QUESTION: HOW CAN I GET MY FRESHMAN IN MY WRITING INTENSIVE COURSES TO CARE ABOUT THEIR WRITING? THEY HAVE AN ATTITUDE OF COMPLACENCY AND BOREDOM DESPITE ALL THE MULTI-MEDIA I USE. ANY IDEAS?

[ingrid pruss]

I love teaching and work very hard at it. I change class activities every 15 minutes, use video clips, mini-lectures, group work, youtube videos,  online articles, class projects, etc. to add interest to my courses.  I have students relate everything they learn to today; however, I find most of my freshman do not care about writing or reading. Often they do not read the twenty pages per week I assign and come to class unprepared.  They are not ashamed that they have not read and believe they should get B's just for showing up.  Furthermore, they could care less about the writing process, find it a pain in the ___, and look for any and every shortcut they can find.  I have a handful in each class that are not like this, but the majority write their papers and do not want to proofread them, have no desire to learn to express themselves better and refuse to see writing as part of their image. I just can't make my students care about writing.   I really would love to hear some strategies to make today's freshman in college care about reading and writing, strategies to remove their complacent attitude and to motivate them to work.  Thanks.

[patsy everett]

Oh boy. Certainly, we've all experienced that year or semester of learners that fight every action and reaction in the classroom.

It sounds like you're doing everything right. And sometimes that makes it all the harder, because it's your heart and soul that's on the line. Every time they spit apathy at your assignment or your lesson it's like they're spitting on you.

I like the youtube video. It is inspiring. It's good to remember our kiddos can see value in language. The question lingers is how?

A bridge is the comment regarding wrestling in the 1950s. Here's a guy who found value in connecting the classroom with his interests. A thing to note is this fellow made the connection. I can have all the pop culture I want, but until the student is ready to barter with me it's all a loss.

A few things/suggestions come to mind. I deal with 12th graders who have it made. (Don't we all when we're 18 and invincible.) They certainly don't need me or my classes, which sounds similar to your "I'm not an English major" kids.

The first is a book that helped me (I say book, I've only read the first chapter which is linked here) is Never Work Harder Than Your Students. This chapter deals with something called currency. Think currency that you spend. The classroom has an economic relationship. You have the information they need, and certainly they have the "education" currency when they choose to use it, but they have their own currency as well. It's about tapping into that currency and getting them to buy into your class. (Pun intended.)

The second, and I think who reason any of us teach writing and value it, is we want our students to be respected through their writing. Your students aren't going to become published authors, or English professors, but they are going to seek professional employment where they get taken seriously. Effectively putting words on paper (or screen) gets them respect or if nothing else gets them the job. And they know this. They know (or they better know) that text grammar will not work in professional settings. (And your question still lingers....)

And finally, a little snip of wisdom from my dear mother. If they don't like you then ____ them. (Insert any word you wish, but yes she did use the word.) Certainly don't turn your back on them or give up on them. But shrug it off and begin a new. They're big kids now. Paying to take your class. It won't take them many semesters to realize that every action, or inaction, will result in a C, D, or lower. Sometimes that's the greatest lesson they'll learn from you.

But, to ideas. Have you tried creative writing? Or silly, goofy writing? Sometimes when their guard is let down they'll put a bit more effort in. I have some ideas in mind. If it sounds like something you'd like to try I can attach a few things. Also, science fiction can pull a lot of discussion as well as close reading and interpretation. Again, if it could work or sounds interesting there's a few titles I could suggest. Let me know.

[ingrid pruss]

I really like everything you have to say, and I will get "the book" and read it, and yes, please attach anything that might help. Thank you for your kindness. I am still at it and want to be for the rest of my life which is why I posed the question. Thank you for "getting that"!!!!

[patsy everett]

I think I'll make a couple responses, one with some reading ideas and one with some writing ideas. I have never taught post-secondary education, so if it's too elementary or dumb feel free to trash it. Hopefully, there's threads that you can pull from.

