I want to start this blog post by saying I have never had a text book that I enjoy as much as Making The Journey. It is so refreshing to have an author that actually makes sense and can teach me something without giving a sermon or just being plain boring. I admit that I have been getting frustrated with a lot of my education classes and the texts they choose for us. This is one book I am actually not going to sell back.
Having been educated completely in he traditional model of writing it is refreshing to see some ideas for different techniques to interest students in writing. In my high school all of my writing classes were exactly the same, four major papers due throughout the semester written off of the exact prompt the teacher gave us. To say this was extremely boring for anyone with the slightest bit of creativity would be an understatement. That is why I love this chapter and the ideas for allowing students freedom in their writing choices.
I see little benefit in making students write about things they could care less about, because let's face it, if they aren't interested they are going to put zero effort into the assignment (as I've been noticing in my field experience). But as soon as we give them a choice and let them roll with their own ideas, it's amazing how much more interesting and focused their writing can be.
I am also a strong believer in specific rubrics and writing portfolios that allow the students to make changes throughout the semester on any of their papers they think they can improve and once again Christenbury gives great ideas on these subjects as well. This book is a breath of fresh air for me and I was definitely in need of that!
2 comments:
I agree with you. I've never had any text that seems to be more applicable to the class than this one. Dr. Franklin made a great choice on the text. I don't feel like I need to try to recoup money for this book after the semester is over...or use it to balance an uneven table or something like that.
~Stan
This is definitely one of the better textbooks that I've read. It doesn't really seem to pound you with information. It reads as if Christenbury is talking straight to you instead of reading like you've just picked up an encyclopedia or some other boring text.
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