That's a Wrap

As the semester comes to an end, as I write my papers both for this class and my other classes, I realize that I have learned many things. The funny thing is, that as I reflect on my first semester of graduate school, I feel like I have learned more about composition, freshman students, and grading more than anything else. This class has broadened my perspective about what is required both of us and students, and I think it might have knocked some of the idealism about teaching students right out of me. In a good way.
Both through the readings in Miller's book and the presentations/videos/Ryan's podcasts, I have found a synthesis that has begun to shape my philosophy of teaching and ideas about how I want my classroom to be. Before this class I would have been annoyed by things that could be categorized as "the underlife" but now I know how to use or channel those "disruptions" in a productive way. This is just one example of practical skills I have learned from this class this semester with many more I have filed away for future use.

Melissa's video as well comically but truthfully presented the struggle between students and graders, and caused us, especially me, to question the system and really think about my position on how to deal with students and RaiderWriter. Seeing the student's reactions was good, but like Dr. Kemp said, most of their complaints can be heard every semester and should be taken with a grain of salt. Grading has been a hard thing to get used to doing this semester, but it has been good to see that everyone else feels the same way! I have watched that first cartoon part of Melissa's video and laughed out loud every time. In the end however, I am excited to be in the classroom next year, and see how I can put all that I have learned to good use.

Another thing that wonderfully surprised me was writing my syllabus. I figured it would be a difficult process as I have never done something like that before on purpose or else I would be in the education department. However, once I sat down and started thinking about what I wanted my hypothetical class to do, the assignments and rationale behind them began to flow fast and easily. In fact, I actually enjoyed doing the syllabus and wading through the different theorists to give some legs to my assignments. I saw which theorists that I liked the most (Brooke and Shaughnessy) and how I could apply their theories coupled with my understanding in a cogent and constructive way.

For a class that I was not looking forward to too much because it was required and I felt it had not much significance to me since I was not teaching, but I was completely wrong. This class has given me much to put toward my future career in teaching and a lot of firepower to battle old codgerly been-there-for-twenty-five-years-doing-it-my-own-way high school teachers that I inevitably will be battling.