For reading (and you mentioned Everyday Use, so it sounds like you do some fiction) my students like short stories that "punch them in the face" as we like to refer to it. I teach sci fi as a senior elective, which I find pulls in those kids who hate English and everything that comes with it, as well as really great insight and discussion. Often pieces are masterfully written and we pull some sentence structure from it as well.
"Chief" and "Victory Parade" (by Henry Slesar) and "Men are Different" (by Alan Bloch) come from an ancient book in our school's book room: 50 Short Science Fiction Tales edited by Isaac Asimov and Groff Conklin. I found it on Amazon. I think I found a copy of Chief online once.
"Chief" is about a native tribe that gets introduced to some European settlers. There has been a great war and these interlopers are looking for a safe place to live. They have with them a box that clicks which amazes the natives. They believe it has some sort of god-like power that they wish to possess. They kill and eat the new comers and get the box to click for them. Through discussion students discover that the clicking box is a Geiger counter.
"Victory Parade" is about a bunch of women waiting for their men to come home from war. When peace is declared and the men come home it's only the machines that are left. We look at personification and its effect in the story. We also talk about how it may have all come about and if we see it applicable in our future. (I don't know when originally published, but the edition of the anthology I have is from 1963, so certainly long before long range missiles and drones and all the weaponry we have now to fight our battle for us.)
"Men are Different" is in the point of view of a robot archaeologist who specializes in the extinct man. Man was supposed to be just like robots. Upon finding a man alive, the robot comes to the final conclusion that men are indeed different. We look at point of view and lack of figurative language. I make my students write the story through the man's point of view. They have to use x number of similes and emotions in their story. They come up with very creative and great things. I have a feeling your students might think it stupid though...
There are quite a few other stories I use from that book and they're all around one page long (photocopied). They are brimming with connections and predictions that could be used with modern, pop culture.
Another story that my students love is "A Matter of Taste" by Ray Bradbury. It's from a collection called The Cat's Pajamas, also on amazon. A group of space explorers come to a planet inhabited by giant spiders. Though the spiders are peaceful and kind, they are giant spiders. Ultimately the men kill the spiders because they are so repulsed. Students like to talk about spiders and how gross they are and if they could or couldn't handle cohabitation with giant spiders. There's a horrible movie called Ice Spiders that ultimately gets brought up as well as Eight Legged Freaks. Students usually get exited talking about the horrible effects or cool spider-gut scenes. Bradbury is a very complex writer and I'm sure you could pull structure and form discussions out of it as well.

A term that I use with a lot of sci fi that gets the kids all riled up is defamiliarization which comes from the Russian Formalists. I'll attach a couple ways I use it. It would work for "Chief" and "A Matter of Taste" certainly. I'm sure you could make them do a connection of the minds (in the playlist section of mcpop) where they come up with other ways in their modern literacy defamiliarization is used. (I can't think of anything off the top of my head though.)

I really use these short stories as "punches in the face" and discuss them more so than write about them. It takes a while for the non-sci-fi-er to switch reading gears, but usually creates fun results. I try to keep discussion lively and fun, as these stories are fun. But we also look at their prophetic nature or actualibility (could they really happen?)

[patsy everett]

Okay, reply number 2. Sorry they're so long. I guess I talk/type a lot... Writing. I do these with my creative writers (seniors who take it as their easy senior English class, so I get a lot of resistance)...

Scar poem/writing: (and I got this from another teacher, but don't know his name, sorry scar teacher!)
Watch the scene from Jaws when the men are swapping scar stories (the USS Indianapolis scene)
and read the monlogue(?) by Anthony when he prophesizes over Caesar's wounds in act III (here). Students then list their own scars, piercings, tattoos, etc. They then write a poem in the voice of their scars in which the scar speaks to the student himself, or to one another (scar to scar). My kiddos take great pride in their scars and tattoos and like to share about them.

To discuss the power of words I have them do an essentialized poem (taken completely from Laura Jones who I have never met). The plan is attached below. It works well to look at powerful words as well as word placement. Again, students get to talk about themselves, so it might fly.

