. I have many Muslim friends that do not wear it, and I RESPECT them because it is their choice to make, and it is not for me to judge them. I love them, and they share with me a great part of my life. Sometimes I have hats that I wear whenever we go on vacation or when I'm doing something fun, or when going to a place where I don't want anyone to identify me as Muslim or Middle Eastern, because sometimes I do get bothered by people who have no clue who I am, and they can't see pass my Hijab and what it stands for to them ( oppression, backwardness, ignorance!!!!). 

The person I see in the picture is a young woman who has broken a lot of boundaries, and crossed oceans to get a great education and to share with the people she meets everywhere the rich cultural experience that she has been part of so far. I have been fascinated with my identity and how it shifted since I was ten. I grew up in England, where my dad did his PhD there. Then we went back to Saudi Arabia, and I experienced a great culture shock, feeling mostly alone among my own people. It is only when I began studying at King Saud University that I realized that WHO I AM MATTERS A LOT, especially if I were to become successful in my field. I had to make a decision and accept my hybrid identity, that I am a Saudi girl, who grew up in Britain, lived for a while in Saudi Arabia, and went off to the U.S. to study for a PhD. That is why I think that I can never teach without bringing some of my identity with me, whether it is through including material that educates students about my part of the world, or answering simple questions from students like "Do you have to wear the Hijab when you go to sleep?" (no we do not wear it when we sleep😛), or "Do you really pray FIVE times a day?" (Yes, we pray five times a day 🙏).              

Language has always been one of the great aspects of shaping my identity. The first language I learned is Arabic, then English, then German in High School. Believe it or not all my dreams and inner thoughts are in English, and it is only when I was getting my Bachelor degree that I noticed this. My inner consciousness speaks English! I have no control over the thoughts that are created in my head. I have realized how great a part English is as a Language I can use to express my identity. Therefore, after presenting on the Suresh Canagarajah “ESL Composition as Literate Art of the Contact Zone” chapter, I was inspired by his approach of code-meshing and encouraging students to bring their identity to class and not be afraid to use their accents and languages to express themselves.  

      

I came to accept that people are only true to themselves if they accept the humanity of their profiles and identity. That means that I want the students to see that I am not only their teacher, but I am a mother who cares for her children, a muslim who sometimes faces discrimination, and a scholar who wants to become successful at her field. I don't believe that the class is where everything is supposed to be perfect and where the teacher never feels tired or frustrated, or where the students never wonder off in their minds and think of what they want to do for the rest of their lives. I want my students to see that I am a human, just like them, because it is only when they see my weakness and my humanity that they will come to learn about the world beyond their classroom, and I hope that is what I am preparing them for, the real world and how to empathize with other humans and to see similarities more than differences with the people we know outside the classroom. Diane Freeman and Martha Holmes state that "the best learning situations [...] were those in which teacher and student acknowledged and approved of one another's bodies and minds" (2). I think that students will not be fully engage if they think of a teacher as a talking body, without an identity.It is exactly when the "students think that the teacher's body is clearly marked by ethnicity, race, disability, size, gender, sexuality, illness, age, pregnancy, class, linguistic and geographic origins, or some combination of these, both the mode and the content of education can change" ( Freeman & Holmes 7).In her essay "A Vessel of Possibilities," Kimberly Wallace Sanders, reflecting on how bell hooks failed to remember her teacher's body, stated that "the academy largely insists on the body's erasure because the body is the undeniable reminder of our private selves" (188). If it is anything that these scholars are encouraging us to do, then it is to bring in our bodies to the class, and not be afraid to show our humanity. 


Before I go...please watch the following video: 

Concerning the teacher's body, I think that it is important for students to recognize our bodies. The following video shows how vulnerability is important for any kind of relationship. Most of our lives we spend many moments trying to hide our vulnerability as teachers. However, as the video highlights, the revelation of weakness is the only possible root to connection and respect. These revelations humanize us in others eyes. Please watch this video, as it was so enlightening to me. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PJsJ96yyVk8  

 

Works Cited 

Freedman, Diane P, and Holmes M. Stoddard. The Teacher's Body: Embodiment, Authority, and Identity in the Academy. Albany, NY: State University of New York Press, 2003. 

Images Respectively: 
Riyadh Metro 
http://www.newnownext.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/zaha-hadid.jpg?width=595&height=343

Riyadh Capital:
https://imgur.com/1h9PYg8 
Hijab Hat:
http://www.bluelanshome.com/images/17/08/v/22939/10.jpg 

Multimodality Past and Future

      As an scholar in the academic profession, I have always struggled with the issues of multimodality, as a medium to make an academic argument because I was taught in a  traditional setting, where the five paragraph essay was the only medium available to us to make any kind of academic argument. My thoughts about multimodality have always been associated with creative writing, or performing in a creative way, which I though was not professional at all. As I moved into new academic settings, I realized that multimodality is an important part of writing and rhetoric.

 I am amazed at how time has changed this idea about multimodality in my thoughts. Today I see multimodality as a way to perform and achieve success in any academic setting, although it can seem intellectually demanding and time consuming (Takaoshi & Self 4). When I hear the word multimodality, I would assume that there should be a powerpoint involved, or some kind of audio/video. Students today deal with all kinds of texts, whether textual or visual. That is why in Chapter 1 of Multimodal Composition, Pamela Takayoshi and Cynthia Self, in there first reasoning about the importance of multimodal composition state that "students need to be experiences and skilled not only in reading (consuming texts) employing multiple modalities, but also in composing in multiple modalities" in order to achieve successful communication in the "digital communication network" existent in the diverse professional workplaces and life in general (3). I think that the act of composing is evident in that act of "remediation" explained in Made Not Only in Words. Just as TV is remediated on film, and the web is remediated on print, emphasizing the idea that " the new...repeats what came before, while at the same time remaking that which it models" ( Yancy 314). I think that this idea of remediation is a very good way to introduce multimodal projects in the composition classroom. 

 I am observing a 103 class which basically has a multimodal aspect to it. The 103 course first of all employs a multimodal textbook called Vizi Online Textbook, that the students can access it easily through blackboard. The instructor lists the major sections that the students should look at before class. Although the major directive is to "read" the text, the Vizi textbook is a collection of video and textual interface. Another multimodal aspect in the class that I am observing is the fact that most of the assignments are submitted through blackboard. I can still remember the pile of white paper that my teacher used to collect every class. Having the assignments submitted through blackboard allows the students to think of writing as something that can not only be accomplished on white paper and by using pen, but also by using a screen, that allows some kind of text to be created. The students then are not limited to words when they submit assignments; they can use images, sound and video to argue for their topics and prove their points in composition.

    The general theme for the course is the future of higher education. Students often have writing assignments that speak to this major theme. One of the major assignment is having students look at a multimodal text and evaluating what seems unfamiliar, or strange for them as students in that text. I think this is a great chance for them to think of multimodal texts as texts that can be written about and that they can create texts that are multimodal at the same time. 

   If I were to teach a classroom, I would definitely add a multimodal project as a major assignment. I think that students today deal with multimodality in their daily lives, that they would enjoy doing a multimodal project in the class. I think transforming information from a video to a text is one interesting activity that students can engage in to experience multimodality. I also think that I could add a different dimension to this assignment by asking students to perform transform the information they got from the video into a podcast and therefore reconsider the rhetorical situation of speaker, audience and subject. I personally like what one of my friends did with her students. She had them do a exhibition as a final project of the semester, where they expressed a major argument of stand on a topic. I think having this different space allows them to learn about the way rhetoric works in different settings. 

Works Cited 

Selfe, Cynthia L. Multimodal Composition: Resources for Teachers. Cresskill, NJ: Hampton Press,       2007. Print.

Yancy, Kathleen Blake. “Made Not Only in Words: Composition in a New Key.” College Composition and Communication, vol.56,no.2,2004,p.297.,doi:10.2307/4140651.

Images: 

http://www.gettyimages.com.au/detail/news-photo/saudi-school-girls-are-segregated-by-law-until-graduate-news-photo/80995594?#saudi-school-girls-are-segregated-by-law-until-graduate-school-jidda-picture-id80995594 

http://i1.wp.com/www.macict.edu.au/wp-content/uploads/Multimodal_Texts.png

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/7b/Fountain_pen_writing_%28literacy%29.jpg/300px-Fountain_pen_writing_%28literacy%29.jpg