Bad Hair writing: I have a ton of pictures of people with really gnarly haircuts. I suppose you could also send your students on a treasure hunt to find a bad hair picture on their own for "homework." I have my students write about the person (description, point of view, whatever I want to focus on). You could have them "gossip" about the person in the picture. What he's like, his hobbies, whatever and use it as a discussion on preconceived notions or something.

A fun activity that taps into their competitive side is a sentence relay. I break the class into two teams (I've got about 30 kids, so it makes two big teams) and tell them we're going to have a sentence race. The students remain at their desks and need something to write with. Each side gets one piece of paper that begins at one end of the room. One student begins the sentence by writing one word. He/she then passes the paper and the next student writes one word to continue the sentence. And it continues through the team. I give points to the side that completes their relay and gets the paper back to me. Both teams then have their sentence read aloud and we begin the fun points: I subtract points if the sentence doesn't make sense, "fancy" points for multisyllabic words, big points if the sentence has over 30 syllables and makes sense. After a couple rounds I start making restrictions. There might be words the students use over and over because they're big words--out. I might say you can't use words that end in -ly or -ing.
It helps build moral as well as serves as stress relief.

A variation is a grammar relay. This time it's two people per team. Outside the room are paragraphs containing no punctuation. (start out short and easy). One student stays in the room and is the recorder. The other student runs out and reads the paragraph. He/she must run in and tell the paragraph to the recorder to write down. Once the paragraph is transcribed word for word they must go through and punctuate the paragraph. First team to complete it correctly wins.

I stock up at the dollar store for those two games. Food and goofy toys go first.

A final thought, and I know this post is long. Have you had your students respond electronically? Online (blog, wiki, ning?) That's the way a lot of their future writing will be. It might seem more "real world" to them if they respond/submit thusly.

Also, could they "text" a famous text? Perhaps Shakespeare, Lincoln, or King? It would take a lot of effort to text the speech in its entirety. It could serve as fodder for discussions over what gets lost in translation. (Fahrenheit 451 is all about losing text. Everything's burned and abbreviated. I had my students twitter scenes and discussed what was lost. Could twitter be what Bradbury was warning about? The discussion was okay. I don't know if you'd have better luck.) Certainly text lingo is not wrong, but not appropriate in certain situations.

[sharon thiese]

Hi,

I think Peg has a valid point. It sounds like you are incoroporating several strategies to make your class effective. Really, it's up to the students to take resonsibility for what they learn. If tey don' want to learn, perhaps they need to fail.

Sharon Thiese

[ingrid pruss]

Yes, but it's getting difficult to use the same standards I once used because the level of the students in some areas is much lower than they ever were, particularly in technical expertise and reading ability, and thus, accuracy in writing (i.e. spelling and grammar) and even in sophistication of sentence construction and variety, so I have to change a bit.

I am trying to gain insight and understanding into what appeals to this generation, so I can find material that appeals to them and discover a way into their world. That way I would have a fighting chance of teaching them more successfully than I have been. Does that makes sense? So if anyone has insights into today's generation and their world (i.e., what college freshman value and are interested in), please give me a holler. Thanks!

[ingrid pruss]

Dear Patsy,
Wow! Your response is superb. I know I will be able to use your Bradbury ideas since I have taught some Bradbury successfully, so I will try some more and though I can't use personal essays, per se, I can allow my students to introduce a personal element into their researched writing and not require them to separate the personal from the research paper. I'll let you know how that goes. I also love what you have to say about defamliarization which I am familiar with but have never used in the ways you advise. Thanks a million, Patsy. Your responses are wonderful!!! Finally, I think I will also try the scar material but with some of the other texts I am teaching, like the book Lucky which is about a young girl who cuts herself and I will bring in Antony, as you suggest. I appreciate your responses most because they got my creative juices flowing once more. I wish I could be a fly on the wall in one of your classes. You must be an outstanding teacher. Thanks for sharing with all of us.

Warmly,

Ingrid

[patsy everett]

Thanks for your kind words, Ingrid. Here's to those buggers that make us want to tear our hair out and work even harder to reach them at the same time. All the best. Let me know what strategies ended up working.

[ingrid pruss]

Will do, Patsy!

[ingrid pruss]

That's so true, Mary!